Intimate Fathering, Christ’s Pioneering Journey, And The Last

Of The Last Days For The Body Of Christ

 

  “‘These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.

See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.’”

(NIV, Revelation 3:7-8, italicize mine)

Today Jesus is “fathering” men and women into fullness, what Paul calls “sonship” (Ro. 8:23), James “mature and complete” (James 1:4), Peter “participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), John “we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2), and many other descriptions for those who seek his coming. (NIV, italicize mine)

Contents

Preface

Know A Tree By Its Fruit

What Early Readers Likely Understood About The Lord Jesus

The Greatest Sacrifice Is “A Living Sacrifice”

The Re-Revelation Of The Truths Of The Mystery Of Christ

The Long Journey of “Becoming”

Anointed Discovery And Revelation

Refocusing Our Sights On Jesus

The Making Of Christ

The Blood And Cross Of Christ to Resurrection Life (Glorification)

The Following “Planned” Sections Will Come In Parts 17(B), 17(C), etc.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

A Glimpse Of The Mystery

The Different Contrasts Of Christian Maturity 

Prophetic Layers

1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, “Rapture” Or “Fathering Leading To Union And Ministry?”

What Will It Be, Bountiful Blessings, Or Skyrocketing Costs Of Neglect?

Fathering Leads To Unbroken Union With Christ

Less Than An Hour Left

Scripture Repeatedly Confirms A Divine Design And Plan

Our Salvation Eternally “Linked” To Jesus, Through His Pioneering Journey, The First Fruit, Firstborn, Forerunner, Perfecter Of Faith

Revelation

Are You Heading In The Right Direction

Christ’s Promise To “Father” “Believers” To Maturity And Completion

Jesus, Perfect From Every Angle: Formed By His Heavenly Father Before Ministry

Christ, The “Living-Breathing” Blood Sacrifice God Always Desired

The Sprinkling Of His Blood, What It Means (Hebrews 12:24

and 1 Peter 1:2)

Unhealed Wounds And Un-Cried Tears (Releasing The Dam Of Injustice)

Jonah’s Sign And The Atonement

Are There Fruit Bearing Trees In The Garden Of Your Heart Keeping You From Feasting On The Fruit Of The Tree Of Life?

Blood And Suffering

Wounding, Piercing, Crushing

            An Example Of Christ Targeting The “Wound” In The Gospels

            Final Comments On Fathering (The Coming Of The Lord)

Practical Thoughts On What To Expect

We Matter To Him

Prophetic Markers

We Are In Double Overtime 

Rapture 

Preface

Before you begin reading this post, please be sure to read this section first – it has Important Material to help understand the other sections in this post, as well as past and future posts in this series.

The Lord continues to give me deeper insight; the Preface in the next post will have even greater clarity on key truths about Christ’s “fathering” journey and ours in him.

This series replaces the lens of “Calvary” with the person of “Christ Jesus” for understanding and interpreting the New Testament.

God designed the Gospel for us to understand through the story of the “living Christ,” not the events surrounding Calvary.

Understanding the promised “coming of grace” (1 Peter 1:10-12), in Christ, his personal story, through growing intimacy is critical for comprehending the depth, extent, and breadth of the New Covenant in our Lord and Savior.

God “anchored” the NT in Jesus (pioneer, firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, perfecter and mediator of the New Covenant), through what he accomplished in him – the “making” of the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5), who he “became” fathered by God to completion (Heb 5:7-10), not Calvary.

Creeds, authored by councils, with traditions have Jesus entering ministry without the story of his growth and destruction of generational sin passed to him from his human ancestry, spawning all sorts of strange and extra-biblical doctrines.

Creeds and traditions combine the story of Christ’s “fathering” by God, described repeatedly in the NT letters and foretold in the Old (the so-called missing eighteen years between age twelve and thirty), with “Calvary,” and in so doing, bypass the most important story of the Bible –

Christ’s pioneering journey destroying the enmity in his flesh from his human generations (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear), raised to eternal resurrection life by his Father (Ro. Chaps. 3-6), before his ministry, his first glorification, John 12:28.

Creeds and the fruit they bore in traditions miss the heart of the NT – the “making” of the man Christ Jesus, and the promise of “fathering – encounter with the living Christ” for those who seek him.

(John 14:18-23, Ro. 8:19-23, 1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5, 15:20-23, Gal. 5:5, Phil. 3:20, etc.)

If we miss the making of Christ – God fathering Christ to perfection “before” ministry – his first glorification (John 12:28, Ro. Chaps 3-6, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10), creating the pattern and path for his followers,

then we miss the purpose of the New Covenant – to bring men and women back into wholeness and holiness, redeeming and restoring what our first parents lost.

Lacking the understanding of the distinctly separate Christian pilgrimage beyond the new birth and Pentecost, i.e., intimate fathering, it is widely taught in Christendom it is in Heaven God makes us whole and holy.

But neither the Old or New Testament teach that, on the contrary, the Bible clearly teaches wholeness, and holiness comes this side of Heaven through Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission, otherwise the NT beyond Acts is pointless.

New Testament Scripture directs Christians to seek intimacy with Christ through encounter with him (his coming, appearing, revealing, taking, etc., i.e., intimate fathering), for the equipping, maturing, and completion of the promised grace in us.

(Matt. 24:37-41, 25:1-13, Luke 12:37-40, John 14:18-23, Ro. 8:19-23, 1 Cor. 4:5, 15:20-23, 2 Cor. 5:10, Gal. 4:19, 5:5, Eph. 4:30, Phil – “day of Christ,” 3:20-21, Col. 3:4, etc.)

Jesus birthed and established the New Covenant to bring you and me into wholeness and holiness in this life through intimate fathering (his Isaiah 61 Commission),

redeeming, healing, and restoring what the enemy has stolen from us and our generations in preparation for ruling and reigning with him in the Millennium and beyond.

Without healing and restoration in growing intimacy with Christ, the third and final Christian pilgrimage foretold by the feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths (“Tabernacles” for short),

there is no difference between the Old and New Testaments other than the new birth and Pentecost, i.e., access to the Holy Spirit most did not have in the Old.

The heart of the “story” of the NT is about Jesus, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, King, Lord, High Priest, Son of David, Son of God, Son of Man, Bridegroom, not what lawless men did to him at Calvary.

The story of the New Testament centered in Calvary came over time through the birth of creeds and traditions – the oracles of men, without divine inspiration, developed to help consolidate and fuse as one civil and religious.

During the institutionalization of Christianity creeds and the traditions filled what religious leaders believed to be a “vacuum” from age twelve to his ministry created by the lost story of Christ’s pioneering journey to his first glorification.

When you understand Christ’s personal story, dying to generational sin, raised by his Father to walk in resurrection life before his ministry, fulfilling the law perfectly (Matt. 5:17, Heb. 5:7-10), creeds and traditions fall like a house of cards.

Just like the return of salvation by grace (1500s) and Pentecost (1900s), it takes divine intervention to break through the barrier of creeds hiding the “deep truths of the faith” (NIV, 1 Timothy 3:9) of God’s promise to intimately father men and women to completion.

During the last half of the first millennium creeds and traditions authored by councils in the age of Thyatira established Calvary as the filter for understanding the New Testament and story of Christ.

Leading up to Thyatira was Pergamum, fostering the continued rise of Nicolaitan leaders who set precedent for what would grow to become the framework for institutionalizing Christianity during the millennial age of Thyatira’s primacy.

Jesus, seeing by the Spirit the mountain tops of the Kingdom of God in the future, likened the coming institutionalization to the growth of a mustard plant becoming a tree where “birds of the air” nest (Matt. Chap. 13).

In other words, the Kingdom of God will grow expansively in the eyes of men, but not in the way Jesus would do it, likes, or wants.

Mustard in its pure form is bitter; it represents what Jesus foresaw regarding the coming institutionalization and all it brought to the table.

The growing intrusion of “mediatorship” within the Church (outside the five offices of the Church), greatly hindered Christ’s Commission to “father” men and women into the fullness of his likeness, blocking generations of Christians from healing and restoration through intimate fathering.

The absence of intimate fathering, growing institutionalization, and unhealed bitterness and drift from the simplicity of the Gospel of grace through faith in Christ provided fertile soil for the introduction of yeast – false teaching – into the Word of God (Matt. Chap. 13).

The addition of yeast (false teachings) through the creeds, etc., by church councils elevated the council of “man’s wisdom” above the Word of God, forever changing the nature of Scripture’s presentation to men and women, even after five centuries of reformation (1500s to today).

As any baker knows, only God can remove yeast from mixed dough. 

Parables two, three, and four of Matthew Chapter 13, i.e., weeds, mustard seed, birds, and yeast hidden in dough foretell the downward spiral of the Church during the Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira church ages where in Thyatira it hits rock bottom.

This led to God’s intervention in the birthing of the Sardis age, i.e., Reformation in the 1500s.

The parable of the treasure hidden in a field foretells the age of Sardis, and the pearl of great price the making of the bride in the age of Philadelphia by “intimate fathering,” the journey Christ pioneered for making you and me into his likeness.

The net in Matthew Chapter 13 foretells revivals, especially the last great revival before the Tribulation seen in other Bible passages.

Laodicea is concurrent with Philadelphia at this present time, both started in the last half of the twentieth century, with Laodicea trailing on into the time of the Seals of the coming Tribulation.

There are those who have come to “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23), i.e., the fullness of Christ likeness through intimate fathering, like the early Apostles and likely others during past church ages,

but the pearl of great price points to a time when there is a concentrated body of believers who come to fullness in the last of the last days in the age of Philadelphia (Tabernacle).

Tabernacle is short for the OT feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths (Lev. Chapter 23) foretelling the final Christian pilgrimage, a future time when God brings men and women to maturity and completeness – spiritual fruitfulness in intimate union with Christ.

The new birth begins the journey, Pentecost (in whatever form it comes to you), brings a greater measure of the Spirit, but it is “Tabernacle – intimate fathering,” where completion comes through deep transformation, the NT’s Holy of Holies.

It has been a long hard climb out of the creeds, thousands upon thousands having lost their life during the transition from Thyatira to Sardis in the revelation of salvation by grace.

Yet, there are still creeds greatly hindering “intimate fathering,” i.e., Tabernacles (“sonship” NIV, Ro. 8:23, i.e., Christ likeness, “this mystery, which is Christ in you” NIV, Col. 1:27), the final Christian pilgrimage. (Bold and italicize mine)

Tabernacles, fullness of Christ, mature and complete, mystery of Christ, bride, resurrection life, etc., speak of the journey of intimate fathering and the result – Jesus making men and women intimate and one with him.

(John 14:18-23, 17:21, Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 1 Cor. 13:12, 2 Cor. 3:18, Eph. 4:13, 5:26-27, Phil. 3:21, 2 Tim. 2:20-21, 2 Peter 1:4, 1 John 3:2)  

New Covenant, New Language

According to Scripture, intimate fathering to completion leading to resurrection life (Ro. 6:5), is the final Christian pilgrimage beyond the new birth and Pentecost for receiving healing and restoration, i.e., Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission.

Intimate fathering is taught throughout the New Testament, i.e., the long journey of “being known and knowing,” healed and restored into our Savior’s likeness.

(Gen. 1:26, Psalm 139:3, Matt. 7:22, 25:12, Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 1 Cor. 13:12, John 17:21, 2 Cor. 3:18, Phil. 3:20-21, 1 Thess. 5:23, Heb. 8:10-11, 10:16, James 1:4, 1 John 3:2-3, etc.)

To grasp the depth and extent of the New Testament, even the most brilliant and studious mind will not be able to do so without the “drawing of the Holy Spirit and revelation of the Word.”

(Matt. 13:34-35, 16:17, John 6:44, 53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, Eph. 1:18, Phil. 3:10, Col. 1:27, 1 Peter 1:13.)

***

With the coming of the new Kingdom came a new language – one requiring spiritual revelation ever deepening in discovery and revelation until the day of Christ (completion).

The New Testament is not a textbook, but a living-breathing expression of God where words have the power to bring redemption, healing, restoration, and even eternal resurrection life in the flesh (Ro. 6:5, Phil. 3:10) under fathering.

Our battles are not with the flesh, but with the spirits of darkness in the earthly and Heavenly realm operating under the authority we and our generations have given them through the curse of sin.

Only through the destruction of sin in growing intimacy with Christ can true redemption come.

Important

It is in this life Jesus through fathering leads men and women to destroy sin, not the next – whatever sinfulness remains this side of the border, will have its effect through reduced intimacy with Christ in the next.

What I am sharing here is critical to understanding the plan of God to “make” men and women into his likeness by first having Jesus’ pioneer a “way” for men and women to follow. (NIV, John 14:6 italicize mine)

According to Scripture, in the eyes of Heaven, destroying the curse of sin passed through the generations by the cross of Christ (Ro. 6:5, 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10, etc.,),

is just as much a “death” as physical death because mortality (the result of sin – the enmity in the flesh) gives way to immortality in this life (resurrection life), i.e.,

the opportunity for New Covenant believers in Christ to fulfill Psalm 16 and 23 in the flesh under intimate fathering.

Jesus inherited the enmity in his flesh, i.e., the cravings and lusts of the flesh from his human ancestry under the curse in mortality (Ro. 8:3, 2 Cor. 5:21, Heb. 2:17, 4:15, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear),

having the same inner temptations as we, yet he put them to death by the cross he pioneered without sinning before his ministry (Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10)., his first glorification, entering eternal resurrection life.

From another perspective, “raised, resurrected” from the death of sin – putting it to death to walk in new life (Ro. 6:5 for us, 6:10 for Christ), i.e.,

resurrection life (from mortality to immortality), is just as much a resurrection as physical resurrection from physical death, even more so.

This is what Paul was seeking to apprehend this side of Heaven, resurrection life in the flesh (Philippians Chapter 3), the heart of the Gospel, restoring what Adam and Eve lost.

Christ’s second glorification (John 12:28), of course, came after Calvary with his second resurrection.

Everybody knows about Christ’s story during his ministry, his rejection, killing, and following resurrection, but what about his first glorification before ministry?

The passages in Romans repeating “Christ died, was raised” are not about Calvary, but his pioneering journey destroying generational transgressions and iniquities passed to him from his human ancestry (Isaiah 53:4-6, Ro. Chaps. 3-6, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. Chaps. 1-10, 2:10, 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10, 7:16 etc.).

There is no need for Paul to repeat the story of Calvary if it is the center of the NT, and the new birth is all there is to salvation, because then salvation is an “event” and not a journey to “completion.”

Creeds and traditions, the enemy’s secret weapon, have done from the balcony of darkness a splendid job confusing and paralyzing the body of Christ with teachings leading nowhere, going in circles, without a vision, hoping for a way of escape God never promised, missing the way of escape through intimacy with him he did promise!

The spirits of darkness pushing men to institutionalize Christianity through creeds – blocking the revelation of Christ’s pioneering journey to his first glorification – did so to hide their greatest fear – Christians coming to completion.

The enemy has no greater fear (other than facing Jesus himself) than men and women coming to “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23).

It is important to note in Philippians 3:10, Paul seeking to apprehend completion, refers to Christ’s first glorification before ministry – dying to sin to walk in new life (NIV, Romans 6:10), not his second glorification after Calvary.

Paul is not seeking to suffer a tortuous death to experience the resurrection, but the suffering and resurrection that comes from seeking new creation life under Christ’s “fathering” (Ro. 6:5, 2 Cor. 4:10-12), by Christ destroying the curse of sin in Paul’s life.

Jesus suffered through the atoning work of his Father in him leading to his first glorification before ministry not just for him and his generations, but for us to run the race by seeking his fathering in the destruction of sin in our lives as well.

Continuing, from the balcony of Heaven, the “suffering” from wounding, piercing, etc., the structures of sin in agreements, lies, vows, traumas, etc., passed through the generations for cleansing, healing, and restoration,

is just as much a “suffering” as “suffering” in physical death in the eyes of God according to Scripture.

(Isaiah 53:4-6, Ro. 6:5, 6:10, 2 Cor. 4:10-12, Heb. 4:12-13, 4:15, 5:7-10, etc.)

Under fathering God brought wounding, piercing, crushing David’s way, and it did not result in God bringing physical death to him, conversely, it prepared him for God’s future handiwork through him. (Psalms 38:2, 38:8, 69:26)

David’s suffering against sin in the Psalms – his wounding, piercing, crushing, etc., formed and fashioned him in preparation for “ruling” as God’s King – a “type” of Christ, foretelling the journey the Messiah would take under fathering in destroying sin “before” his ministry.

In the absence of understanding the New Covenant journey of putting sin to death to walk in new life under intimate fathering (Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10) – Christ pioneering the way –

church councils (lacking the revelation of the Spirit we have today), had nowhere to point Isaiah 53:4-6, other than Calvary,

taking it literally as applied to the flesh, instead of literally as it applied to the structures of sin “living” in wounds in Christ (from his human generations) and us (Romans Chapter 7).

Important

If you have prominence in Christendom, and you have “not” been involved in healing and deliverance ministries – how fallen spirits can gain strongholds, access points, tempt from within, how they work in judgment, lies, etc.,

then you are apt to take most everything as literal to the flesh, and only the most bizarre and extreme cases (where you can see demonic activity outwardly with the naked eye) recognize as spiritual.

Whereas those involved in “inner healing,” “listening prayer,” “deliverance,” “physical healing ministries,” etc., are well acquainted with the power of the enemy, how binding and losing work,

how the enemy’s claims in an area often require multiple avenues of approach to break his power and open the door to healing.

This is one of the situations where scholars, unfamiliar with actual spiritual warfare – having extensive head knowledge and training but little or no practical heart contact with the supernatural – force square pegs into round holes.

Demons are not everywhere, but, wherever sin is (everybody, Christian and otherwise, have areas that need the atoning work of the cross of Christ), it provides fertile soil for their activity and plantings (Matthew 15:13),

and they, like sharks who smell blood, are there to empower enforcement of agreements, lies, vows, etc., wreaking subterfuge wherever they have opportunity and access whenever they can. (John 10:10)

Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit (joined with a “fallen” human egg), having the Spirit of grace from his Father (1 Peter 1:10-12), learned under fathering, how to take the way of escape and put lust and cravings (the enmity in his flesh) to death,

the only one born of the flesh who never sinned, shutting down the curse of sin for his generations.

Jesus not only atoned for our sins through his journey to perfection (Heb. 5:7-10) before ministry but made it possible for us through “intimate fathering” to experience healing and restoration to resurrection life like him.

Christendom points Isaiah 53:4-6 to Christ’s flogging before and spearing during Calvary, not realizing this passage, like so many other Scriptures, points to the cross of Christ, not the Roman cross.

Important

The Hebrew interlinear I use says in Isaiah 53:5, paraphrasing, both Christ and those in Christ, are healed by wounding, etc., see (H-E), page 1561.

In other words, Christ’s wounding, piercing, etc., led to his healing, i.e., death to generational sin passed to him from his human ancestry, the purpose for which he came, “not” his physical killing – see brief section on Hebrews 4:12-13 below.

Hebrews 4:12-13, as well as other NT Scriptures, expand in detail and depth what Isaiah 53:4-6 meant for Christ, and for those in Christ.

Isaiah 53:4-6, Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Ephesians 5:26-27, 6:12, etc., describe the NT journey pioneered by Jesus to destroy the curse of sin – the enmity in the flesh passed to all born of the flesh – by the conviction and anointing of the Holy Spirit in spiritual warfare (e.g. Matt. 15:13; binding the strongman, etc.).

