We thank the Lord for allowing us to gather once again in His name where we can worship Him and release our spirit. We can release our spirit vocally or silently. Either way allows us to release our spirit as long as we use our spirit and do not remain in our mind. I believe that in this series of messages the Lord will grace us and bring us on another step.
Our God has a purpose and a work. The Bible reveals that based upon His purpose God formed a plan in eternity past. This plan was made according to God’s heart’s desire. God had a desire, a delight, in His heart, and according to this desire, delight, He made a glorious plan in eternity past. This plan may appear to be rather simple, but intrinsically it is truly mysterious. In His plan God desires to gain a group of people as a corporate vessel to contain Him that He might be expressed through them.
God’s plan is to express Himself. God is a hidden, mysterious God. Although one may search the heavens, the earth, and the entire universe, it is not easy to find God. It seems that there are many things in the universe but that there is no God. However, we know that above all things and in the midst of all things God does exist. God is real, actual, and living, yet He is hidden and concealed. God is hidden, but the Bible shows us that He wants to be expressed. In Himself He is hidden, but when He enters into us, He can be expressed through us. Although God is a hidden God, we can express Him. In fact, His expression depends upon us. This is God’s eternal heart’s desire. This is what He has ordained according to His eternal plan.
Since God has a plan, God also works. The Bible begins with an account of God’s first work—creation—and ends with a city that is called “the holy city, New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2). This city is not the result of God’s work of creation but of His work of building. God begins with creation and ends with building. Creation is His first step. Building is His final step. God’s creation is for God’s building. The two—God’s creation plus God’s building—accomplish God’s eternal plan and fulfill God’s eternal heart’s desire.
Between the two ends of the Bible, that is, between God’s creation and God’s building, God takes five major steps and accomplishes five major acts—redemption, regeneration, transformation, conformation, and glorification. We must inscribe these five great acts in our hearts. We were fallen, so God came to redeem us out of the fall. After redemption God in the Son came into us to be our life. Now in addition to our natural life, we have a spiritual life, the divine life. This life regenerates us, causing us to be born again. Once we have been regenerated, this life within us begins to transform us through a metabolic process, changing our nature into His nature. Then in addition to transformation, God takes a further step to conform us into His image. Every believer will eventually have God’s image and be like Him. Finally God will bring us into glory, making us the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is God’s building. This is an overview of the whole Bible. The Bible speaks of God’s creation at the beginning and of God’s building at the end. Between these two ends the Bible reveals God’s work to redeem us, regenerate us, transform us, conform us, and lead us into glory. None of these great acts is according to our religious or natural concept.
Now we will consider how God accomplishes His plan. By using simple words we hope to present a picture of how God does this. To accomplish His plan, God has taken two steps. The first step that He took was to become flesh. If He had not become flesh, God would have no way to accomplish redemption. Thus, in order to redeem us God came from heaven to earth, brought divinity into humanity, and became flesh. The One who became flesh, God Himself, is Jesus Christ our Lord. We should never try to find God outside of Jesus Christ, for outside of Jesus Christ there is no true God. Jesus Christ is God Himself, the Lord of all creation, and Jehovah. Do you believe in God? If you believe in God, you must believe in Jesus Christ. The Jews believe in God but reject Jesus Christ. Consequently, they do not have God because Jesus Christ is God, and God is in Jesus Christ. God became flesh—an actual historical figure who was born in a manger more than one thousand nine hundred seventy years ago. As a man He lived on the earth for more than thirty years, and at the end of His life He was nailed to the cross, shedding His precious blood to accomplish redemption, solving the problem of our sin and of every negative thing. This was God’s first step to accomplish His eternal plan—He become flesh in order to redeem us.
God’s first step was to become flesh; His second step was to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). In redeeming us God entered into death and passed through death. He took a journey through death, but death had no effect on Him and could not do anything to Him. Death did not take Him captive; rather, He willingly walked into death, gave Himself to death, and allowed death to do to Him all that it could. In the end, death had no power, so He passed through death and came out of death. This was His resurrection. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. His first step was to become flesh; His second step was to become the life-giving Spirit. He became flesh for our redemption; He became the life-giving Spirit to enter into us and to be our life. Today this life-giving Spirit is omnipresent—in the heavens and on earth, above us and below us, and inside of us and outside of us. God became flesh to accomplish redemption, and He became the Spirit to be our life.