Part 4 The Gospel of the Kingdom is all about Being
God made us new being people ONE to be to His glory.
Just prior to His crucifixion, Jesus talked with His Father in heaven and told Him what He had given His followers. He prayed for them and those who believe through their word. That would include us. He prayed, “Let them be in Us.”
- I gave them Your Word. But the world has hated them because they don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I’m not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world
- Make them holy by the truth; Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I sent them into the world. In this holy way I give Myself to them to make them holy, too, by the truth. I’m not asking for them only but also for those who through their word believe in Me that they all be one. As You, Father, are in Me and I in You, let them be in Us so that the world may believe You sent Me. I gave them the glory You gave Me to make them one as We are one. I am in them, and You are in Me to make them perfectly one that the world may know You sent Me and loved them as You love Me. John 17:14-23 AAT
Christ in us is the hope of glory. “The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:26-28 RSV).
The glory we hope for is the redemption of our bodies and inheritance of the kingdom that is to come.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:22-25 RSV
But I didn’t see any temple in it [the New Jerusalem on the new earth], because the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. And the city doesn’t need any sun or moon to give it light, because God’s glory is its light and the Lamb is its lamp. Revelation 21:22-23 AAT
Oneness of the Spirit is not readily apparent in the visible church today. But, God is working in us. He has made us one in Messiah Jesus (Ephesians 2:13), to His glory (Ephesians 3:21). Oneness will be more apparent as “we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13 RSV).
God has made us one in a number of ways. We will briefly consider a few.
In Ephesians 1, we are greeted as “the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus.” Saints is a community word. We are one in the Lord. God the Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven, chose us to be holy and blameless before Him and destined us to be His sons and daughters (see Galatians 3:28) through Christ Jesus, to the praise of his glorious grace. We see we have redemption, the forgiveness of trespasses, through the blood of Christ and we are the purpose of Christ, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth, destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory. We were sealed in Christ with the promised Holy Spirit, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance, to the praise of his glory.
In Ephesians 2, we see He has made us one new man, a new order of mankind in Messiah Jesus. We are: no longer foreigners or strangers, fellow citizens, a part of God’s holy people, members of His family, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and Christ Jesus Himself is the Cornerstone, a whole building fitted together, a holy temple in the Lord, built up with the others to be God’s home in the Spirit.
In Ephesians 3, “the Gentiles are fellow heirs [with the Jews], members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (verse 6 RSV).
In Ephesians 4, we are exhorted:
Do your best to keep the oneness of the Spirit by living together in peace: one body and one Spirit—even as you have been called to share one hope—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who rules over us all, works through us all, and lives in us all” (verses 5-6 AAT).
In Ephesians 5 and Revelation 21, we are the Bride of the Lamb, His inheritance (Ephesians 1:18, Titus 2:14).
In 1 Peter, God has made us new beings “a chosen people, priests of a King, a holy nation, a people saved to be His own and to tell of the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had received no mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9 AAT).
In Revelation 1, “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:4b-6 RSV).
God has called us to be the people of His kingdom; to live in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; to be to His glory.
The Gospel of the Kingdom is all about Being
Part 1 Messiah Jesus called us to repent, believe and be forgiven Part 2 The moment we repented and believed, God made us new beings Part 3 The moment we repented and believed, God set us new beings free from the dominion of darkness and equipped us to stay free Part 4 God made us new being people ONE to be to His glory.
Bill Bremer