Intimate fathering in the NT, beginning with God fathering Jesus, leads to cleansing, healing, and restoration from the fall, not to physical death!

This is why Paul in Romans repeatedly speaks of Christ’s death to sin, raised to resurrection life, not recounting Calvary, but Christ’s first glorification, the heart of the NT.

Isaiah 53:4-6 is a prophetic description of Christ’s pioneering journey to his first glorification, whereas 53:7-9 speaks of Calvary, and verse eight, translators translate stricken/punished “for” Israel’s transgression,

or in the Hebrew interlinear just noted has stricken/punished “from” their transgressions (page 1561),

i.e., Israel’s rebelliousness in rejecting the good news of the Gospel in their Messiah (Matt. 21:37, John 15:22), led to him stricken, and

there are other interpretations as well – see biblehub.com Isaiah 53:8 and translations listed.

Isaiah 53:8 is saying, paraphrasing the last part, Israel’s sins led them to kill Christ (just as the prophets forewarned), “from” their sins they killed the Messiah – their failure to receive him led them to kill him,

“not” God led Israel to kill him on behalf of their sins, to atone for their sins, dying in their place, as Christendom has instructed men and women for centuries.

If you read 1 Peter 2:24 in a Greek interlinear, you will notice Peter clearly describes Christ at Calvary in the first part of the verse, but notice in the second half he points out something telling, “he had already died to sin,”

matching his Day of Pentecost sermon on Christ fulfilling Psalm 16 in the flesh, followed by a ministry of signs, wonders, and miracles, then God raising him “again” after Calvary in Acts 2:31-32.

In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter is in effect saying:

how horribly insane and contradictory Calvary was to Christ, he having already died to sin, walking in resurrection life (Ro. Chaps. 3-6, etc.), sacrificing the entirety of his life to the Father, presented Israel with the opportunity for redemption and salvation,

having atoned for their sins in his first glorification, they were on the cusp of an early Millennium, yet they would not repent,

Christ allowing them to “wound him with their own wounds” at Calvary, the one who had already carried their sins to the cross of dying to sin in his first glorification, having brought healing and salvation to thousands in his ministry,

now, at Calvary, having to face the utter contradiction of bearing their sins again, but this time openly, on a Roman cross, “but” not as their atoning healer and Savior,

but as a witness of their own hearts, the darkness in all of humanity publicly exposed for the world to see – so when the Gospel comes to them again the truth of his innocence and their guilt will be self-evident.

Because of  Israel’s unhealed wounded hearts, they killed the man (Messiah) sent to heal them of their wounds, having already paid the price for their sins in his death to sin on their behalf (Acts 7:52).

They failed to heed God’s warning through the prophets what they would do to God’s Son if they rejected coming to repentance (Matt. 21:33-46).

(Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. Chaps. 1-5, 5:7-10)

***

From the widely accepted Hebrew interlinear I referenced, from other OT Scriptures, and from the great weight of NT Scriptures about Christ dying to sin to walk in new life, I will bring in the next post the “making of Christ,”

his “sacrificial offering,” i.e., that it had nothing to do with God foreordaining Christ’s physical crucifixion,

but, in sharp contrast, God foreordaining Christ’s destruction of the cravings and lust of the lower nature,

(Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 2:10, 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10, 6:20, 7:16)

through the long hard journey of putting sin to death for the expressed purpose of entering resurrection life in the flesh, redeeming, and restoring what our first parents lost in the Garden, atoning for our sins in his perfection (glorification) before ministry.

God fathered Christ through the wounding, piercing, and crushing of the structures of generational sin passed to him “in how” to put them to death for his generations, becoming our “atonement and pioneering pattern.” (Heb. 5:7-10)

The Blood of Christ (In Brief)

Regarding the doctrines about the “literal blood” of Christ and the atonement, I discuss the word “blood” used in the NT in various places in this post and throughout this series and will continue to do so.

I must say when the light comes on about Christ’s pioneering journey, his first glorification – the heart of the Gospel, “making of Christ,” becoming our atoning sacrifice in his perfection before ministry,

the “woes” of Matthew 23 toward those planning his killing, coupled with the understanding of the language of the New Testament,

and the understanding why Jesus chose to let them kill him rather than pick up the sword, choosing his Father’s preferred will for the people of Israel (more time to come to forgiveness),

and God (not wanting his Son’s heart damaged by injuring or killing those he just spent three years trying to save having come to love),

it becomes obvious God hated the thought of his Son’s killing, having warned Israel repeatedly through the prophets what unrepented sin would drive them to do if they did not repent.

(Some might say the OT prophecies of Christ’s rejection and killing are obscure, difficult to understand, let alone when they were written. I would say is that because of God’s reluctance to share clarity, or humanity’s sin blocking greater clarity leading to repentance?

Maybe the lack of what we perceive as clarity on God’s part is his wonderous plan to “draw” men and women’s heart’s to him for insight, discovery, and revelation through growing intimacy, giving us mysteries to unearth only through seeking him.)

***

The Holy Spirit conceived Christ to kill sin – to put it to death “by his own blood, i.e., the entirety of his “life” given over for one ordained purpose,” 

pioneering the way for our healing and deliverance as our pattern and example in all things, beginning with him first, High Priest, Savior, and intimate. (Heb. 2:11)

Note:

Blood in reference to Christ means he gave “everything” one can give in this life – for the foreordained purpose of God bringing him to perfection, becoming our Savior, before ministry, exceeding what one could give in death.

Christ went the full distance, made perfect in life – it costs more to sacrifice your life to God “in life,” than to ask God to take your life in death.

Among other things, in reference to Jesus, blood denotes the depth and extent of his sacrifice in apprehending eternal resurrection life, creating a new bloodline of the Spirit, not the liquid in his body (John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8).

The word “blood” in life in general and in Scripture most every time (in reference to Jesus) denotes the totality of his sacrificial offering to his Father, the great expanse of life given in every way to the cause of redeeming humanity by putting sin to death, including the sacrificial offering of rights and privileges (Phil. Chap. 2), not the liquid in the body, see John 6:53-63 and Ezekiel Chap. 33:1-9.

Important

Christ Jesus, “fully human in every way” “tempted in every way, just as we are” (NIV, Heb. 2:17, 4:15), the heart of Romans 3:25 and Romans Chapters 3-6 (and elsewhere in the NT), about Christ dying to sin, raised to resurrection life in the flesh, fulfilling the law perfectly (Matt. 5:17),

are about him taking the wounding, piercing, crushing (call it punishment for us if you want), of the structures of sin he inherited from his human ancestry (Isaiah 53:4-6, Heb. 4:12-13, 5:7-10),

suffering the long journey of putting sin to death by breaking generational agreements, lies, vows, etc., renouncing the claims of the strongman over him and his generations,

suffering “through” the cleansing and healing of pain, anguish, trauma, etc., of wounds from the sinful actions of his generations, fighting spiritual warfare none of us could endure or bear by grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness on behalf of his generations,

and in doing so, destroying completely the curse of sin passing through his human generations, creating a new bloodline of the Spirit, not of the flesh (John 6:53-63).

Please remember sins and the wounds they feed on are alive in our members whether yielded or not. (Romans Chapter 7)

The Spirit of God must wound, pierce, etc., sin to put it to death, i.e., to “wound the wound” as I have heard counselors say, by seeking Holy Spirit light into the nature of the wound, opening hidden pain and darkness to the light of God,

like an infection in the natural, for examination, diagnosis, and cleansing for healing, which, to say the least, can be exceedingly painful for deeply rooted sins caused by loss, abuse, hostility, treachery, betrayal, infidelity, trauma, etc.

To deal with these issues and the release, cleansing, and healing of pain and suffering, revisiting areas of every king of hurt, etc., is what Christ went through for his generations and us, crying out to his Father during his journey (Heb. 5:7-10),

paving the way for healing and restoration, making our journey possible where without his pioneering sinless effort, we could never do it, we having sold ourselves to sin from the beginning.

When the Scripture says God made Christ like us, and his flesh tempted him in the same way our flesh tempts us, coming from the seed of Adam and Eve just like you and me, it means what it says – Jesus’ humanity was no different than ours,

receiving the same lower nature we receive, except he also received the Spirit of his Father – grace untainted by sin, “severing” the automatic disposition to “sin” (James 1:13-15), when both parents come from sinful flesh.

Thus, Christ quickly learned under fathering how to take the way of escape with every temptation whether from within or without,

and when of age how to put sin to death (what God foreordained him to do under fathering),

becoming the centerpiece of the new creation through transformation, fulfilling the law in his flesh, becoming the eternal spring of living water from God to humanity.

God designed “wounding, piercing, etc.,” (remembering the NT came with an expanded language, just like the OT), for us to understand in one of two ways.

It can mean the enemy wounds an area of “wholeness” through sin (like Adam and Eve before the fall), or conversely, the Spirit of God wounds an area of “cravings and lust – the enmity in the flesh,”

for cleansing and healing, leading to greater intimacy as part of his forming and fashioning.

Wounds from the enemy always harm (John 10:10), he only knows one nature.

Whereas wounds from someone who has your best interest at heart, Jesus Christ our God and Savior, comes out of love and care in moving move men and women closer to him through healing and restoration. (Proverbs 20:30, 27:6)

When Isaiah foretells Messiah’s wounding etc., he speaks of the areas afflicted by the curse of sin passed through the generations, not wounding leading to physical death, having what he saw earlier in mind (Isaiah 1:5-6).

There was no belief “before” the creeds the Messiah would be born free from the curse of sin in the OT; the NT, having greater light than the Old, clearly expresses otherwise.

(Ro. 1:3, 8:3, 2 Cor. 5:21, Gal. 4:4, Eph. 2:14-16 see Greek, Heb. 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10)

Important

The purpose of Christ’s coming was for him to put sin to death, paving the way for his healing and restoring ministry, he having done it perfectly making it possible for us to do it imperfectly in him!

God “sacrificed” his one and only Son to kill the curse of sin through the human generations – to give the entirety of his life to the cause of God in redeeming, healing, and restoring humanity, beginning with the man Christ Jesus first (1 Timothy 2:5).

Jesus not only sacrificed every temptation to the cross of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:17, etc.), for cleansing and healing, but rights and privileges, fulfilling the law perfectly in his flesh (Psalm 16, Matt. 5:17), creating the New Testament in him (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear).

God did not sacrifice Jesus as a human offering on a Roman cross, but he did sacrifice him on the cross of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:17, the same cross for you and me) to atone for humanity’s sin through his perfection, making a “vine” to graft in wild branches, so they can be cleansed, pruned, and healed for resurrection life. (Romans 6:5)

Please remember the NT is a new and better covenant – it does not require the killing of a person to put it in force, or the spilling of actual blood like the Old Covenant – those beliefs came into the Church during its “dark hour.”

It is through the creeds the theology of the atonement at Calvary was birthed, looking back at OT practices and not forward to NT revelation, 1 Cor. 2:13 (Jesus warned this would happen in Matt. 13 parables of the weeds, mustard seed, and yeast, and his letters to the churches).

Jesus is the testator of the New Covenant because he put the old nature to death, raised to resurrection life before ministry, not because of Calvary.

Under God’s fathering, wounding leads to righteousness (Hebrew 4:12-13), destroying the power of the curse passed through the generations, the promise of God’s fathering beginning with Christ (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Important

Hebrews 4:12-13 in an interlinear shows the fierceness of God in destroying the camp of the enemy living in our members! (Romans Chapter 7)

“Laid bare” (NIV, Heb. 4:13 italicize mine) is about killing the enemy – created beings, or the plants (structures) of sin they have planted, watered, and fertilized in the soil of the heart and flesh through our generations, it is not about killing us!

And you will notice God must penetrate and divide to get to the root of the enemy’s plant or camp in our lives – Jesus was not joking when speaking of the strongman, etc. (Matthew 15:13)

Hebrews 4:12-13 is NT expansion of Isaiah 53:4-6.

Whereas the focus of Hebrews 4:12-13 conveys the intimate journey of fathering, cleansing, and healing from the curse of sin, revealing more detail about Christ’s journey (2:10, 6:20, 2:17, 4:15), and ours in Christ,

expanding the understanding of healing and restoration from Heaven’s perspective – putting sin to death to walk in new life in the Spirit,

Isaiah 53:4-6 focuses on the “making of the Christ,” his journey, the suffering he went through in putting sin to death, pain, spiritual battles, opening of wounds, etc., leading to his completion, atonement, and opportunity for him to heal us.

Again, when Isaiah thought of the Messiah in Isaiah 53:4-6, he thought of the x-ray vision God gave him of Israel’s sins (Isaiah 1:5-6),

how the Messiah would suffer from sins in putting them to death, God was going to heal the Messiah through the suffering destruction of the curse of sin.

Isaiah did not know how that would come about, but he knew the Messiah born of the flesh would take their suffering and come out whole.

Important

He did not understand the coming grace to put sin to death through intimate fathering, first for Jesus, and then those in Christ, how demons work, how agreements work, binding and losing, etc., what dying to sin looks like and involves, and obviously, inner healing prayer ministry and all the other things we take for granted today.

To sum, wounding, piercing, etc., means bringing affliction to the enemy – not to Jesus nor those in him, but to the cravings and lust of the flesh (the enmity towards God in your flesh and mine),

God intervening through various means, people, situations, events, and himself, to halt sins’ destructive operation and restore men and women (beginning with Christ first and perfectly) back to the path he originally ordained for our first parents.

Psalms 16 and 23 are descriptions of the pioneering path Christ fulfilled perfectly in his journey to completion before ministry (Matt. 5:17), entering eternal resurrection life before ministry.

See Luke 20:36 – can you can figure out what Jesus is “cleverly” saying but not plainly.

See also Ro. 6:10, 8:10-11, 1 Cor. 15:45-49, Heb. 4:14, 7:16 – Christ entered the Heavenly Holy of Holies before ministry, walking in eternal life, never to die of natural causes.

Separating Yeast From Dough Is Impossible Without Revelation

Continuing, it is critical to understand the separation of Christ’s first and second glorifications (John 12:28),

the first, from his pioneering journey to completion before ministry (Ro. Chaps. 3-6, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10), fathered by God,

the second, at his physical resurrection.

It is also critical to understand the two separate streams of prophecy regarding his coming and rejection,

the first, his “coming – journey to perfection” foreordained by God to usher in the New Covenant through his Son, hoping Israel would receive his Son (Matt. 21:37),

the second, a stream of prophecies from God warning Israel  continuing “unrepentance” will lead to the rejection and killing of the Messiah.

God warned Israel about the condition of their hearts and what they would do, just we have warnings in the Word to Christians about what is coming, leaving it up to men and women’s free will to decide the outcome.

Because the yeast of creeds has been “fused” to Scripture, literally in some cases, Holy Spirit revelation is needed to understand the separation of Christ’s personal story before ministry, his first glorification, from Calvary, leading to his second glorification.

The flesh cringes at the thought God designed “spiritual discovery and revelation” as a necessary and integral part of everyone’s journey – you cannot have intimacy with Christ without revelation.

(John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, Ephesians 1:17-18, Col. 1:27, 1 John 2:27, etc.)

That the Holy Spirit, given open hearts, and minds, free from the heavy weight of extra-biblical writings and teachings,

can bring the body of Christ to the fullness of Christ “internally through transformation,” cleansing and healing the body as it brought together, not by head knowledge, but in transformation into wholeness and holiness.

It is not by the outward profession of what “we think we believe” making us one, but the inward profession of “who we have become in Christ” that makes us one.

To repeat, just like death, resurrection, suffering, wounding, etc., discussed throughout this series, NT Scripture uses “blood” to describe the “sacrificial giving of the entirety of Christ’s life” including rights and privileges in destroying generational sin passed to him,

enabling him to enter eternal resurrection life “alive” in the flesh, fulfilling Psalm 16 and 23 before his ministry.

Jesus also uses “blood” to describe his new source of life – the indwelling of the Spirit of the living God without measure (fullness), John 3:34, Col. 1:19, Heb. 4:14, 5:7-10, 7:16, etc., coming to completion before ministry, his first glorification.

(Translations have added shed, shedding, etc., to certain NT blood passages to conform with the creeds.

Blood in Matthew 26:28 refers not to the liquid in his body, but his willingness to give up eternal resurrection life – his present immortality in the flesh, having fulfilled Psalm 16 before ministry – never having to face physical death, giving the people of Israel more time to come to forgiveness.)  

***

The authors of the NT use the natural – spiritual comparisons in the NT for other words as well, like sacrifice, cross, asleep, fallen asleep, etc., where one communicates spiritual truth and outcomes just as final as the other.

Following the principles of hermeneutics, we are to understand words used in Scripture not only according to context, etc., which Christendom widely understands, but also by discovery and revelation.

Just as the Roman cross is not something you can put yourself on, so, to the “cross of Christ under intimate fathering.”

It takes the “coming of the Lord” (appearing, revealing, etc.), to usher men and women through the open door into Tabernacles – the cross of Christ, i.e., the deep work of the Spirit of grace in healing in growing union with Christ.

The NT is God’s love letter inviting men and women to seek him in the Holy of Holies (secret place), i.e., Tabernacles, where he will make us intimate and one with him.

The new birth is the passport to Tabernacles, the Holy of Holies, just like the Outer Court and Holy Place comes before the Holy of Holies, and Passover and Pentecost before Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths). (Lev. Chapter 23)

To enter intimate fathering (Matt. 24:37, 25:1-13, John 14:18-23, 21:18-19, 1 Cor. 4:5, Gal. 5:5, etc.), the open door into Philadelphia (Tabernacles, Rev. 3:7-13), requires “encounter” with Christ – you cannot enter without him taking you in (it is open to those who answer Christ’s knock at the door, Rev. 3:20).

In intimate fathering (the cross Christ), we become deeply bonded to Christ under his care and love with protective boundaries and assignments uniquely given for our benefit and growth. (Psalm 16:5-6, Psalms 23, 91, 139:3-5)

In John 21:18-19, Jesus informs Peter his fathering journey is on the horizon, Peter understands, contrary to traditions, it is about his death to sin, and not his physical life, where he will be made mature and complete (Ro. 6:5, 8:19-23, James 1:4, 1 Peter 1:13, 5:10), i.e., Peter’s Tabernacle journey of dying to sin, entering resurrection life, like Paul’s, 2 Cor. 4:10-12.

The cross of Christ leads you deep into Christ, knowing and being known, where Jesus takes the reins of your life into his hands (Gal. 5:17),

leading you by step, healing by healing, toward wholeness and holiness in growing intimacy with him and the Father.

(John 14:18-23, 15:1-8, 21:17, 1 Cor. 13:12, 2 Cor. 3:18, Phil. 3:20-21, James 1:4, Heb. 12:1-8, 1 John 3:2-3, Rev. 3:7-13)

Like wild horses caught on a round up, the Lord brings us safely into his corral, free from living in constant danger of the elements, mountain lions, food and water shortages, and other dangers.

Chosen by the Lord for his service, you want for nothing, having everything you need under the constant care of the Lord.

It may be a myth in the natural realm, but not in the spiritual, the longer we stay under his fathering care, the more we gain his features, attributes, and sweet-smelling fragrance of life!

