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"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." (Hebrews 4:14)
In the beginning, the Lord God fashioned the community of man after the Devine Community of the Godhead. "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." (Genesis 1:26) In the beginning, mankind was created in the image of God and was until the fall a Divine Community. In the Divine Community God and man were able to walk together and fellowship with one another. (Genesis 3:8) After the fall into the temptation of the serpent, the fellowship was broken by the shame and guilt of man’s nakedness. Sin, disobedience to God’s Word, had overtaken man and forever he shall be plagued by his sin nature. This separates man from a Holy God and it is God’s purpose to reconcile man back unto Himself through His Son Jesus the Christ.
The once Divine Community on earth had been fractured and man has lived in trial and tribulation ever since and shall unto the Lord God returns to dwell again amongst His people. God will not only restore man to a right relationship with Him but also a righteous Divine Community of man and his God. This Divine Community is the model that man should live towards until that day that it is restored in the eternity of the Kingdom of God. It will be as the Father has come to guide His children in the abundant life it was always meant to be.
God said, “Let Us make man in Our Image.” The man was created to live in the image of the Godhead and to be a perfect reflection of that image. The man was created to live in the righteousness of God’s Divine Community, a reflection of the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is a hard concept for the mind of man to comprehend. In our reasoning, God exists in three persons that are one God. An easier way to view that concept is God is of one essence in all three persons.
In my mind, it is no mistake that the Godhead is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Since God is a Spirit there are those who say it should be the Holy Spirit, the Son, and God. But it is correct in the actions that each performs in the Godhead. Either way that you believe Jesus is at the center of the Godhead.
If one does not have a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus, then there is no way for that one to come to God. Jesus told His disciples, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6) If one does not have a personal relationship with Jesus, then there is no power of the Holy Spirit in their life to sanctify them into a new creature in Christ. "For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)
The vision of The Divine Community comes to us through the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." (John 16:13)
Regardless of those who claim that Jesus was just a prophet as John the Baptist He is the Son of God born of a virgin woman. His birth was an event that was prophesized hundreds of years prior to His birth. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) His name “Immanuel” is the exact name the angel told Joseph when the angel was telling him not to put Mary away. (Matthew 1:23) God humbled Himself and came as a man that He could dwell among the people. The Apostle John later testified to this in his first letter. "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life-- and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us-- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:1-3)
Jesus came to establish His Church, a community of believers in Jesus who form the Christian Community. "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." (Matthew 16:18) This Christian Community is a confessional community that confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. The Christian Community revolves around their confession of Jesus as the Christ. As the Apostle Paul states in his letter to the Roman Church. "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (Romans 10:9-10)
Jesus is in the midst of His Church, as He is the head of the Church. The Church is the Bride of Christ and one day He will present His Church to the Father perfect and without spot or wrinkle. (Ephesians 5:27) Jesus is not over there or here but ever-present throughout His Church. "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands." (Revelation 2:1)
The Church Community is a fellowship of the followers of Jesus who in His name are under His authority. They are committed to a life of service to their Lord. The Christian Community is in the work of making Disciples of Christ throughout the world. In His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prayed for His disciples.
Unity is two or three agreeing together and asking the Father for His will to be done. The community is people coming together in Jesus’ name under the authority of Jesus’ name. There Jesus is with them. Jesus prayed for his disciples. "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." (John 17:20-23)
The Church of Jesus remains in a state of worship towards Him. Jesus is always a presence during the Churches worship. Jesus is ever present in His Church as the Church is His bride. They are submitted to Him to do the good work they were created and called to do. "When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:17-20)
Jesus will be the ever-present friend of His Church today, tomorrow, and through all of eternity. "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4)
Thomas N Kirkpatrick
First Baptist Church of Durant, November 2, 2017
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