Mathetes the kerux
Tales of a Twice Born Man
- Aug 1, 2004
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Yup, sin is really Satan personified. What is so serious in man's fall is not that man did "something wrong" but that foreign element, a person, Satan came into man.
Well, we apply it positively to Christ living in us as the Indwelling One!!!
MAN AS A CREATED VESSEL TO CONTAIN CHRIST
Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created man in His own image. There is no other book in the universe that tells us in such a definite way that man was not only created by God but that he was also created in God's own image.
Who is God's image? The Bible tells us that Christ is the image of God. Second Corinthians 4:4b says, "Christ, who is the image of God." Colossians 1:15 says that Christ as the Son of God's love "is the image of the invisible God." Therefore, when God created us in the beginning, He created us according to Christ. Romans 9:21 tells us that God created us and chose us that we might be vessels to contain Him. Hence, we were not only created according to the image of Christ, but we were also created as vessels instead of instruments. Vessels are different from instruments. Knives, axes, and saws are instruments for working, whereas glasses and tea cups are vessels for containing something. God did not create us as instruments to work for Him; instead, He created us as vessels to contain Him.
Based upon Genesis 1:27, Paul wrote Romans 9:21. He realized that in the beginning God created man with clay and that this man of clay is a vessel. However, this vessel is not for containing milk or water but the God of glory. Hence, in Romans 9:23 Paul said, "In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory." This glory denotes God Himself, because in Psalms and Jeremiah we are told that the children of Israel forsook their glory (Psa. 106:20; Jer. 2:11) instead of being told that they forsook their God. To forsake the glory is to forsake God, because God is glory. Without God, the universe and all that is in it has no glory. God is the source of all glory and splendor.
We are earthen vessels to contain God. When God comes into us, we become vessels of glory. Man was created by God to contain God. This concept cannot be found in any other book. Besides the Bible, there is no other book in the world that has such a record. Second Corinthians 4:6 says, "The God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts." This light is the expression of glory. Without glory, there is no brightness shining out, because light is the manifestation of glory. This glory is God, and the shining forth of light is the expression of God. God shines in our hearts by Himself as the light of glory.
Our spirit is the film concealed in our heart. When the glory of the Lord shines into our heart, our spirit is exposed to the light. At this time Christ as the treasure comes into us. Following verse 6, therefore, 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." This treasure is the indwelling Christ who enters into us through the light. Our spirit is exposed to the light when we are touched as we hear the gospel of the Lord, testify for the Lord, read the Word, or study spiritual books. Although we may not be aware of it, this exposure is still working within us. Sometimes we are busy with outward affairs, and we think that the light is fading. Actually, the light to which we have been exposed still remains in us.
CHRIST'S MAKING HIS HOME
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) to dwell in the spirit of those who believe in Him. Second Timothy 4:22 says, "The Lord be with your spirit," and Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God." These verses show us that the Spirit is in our spirit and is mingled with our spirit so that the two spirits have become one. Today we, the saved ones, are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor 6:17).
The New Testament not only speaks about a mysterious person, Christ, but it also speaks about one thing concerning this mysterious person, that is, that Christ indwells His believers. Ephesians 3:16, 17, and 19 say that Paul prayed for us that God would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man. We have an outer man and an inner man. Our inner man is our regenerated spirit. God will grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, which is our regenerated spirit. The Greek word for power is a very strong word and is equivalent to the English word dynamo, denoting the energizing or motivating power of a generator. God strengthens us into the inner man with power through His Spirit according to the riches of His glory that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith.
Although Christ is in us and has shined into us, He has not yet made His home in our hearts. What does it mean to make home? It means that after arranging everything properly, He settles down. It is through faith and not by sight that Christ is making His home in our hearts. The result is that we are filled unto all the fullness of God. The fullness of God is the expression of the overflow of God. When Christ makes His home in us, we are filled with God and are full of the glory of God. As a result, we who are earthen vessels, vessels of clay, become vessels of glory. We are filled and saturated with all the riches of God so that we are full of God within and without.
I think that sin and Satan are distinct . . . though one was certainly birthed from the other.
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