***

Through fathering, his promised coming to you and me (John 14:18-23, etc.), healing and restoration in the 21st century, Jesus severs and destroys the “law of sin and death” so the “law of the Spirit who gives life” (NIV, Romans 8:2, bold and italicized mine), can root, grow, and flourish body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23, Ro. 6:5).

It is through intimate fathering – ushered through the open door into Philadelphia – Jesus walks men and women through the journey of dying to sins, raised to walk in new life, transformed from glory to glory (NIV, 2 Cor. 3:18).

Resurrection life is so far beyond the new birth and Pentecost in intimacy with Jesus it cannot be compared to anything else in this realm.

To be transformed (2 Cor. 3:18) from orphans (John 14:18-23), children, young men, and young women (1 John 2:12-14), wise virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), sleepy and spiritually dead Christians (Eph. 5:14), and from sheep to war horses (NIV, Zech. 10:3), mature and complete (James 1:4),

requires nothing less than “intimate fathering,” healing and restoration, i.e., putting sin to death (Romans Chapter 6, 2 Cor. 13:9-11, Eph. 5:26-27, 1 Peter 5:10),

to apprehend the nature and likeness of Christ (John 17:21, Ro. 6:5, 1 Cor. 13:8-12, 1 Peter 1:13, 2 Peter 1:4, 1 John 3:2-3).

It takes “intimate fathering,” the coming, appearing, etc., of the Lord to successfully walk through the journey of putting sin to death.

This is what it means to be a “living sacrifice” (NIV, Romans 12:1) in the hands of God, Christ having pioneered the journey before his ministry,

enduring what we could never endure in putting sin to death for his generations (Isaiah 53:4-6), suffering a suffering in the destruction of the enmity of his flesh we could never suffer and live (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10),

destroying the structures of sin passed to him from his human generations (Ro. 1:3, Ro. 8:3, 2 Cor. 5:21, Gal. 4:4, Heb. 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10), atoning for our sins in his first glorification before ministry,

under intimate fathering, God made a new tree of life (Christ Jesus) for humanity to come to for salvation (John 6:53-63, 15:1-8), 

paving the way (John 14:6), for men and women to receive eternal resurrection life in the flesh now, this side of Heaven.

The Lord initiates intimate fathering at his coming – a unique, personal, and individual journey with the Lord, through counseling, healing prayer, training, discipline, instruction, and healing.

Important

The various “comings” of the Lord in the NT describe the initiation of intimate fathering, the final pilgrimage, Tabernacles, noted as the “coming” “appearing” “taking” “revealing” and “judging” of the Son of Man/Lord/bridegroom.

These words describe Christ’s initiation to fulfill the promise of his Isaiah 61 Commission, which is Christ’s specific focus today as the era of the Gospel comes to a close.

Two thousand years of NT history has led to where we are today in God’s plan to prepare a bride in the last of the last days for his Son.

There are brides from past church ages and the OT, but in this season of transition to the Millennium, intimate fathering is his focus, because Jesus knows it will take his fathering for Christians to make it successfully through what is coming.

To that end, the Lord reserved the age of Philadelphia (concurrent with Laodicea) to prepare a last day bride in the closing decades of the Gospel.

The NT authors describe the fathering journey and the outcome, such as:

dying to sin to walk in new life, the baptism of fire, baptized with Christ, changed from glory to glory, suffering with Christ, the cross of Christ, crucifying the flesh, birthing Christ, mystery of Christ, day of Christ, redeeming the body,

seeking restoration, cleanse yourselves, “washing with water through the word” (NIV, Eph. 5:26 italicized mine), judging of Christ (Christ’s judgment in fathering is to cleanse and heal, not condemn!), etc.,

and terms and phrases of the outcome like “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23 italicize mine), war horse, mature, complete, bride, equipped, glorification, union with Christ, to know and be known, “we shall see him as he is” (NIV, 1 John 3:2 italicized mine),

resurrection life, fathers of the faith, and partaker of the “divine nature” (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4 italicized mine), etc.

***

Under “fathering” the Spirit reveals where we have searched for life apart from God to cover and find solace for our wounds and brokenness and the sins that feed upon them.

At the core of our search for life apart from God are cravings and lust in agreements (judgments), lies, vows, expectancies, traumas, etc., under our watch and generationally.

Cravings and lust can come about through different avenues, like the rush to judgment, anger, deceit, blame, accusation, gossip, independent spirit, and all the way darkness tempts agreement with it against God, others, and us.

Please remember, sin is alive in our members (Romans Chapter 7), its cravings and lust hidden in our thoughts, actions, motives, and attitudes (2 Cor. 7:1, Hebrews 4:12-13, etc.).

During the years of the new birth and Pentecostal pilgrimages the Lord prunes low hanging bad fruit through inner healing prayer, counseling, etc., under “general fathering and mothering” received from the body of Christ at large.

But it is not until the “coming of the Lord,” i.e., the deep work of the Spirit of grace in intimate fathering through personal encounter with the living Christ, the deeply hidden, secreted, and out of reach bad fruit becomes the focus of the Lord’s healing and restoration.

Deep healing and restoration leading to resurrection life now is promised to those who seek intimacy with him.

(John 14:18-23, Romans 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:17, 8:19-23, 1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5, Gal. 5:5, Phil. 3:10-21, Rev. 3:7-13, etc.)

Deep healing and restoration, the promise of his Isaiah 61 Commission, can only come through initiation and direct intervention by Jesus and those he uses as his medical assistants.

It is important to eagerly seek the Lord as the Scripture exhorts, letting him know we want everything he has for us, the loaves and the fishes will not be sufficient, that you must have him.

More on Christ’s Pioneering Journey

This series presents major themes contrary to creeds and traditions “birthed” during the fourth church age (Thyatira), like, for example:

Jesus pioneered (Heb. 2:10,6:20), the creation of the New Covenant in the long journey of dying to sin, raised to walk in new life (NIV, Ro. 6:10 (Ro. Chaps. 3-6), Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10), resulting in his first glorification (John 12:28), before ministry,

by destroying transgressions and iniquities (Isaiah 53:4-6, the enmity in his flesh) passed to him from his human ancestry, apprehending eternal resurrection life in the flesh “alive,” “a living sacrifice” (Psalm 16, Isaiah 53:10), creating the path for our “living sacrifice” (NIV, Ro. 12:1, see also related Ro. 6:5),

atoning for the sin of his generations (Luke 3:23-38) during his pioneering journey (and those who come to him, Ro. 10:9, Eph. 2:8),

fulfilling the law perfectly in his flesh (Matt. 5:17, Heb. 5:7-10, 1 Peter 1:10-12), before ministry, i.e., the promised coming “of grace” “in him” through Holy Spirit conception (Luke 1:13, 1 Peter 1:10-12).

To repeat, Jesus was fathered to perfection, “made perfect” (NIV, Heb. 5:9 italicize mine, Heb. 1:3, John 1:14, 3:34, Col. 1:19, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear), before his ministry, gaining victory over the sins of his generations he entered eternal resurrection life in the flesh, Heb. 4:14, 7:16, 1 Cor. 15:45-49.

God commissioned Christ to “father” those who come to him from mortality to immortality – eternal resurrection life (Ro. 6:5).

Jesus was the New Testament in flesh and blood when he entered ministry (having atoned for sin in his journey to perfection before ministry, his first glorification), offering healing, restoration, etc., unconditionally,

presenting Israel with an unprecedented spiritual banquet of goodness and kindness to the Israel of God,

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace walking in their midst, having “the name that is above every name” (NIV, Phil. 2:9 italicized mine),

and all authority in Heaven and earth demonstrated in signs, wonders, and miracles, leaving no stone unturned in his ministry to win the heart of Israel.

Yes, Jesus was fully Jesus, our eternal Savior, King, Lord, High Priest, God manifest in flesh and blood, when he entered ministry, Calvary did nothing to change who he was, his nature, position, authority before his Father, his commission, or, contrary to the Church, the beginning point of “salvation” in the New Covenant which began with his first glorification.

***

Here is another way of expressing the preceding:

Sacrificing the entirety of his life including rights and privileges (Phil. Chap. 2), in his journey to completion (Heb. 5:7-10), before ministry, a New Testament “blood” sacrifice,

(the blood sacrifice God always wanted but could never receive until his Son’s “living sacrifice,” Isaiah 53:10, John 6:53-63, like blood used in Ezekiel Chap. 33, 1 John 5:7-8, symbolic of “life” under the NT sacrificial system for Christ and those in Christ, 1 Cor. 2:13),

Christ offered himself as a “living sacrifice” in the destruction of generational sins (Isaiah 53:4-6, 53:10, Ro. 6:10, etc.),

receiving healing and restoration from the enmity in his flesh, “made” into the perfect likeness of his Father (Heb. 1:3), he entered eternal resurrection life (Heb. 4:14, 7:16, Psalm 16, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, 1 Cor. 15:45-49),

offering Israel a new bloodline of the Spirit and not of the flesh (John 6:53-63).

Important

Jesus used the word “blood” to connect the OT sacrificial system to the New Covenant, not for the purpose of killing him, but to convey, sacrifice is necessary for everybody under the New Covenant,

it is no longer the offering of animals, but the offering of ourselves to God for healing and restoration from generational sins, Christ the firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, pioneer, and perfecter of grace through faith, without sin,

making healing and restoration through “fathering” possible for all who come to him under the NT sacrificial system (Romans Chapter 6, 12:1).

Further, the promised grace in Christ Jesus (1 Peter 1:10-12) offers much more than the new birth and Pentecost, making it possible not only to be healed and restored from the curse of sin (Ro. 8:10-11, 2 Cor. 13:9-11, Eph. 5:26-27, 1 Thess. 5:23, 1 Peter 5:10, etc.),

but also, more importantly, for Jesus to make us intimate and one with him and the Father by the sacrificial offering of our lives as a “living sacrifice” (NIV, Ro. 12:1 italicize mine).

Christ is the only one who can claim he made a “blood” sacrifice, as he is the only one who, having the same enmity in his flesh as we from our generations (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10), having to learn obedience, put sin to death perfectly, without sin (Heb. 2:17, 4:15), enduring the journey, the loss of all things,

in “becoming” (Heb. 5:7-10) our Savior, lamb substitute (symbolically), atoning for our sins, suffering the wounding and piercing of the structures of sin in his flesh (putting them to death) in a journey we could never endure, we having made sin familiar (family) to us (Romans Chapter 7, 2 Cor. 7:1).

Important

You do not become “the” pioneer, forerunner, firstborn, first fruit, perfecter of grace through faith (1 Peter 1:10-12, Heb. 2:10, 6:20, Col. 1:15, 1 Cor. 15:20-23, Heb. 12:2) by God handing you over to be killed as Christendom believes contrary to Scripture,

but, instead, by making a path through the enemy’s territory and strongholds, destroying the enemy’s rule, authority, and power in your flesh received from your human generations, fulfilling the law perfectly in your flesh (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Matt. 5:17),

while gaining a vast amount of knowledge on the working of sin and darkness through the temptations of the body, soul, and spirit, and how,

by grace through faith, you can demolish and destroy the strongholds of sin through repentance and forgiveness on behalf of your generations,

so those following have a path and understanding to make “their part” of the journey, one they could have never done on their own without your (Christ’s) triumphant and victorious trailblazing journey through Hell’s strongholds over his flesh, yet, without sin.

That is right, for Jesus to become our atoning lamb sacrifice, i.e., our blood sacrifice, he had to destroy transgressions and iniquities passed to him from his human ancestry (Isaiah 53:4-6, healing to Christ and us, see (H-E) at end of post),

God having accomplished perfection in Christ under fathering, raised him to eternal resurrection life in the flesh before ministry, his first glorification. (Ro. Chaps. 3-6, John 12:28, etc.)

This is what Paul means when he describes God offering Christ as a blood sacrifice (NIV, Romans 3:25), not for killing, but for “completion” entering resurrection life in the flesh, restoring what our first parents gave away.

If you check an interlinear for Ro. 3:25, like other blood Scriptures, (with the exception where Christ is speaking about pouring out his life) translators have taken the liberty to add shed, spilled, shedding, etc., for blood because tradition teaches Christ’s atonement took place at Calvary.

In Matthew 26:28 when Jesus speaks of shedding, pouring, spilling his blood he is referring to his life, having already died to sin (see 1 Peter 2:24 last half of verse in interlinear), Jesus, rather than taking up the sword, is giving more grace for men and women to “come” to forgiveness (John 15:22).

A Few Thoughts On How To Make Your Life An Acceptable Living Sacrifice

Offering our lives as a living sacrifice is not about becoming a minister, etc., but offering oneself to God for healing and restoration, which inherently leads to intimate fathering in the journey of putting sin to death through Holy Spirit cleansing and transformation.

Though we may like to think Psalm 51 (verse 17) applies to David only, verse seventeen applies to everyone who names the name of Christ.

Sin living in our members is universal to men and women (Romans Chapter 3, 7, 2 Cor. 7:1, etc.)

If you desire to please the heart of God more than anything else, give him your broken spirit and your broken and contrite heart.

This is the ache God has for every man and woman; they would give him their wounds and brokenness under fathering for healing and restoration – the purpose of the coming grace in Christ.

Everyone has levels of wounds and brokenness, and they affect our body, soul, and spirit, following the first couple’s sin in the Garden where Eve sinned body, soul, and spirit.

(1 Thess. 5:23 shows the coming of the Lord, i.e., his promise to father from orphans into full-fledged sons (Ro. 8:19-23, Heb. 12:7-8), is for the whole person – body, soul, and spirit.)

Important

Contrary to spirits of shame, condemnation, disqualification, etc., God does “not” despise our wounds and brokenness, rather his delight is us bringing them to him for care, counsel, and healing.

On the contrary, he sent his only begotten Son to pioneer the path for healing and restoration, beginning with Christ putting to death sins passed to him from his human ancestry (Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10, Heb. 2:11-12).

Simply, the heart of the Gospel created and announced by Jesus (Heb. 2:3, 2:10, 6:20), the mediator between God and humanity (NIV, 1 Timothy 2:5),

was the pioneering journey of “dying” to those things’ men and women, including his generations, had been “deceived” into believing brought life (Ro. 7:17-20), that instead led to death (Ro. 6:23).

Humanity sold under sin to darkness, seeking life “outside of” grace through faith in the promises, care, and love of God, believing lies about God, his Word, and what it means (Gen. 3:1-5), pioneered a different path through the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Under the stewardship of a new God, the fallen Prince of Darkness, men, and women quickly learned how to become “one with the cravings and lust of the flesh” through agreements with darkness, judgments of others and themselves, lies, vows, etc.,

setting themselves and their descendants on a course for eternal separation from God along with the spirits of darkness they embraced.

Jesus brought back the path God originally designed for men and women (John 14:6), destroying the curse of sin in his generations, raised by his Father to eternal resurrection life in the flesh, creating a new bloodline for men and women of the Spirit and not of the flesh.

For our pilgrimage to end in “completion,” we must seek Christ for the baptism he underwent with the Father, i.e., the journey of intimate fathering leading to the death of sin through healing and restoration.

(Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 2 Cor. 3:18, 7:1, 13:9-11, Eph. 5:26-27, etc.)

Intimate fathering leads to union with Christ in this life (resurrection life, Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11), beyond anything one could imagine or think (1 Cor. 2:6-10), after we put to death “die” (Ro. Chap. 6, 2 Cor. 4:10-12, etc.) to the false loves we and our generations chose seeking life apart from God.

Intimate fathering leads to a life so complete, compelling, fruitful, in and through Christ it evades description, like the new birth and Pentecost but order of magnitude greater (for lack of a better comparison).

This is Christ’s priority today in the age of Philadelphia: healing and restoration for those who seek “fathering” through the open door into the deep work of the Spirit of grace in healing and restoration (Rev. 3:7-13).

Philadelphia is the last opportunity to receive the promise of intimate union with Christ through fathering, healing, and restoration, before the door closes and events are set in motion for the Tribulation (answering Christ’s knock on the door of Laodicea leads to the open door of Philadelphia!).

***

Other major themes in this series include truths like:

The “new language of the New Covenant” expanded the meaning of words like death, life, resurrection, sacrifice, suffering, blood, cross, crucify, asleep, fallen asleep, wounding, piercing, etc.

The two distinct and separate prophetic streams of the coming Messiah, one foreordained by God – the “making” and “presentation” of the Messiah by God the Father as a gift to Israel, the other,

prophetic warnings to Israel and the Messiah what unrepentant men and women will do with the Gospel message if they do not humble themselves first through John’s ministry and then Christ’s (no different than any other warning in the Bible leaving men and women to “choose”), which tradition combines as one prophetic stream.

The labor of Jesus today in fathering men and women to completion in the present age of Philadelphia – the last opportunity for intimacy with Christ before the end-times are unleashed.

What our journey of fathering looks like and entails, and, among others.

The tremendous negative impact creeds and traditions have had through the centuries directing everything to do with death, resurrection, blood, suffering, sacrifice, dying to sin, cross, to Calvary,

completely missing Christ’s first glorification, his pioneering journey, leaving Christians suffering for centuries under institutionalized Christianity instead of receiving Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission.

Institutionalization of Christianity gave the enemy an opening to worm half-truths and mistruths into creeds and traditions, just as Christ warned through parables two, three, and four of Matthew 13, and his first four letters in Revelation.

Jesus Foreordained To Take Back Eternal Life By Destroying Sin

This series does not diminish what Christ accomplished at Calvary leading to his second glorification.

On the contrary, this series shows “according to Scripture” (not traditions), even a greater measure of sacrifice at Calvary having already died to sin, becoming our atoning sacrifice in his perfection (Heb. 5:7-10) before ministry, he had every right to take the Kingdom by force.

He chose to stay the course of his Commission, to not take vengeance at this time, choosing the wisdom of his Father’s “preferred will” (Luke 22:42, see interlinear), extending “grace and time” for more to come to forgiveness. (Matt. 26:28)

He chose to die rather than take the Kingdom by force and stain the “Gospel Story” of the NT with blood.

He came to understand through his Father’s wisdom the tremendous negative impact taking the Kingdom by force would have on the Gospel, Israel, friends, family, etc., and importantly – the long-term effect on his own heart.

How could he “heart-digest” using the sword, which he had every right to do and live with the knowledge his choice led to injuries and death of men and women he just spent three years trying to save?

Once the love of God consumed him for the “lost,” having already atoned for sins in his first glorification before ministry, he had “no heart” for taking the sword and stepping beyond his Isaiah 61 Commission into “vengeance.”

Israel rejected the “Messiah” in fullness, and Jesus resolved (through Gethsemane’s heart searching) to see his rejection to the end.

Jesus was “fully Jesus,” our Savior, eternal resurrection life in flesh and blood, saving and healing, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, during his ministry, ushering men, and women into the new birth.

Calvary did nothing to change who Jesus was or the state of humanity before God, but, importantly, in the eyes of Christ and his Father, it did give men and women more time to come to forgiveness before Israel’s destruction, and even more importantly, it saved Christ the pain and heartache of taking the Kingdom by force.

Christ was our Eternal Savior in flesh and blood “before” Calvary, having atoned for sins in his journey to perfection fathered by God (Romans Chapters 3-6, 6:10, Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear, Hebrews 5:7-10).

God did not present a 99% Jesus to John for water baptism, but a 100% Jesus!

To repeat, Jesus had all authority, the greatest of names, etc., before he entered ministry.

God presented Christ as a “living-breathing-blood-sacrifice” before his ministry, forming and fashioning the man Christ Jesus perfectly into his likeness.

(John 1:4, 3:34, 14:9, 17:21, 2 Cor. 4:6, Col. 1:19, Heb. 1:3)

Our Heavenly Father “fathered” Christ to destroy the curse of sin passed to him from his human generations, raising him to immortality in the flesh, redeeming his generations, offering redemption-resurrection life to Israel for over three years.

Calvary fulfilled the promise (knowing they were scheming to kill him), to give Israel one sign, the sign of Jonah, visible resurrection, to prove “he was who he said he was,” having already atoned for sin.

Jesus did not condition salvation on “Calvary;” what the Prophets foretold spoke of what unrepentant men would do “if” they did not come to repentance by grace, “not” what they must do. (Matt. 21:37)

Important

In other words, Christ would fulfill the Scriptures speaking of his betrayal, rejection, and death because he is not going to fight, not because of his death at Calvary.

Having already put sin to death in his first glorification, his death at Calvary did not atone for sin, but gave the people of Israel more time to come to forgiveness (Matt. 26:28) before Rome’s destruction.

Peter in 1 Peter 2:24 contrasts the injustice of Christ bearing the sins of Israel at Calvary after having already atoned for sin leading to his first glorification, see interlinear (Tyndale, 1 Peter 2:24).

Father God left the decision up to Christ, and after unimaginable heart wrenching, Christ chose his Father’s preferred will, fulfilling his sacrificial offering beyond God’s original intention, design, and plan.

Again, according to Scripture, in opposition to creeds, traditions, and the waves of “Calvary” movies sweeping the cinema past and present, our salvation is rooted completely in the actions of God the Father perfecting his one and only begotten Son into his exact likeness before his ministry, Christ’s first glorification (John 12:28), not in his death at Calvary.

(John 12:28, Ro. Chaps. 3-6, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10)

God foreordained the coming of the Messiah not for killing, but to destroy the curse of sin by putting it to death by grace in repentance and forgiveness on behalf of his generations (humanity).

He was foreordained to endure the hardship of destroying the curse of sin on our behalf – becoming the new creation in flesh, having no sin nature – one we can be grafted into by the Spirit, making it possible for us to overcome sin in our lives through growing intimacy with him.

Jesus was not foreordained to be placed into the hands of an angry God and mob rule for torture and killing (see Acts 2:23 in an interlinear).

That is thinking from the dark ages as the Church spiraled downward in the fusion of civil and religious, adding extra-biblical beliefs and practices, having long lost the knowledge of Christ’s pioneering journey and revelation of intimate fathering to completion.

Jesus is the pioneer, first fruit, firstborn, forerunner, and finisher-perfecter of putting the enmity of his flesh to death, raised to walk in resurrection life, fulfilling Psalm 16 alive, redeeming what our first parents lost.

He is not those things of Calvary!

God “fathered” Christ from glory to glory, transforming him through healing and restoration into his perfect likeness, “becoming” the “exact” expression (NIV, Hebrews 1:3), of his nature in flesh and blood,

dying to the enmity of his flesh, God raised the man Christ Jesus from glory to glory to eternal resurrection life, Jesus fulfilling the law in his flesh perfectly without sin, entering Heaven before ministry, his first glorification.

(Matt. 5:17, John 1:14 (the Tabernacle of God’s Word in the “perfected” man Christ Jesus, also 1 Timothy 2:5), John 3:34 (the Tabernacle of God’s Holy Spirit in the “perfected” man Christ Jesus), John 14:9, etc.)

Romans Chapters 3-6, 6:10, 8:10-11, Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear, Col. 1:15-19 speaks of the pioneering journey before ministry, the perfected man Christ Jesus, Heb. 1:3, 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10, 8:10, 10:16).

God’s cross, which Christ pioneered before his ministry, heals and restores body, soul, and spirit, for those who seek intimacy with the Son and the Father, described as the “coming of the Son of Man/Lord” throughout the NT.

Important

Contrary to Christian teaching, the “blood sacrifice” God desired, laboring for more than four millenniums to bring it about –

was one who would nail the cravings and lusts of the enmity of their flesh to the “cross” of grace through faith, fleeing the temptations of the flesh, pulling down strongholds,

destroying the claims of darkness from agreements, lies, vows, etc., over their generations by the power of the Word and Spirit, without sin, fulfilling the spirit of the law perfectly.

That would take conception by the Holy Spirit miraculously joining a “created sperm” with an egg from fallen humanity for “grace through faith” to create a new path for humanity by putting sin to death, beginning first with the Messiah, then those who come to him, where a new bloodline of the Spirit replaces the bloodline of the flesh.

God’s sacrifice bears good fruit – not death.

God brought his Son into the world to sacrifice him for one purpose – to destroy the curse of sin passed to him from his generations by “grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness.”

This is the sacrificial aroma – the smell of victory and triumph over sin God always desired, waiting for the right time and place to birth his Son, a man born with the Spirit of Holiness who could discern the smell of temptation as soon as it raised its ugly head.

The “grace” from God as his Father (1 Peter 1:10-12), placed Christ in the position of Adam before the fall (Ro. 5:14, 1 Cor. 15:45-49), a body, soul, and spirit free from the conception of sin (James 1), but not from the wounds and brokenness of his human generations and the nature they brought with them.

One could say Christ was caught between two opposing worlds, foreordained to destroy one so the other could be redeemed and restored for him and those who come to him.

This is the blood sacrifice which won God’s heart: Christ Jesus willingly forsook all earthly ambitions, including rights and privileges (Phil. Chapter 2) to enter the cross of the Spirit, destroying sin “once and for all,”

suffering battles with the enmity in his flesh (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear), sin, hell, and the world, no man or woman born without the conception of the Holy Spirit could survive, made complete, fathered by God (Hebrews 5:7-10), before he entered ministry.

“Once and for all” means, for Christ’s human generations completely and perfectly, for new birth Christians (legally justified with beginning measures of glorification), and, for those who go on to completion, greater measures of experiential glorification in union with Christ.

Please remember destroying the curse of sin, which passes “alive” through the generations (cravings and lust of the flesh), brings “death” to what was formerly alive (see James 1 for progression from temptation to sin).

Likewise, death to sin through healing and restoration (transformation) produces the fruit of new life (resurrection life!), having destroyed mortality Christ entered immortality in the flesh before his ministry, fulfilling Psalm 16 alive, not in death.

***

Tragically, for 1500 years of history, this is where creeds and traditions miss the mark.

No wonder Paul foretells in 2 Thessalonians a Great Falling Away (reaching its peak during the closing years of Laodicea in the time of the Seals) in the last of the last days following the closing of the door to Philadelphia.

Christendom’s focus continues to be Calvary (“death”), because of the creeds, making it the “cornerstone” of the New Covenant in Jesus.

Whereas, in sharp contrast, Scripture focuses on Christ’s “blood (life)” sacrifice while alive (Isaiah 53:10, Romans 5:10, 6:10, Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear, Hebrews 5:7-10), fathered by God to destroy the curse of sin in agreements, lies,

vows, curses, i.e., the enmity in his flesh, fulfilling the law perfectly, entering resurrection life in the flesh, presenting his Isaiah 61 Commission to Israel out of the fruit of “who he had become” (John 6:53-63, Heb. 5:7-10), not out of “who he would become” at Calvary.

This is critical to know at this time in history.

Even though the Lord has “fathered” others in past church ages to completion (the final pilgrimage beyond the new birth and Pentecost), Philadelphia is specifically reserved for fathering, i.e., the coming of the Lord, Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission of healing and restoration.

***

Instead of rightfully taking up the sword, Jesus gave Israel the one last sign he promised – exposing the “rulers…authorities…powers” (NIV, Ephesians 6:12), etc., over their lives through the “wounds” on his body.

Christ’s flogging and crucifixion was a “visible manifestation” of Israel’s unrepentant transgressions and iniquities, a window into the darkness of their heart. (John 15:22)

Jesus knew by the Spirit before his death the coming “marks on his body” would soon be a testimony against them, a picture of the deep wounds, sins, and brokenness within them (Isaiah 1:5-6), leading some to come to forgiveness (Matt. 26:28), once they realize what they had done and missed. (Acts 2:36-39)

The wounds on Christ’s body were his last attempt to publicly testify of the Gospel of grace, the nation having witnessed the signs, wonders, and miracles of God to no avail (Matthew 21:33-44).

Important

Peter, freshly anointed by the Spirit but still suffering from the injustice inflicted upon Christ, boldly addresses the crowd on the day of Pentecost (Acts Chapter 2).

Peter bravely proclaims the “one” “lawless men” put to death, Jesus of Nazareth, was the Messiah, having fulfilled Psalm 16 as David foretold of the coming Savior (Acts 2:24 through 2:36).

That God promised David there would be one from his seed who would apprehend resurrection life in the flesh.

That God would “father” one of his descendants to not only become King but to become King experientially, reversing the sentence of death and mortality (Psalm 16), offering resurrection life in the flesh to those who come to him for life.

That the Messiah would do this by fulfilling the “law” in his flesh, without sin. (Matt. 5:17, Ro. 6:10, Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10)

That it was “this Jesus” (NIV, Acts 2:32), the Jesus who had fulfilled Psalm 16 in the flesh (Matthew 5:17), “made perfect” (NIV, Hebrews 5:9), fathered by God, having become our atoning sacrifice in his first glorification, who God raised from the tomb glorifying him a second time as he promised (John 12:28).

If we miss the understanding Jesus restored eternal life for humanity before his ministry, healing and raising the dead, displaying the New Covenant “in him,” its offering of cleansing and healing to Israel like Naaman of old through the promised grace (1 Peter 1:10-12),

then we miss the foreordained purpose of Christ’s coming: to redeem and restore the ravages of sin, ushering men and women into experiential wholeness and holiness through healing and restoration and Israel into an early millennium.

Note:

To properly understand what Peter is saying in Acts 2:23, he is comparing two separate, distinct, and competing events to contrast the work of God’s goodness in Christ versus what fallen men did to the one God foreordained and perfected to be received with thanksgiving (Matt. 21:37),

i.e., comparing the determined plan of God to bring Christ into the world (e.g., Isaiah 9:6), the blessing it brought to Israel in signs, wonders, and miracles, versus what lawless men did to destroy God’s plan. 

He is showing the utter contrast of the goodness of God, laboring for over four millenniums to bring Christ and within a little over three years Israel attempted to destroy what took God millenniums to bring to pass for their rescue and salvation.

Please see an interlinear to get the full impact of this verse without alterations translations have made to accommodate and conform to creeds and traditions.

***

Hannah, speaking prophetically, said,

“‘The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.’” (NIV, 1 Samuel 2:6)

We, born into mortality (death, Ro. 8:10-11, the new birth does not change our mortality) – the result of the curse of sin, have the opportunity in Christ to enter what we were designed for – eternal life in the flesh (immortality),

never having to physically die – this leads into what the rapture is about – coming to fullness like Enoch, Moses, Elijah (they foretold in type the coming completion in Christ), and experiential fullness, like Jesus perfectly, Paul, Peter, James, and John, and who knows how many others through the centuries have into fullness and out-translated.

Christ, fathered by God, born into mortality just like you and me, died to the cravings and lust of the flesh, where his generations found refuge in agreements, lies, vows, expectancies, etc., destroying the enmity in his flesh,

dying the death, we could never die, raised by Father God to walk in resurrection power and life (immortality), apprehending eternal life in the flesh “alive” (Heb. 4:14, 5:7-10, 7:16), i.e., glorification (Matt. 5:17, John 12:28, 1 Cor. 15:45-49),

before ministry, pioneering the path to “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23), which he revealed to the three in his transfiguration.

***

Christians may feel it does not matter whether the atonement occurred in Christ’s first or second glorification, because Jesus saved me either way.

Scripture’s response, it matters.

The present teaching of Calvary, among others, makes salvation an event, over and done in a moment of time (Christ’s death and our new birth), treating Jesus like an animal, “literally” spilling his blood, and, if that is not enough, tradition adds God to “planning” Calvary, foreordaining Christ’s killing.

This is where spiritual wisdom and revelation “common sense” says, is this what the Bible teaches?

For example, when Jesus rebuked the leaders of Israel in the “woes” was he also unknowingly implicating his Heavenly Father?

Why are so many “square” traditions forced upon “round” Scriptures, especially for 21^st century Christians having resources like no other age.

Once we isolate the impact of translation “changes, rephrasing, and additions,” made to conform to creeds and traditions, separating Christ’s personal story from his ministry and Calvary, his two glorifications make sense.

If God wanted the beliefs creeds and traditions create he would have put them in the Bible.

Once we “discern:”

Isaiah 53:4-6 (his pioneering journey, first glorification), separate from 53:7-9 (Calvary),

there are two streams of Old Testament prophecy of Christ’s coming,

one authored by God producing resurrection life by destroying the curse of sin,

the other warning by the Holy Spirit what unrepentant men will do if they do not receive their Savior (Matt. 21:37), 

a new language came with the New Covenant (just like the Old Testament), where the meanings of words like suffering, cross, crucifixion, death, life, blood, sacrifice, wound, etc., have expanded meanings (John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8), requiring revelation from the Lord to understand (Ephesians 1:17-18),

God’s vision for the body of Christ goes beyond the new birth and Pentecost to intimate fathering, especially in the last of the last days (Philadelphia),

it becomes obvious creeds and traditions have been and continue to be a roadblock for understanding God’s desire to “father” us into union with him through healing and restoration.

Know A Tree By Its Fruit

The Story Of Jesus’ Pioneering Journey Leading To His First Glorification

Silenced From The Consciousness Of The Body Of Christ

Please remember when we read the New Testament, though we have unprecedented access to resources, creeds and traditions put us at a disadvantage compared to readers before the fourth century.

Unlike early readers, we have fifteen centuries of creeds and traditions threaded throughout the fabric of 21^st century Christendom in church dogma, commentaries, sermons, teaching, best sellers, etc.

Creeds and traditions influence translations through “changes,” removing any ambiguity that may conflict with church dogma, or, for example, by adding words or rephrasing to conform with Christendom’s traditions.

The “influence” of creeds and traditions institutionalized in the “last half of the first millennium,” reinforced during the following centuries, impacting the translation of Scripture, “cemented” extra-biblical teaching, stripping:

the NT of the “true” story of Christ’s pioneering journey before his ministry (the first fruit, firstborn, forerunner, and finisher of the new creation and “not calvary,” “made perfect” (NIV, Hebrews 5:7-10),

the NT’s “true” story of Christ’s victorious triumphant over sin by destroying the enmity in his flesh (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear), passed to him from his human ancestry,

the NT’s “true” story of Christ’s first glorification, from mortality to eternal resurrection life in the flesh, fulfilling Psalm 16, having died to sin raised to walk in new life before his ministry, (Matt. 5:17, Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, 8:10-11, etc.),

the NT’s “true” story of Christ’s healing and restoration from generational sin, i.e., the Father accomplishing in the man Christ Jesus “first” (first fruit, firstborn, forerunner, perfecter), what he will accomplish through Christ in healing and restoring those who seek his Son for “fathering” (Christ’s Commission),

the NT’s “true” story healing and restoration from the curse of sin is the promised coming of grace in Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12), leading to intimate union with the Father, first for Christ, then to those in Christ,

the NT’s “true” story of dying to sin to walk in new life (Ro. Chap. 6), experiential righteous (glorification) beyond justification is promised by grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness to those who seek intimacy with Christ (Ro. Chap. 8, 12:2, 2 Cor. 3:18, Eph. 2:8),

the NT’s “true” story “connecting” Christ’s pioneering journey to completion, his experiential death to sin to walk in eternal life before his ministry (Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, 8:10-11), with Scripture’s exhortation to seek “fathering,” i.e., the “baptism” he pioneered for his children,

the new language of the New Covenant from the NT, excluding revelation of the Spirit from the understanding of Scripture, Christ’s two glorifications, ignoring Christ’s own words, and warnings about the future (John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8, Matthew 13 warnings, weeds, mustard seed, yeast),

the critical need for Christians to eagerly seek intimate union with Christ, i.e., his promise to “father” his children through healing and restoration (Isaiah 61:1-2a, John 14:18-23, Ro. 8:23, 1 Cor. 4:5, 2 Cor. 13:9-11, Gal. 5:5, Phil. 3:10-12, etc.),

the need for Christians of all ages to seek discovery and revelation, keeping pace with the Spirit and labor of the Lord as he reveals deeper truths to successive generations, especially as the age of the Gospel draws to a close (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 1:17-18, 1 Peter 1:13, Revelation 3:7-22).

***

It only takes one or two changes, like the rudder on a ship, to send the context of a chapter or story in the wrong direction.

The effect of coupling “uninspired creeds and traditions” with Holy Writ over centuries drastically increased the cost in lives, time, and difficulty (persecution), for men and women to “receive” revelation from the Lord.

The same was true for Israel in its final days upon those who chose to differ with the rulers and teachers of the law.

Important

It has taken five centuries of Reformation to step-by-step escort the body of Christ to a place where the “coming of the Lord/Son of Man,” i.e., intimate fathering, can return to the body of Christ.

When the time was right, having to wait until the 1500s, Jesus intervened to break the strongholds of traditions keeping the return of the “good news” of salvation by grace to the body of Christ.

And again, in the early 1900s for the return of Pentecost.

There are still spiritual strongholds of creeds and traditions hindering revelation to the body of Christ about the mystery of Christ (intimate fathering to completion), and other discoveries the Lord desires to reveal in the few remaining decades.

Mixing yeast (extra-biblical beliefs) with dough (Scripture) makes the two indistinguishably one.

In the last half of the first millennium the conditions were perfect for “councils” to mix extra-biblical beliefs into Christendom silencing opposition.

Once mixed and baked it is impossible to separate yeast from dough in the natural, and extra-biblical beliefs from Scripture spiritually, unless God intervene.

Christendom has baked creeds and traditions into Scripture since the fourth century, for over 1500 years.

It is difficult to say the least to undo centuries of creeds and traditions woven into Scripture, especially when you start tampering with people’s beliefs systems – if my understanding of history is correct, persecution of those professing to have received old truths re-revealed comes primarily from believers, whether in the Old or New Covenants, not from unbelievers.

Since the 1500s (beginning of the Sardis age) the Lord has led men and women to a place where now, in our generations, he can reveal even deeper discoveries about the journey of healing and restoration.

Where the journey of intimate fathering (coming of the Lord) toward union with Christ will bear fruit, and how the fruitfulness of Christ likeness will accomplish the plan of God in the remaining decades of the age of the Gospel.

This series is not a collection of writings “against” creeds and traditions, but “for” the greater truth about the story of Christ and our part in it.

For men and women to see the Vison God has for them, i.e., “the good tree with the good fruit,” there are times when “the bad trees with the bad fruit” must cut down and up rooted.

It is not enough to bring what is right without also teaching what “misses the mark,” especially if it has become the practiced way of living.

Because centuries of indoctrination deeply embedded creeds and traditions into Christendom, it takes time for the Holy Spirit to bring reform.

Five centuries into the Reformation and yet the heart of the creeds is showing no signs of going away, on the contrary, because “fear” is increasing, they appear to be strengthening.

Important

The doctrines in creeds and the fruit they bear in traditions are confusing, contradictory, and wholly irrational (literally and spiritually), having the fingerprints of man’s love for scholarly complexity, missing the simplicity of “God…reconciling the world to himself in Christ.” (NIV, 2 Cor. 5:19).

Spiritual revelation of God’s Word is rational, clear, concise, unencumbered, and always points, one way or the other, to greater intimacy with Christ; “Jesus” not Calvary, his blood, literal or symbolic of his life, or anything else, is the heart and Vision of Christianity.

Contrary to wide teaching, the parables of the mustard seed and yeast in Matthew 13 are not positive, but pictures of growing darkness also pictured in Pergamum and Thyatira. (The first six parables of Matthew 13 are also, in broad aspects, themes, and progression, pictured in the first six church ages of Revelation.)

The parable of the weeds preceding the parables of the mustard seed and yeast in Matthew 13, pictured in Smyrna, sets in motion the downward trajectory of the Church following the loss of its first love – intimacy with Christ – in the age of Ephesus.

As I noted above, the Church ages hit rock bottom in Thyatira, the darkest hour – a millennium – for the body of Christ.

The mustard seed – tree represents the consolidation, growth, expanse, and institutionalization of the Church, the birds represent the enemy’s influence in the Church, just like Paul speaks of sin living inside Christians (Romans Chapter 7).

Or another way of looking at it, the birds are spirits of darkness making their presence felt in the tree (the body of Christ).

Note:

It took “roughly” a thousand years for salvation by grace through faith to pierce the veil of creeds and traditions, another four hundred years for the return of Pentecost, and another half century for healing and restoration (Christ’s Commission) to begin anew in the last half of the twentieth century.

The body of Christ now stands in front of an “open door” (NIV, Revelation 3:8 italicize mine) into the deep work of the Spirit of grace, i.e., intimate fathering, personal encounter with Christ, his promise to father you and me to completion – to know and be known.

It has taken two millenniums (as far as we know), for intimate fathering to enter the Church in earnest. Of course, men and women have had wonderful ongoing encounters with Jesus throughout the Gospel era, but intimate fathering to completion, likely not very many.

Before Jesus ascended, he told Peter (and John) in substance he would be coming back to them (John 21:18-19).

Contrary to traditions, John 21:18-19 is not about a future time when persecutors are going to kill Peter, let alone upside down, but a time when the cross of Christ will come to Peter for healing and restoration through fathering, where the Spirit leads instead of he, to completion (Galatians 5:17, 1 Peter 1:13, 5:10).

This is about dying to sin to walk in new life, Romans Chapter 6, Paul eloquently describes for himself in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12, and Peter throughout his first letter and beginning of second, 1 Peter 1:1-2, 1:13, 4:17-19, 5:10, 2 Peter 1:4, etc.

What Early Readers Likely Understood About The Lord Jesus

First, before the introduction of creeds and traditions, they would have easily understood Jesus was obviously fully human in every sense of the word.

Reading about his pioneering journey to perfection – “apprehending” the divine nature of his Father in fullness, i.e., God’s Word made flesh in the temple of the man Christ Jesus (NIV, John 1:14, same Greek in Heb. 5:9 referring to his journey “from” imperfect to perfect, see interlinear for both verses, Strongs’ #1096),

receiving the Holy Spirit without limitations (NIV, John 3:34), would have obviously meant his pioneering, firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, perfecter, “journey,” had nothing to do with his rejection, Calvary, and subsequent resurrection.

They would have therefore rationally and spiritually concluded (absent creeds and traditions introduced centuries later) his pioneering journey dealt with the human side of his ancestry, how the curse of sin passes through the generations, he coming to destroy the curse (1 Peter 1:10-12).

When readers in the first few centuries read the verses about Christ dying for sins, a “blood-lamb-ransom-sacrifice,” raised to walk in new life (Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, etc.,), they likely instinctively knew it had nothing to do with Calvary, but something uniquely special about the “story of the making of the Messiah.”

They knew Roman crucifixion was an instrument of torture and death, and they, like the Apostles, did not connect or associate Calvary with anything having to do with salvation other than the rejection and killing of their Savior Christ Jesus.

They “likely” understood the many reasons Christ chose to die rather than take up the sword, knowing well the destruction of Jerusalem forty years after Christ’s crucifixion, realizing his heart was to give more time for men and women to come to forgiveness (Matthew 26:28), even if it meant his own death.

I composed the following with the very reasonable speculation what early Christians “likely” understood as Scripture before extra-biblical beliefs in creeds and traditions became the law of the land.

They understood the Father’s “preferred will” (Luke 22:42, see interlinear) to not take the Kingdom by force: for the sake of those Jesus loved who might be injured or killed, the effect on Christ personally of taking up arms against those he just tried to save, and, the effect on the presentation of the Gospel of grace.

Calvary and Christ’s subsequent resurrection was not the focus of conversation for early readers like it is today; other than the sign Jesus promised to give the Jews, the sign of Jonah: his resurrection (second glorification, John 12:28), proving “he was who he said he was.”

There was nothing good to speak about Calvary, salvation or otherwise, other than it gave more time for the people of Israel to come to forgiveness – a heroic part of Christ’s testimony for the people of Israel.

They did not use words like we do today about Christ, like “Jesus modeled” Christianity.

They knew every fiber of Christ was Christianity in flesh and blood, having pioneered the New Covenant in the destruction of the curse of sin for his generations.

They did not have the strange beliefs we have today about the so-called missing eighteen years, knowing his miracle ministry could not have come about except through fathering leading to union with his Father, just like Scripture says.

Those who had discerning hearts searching the Scriptures likely understood the purpose of the virgin birth was to sever the predisposition to sin passed to all born of woman.

They would have discerned conception by the Holy Spirit overrode the automatic disposition to yield to the temptations of the flesh, removing sin’s mask of deception over the heart and mind of the man Christ Jesus.

They also would have noted the purity and grace given to Christ through his conception did not stop the lusts and cravings of the flesh (Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear), passing to him from his human ancestry,

because it was the purpose of his conception in the first place – to destroy the curse of sin “once and for all,” inaugurating a new bloodline of the Spirit and not the flesh.

They knew Christ’s conception by the Spirit, the coming Spirit of grace in Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12), placed the man Christ Jesus like Adam before the fall (Ro. 5:14, 1 Cor. 15:45-49), freeing Christ from the deceitfulness of sin, but not temptation.

Christ conceived in purity and holiness, the first since Adam to have relationship with God the Father from birth (creation for Adam), having the Spirit of grace alive and active in his life, a “will” unmarred by sin, was fathered to rightly discern by the Spirit sin for what it was before it could ensnarl him.

Important

Teaching Christ how to discern the lusts and cravings of the flesh for what they were, God fathered Christ to not only choose righteousness over the temptations of his flesh by taking the way of escape by grace through faith,

but also, how to put them to death through renunciation, repentance, and forgiveness on behalf of his generations – the foreordained purpose for his coming, creating a new bloodline of the Spirit.

By putting sin to death “once and for all” destroying the enmity in his flesh, he struck Satan’s headship from his generations, opening the door to strike Satan’s headship over those who come to him.

Fathered by God, under the cross of limitations, boundaries, and discipline (Psalms 16, 23, Hebrews 5:7-10, etc.), Jesus underwent a long “fathering” journey of dying to the temptations of his flesh.

He laid down his life to everything his generations were deceived into “seeing” as “life apart from God.”

Here is another way of looking at the coming of the Messiah and his commission to put sin to death “once and for all” for those who come to him:

Christ had the nature of sin pass to him from his human generations (Luke 3:23-37, Ro. 1:3, 8:3, 2 Cor. 5:21, Eph. 2:14-16 see an interlinear, Gal. 4: 4, Heb. 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10,), i.e., the temptations and cravings “enmity” of the flesh just like us, however,

he had the spirit of grace from his Father, which put him in a place similar to Adam before the fall (Ro. 5:14, 1st Cor. 15:45-49), with “open eyes and ears” of the heart, mind, and will, having never sinned, (Heb. 4:15), clearly seeing sin for what it was.

Having his Father’s Spirit Jesus knew experientially what holiness and purity felt like in the Spirit, and how distinctively different the spiritual atmosphere is when evil is lurking around.

Under his Father’s tutoring, he learned to yield to the Holy Spirit by grace through faith when the cravings of the flesh came knocking, fleeing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’s fruit in agreements, lies, vows, etc.

To repeat, when Jesus was of sufficient age, God fathered Christ in how to destroy the claims of the enemy over the enmity in his flesh, by grace through faith in obedience, making repentance and forgiveness on behalf of his generations.

Fully clothed in the armor of God he renounced the legal claims of darkness over him, binding the strongmen of his generations, stripping the rulers, authorities, and powers of darkness from his life,

This is what Jesus, the firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, perfecter, lamb of God, pioneered for you and me – so we “in him” could put to death the sins of our generations (Ro. 6:5, 12:1-2, 2 Cor. 3:18, 7:1, 13:9-11, etc.), transformed to walk in resurrection life.

Through the long journey of intimate fathering, the process God designed to heal men and women of the curse of sin by making us into his likeness, beginning with the man Christ Jesus first,

he transformed Christ from glory to glory, from battle to victory, by the cleansing and healing fire (Matt. 3:11), of the Holy Spirit, Christ wholly consumed by the “living” Word and power of the Spirit, into the perfect likeness of his Father.

(John 1:14, 3:34, John 14:9, 17:21, Hebrews 1:3, 2:10, 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10)

In his journey, he, like David who foretold in “type” his “making story,” suffered the wounding and piercings of the flesh, exposing deeply rooted, sin, pain, trauma, etc., (Isaiah 53:4-6, Matt. 15:3, Ro. Chaps. 3-6, etc.), for his Father’s cleansing and healing, the first of the new creation.

The process of putting the enmity in his flesh to death, fulfilling the law (Matt. 5:17), under the “boundaries” of the cross (Psalms 16:6, 23:2-4), sacrificing the “entirety of his life” including rights and privileges (Phil. Chap. 2), was the foreordained plan of God for his Son.

God’s plan was for his Son to be the first of the new creation do never physically die, not to be crucified on a Roman cross.

God waited patiently for more than four millenniums to receive the desires of his heart after man and woman sinned – the sweet fragrance of his Son atoning for the curse of sin – alive!

Important

It was not his physical death atoning for our sins, but his death to sin passed through the generations under the curse, pioneering the way, the Father “making – presenting” Christ’s “life an offering for sin”.

(Heb. 2:10, NIV, Isaiah 53:10 bold and italicize mine; Ro. Chaps. 3-6, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10)

The atonement was not in Christ’s physical death, but in his death to sin (Romans 6:10), entering resurrection life, offering life in the Spirit to those who receive him (John 6:53-63), becoming fully Jesus, our Savior, his first glorification, before he entered ministry.

Jesus did the greatest feat possible, something no one else could do having sinful parents, by putting sin to death “alive,” apprehending experiential righteousness in the flesh, a “blood sacrifice” in every sense of the word,

where he offered the entirety of his “life” to his Father without limit for the cause of birthing the New Covenant in him, making it possible for others to enter the same journey while they are also alive!

God transformed Jesus from mortality to immortality in the flesh in his journey to maturity and completion, before ministry, his first glorification.

(Psalm 16, Ro. Chaps. 3 to 6, 8:10-11, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. Chapters 1-5, and John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John 5:7 for the new language of the NT).

Important

There is a world of difference between the promised grace (1 Peter 1:10-12) birthed in Christ (Isaiah 9:6) “coming” to destroy sin for healing (Isaiah 61), for all born of the flesh, Christ the first (pioneer, firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, perfecter), versus, coming to be killed like an Old Testament animal.

Early readers of the New Testament knew “sin” was the issue, disobedience, and not sacrifice; that Jesus was not the pioneer (Heb. 2:10), first fruit (1 Cor. 15:20), firstborn (Col. 1:15), forerunner (Heb. 6:20), and perfecter of Calvary, but of putting sin to death, the first of the new creation of God.

That obedience by grace through faith trumps “sacrifice.”

Creeds and traditions are rooted in works-righteous-sacrifice, conversely, Scripture is rooted in obedience by grace through faith under fathering – a world of difference – one leading to works, the other to intimacy.

Again, early readers “likely” understood the following before the introduction of creeds and traditions.

They knew God presented Israel with his most prized possession, his perfected Son, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, for “receiving” (Matthew 21:37), and an early millennium.

They knew Israel’s rejection of him did not require Christ be killed to institute salvation, that God knew (and Christ), the killing of Christ was the least of two evils, using worldly terms, men could bring upon themselves.

They knew the distinctions of the new language of the NT from the Gospels and the Apostles letters.

How “death” can mean mortality, unsaved, or dying to sin, or for even those in Christ who are physically alive but have fallen spiritually asleep (Eph. 5:14).

Likewise, they knew resurrection could be from physical death, or from destroying sin to walk in new creation life, entering eternal life in the flesh, something Adam and Eve lost when they fell.

And so on with words like suffering, cross, crucify, wounds, and even the meaning “blood,” has in both the Old and New Testaments.

They knew the Psalms and Prophets and other OT writings gave clues and descriptions of the coming Messiah and his “journey-story” before ministry.

They knew from history and the lives of the ancients, patriarchs, and prophets, etc., the pattern God laid out in Scripture for forming and fashioning those he calls into his story and service.

That Christ was no exception to the extensive learning, training, and “fathering” needed to fully become the Messiah – there is a process of “making” all born of women go through for those called and chosen by God.

They understood much of Isaiah 53 (verses 1-6, 10-12), spoke about Christ’s forming and fashioning by God (like David in the Psalms), connecting those passages with Christ’s death to sin (Romans Chapters 3-6, 6:10),

destruction of the enmity of his flesh (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear), and his time of “fathering” in Hebrews Chapters 1-10, 5:7-10, becoming our Savior.

They understood passages like John 1:14 described the “making” of Jesus, the Word of God “written” on the heart and mind of Christ (Heb. 5:7-10, 8:10, and 10:16), “becoming” the perfect likeness of God (John 3:34, 14:9, Heb. 1:3), having fulfilled the law perfectly in his flesh before ministry (Matt. 5:17).

Note:

Psalm 16 is a prophetic picture of the long journey Christ would undertake in fulfilling the law in his flesh before ministry, entering eternal resurrection life, the same with Psalm 23.

Isaiah 42:6-7 and 50:4-7 (read in an interlinear also) are prophetic pictures of the “making process” of the Messiah.

Isaiah 53:4 quoted in Matthew 8:17 give clues verses 53:1-6 refer to something different than Calvary, like what David undertook in his “forming and fashioning” wilderness journey.

David, likely the greatest “type” of Christ, foretelling in type what Christ would go through in destroying generational sin woven into the fabric of all born of the flesh, was wounded, pierced, crushed, under the hand of fathering recorded in the Psalms (38:2, 38:8, 69:26, 109:22, etc.),

i.e., meaning the areas in him opposed to the grace of God (the enmity in his flesh, i.e., the mountains, valleys, crooked and rough places) God brought low, filled in, straightened, and smoothed, for a greater presence of his Spirit in David’s life as a testimony of his grace to come in Christ.

Isaiah 53 is one of the several sections or verses of Scripture having both the pioneering journey of Christ leading to his first glorification after destroying sin passed to him from his human ancestry (53:1-6, 53:10-12), and the killing of him at Calvary (53:7-9).

For Isaiah 53:8, the widely used Hebrew Interlinear I use, has “blow” (H-E, italicize mine, page 1561), for the Hebrew word NIV translates as “punished” (NIV, 53:8 italicize mine); the interlinear on Bible Hub also uses a word denoting a “wound,” “not the motive for the wound” which comes from traditions.

Contrary to traditions, Jesus took our suffering, suffering we could never endure, in his journey to perfection, destroying the curse of sin, a much different story than tradition teaches, i.e., Jesus “punished” for our sins by torture and physical crucifixion.

Torture and physical killing are what Satan came to do, John 10:10, not God!

Torture and physical killing breeds’ sin, it does not atone for it!

Christ killed sin by binding the strongman and taking back the possessions stolen from his generations through repentance and forgiveness on behalf of them.

I have heard it said (and noted in writings) the two deaths of Christ are intimated in the Hebrew word for death in 53:9, that it is plural in the Hebrew.

Notice in 53:10 Christ’s “life” is an offering for sin (Romans 5:10), not his death.

That the fruit of his offering of “death to sin” alive produces spiritual life, whereas physical death can only produce death, not life.

Isaiah 53:1-6, 53:10-12, is a prophetic picture of what one would “see and understand” about Christ, “his story,” as one came to know him,

what he suffered in his journey to completion by destroying the structures of sin passed to him from his human ancestry (Eph. 2:14-16 see an interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10), bringing what he received from his Father in healing and restoration to those who come to him, Israel first on the list (Acts 26:23).

Christ’s sufferings speaks of God’s open heart surgery – cutting out and removing (Matt. 15:13), the cravings and lust of generational transgressions and iniquities passed to him “making” his Son perfect in representation of himself.

Christ’s suffering in the destruction of the enmity of his flesh (his first glorification) presented to Israel a picture of what healing and restoration looks like (in terms of intimacy with God) – what the Messiah could bring about in their life.

Isaiah 53:7-9 speaks of Calvary, having suffered all he did leading up to healing others, and then unjustly cutoff from the land of the living by crucifixion.

Christ offered a true blood sacrifice in every sense of the word, the most intimate expression possible for the entirety of everything he offered (John 6:53-63), including his rights and privileges, becoming our Savior, before ministry, his first glorification.

(Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16, see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10)

The Greatest Sacrifice Is “A Living Sacrifice”

The greatest sacrifice made to Father God is not death by torturing a perfect man (1 Timothy 2:5), for the atonement of humanity’s sin,

but the “living” sacrifice of the one “who knew no sin,” under fathering “atoning” for sin by destroying its curse, the enmity in his flesh from his human generations “once and for all,” apprehending healing where generational sins prevailed,

pioneering a journey where sinners are grafted into him for justification (“legal” righteousness via the new birth), leading to “experiential” righteousness (made into the likeness of Christ), through intimate fathering, his Isaiah Commission.

For this to happen the Holy Spirit conceived Christ in the womb of Mary; born with the Spirit of grace from his Father to “see” the temptations of the flesh free from the deception that comes from having sinned,

able to empathize with out infirmities and weaknesses of the enmity in our flesh, having been made in the “likeness of sinful” humanity (NIV, Romans 8:3, italicize mine, Ro. 1:3, 8:10-11, Gal. 4:4, Heb 2:17, 4:15),  experiencing firsthand the cravings of the flesh, yet never sinning, 

fulfilling God’s heart for humanity, creating a new bloodline of the Spirit having entered eternal resurrection life in flesh and blood “alive,” free from the curse of sin, having fulfilled the law in his flesh,

pioneering a “way” (John 14:6) others can follow “under fathering” to eternal resurrection life in the flesh “alive,” i.e., the promise of his Isaiah 61 Commission for men and women,   

making it possible for intimate union with God where none was available before,

where we can come and drink the refreshing waters of life in the Spirit, having access to the Father “for fathering” through the pure and holy sin free “living” sacrifice of his Son,

a sacrifice made “in life,” Isaiah 53:10, Ro. 5:10, 6:10, 8:10-11, Heb. 5:7-10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, etc., before ministry,

where through his pioneering journey he offered the entirety of his “life” (a living blood sacrifice), as a ransom for others, enduring what no one conceived strictly by human parents could endure in putting sin to death,

facing a depth of pain and suffering we could never face under Spirit open heart surgery of wounds and brokenness in transgressions and iniquities passed from his human ancestry,

apprehending healing (eternal resurrection life in the flesh), by grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness for his generations (Heb. 5:7-10, Matt. 5:17),

defeating sin, hell, Satan, and worldly temptations, “becoming” the source for intimate fathering, healing, and transformation, for all who call on his name,

pioneering the “promised grace to come” (1 Peter 1:10-12), to completion (Heb. 5:7-10).

This is what the man Christ Jesus, the atoning sacrificial lamb of God, as John the Baptist called him before ministry, did for humanity while “alive,” before he entered ministry, pioneering eternal resurrection life in his first glorification.

Important

Almost all the references to Christ’s blood in the NT are not about the “blood flowing in his physical body,” but to his eternal resurrection life by the power of the Spirit – the source of life Adam failed to apprehend.

Just like blood is life to the lower nature (flesh, mortality), the Spirit of the living God (John 4:14, 4:24, 6:53-63) is life (blood) to the restored nature (Ro. 8:10-11, 2 Peter 1:4).

Because of traditions embedded in Christendom for centuries, translations “add” shed, shedding, etc., to certain NT blood Scriptures filling in what translations believed the authors intended (e.g., Ro. 3:25, Col. 1:20, Heb. 12:4), pointing Scriptures to Calvary and away from Christ’s pioneering journey.

Jesus used blood spiritually like we use blood naturally (meaning life): his union with the Father kept him in a state of eternal resurrection life (immortal, Psalm 16), not the liquid in his body, able to traverse between earth and Heaven at will (e.g., Transfiguration).

For example, God uses blood to represent life in Ezekiel Chapter 33:1-9.

Even under the OT sacrificial offering of animal blood represented “life,” something they could see with their natural eyes, a price for the cost of sin – intrinsically, blood is blood, no more, no less.

Jesus was not a NT “animal” to be sacrificed on an altar or Roman cross, it is the “life” of Christ who saves (Jesus!) not the liquid in his body – he explained his meaning of blood clearly in John 6:53-63 (Romans 5:10, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8, Isaiah 53:10).

In Galatians 3:13, about seeking completion, Paul is not describing Rome’s crucifixion, but the crucifixion of the flesh Jesus went through in putting sin to death before ministry, same with Colossians 2:14, another “spiritual” picture of what it is like – the cross Christ bore in his journey to perfection – in putting the enmity of his flesh to death leading to his first glorification (Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10).

Because of the depth and extent of Christ’s sacrifice in the journey to perfection, the only word that comes close to the sacrifice he made in every area of his life is “blood,” like when we use the word when someone asks everything of us.

It is not Calvary that saves you and me, but Jesus Christ, having sacrificed the entirety of his life, “made perfect” fathered to completion before his ministry. (NIV, Hebrews 5:7-10, italicize mine)

Old Testament animal sacrifices pointed to the time when men and women would give “the entirety of themselves” to God with all their heart (their life), for healing and restoration leading to intimate union with their creator.

This is what Christ pioneered, first fruit, firstborn, forerunner and perfecter.

The use of the word blood to describe “life” is nothing new, God inspired its use that way in the Old Testament as well.

Moving on, the Scripture intimates Christ was numbered with the transgressors twice, first, putting sin to death for his generations before ministry, atoning for sin, and then with the transgressors in his physical crucifixion, even leading one to paradise. (Luke 22:37, Mark 15:28, Isaiah 53:12)

Important

When Christ says he must fulfill Scripture foretelling his physical death, e.g., Matt. 26:54-56 (see interlinear for tradition-free rendering), Jesus is “not” saying the Holy Spirit conceived me so lawless men would kill me as an atoning sacrifice (lamb) for sin in fulfillment of OT prophecy, or,

“I must shed my literal blood for forgiveness,” or “those planning my death are playing a part according to a pre-written script by my Heavenly Father.”

“But I, of my own free will, have chosen God’s “preferred will, I will not fight those I just tried to save, though it would not be sinful to do so because my Father would immediately help me.”

He is saying because my only alternative to death is to fight, and I have chosen not to do so, therefore prophecies of my physical death at the hands of lawless men will be fulfilled just like the prophets warned when unrepentance comes face to face with the glory of God.

“I will “not” exercise my rightful authority to take the Kingdom by force and “over-turn” what God revealed to the prophets of what unrepentant men will do.”

“Regardless of what the prophets foretold, I will not override the free will of men and women, just like I will not intervene to stop the Great Falling Away and martyrdom of Christians in the Tribulation, having provided long suffering patience for centuries and decades to heed Scripture’s warning.”

The Re-Revelation Of The Truths Of The Mystery of Christ

Early readers knew the lower nature passed through the generations, the Lord Jesus Christ being no exception (Luke 3:23-37, Romans 1:3, 8:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 4:4, Hebrews 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10).

How else could he be a partaker (brother) in our suffering against sin, an “example, resource, and source” of how to overcome and put sin to death, transformed, healed, and restored from glory to glory?

They knew the Scripture clearly teaches Christ had to wrestle not only with external temptations, but internal cravings and lust as well.

That Jesus was not born perfect but conceived and birthed to be “made perfect” by destroying sin for his generations without sinning. (NIV, Hebrews 5:9)

Who else is the standard bearer, plum line, of what “intimate fathering” looks like and promises?

His “perfection” led to his “anointing” to bring the Gospel of Isaiah 61.

Jesus was born Emanuel, King, Lord, Savior, High Priest, etc., but just like all born of the flesh, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5), had to grow into those positions experientially,

God fathering Christ to become experientially the Savior (Heb. 5:7-10), his “exact representation” (NIV, Heb. 1:3 italicize mine), the habitation of the fullness of God (NIV, Col. 1:19),

Christ receiving the Spirit without measure (NIV, John 3:34), the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,

“our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (NIV, Titus 2:13 italicize mine) – God manifest in flesh – through God fathering the destruction of generational sins passed to Christ from his human ancestry.

Important

Creeds and traditions do everything possible to circumvent the “making” process of the perfected Christ for a host of reasons too many to list here.

I am not saying men have done this purposely to contradict Scripture, but once the enemy planted seeds of other beliefs, they have grown into a massive tree of knowledge, not revelation.

Unless one rewrites the entire New Testament there is no escaping God made the man Christ Jesus perfect through intimate fathering (not through Calvary!); how can we deny the making of the man Christ Jesus when tens of Scripture in the Old and New Testament speak of his pioneering-making journey?

Just because fourth century church councils forward did not understand “fathering,” i.e., the coming of the Lord, the final Christian pilgrimage foretold by the feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths (Tabernacles), making salvation and the story of Christ an “event,” a story controlled, defined, managed by church authority, it is not in the NT, because it is threaded throughout NT Scripture.

Suffice it to say, there is no such things as the “making” of divinity (obviously), but there is the “making” to perfection the man Christ Jesus, becoming the exact image and likeness of God to humanity.

Early readers likely knew putting sin to death (Romans Chapters 3-8) was just as much a “death,” in the eyes of God than physical death, even more so, because it brought men and women into deeper intimacy with him here on earth.

Deeper intimacy, especially under fathering, is the Vision of God for his children.

Early readers (before creeds and traditions) knew by the writings of Paul, Peter, James, and John, they had entered “eternal resurrection life,” alive, having put sin to death, mature, restored, walking in union with Christ, having fulfilled Psalm 16, translated to Heaven at the end of their service, like Enoch, Moses, Elijah, not martyred as tradition and legend has it.

They knew the purpose of Christ’s coming was to put sin to death “once and for all” so men and women could enter eternal life in the flesh through his Isaiah 61 Commission.

Note:

Both Peter (2 Peter 1:14-15), and Paul (2 Tim. 4:6-8), tell us their earthly walk is ending, which means like Enoch, Moses, and Elijah, their out-translation will be soon, not their killing!

Peter was “not” crucified upside down; the death Jesus said Peter would die, like all Christians who experience the coming of the Lord in their lives, i.e., intimate fathering, is the death to sin journey Christ pioneered (John 21:18-19), i.e., Romans Chapters 3-6, 2 Cor. 4:10-12, 1 Peter 1:13 leading to 5:10 and not death by martyrdom, but death to the lower nature by the cross of Christ.

Peter, and extra-biblical stories of him, make for good “story,” but that is all they do, they do not agree with what Peter says about himself in his letters.

We know both James and John came to maturity and completion from their writings, i.e., “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23), like Peter and Paul, and would have been out-translated at the end of their service – the expected norm for exiting earth in the New Covenant for those who come into fullness. (Bold and italicize mine)

The rapture at the end of this age will be for those who journey through Philadelphia, intimate fathering, healed, restored, wise virgins made into brides, out-translated at the end of their service just like others before who have come to completion and finished their journey and race.

Having a “lukewarm” heart is not what any of us want when the end-times come to fullness.   

Important

The promised grace in Christ came not only to atone for our sins leading to legal justification, but to do one better, to usher men and women into experiential righteousness (glorification) by pioneering “showing” us the way to destroy sin (in and through him) in our fathering journeys.

His pioneering journey not only redeemed what Adam and Eve lost (immortality) but paved the way for us to complete the journey to union with God through him.

Early readers knew God did not create Adam and Eve’s heart perfected but created Adam’s and Eve’s heart for forming and fashioning into his likeness through the long journey of fathering.

They knew men and women raised to walk in resurrection life, immortality in the flesh, having put sin to death, was God’s Vision for fallen men and women, not resurrection after physical death.

They understood the connections of different presentations in Scripture about Christ’s pioneering journey, dying to sin to walk in new life, his first glorification before ministry, etc.

That, for example, the destruction of the enmity of Christ’s flesh in Ephesians Chapter 2, making of the perfect Christ in Hebrews Chapters 1-5, dying to sin to walk in new life in Romans Chapters 3-6 were about Christ’s pioneering journey.

They came to understand the purpose of the NT Christ pioneered was to present the same opportunity to those who come to him for fathering, i.e., healing and restoration from wounds and sins, made mature and complete (James 1:4).

Important

They knew without any doubt, unlike Christendom today drenched in creeds and traditions, the killing of Christ had nothing to the do with the atonement, on the contrary, it was the rejection of the atonement already existing in Christ.

That Christ was fully Jesus in everything Scripture says about him, sitting at the right hand of God (speaks of authority, not geography), having all authority and power, the greatest of names, etc., when he entered ministry, not when he left ministry.

They knew the “spiritual cross” he carried in putting sin to death, sacrificing the entirety of his life, suffering years of spiritual battles in cleansing and healing from generational sins (Ps. 16 & 23, Is. 53:4-6, Ro. Chaps. 3-6, etc.), was the cross he pioneered for those who seek him, not the cross of Calvary.

That he used “blood” to speak of his “person,” going through the sacrifice and suffering of putting sin to death we could never do, not the liquid in his body.

They knew the meaning of words expanded with the coming of the Kingdom of God, i.e., new spiritual meanings (1 Cor. 2:13) reaching into the spiritual realm where ordinary words take on added dimensions.

Where in the New Covenant words like death, suffering, cross, crucify, blood, sacrifice, resurrection, life, wounding, piercing, fathering, coming, etc.,

have new spiritual meanings to communicate the new level of warfare, revealing greater detail on the workings and structures of the Kingdom of Darkness on the one hand, and,

greater detail and operations of the Kingdom of God in growing intimacy with Christ on the other.

The new language of the NT was an obstacle in Christ’s day because centuries of “traditions” bred unrepentance, breeding spiritual blindness and deafness, breeding fear when a new move of God comes (Isaiah 43:19).

The Holy Spirit warns the Church this horrible story may be repeated in the last of the last days in our generations (2 Thess. 2:3), like it has before in history when God advanced his Kingdom deeper into the hearts and lives of men and women ruled by the King of this world.

Early readers knew the journeys of the ancients, patriarchs, prophets, where it applied, were a “type” of Christ, foretelling the journey Jesus would take under the hand of God in perfecting the man Christ Jesus.

***

Simply, before creeds and traditions became “one” with Scripture early readers did not connect Calvary with salvation and Christ’s atonement for sins.

On the contrary, absent creeds and traditions, the Scripture is clear Calvary was the rejection of the promised Messiah (John 15:22), the rejection of the New Covenant, not the beginning of the New Covenant as many teach today.

Whatever access early readers had to Scripture, it was simple enough to understand Christ was their Savior, he battled sin just like all who have gone before him, yet, unlike them, he never sinned (Heb. 2:17, 4:15, 5:7-10),

and because he never sinned, he atoned for their sins in his death to sin (Romans Chapters 3-6, 8:10-11, Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear), and, having entered eternal resurrection life in the flesh, made one with the Father,

he performed signs, wonders, and miracles, promising new life in the Spirit (body, soul, and spirit) for those who come to him for salvation and fathering.

They understood from Peter’s address on Pentecost, Christ fulfilled Psalm 16 in the flesh “alive,” destroying the wages of sin (mortality), entering eternal resurrection life before his ministry, it was “this Jesus” (NIV, Acts 2:31-32), Israel rejected and killed, God raised to eternal life again (John 12:28).

Note – Jesus was not resurrected like Lazarus, who would later die a natural death, but restored to eternal resurrection life he was walking in before he was killed making it possible for him to ascend to Heaven.

They knew Christ’s fathering journey to maturity and completion, i.e., putting sin to death to walk in new life, healed and restored, atoned for sin, creating a new bloodline of the Spirit he offered Israel for more than three years.

Important

They understood when Christ spoke about blood, he was speaking of his “life,” picking up your cross meant dying to sin, dying to sin meant destroying sin (not physical death), wounding and piercing meant destroying the structures of sin,

blood sacrifice meant offering the entirety of one’s life for the purposes and plans of God in destroying the curse of sin passed through the generations, and 

cleansing and healing from generational sins released hidden pains, trauma, and suffering, providing good soil for the impartation of the Word and Spirit of God, producing righteousness, not death.

They knew from four millenniums of historical accounts God formed and fashioned those he called into service, Christ “becoming” (Hebrews 5:7-10) the plum line of God’s new work offered first to the people and nation of Israel.

They knew God abhorred human sacrifices; like David in the wilderness, Christ’s “wounding, piercing, crushing,” of Isaiah 53:4-6, had to do with the new work of God in the New Covenant “fathering” Christ to maturity and completion.

That Christ’s pioneering journey (Heb. 2:10, 6:20) – had to do with putting sin to death (Ro. Chapter 6), knowing it had to do with the journey from legal righteousness (justification) to experiential (glorification, Ro. 8:30, 2 Cor. 3:18).

They knew Christ’s promise to “come” to his children, the journey to “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23), meant “fathering” through healing and restoration, dying to sin to walk in new life (Ro. 6:5), the path Christ pioneered to his first glorification.

How all these things would come together in one’s life would only become clear once fathering begins, i.e., the process could only be understood in “fathering,” personal encounter with the living Christ.

Again, in the early centuries, readers of Scripture did not wrestle with all the stuff we must navigate through because the “traditions and doctrines of men,” (yeast), had not yet been “kneaded” into the Word of God.

For Christ’s prophecies and warnings about the “coming yeast” of the traditions of men, see: the parables of weeds, mustard seed, and yeast of Matthew 13, his first four letters to the churches of Revelation, and Paul’s warnings in his letters, 1 Corinthians to Galatians, etc.

The early readers knew the Feast of Atonement occurred during Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths), after the summer/fall harvest, and not Passover, the barley harvest, the first of the new year’s crops.

They would have discerned “unlike” the Passover in the last plague on Egypt, the killing of the Messiah set in motion Israel’s destruction, having rejected Christ’s “living blood sacrifice” evidenced in signs, wonders, and miracles (John 15:22).

In other words, unlike the Hebrews who put the blood of the lamb on their doorpost in obedience to the words of Moses, persuaded by the signs and wonders through him, Israel was unpersuaded and disobedient to Christ.

Early Scripture readers did not confuse the prophecies of “Christ’s rejection, killing and subsequent resurrection” with the atoning work of Christ in putting sin to death “once and for all” before his ministry.

They knew those prophecies foretold what unrepentant lawless men would do to the Messiah, not God, no different than other times of persecution.

Early readers would have known, according to Old and New Testament Scripture, Calvary is not the anchor of the New Covenant in Christ; pagans, not God, practiced the offering of their firstborn.

They would have known the descriptions of Christ as the firstborn, first fruit, perfecter of salvation had nothing to do with Calvary, but his journey of destroying the enmity in his flesh from his human generations.

They did not have to wrestle with thousands upon thousands of writings birthed from creeds and traditions institutionalizing Christianity.

They knew the New Covenant was something radically new, not the continuation of sacrifices, let alone a human, where now one is called to sacrifice their heart (not their livestock), to the will and purposes of God necessitating transformation from the old nature to the new creation in Christ Jesus.

But the means through which the coming of the promised grace in the Messiah (1 Peter 1:10-12), would destroy sin creating spiritual capacity for men and women to come into experiential relationship with God.

That it could only come by someone who would suffer the temptations common to all, but choose righteousness by grace through faith, destroying sin by repentance and forgiveness on behalf of his generations, initiating a new spiritual blood line.

Christ indeed suffered the wounding and piercing of the structures of sin (Isaiah 53:4-6, Ro. 6:10, etc.), uprooting (Matt. 15:13), and cleansing, but not at Calvary, but in his journey to perfection.

And in doing so, he pioneered the weapons of the new warfare (2 Cor. 10:3-6, Eph. 6:10-17).

The Long Journey of “Becoming”

The Paradigm Shift From “Milk” To “Meat” Heb. 6:1-3, 2 Cor. 3:18

Receiving personal revelation from the Word and the Lord through encounters with him has never been as important as it now (for our generations) as we approach the end of the two-millennial era of the Gospel.

In today’s world there is no escaping we need Jesus to bathe us in Scripture, and fathering is the means to accomplish this in our lives (Heb. 8:10, 10:16, Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 2 Cor. 3:2-3, Eph. 5:26-27).

We all must start with the basics and work forward co-laboring with the Lord as he works to create desire and passion for his Word, and importantly, what unfathered Christian men and women are missing – intimacy with him.

For those desiring intimacy with the Lord and the richness of Scripture, the first step is understanding the basic principles of Bible interpretation (hermeneutics).

You can find easy-to-read articles on hermeneutics on the internet.

There is also an endless supply of writings about almost every Bible subject and Scripture through commentaries, sermons, articles, etc., in the public domain.

Having said this, it does not mean everything coming from generally reliable Christian sources is accurate, true, free from extra-biblical beliefs, conforming with Scripture, on the contrary, creeds and traditions have wormed their way into almost anything Christian.

In this late hour of history we must heed Scripture’s exhortation to be diligent to search the Word of God (e.g., Acts 17:11), and in concert seek the leading of the Spirit for resources that will take us deeper in Christ whether in the Word, fellowship, prayer ministry, counseling, etc.

This is an hour for the body of Christ to eagerly seek healing and restoration like never before.

(Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 12:2, 1 Cor. 4:5, 2 Cor. 7:1, 13:9-11, Gal. 4:19, 5:5, Eph. 5:26-27, etc.,)

That in conjunction with aligning our hearts with Christ’s pursuit of us in this last season of the Gospel era, we might receive the truths of Scripture in the revelation of Christ under fathering (John 14:18-23, 1 Cor. 4:5, Gal. 5:5, Phil. 3:21, 1 Peter 1:13) shaking off “the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors” (NIV, 1 Peter 1:18).

There is part of our spiritual heritage coming forward empty, devoid of resurrection life in Christ, through the creeds and traditions of men.

For me, having received much in the way of inner healing prayer ministry (cleansing and healing), learning from those who have come into a deep relationship with the Lord, greater measures of Christ’s life in me has been made possible (by the grace of God).

I would not have the blessings of the richness of Jesus, revelation of his Word, and moving of his Spirit without the maturity and sensitivity of prayer ministers who counseled and prayed “healing and deliverance” for me.

By the sovereign grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, he has taken me deep into his Word, his story, and the story unfolding today in the last of the last days, not just for my benefit, but for the benefit of others.

That it might help fast-track you to a deeper understanding of your story in the greater story of Christ’s pioneering journey, bringing to light the wonderful plans he has for those who pursue him for “healing” and “fathering (his coming).”

***

Having said all this, here are additional “truths” to consider when reading and studying Scripture and associated Christian writings:

Creeds and traditions are just that, creeds, and traditions, not Scripture.

Yet in prominent circles Christians treat creeds and the fruit of traditions they birthed “as inspired,” even “superseding, clarifying, or adding” to the writings of the Holy Writ.

Creeds and traditions introduce much in the way of words, thoughts, phrases, descriptions, and beliefs foreign to the Bible.

I do not enjoy pointing this out, but, just as we can come into agreements with the enemy during everyday life, so to with extra-biblical beliefs.

As I mention throughout this series, translations add words or short phrases or passages rephrased from the Greek text where translators believe Scripture needs clarity.

Or, where “less preferred” words replace “preferred” because the preferred reading conflicts with the teachings of Christendom.

I mention these things because it is almost impossible to find Christian writings unaffected by creeds and traditions.

Those close to one of the most beloved ministers of the twentieth century reported he said “Christians must accept the creeds by faith even though no one understands parts of them.”

Scripturally, creeds and the fruit they bear in traditions have no place in modern Christendom with all the tools and resources available to the body of Christ today like never before.

Especially with the access to Christ we have in the age of Philadelphia – where Jesus reserved a specific season at the end of the Gospel era to father as many as possible before the open door to fathering is closed. (Rev. 3:7-13)

Important

When Israel of old had prophets, and the nations of the world around them had Kings, they eventually “tired” at what God set up, demanding Samuel to give them a king (1 Samuel 8).

In essence they wanted an intermediary between them and God.

In no small way, the institutionalization of Christianity by creeds and traditions was the “exchange” of intimacy with Christ through personal insight, discovery, and revelation, for “super” overarching doctrines, replacing intimate fathering with “fathering” by the Church.

Only the Lord knows how the lack of education, reading, writing, manuscript copies, desire for authority and control, geography, diverse people groups, paganism, etc., played in initiating and sustaining centuries of Christendom’s consolidation and institutionalization.

Nonetheless, the enemy, knowing the damage he could do to the cause of intimacy with Jesus, coupled with his promotion of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – what men and women see and hear with the eyes and ears of the flesh,

tempted Christian leaders through councils to reject (unknowingly or knowingly) the leading of the Holy Spirit and fathering of Christ to establish what they could see and control with their natural senses – an institution, just like Israel of old.

There was nothing lacking in Scripture necessitating human creation of extra-biblical writings and institutionalization, except the yearning for what the natural man could measure through creeds and traditions as a tool for assessing whether one is or is not in the “faith.”

***

The principles of Bible hermeneutics will only take you so far, they cannot take you where divinely anointed discovery and revelation will take you.

To understand what is happening in the body of Christ, the focus of Christ’s labor today, how his purposes are different from past moves of God, we must receive Holy Spirit anointed discovery and revelation.

Except for the “coming last great revival,” the days of mass evangelism and Pentecostalism have largely given way to the labor of the Lord today in intimate fathering.

We are in the days of “equipping” where the Lord is “fathering” or preparing for “fathering” those who seek him for completion in the last of the last days.

He is calling men and women away from the deceitfulness of the sandy shores of the beach, out into the deep waters of his Spirit, where they will be safe from the coming storms, wrapped in his arms of protection.

The new birth and Pentecostal experiences will not be enough to survive the coming years of exponentially increasing darkness and intense pressure during the season of the Great Falling Away.

This is why over the last half century their emphasis has decreased while Holy Spirit drawing to seek intimacy with Christ has increased exponentially through numbers and depth of parachurch prayer and counseling ministries.

Today, more than ever, Jesus is calling (Rev. 3:20), men and women out of apathy, sleep, and deadness (Eph. 5:14), to his plan for life in the Spirit (Rev. 3:7-13), i.e., the last opportunity for fathering leading to intimate union with Christ this side of the Millennium.

The explosive growth of parachurch ministries is a testimony what the Lord is about today.

Traditional church going can be of great benefit, but most find they need to also step outside traditional doors to find the resources they need for pursuing intimacy with Christ; God has made those places available through an abundance of parachurch ministries.

You will not uncover God’s purposes for the body of Christ today using only the principles of hermeneutics or any other study method without personal discovery and revelation.

Important

God created us for intimacy, for us to discover and he to reveal his nature through a growing intimate union with him through Christ, i.e., to take on the nature of Christ,

becoming partakers of “the divine nature” (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4), “mature and complete” (NIV, James 1:4), “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:19-23), a “bride” (NIV, Rev. 19:7), a “radiant church” (NIV, Eph. 5:27). (italicize mine)

(Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 1 Cor. 13:10-12, 2 Cor. 3:18, Phil. 3:21, 1 John 3:2-3)

These verses are not for Heaven but for here, the fruit of pursuing intimacy with Christ, his Isaiah 61 Commission.

Israel’s leaders missed Christ’s first coming.

I wonder how many leaders today striving to uphold the “doctrines and traditions” of men laid down during the institutionalization of Christianity are missing the preciousness of “fathering,” through personal encounter with Christ in growing union?

Important

In the absence of growing intimacy with Jesus, we will fill the vacuum with other things, even sacrifices we believe are righteous, all the while the Spirit is calling men and women to eagerly seek the Lord as Scripture exhorts (Ro. 8:19-23, 1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5, 2 Cor. 7:1, 13:9-11, Gal. 5:5, etc.), for the Lord desires obedience, not sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22).

“Intimate fathering,” “coming of the Lord/Son of Man,” “encounters with Christ,” “experiential intimacy and union with Christ,” etc., is the call of the Spirit today, Christ having prepared everything necessary for fathering those who seek him.

(Matt. 24:37-41, 25:1-13, Ro. 8:19-23, 1 Cor. 4:5, 2 Cor. 7:1, 13:9-11, Gal. 5:5, Eph. 4:12-13, 5:26-27, Phil. 3:10-21, Col. 3:4, 1 Thess. 1:10, 4:15,  1 Tim. 6:4, Titus 2:13 (this is about fathering!), Heb. 9:28, James 5:7, 1 Peter 1:13, 1 John 3:2-3)

Jesus needs people who “know” him, those who have traveled the road to “becoming,” to minister to the wounded and broken in the next round of revival – and you can be one of them!

Just as the feasts of Passover and Pentecost are incomplete without Tabernacles (Trumpets, Atonement, Booths), so are the new birth and Pentecost without “fathering,” the final Christian pilgrimage, i.e., the coming of the Son of Man,

to “make” children and young men and women into fathers and mothers, mature and complete, dwellings (tabernacles) of the Lord.

(John 14:17, 14:20, 14:23, 17:21, Ro. 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 2 Cor 6:16-18, etc.)

The principles of hermeneutics are heavy on process, methods, analysis, etc., what comes natural to the mind, but “deeply lacking” when it comes to seeking encounter and intimacy with Christ and the critically important need for personal discovery and revelation.

How can we “really” know the meaning of key concepts, words, phrases, expressions, unless the Holy Spirit or a Word from the Lord reveals it?

Since the start of the Reformation God has been move by move unveiling his truths for equipping and preparing the body of Christ for intimate union with him in fulfillment of Christ’s Commission and prayer (John 17:21).

Intimate fathering is here now through the open door into Philadelphia, i.e., the building of our personal arks (body, soul, spirit, 1 Thess. 5:23), in Christ Jesus through healing and restoration into his likeness.

Just like God made known to Noah how to prepare for the coming deluge (Matt. 24:37-41), he has made known intimacy with him is our way of escaping all these things about to come to pass in our generations.

(Rev. 3:10, 1 Thess. 4:13-18 is a picture of the Lord coming to father Christians in one last sweep in the last days.)

Our Ark of safety is intimate union with Christ – to be hidden in Christ from the coming storms.

Anointed Discovery And Revelation

Holy Spirit anointed discovery and revelation is rational, makes sense, round pegs in round holes; the anointing of God does not “force” itself upon Scripture.

The anointing of God’s Word flows naturally, it does not presume, speculate, build untenable bridges, staying harmonious with the entire Word of God, continuing to grow and branch out, just like any tree.

An example of untenable bridges is the theology God must have his perfect Son killed to appease his anger and usher in a New Covenant of “grace” – the presumption of this is irrational, teetering on insanity, accusing God as the culprit of Christ’s death – God’s anger is directed at sinful humanity – Christ came to put sin to death so sinful humanity could be restored to wholeness and holiness.

The teaching of Calvary as the place of atonement hides the story of Christ and humanities opportunity under the promises of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission through fathering to apprehend wholeness and holiness in this life, resurrection life – the hope of the Gospel is here on earth, not resurrection at death, but resurrection at the death of sin! (Romans Chapter 6 and the rest of the NT)

If you read this series, you will find Scripture clearly shows:

God appeased his anger against sinful humanity through the journey of making his Son perfect,

Christ’s death to sin is the death of a testator starting a New Covenant,

shedding of literal blood (for animals only) only applied in the Old Testament under the law,

God abhorred the offering of the firstborn, stopping Abraham as a test of his heart,

Christ’s rebuke of the Pharisees (Matt. Chapter 23), would apply to God if God planned what Stephen called murder (Acts 7:52),

God foreordained Christ for perfection – to put sin to death “once and for all” by his own blood (his sacrificial “life offering” (John 6:53-63, Isaiah 53:10, Ezekiel Chapter 33:1-9, etc.) to his Father) leading to his first glorification before ministry,

a house divided cannot stand,

Christ chose to die rather than the sword not only for their sakes but for the sake of the Gospel to the Gentiles and for his own heart, giving more time for grace to work before vengeance, and

Scripture clearly separates the story of Christ leading to his first glorification, from his ministry and Calvary which creeds and traditions combine as one.

The absence of anointed revelation leads to irrational beliefs.

For example, like the present prominent “belief” God will rapture all Christians before the Tribulation.

Important

This belief is a product (a generational descendant), of creeds and traditions removing “individual responsibility” for our pursuit of Christ, replacing it with “corporateness” of institutional Christianity.

I cannot imagine a nationally recognized Christian leader proclaiming in a Sunday message they are individually responsible for pursuing Christ for intimacy and fathering, and it determines whether you are raptured if you happen to be alive on the cusp of the Tribulation.

That just like in the days of Noah, there were those saved in the Ark, and those saved in the flood through repentance (1 Peter 3:19-20).

It does not take much research to see throughout the story of God’s relationship with men and women, some camp, and some move with the cloud, eventually crossing the river into the promised land, like Joshua and Caleb, or like Enoch, Moses, and Elijah.

What is different now is the Lord is making a Joshua and Caleb heart possible for all who seek him for fathering because he knows what is coming besides the Great Falling Away.

What would happen to the structures of Christendom, if the Holy Spirit suddenly opened everyone’s eyes to the Scriptures, we are not the same,

like Jesus teaches about the foolish and wise virgins, one who his hid talent, those who fell asleep versus those who found waiting, (Luke 12:35-53), or

like Paul’s teaching about seeking “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23 italicize mine), differing light of stars, or like John’s teaching about children, young men and women, and fathers, or like the Song of Songs speaking of the virgins, queens, concubines, in contrast to the one who is intimate?

What would happen if nationally recognized Christian ministers announced:

coming to maturity and completion (as determined by Jesus) is the measure of being ready for out-translation (Rev. 3:7-13),

Christians who are raptured are those found living in an intimate relationship with Jesus, walking in resurrection life (Phil. 3:10-21),

and importantly, how we have used words like “everybody,” “all,” etc., in teachings about the rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-18), are wrong, because we failed to consider all the “ifs” of Scripture (like Romans Chapter 8),

where Jesus makes determinations based on the person’s heart in pursuit of him,

that Paul in 1 Thess. Chapter 4:13-18 summarizes the groups of Christians Jesus will circle back around in one last attempt to gain (those asleep, spiritually dead, Eph. 5:14), before the storm of the end-times are unleashed.

The present national teaching of the rapture is a comfortable belief, but it is far from the truth of the whole counsel of God in the New Testament.

I want to stress the assessment of another’s beliefs ends with the assessment of Scripture, having nothing to do with motives, character, etc. (Acts 17:11, 2 Timothy 2:15).

The Lord of Heaven is our judge and the judge of why we teach what we teach, not men or creeds and traditions.

If we place ourselves under the teachings of creeds and traditions, we place ourselves under extra-biblical writings and beliefs, a safe place in the eyes of the Church but what about our responsibility before God?

Accountability to creeds and traditions can be a means of unknowingly escaping personal accountability to Scripture and the Lord.

Wrong teaching, whatever the reason, does have consequences, with consequences becoming weightier in the seasons where truth is critical.

God designed the offices of the Church, i.e., apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints – to come to completion through growing union with Christ, healed and restored (NIV, Eph. 4:11-13).

God did not set up the offices for Christians to remain unfathered children, young men, and women, but for the final quest of the Christian pilgrimage – intimate fathering, i.e., the fullness of Christ.

***

Because I touched on the rapture, here are thoughts to consider:

Ministers use 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 to teach “all” Christians are whisked away at once (the rapture), an “event” (the fruit of creeds and traditions), instead of the fruit of growing intimacy with Christ, not understanding what the rest of the New Testament says about the rapture, 

1) the purpose of the “coming of the Lord/Son of Man” to his children is to take virgins and “make” them into brides (Matthew 25, Eph. 5:26-27, etc.),

2) 1 Thess. 4:13-18 is not an island but one of many passages interconnected throughout the NT showing the journey, process, to intimate union with Christ, which eventually leads to the rapture (out-translation) when your service is over, or you are alive on the cusp of the Tribulation,

like Matthew Chapters 24:37-51, 25, Romans 6-8, 1 Cor. 4:5, 15:20-23, 2 Cor. 7:1, 13:9-11, Eph. 4-5, Philippians 3, 2 Thess. 2, Rev. 3:7-22, 12, etc.,

3) how the new language of the NT Jesus introduced throughout his teaching (John 6:53-63 e.g.), which the Apostles continued, has to say about the possible meaning of “we who are still alive” “who are left” “fallen asleep” “dead in Christ” (NIV, 1 Thess. 4:15-16 italicize mine),

i.e., is Paul speaking literally in the natural realm or literally in the spiritual realm (Eph. 5:14), obviously it is their “literal spiritual state” before Christ comes,

4) that based on comparable passages in the last half of Matthew 24, the virgins of Matthew 25, Christ’s, and the Apostles teaching on fathering to maturity and completion, Christ’s letter to Philadelphia (the “fathering” age, running parallel with Laodicea), and Revelation Chapter 12,

1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 has nothing to do with “in the blink of an eye rapture,” but rather a picture of the Lord waking up sleepy and dead Christians (e.g., Eph. 5:14),

to father those who have enough “oil” into union (air), preparing a “net” (Matt. 13 seventh parable) of “fathers and mothers” to care for the last great harvest of souls before the Tribulation.

The rapture is the “result” of intimacy, like Enoch, Moses, Elijah, Paul, Peter, James, and John (who by their own testimonies speak of coming to completion, with Peter and Paul inferring their time of departure (out-translation), is soon, contrary to the constant drum beating of how the Apostles were martyred).

Only the Lord knows men and women since the Apostles have come to maturity and completion and out translated; please remember we live in a better covenant, not one based on death, but resurrection life in Christ!

***

Another irrational belief opposed to “many” Old and NT passages deeply embedded in Christendom from creeds and traditions is the teaching God “purposed – foreordained” the killing of Jesus as a literal “blood” sacrifice for sins.

This belief, birthed in the dark ages, could not be any further from the truth.

I address this throughout this series.

This one is particularly grievous to discuss because it accuses God of being a party to the killing of his Son – men succumbing to the enemy’s accusation, just like in the Garden, because of “un-fathering.”

Creeds and other extra-biblical things during growing institutionalization created distance between the Lord and his children providing fertile soil for the growth of the fear of man.

Generally, unless the Lord blesses us in advance with teaching and revelation about his pioneering journey, or someone introduces us to the truth,

it is not until we enter “intimate fathering” (encounter with Christ, coming of the Son of Man/Lord”), we begin to experience deeper revelation from the Lord than what is commonly taught,

connecting our journey of “dying to sin to walk in new life” with his pioneering journey, the errors of creeds and traditions begin to show themselves for what they are, especially when we discover the understanding of his first glorification before ministry.

Christ’s pioneering journey lost by Christians in the ashes of persecution, gave space for the enemy to:

wage a successful campaign against the mystery of Christ’s fathering journey, hiding (yeast kneaded in dough), the truth about his first glorification before ministry,

lead men to “see and hear with their natural senses” what Jesus wanted them to “see and hear with the eyes and ears of their heart” words like sacrifice, blood, death, resurrection life, cross, etc., dismissing the new language of the NT and the moving of the Spirit in peoples individual lives (John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8, etc.),

and if that was not enough, the enemy tempted men to remove responsibility for their choices, by making the two streams of prophecies of Christ’s coming one, accusing God of planning Christ’s death,

while making Christ’s two deaths, one to sin, the other by lawless men, and their resurrections, one, pointing both to Calvary – very clever of the enemy!

Again, the enemy’s greatest fear is men and women having the knowledge of Christ’s pioneering journey – intimate fathering, coming to completion, resurrection life in the flesh, walking in new creation life giving “the life of Christ” to others. (John 4:13-14)

Yes, coming to “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23), sheep made into warhorses (NIV, Zech. 10:3), brides (Rev. 19:7), equipped (Eph. 4:12-13), fathers and mothers of the faith (1 John), is the greatest threat is to his Kingdom – no wonder the enemy has labored tirelessly through the centuries to keep the mystery of Christ a mystery!

***

Along with the preceding, it is also irrational to believe the “tirelessly repeated” phrase by Paul of Jesus “dying for/to sin, raised from the dead,” in Ro. Chaps. 3-6 (followed by Chap. 7’s revelation about sin living in us), is all about Calvary,

when we learn Paul uses, for example, “dead, death, or died” to represent “mortality” (Ro. 8:10-11) or vanquishing sin (Ro. 6:10, 2 Cor. 4:10-12) (for anyone who has not come to maturity and completion, i.e., resurrection life), or spiritual deadness, etc., and

“raised, resurrected” (having died to the cravings and lusts of the flesh), for those who apprehend “immortality,” i.e., eternal resurrection life in the flesh, Christ the first,

(Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, 8:10-11, 1 Cor. 15:20-23, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 2:10, 2:17. 4:15, 5:7-10, 6:20, for Jesus; Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 2 Cor. 3:18, Phil. 3:10-21, James 1:4, 1 Peter 1:13, 2 Peter 1:4, etc., for us)

when you add the truth Jesus had enmity (lust and cravings) in his flesh from his human generations, tempting him just like we are tempted, coming “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (NIV, Romans 8:3), i.e., born into “mortality” because of his human ancestry,

(Ro. 1:3, 8:3, 2 Cor. 5:21 (this is about his human nature, not Calvary), Gal. 4:4, Heb. 2:17, 4:15),

but, through intimate fathering Christ put the enmity in his flesh to death, fulfilling the law perfectly in his flesh, healed and redeemed from the “lower nature” passed to him (Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10, etc.), never sinning,

he entered resurrection life (raised from the dead, never to die, Psalm 16, Ro. Chapters 3-6), pioneering the journey of dying to the deeds of the flesh not only for his generations, but for those who come to him (Ro. 6:5),

so, we can enter intimate fathering under him (Matt. 24:37, Matt. 25:1-13, John 14:18-23, John 21:18-19, 1 Cor. 4:5, etc.) and by him put sin to death in our life,

healed and restored in new creation life – our new creation birthright.

Rationality says there is more to Paul’s teaching here (Romans Chapters 3-6) and elsewhere, than meets the eye, than forcing every suffering, blood, resurrection, cross, etc., Scripture to fit “Calvary;” How could one rationally conclude otherwise?

Paul is not repeating Calvary multiple times in the same passages and chapters, nor are the other authors.

How do we know that?

Because, if Calvary is the place of the atonement, it bears no repeating – it is something the Natural Eyes and Ears can instantly digest – it does not require in depth teaching to understand.

Important

You do not need multiple Scriptures to explain Calvary is the place of atonement – Jesus died to sin, raised to walk in new life – unless you are speaking about something else,

like his pioneering journey putting generational sin to death (having human ancestry, Isaiah 53:4-6, Ro. Chapters 3-6, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 2:17, 4:12-15, 5:7-10), redeeming intimacy with God so men and women under the New Creation Covenant can connect with God through him by the Spirit in the new birth, and further,

if they enter the journey of “fathering” he pioneered with his Father, they can receive healing and restoration and raised to walk in resurrection life through his Isaiah Commission.

Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit knew transformation – dying to sin, raised to walk in new life (Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 2 Cor. 3:18, etc.) – needed repetition to lay the groundwork for Christ’s intimate fathering.

Paul repeats Jesus dying for sin to walk in new life, a blood sacrifice (Ro. Chapters 3-6) not to reiterate the “historical physical observable fact of Calvary,” but to teach men and women about the journey of putting sin to death to walk in new life, the cross we are to carry in following Christ,

which needs repetition for us to grasp the depth and extent of the New Covenant in Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission.

This is where understanding what Paul means by his repeated uses of “blood,” how words like “spilled, shed, shedding, etc.,” translations add ignoring Christ’s use of the word blood (John 6:53-63), and going beyond what he meant as his life for – “poured out”  (NIV, Matthew 26:28 italicize mine),

John’s use of the word “blood,” (1 John 5:7-8), and other uses of the word “blood” in the NT letters in reference to Christ’s “pioneering” journey and “firsts” (pioneer, first fruit, firstborn, perfecter), come together telling a different story than Christendom has taught through creeds and traditions.

Simply, blood is the most intimate expression possible to communicate the depth and extent of Christ’s sacrifice, journey, and spiritual suffering and warfare in putting sin to death, having nothing to do with physical death.

Important

The greatest loss to Christ was not his physical blood, but his resurrection life, because he was destined never to die – having the ability to traverse earth and Heaven at will, like he showed the disciples on the Mount.

Calvary stole resurrection life from Christ, yet he chose not to fight but willingly laid even his resurrection life down rather than start killing those he had labored to save for over three years.

He gave the Sadducees a hint about himself when he told them in the resurrection no one dies – yet it apparently flew over their heads and the heads of church leaders for centuries.

Obviously, he is not speaking about resurrection after physical death, but resurrection to walk in new life (Ro. 6:10, Psalm 16, Hebrews 5:7-10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear) after putting sin to death while alive!

***

Another irrational belief from creeds and traditions is generational sin from his human ancestry did not pass to Jesus.

This teaching is in direct opposition to Scriptures previously listed and denies Ephesians 2:14-16 where the Greek clearly speaks of the enmity in his flesh.

Creeds and traditions take away the foreordained purpose of Christ’s coming – to destroy “once and for all” by his own blood, through the sacrifice of his “living” life to the Father, the curse of sin passing through the generations, creating a new bloodline of the Spirit for men and women.

How creeds and traditions deny this is beyond me, even a commentator scratched his head over this, yet stayed true to Christendom’s story.

This conflict between Scripture and creeds and traditions leads to critical errors in the understanding of Christ, which Jesus foretold was coming in his Matthew 13 parables and letters to the first four church ages.

***

God did not create the heart perfect; he created the heart for forming and fashioning through growing intimacy with him (and with one another).

Another important concept to keep in mind, the first man and woman’s heart was perfect in what God created, but unperfected in the choices, beliefs, actions, etc., they would face in life.

We must remember we are free moral agents, having the capacity to choose, created body, soul, spirit, heart, mind, and will, to grow in union with God through our own decisions beginning with our first parents.

Adam and Eve were on the journey to perfection, but failed with the first test of faith, failing to take the way of escape when confronted with the temptation to disobey God’s command given for their safety and wellbeing.

The promise of the New Covenant not only clears the way for Christ to free, heal, and restore body, soul, and spirit from the captivity of sin, disease, and death (Luke 4:18-19, Ro. 8:10-11, 1 Cor. 1 Thess. 5:23, etc.), like Adam and Eve’s existence before they fell,

but it also promises through intimate fathering, to make you and me “mature and complete” (NIV, James 1:4), into the likeness of our Savior in growing union with Christ, not only whole but holy, something God barred our first parents from entering.

With maturity and completion comes potential access to the Heavenly Holy of Holies while here in the flesh – a subject for another day.

Simply, God designed the human heart (and Jesus was fully human, Heb 2:17, 4:15), at the beginning and now, for the journey of intimate fathering unto maturity and completion, Christ the first fruit, firstborn, pioneer, forerunner, perfecter.

After the fall, the journey became more difficult, it was not just growing the heart by grace through faith, but also cleansing, healing, and restoration from wounds and sins so the heart could complete its journey toward union with God.

(The word heart broadly to refer to the whole person.)

When we are born again, God does not suddenly wave a magic wand and make our heart perfect, his love is too great for that (else we would be robots).

But he does something better by building relationship with us over time where one day he can begin encountering you and me through intimate fathering (John 14:18-23, 2 Cor. 6:16-18, James 1:4; Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, Eph. 5:26-27, etc.).

Again, God designed intimate fathering (the final Christian pilgrimage), described as the coming, appearing, etc., of the Lord to those who seek him in the NT, as the process of restoration leading to union with our Heavenly Father through Christ.

***

To repeat, because this is critical for the present time, the journey of putting the curse of sin to death, i.e., Holy Spirit crucifixion of the flesh, which is “alive” in cravings and lust to all born in the flesh, is just as much a death (even more so) than physical death.

Christ suffered (took) the wounding and piercing of the structures of sin passed through the generations (pain, turmoil, trauma, etc.) we could never suffer in our fathering journey resulting in the first of the new creation by the Spirit under the New Covenant.

Likewise, raised by the Holy Spirit to walk in newness of life, resurrection life, is just as much a raising from physical death (even more so), because it glorifies the power of Christ to destroy sin and the curse of death, lifting men and women from mortality to immortality – a “rapture” ahead of the “rapture.”

The misunderstanding of the new language of the New Testament introduced by Jesus and continued by the Apostles is where creeds and traditions brutalize Scripture and scholars stumble; without intimate fathering one is apt to interpret Scripture’s connected with transformation incorrectly.

God’s plan for Adam and Eve from the beginning was for they and their descendants to mature into his perfect likeness – for God to “make” their hearts perfect in journey with him, coming to completion, i.e., intimate union.

Four millenniums later Jesus made that journey possible for God’s children through his pioneering success.

If we believe, contrary to Scripture, the rapture is going to whisk every Christian away regardless of their relationship with Christ (Rev. 3:14-22, Matt. 25:10-13, etc.,), then hopefully we can believe what the Scripture does teach about healing and restoration this side of the great divide and entering resurrection life.

***

Lost in the principles of Bible study is the understanding we need intimate fathering – encounter with the living Christ for restoration, (2 Cor. 6:16-18, Hebrews Chapter 8:10 and 10:16), so we can be led by the Spirit of Christ into an environment where personal discovery and revelation is promoted and not thwarted.

Without intimate fathering i.e., the journey of transformation into the likeness of Christ (Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, etc.), scholarly knowledge can only take you so far in the new birth, let alone bridge the gap into intimate fathering.

Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission has not ceased!

Important

You might be thinking, how could Christendom miss the mark on so many things?

The short answer:

once the enemy planted weeds (Matt. 13) in the garden of men’s hearts through the rise of what the Scripture calls Nicolaitans,

followed by the institutionalization of Christianity (an imposing towering mustard tree with “birds of the air,” Matt. 13),

replacing personal Holy Spirit anointed discovery and revelation for one set of universal beliefs (yeast kneaded throughout the “dough” of God’s Word, Matt. 13),

persecution having long ago snuffed out the knowledge of Christ’s pioneering journey, along with the new language of the New Testament,

at a time when civil and religious life is being fused into one, merging extra-biblical beliefs with Scripture,

it is easy to see how this was fertile ground for the enemy to insert distortions to keep men and women from knowing about Christ’s personal story leading to his first glorification, and the part we are to play through intimate fathering in the story of Christ.

Though there are wonderful testimonies and evidence of God’s presence during centuries of darkness, it was not until the reformers (the treasure found in the field, Sardis church age), and the printing and distribution of the Bible, greater light leading to more of Christ became available on a larger scale.

It took centuries for salvation by grace to “return” in the 1500s, what we commonly call the born-again or new birth experience.

It took another four hundred years for the “return” of Pentecost by two unknown Christian souls on the outskirts of mainline Christianity (Azusa St. Revival).

It only took another half century (God accelerating his work in the last of the last days) for inner healing to blossom, Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission, through parachurch ministries, now numbering in the hundreds, if not thousands.

It’s only taken another couple of decades for fathering “the coming of the Lord/Son of Man” “encountering Christ,” to return to those who seek Jesus, i.e., intimacy leading to the “pearl – Christ Jesus” formed in us (2 Cor. 3:18, Ro. 6:5, Eph. 5:26-27, Col. 1:27, 1 John 3:2-3).

In closing this section, can you see the similarity of progression between the parables of Matthew 13 and church history as it has unfolded over the last two millenniums?

Can you also see the similarity of the first six parables of Matthew 13 and the first six church ages – Ephesus to Philadelphia (Christ’s letters to the churches), and how Laodicea and Philadelphia co-exist at the same time, one seeking the open door into the journey of “pearl formation,” the other wading through “lukewarm” waters?

The first four church ages (Ephesus to Thyatira) spiral downward from the early Apostles, Sardis (Reformation from 1500s to mid-20^th century, treasure hidden in a field), turn back uphill toward Christ, i.e., Philadelphia, leading to union with Christ through fathering and the likeness of the pearl of great price.

When the Lord initiates new moves of his Spirit, after hearts have been prepared for his new work (an old truth resurrected from underneath traditions), comes the return of long-lost revelation of his Word, removing the stones of the traditions of men from his temple (men and women).

Refocusing Our Sights On Jesus

This post takes you and me deeper into the “written” but untold story of Christ.

His ministry and tragic ending, giving the people of Israel more time to come to forgiveness rather than take the Kingdom by force (delaying the inevitable for two millenniums), is only possible because of the “fruit” of “intimate fathering.”

Since the onset of creeds and the fruit of traditions they produced, Christendom has failed to reveal the beautiful story of Christ’s pioneering journey leading to his first glorification.

Christ has not received the rightful honor from those who call his name for the “sacrificial offering of his life – a blood offering in every sense of the word,” pioneering the New Covenant before his ministry.

Jesus underwent intense fathering (likely for over a decade) destroying the curse of sin passed to him from his human ancestry, never yielding to the enmity in his flesh in the process, made complete, becoming our Savior, before his ministry.

(Ro. Chapters 3-6, 6:10, 8:10-11, Eph. 2:14-16 see an interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10)

Christ took our sins, “nailing it to the cross” (NIV, Col. 2:14 bold and italicize mine), not to the cross of Calvary, but to the cross of grace of the Holy Spirit, through faith in repentance and forgiveness on behalf of his generations and those who come to him.

Jesus was intimately involved in our Salvation, our atoning sacrifice, becoming our Savior (Heb. 5:7-10), not because lawless men killed him (though it extended grace to the people of Israel), but by killing sin.

But by actively putting to death the sins of his generations in the enmity of his flesh by grace through faith in the power of God, destroying the works of darkness “once and for all” for his generations, and those who come to him.

Men and women have suffered greatly through the centuries from the absence of intimate fathering, healing, and restoration.

Jesus has also suffered over the centuries, denied the fullness of relationship he made available to men and women – passionately desiring intimate union with his creation made extremely difficult because of errant teaching.

***

From cradle to grave Christendom tells us to see “the treasures of Jesus (mystery of Christ)” through the lens of his ministry and Calvary, saying Jesus modeled Christianity, but is silent on how the fruit of Christ’s life came into being.

The Church teaches Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, which is true, and signs, wonders, and miracles the “fruit” of his divinity, which is “not” true, because they are the fruit of his pioneering journey to completion, his first glorification before ministry.

Christians have, through the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, done signs, wonders, and miracles (Jesus said we would do those things), and we are not God manifest in flesh.

The Church does not explain/reconcile what it professes about the “fully human Christ” and “God manifest in the flesh” other than pointing to one or two broad verses, ignoring much of Scripture and verses describing his pioneering journey.

What does it mean for Christ to be the image of the invisible God?

What does it mean for him to be the fullness of God in the temple of the man (body, soul, and spirit) Christ Jesus?

How can he be God manifest in the flesh and fully human at the same time?

And, if Jesus is the pioneer of the faith, standard, plum line, the pattern for coming to maturity and completion for men and women (which he is), what does that mean for us in him?

What does maturity and completion, bride, mystery of Christ, revelation of Christ, partaking of the nature, fathers, “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:19-23, “true sons” (NIV, Heb. 12:7-8), etc., look like, and critically, how does transformation (Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 12:2, 2 Cor. 3:18, Eph. 5:26-27, Phil. 3:10-21, 1 Peter 1:13, etc.), come about?

In the absence of creeds and their fruit in traditions these questions are not difficult to explain, provided you are receiving Holy Spirit anointed discovery and revelation from the Lord and from others (Acts 8:31, Acts 17:11, 1 Cor. 2:13, Eph. 1:17-18, 1 Peter 1:13, etc.).

Because the writers of the NT describe the “divine nature in the man Christ Jesus,” and “Christ in us,” without difficulty, and, how “Christ apprehended perfection,” and how “Christ brings us to maturity and completion.”

It is us, speaking broadly of Christendom throughout the centuries, having lost the understanding of the “pioneering fathering journey” of Christ leading to his first glorification, who have made it difficult by creating “uninspired” creeds to explain the “inspired Word of God.”

On the heels of the reformers, there are those who have come to the revelation in our generations the Holy Spirit led Jesus (he was “anointed”), to follow his Father’s lead (John 5:19, 6:38, 14:31), i.e., bringing more clarity to the story of Christ.

This series focuses on the humanity of Christ, in contrast to the creeds which focus on his divinity, because an understanding of his humanity (Heb. 2:17, 4:15), and his pioneering journey to perfection, leads to the understanding of his divinity, and not the other way around.

(John 3:34, John 20:17, 20:28, Col. 1:19, 1 Tim. 2:5, Titus 2:13, Heb. 1:3, etc.)

We do not need to borrow concepts from other religions, pounding square pegs in round holes, to see the “internal harmonization” of Scripture about Christ – his humanity and image of the invisible God –

once the Lord reveals his pioneering journey, first born, first fruit, forerunner, perfecter, apart from the web of “creeds and traditions” and misunderstandings they have woven for centuries.

God designed a complete package for the coming of his Son – a background story of the “making” of his perfected Son, ministry, and if all went according to plan (Israel receiving his Son, Matthew 21:37), an early millennium.

God invested heavily in the maturing to completion of his Son not to be killed, but to be received with joy and thankfulness by the nation of Israel. (lest anyone think otherwise, all of humanity stands guilty before the Lord of Heaven for the death of his Son)

The story of Christ’s end at the hands of Israel and Rome is not just the leadership of Israel, for every new move of God “in” Christendom meets a good dose of internal opposition as well, sometimes even ending in death thinking God has been served.

***

Even though God knew before creation Israel would reject their Messiah, he still designed his plan giving them the opportunity to come to repentance and forgiveness, no different than creating man and woman knowing their offspring would perish, “warning but not forcing.”

God designed a perfectly planned three-part story for Christ and Israel: the “rise” of the Messiah, ministry, with a story book ending for Israel.

Jesus deferred the fruit of Israel’s rejection by postponing vengeance, going against every instinct of the flesh, he chose his Father’s “preferred will” for reasons previously noted.

But the loss of the knowledge of the “making of Jesus” (his pioneering journey into eternal resurrection life, becoming our Savior before his ministry), during the formation of the institutional church in the fourth century and beyond, created a vacuum the Church had to be fill.

How can you institutionalize the Gospel without filling in all the holes, especially how Jesus came to be, where he came from, etc.

Thus, in substance, civil authority directed the Church to produce beliefs easy to institute and central to the authority of the Church for regulation and governing.

To mention again, in the absence of understanding intimate fathering leading to Christ’s first glorification and the new language of “Spirit-taught words” (NIV, 1 Cor. 2:13), everything outside of the Gospels dealing with death, suffering, cross, crucifixion, blood, resurrection life, the Church pointed to Calvary.

Whole sections of Scripture from the Gospel of John, Romans, 1 Corinthians Chapter 15, and sections in most every NT letter including Hebrews (a detailed biography of Christ’s pioneering journey), the Church pointed to Calvary instead of Christ’s personal story.

(Hebrews is an account of Christ’s fathering journey before ministry, like James, Peter, and John share parts of their “fathering journey” in their letters.)

Today, because intimate fathering is critical to what is coming up ahead, Jesus has pulled back more of the veil creeds and traditions have placed over his personal story before ministry.

If you come to understand Christ’s pioneering journey to perfection before ministry, his first glorification, you will soon realize the treasure of gold few have been privy to receive.

Scriptures once forced to fit into the events of Calvary are finally finding their proper home in the personal story of Christ before his ministry.

Important

If we misunderstand the vast writing in Scripture on Christ’s “becoming”– his pioneering journey to maturity and completeness, becoming our Savior, and force fit those Scriptures on Calvary, we miss the heart of the plan of God to make men and women into his likeness,

Christ the pioneer, firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, and perfecter of the new creation in resurrection life (he is not the pioneer, etc., of Calvary!).

Those who institutionalized doctrine, lacking the “revelation of Christ’s pioneering journey,” for whatever reasons, succumbed to the cravings of the flesh to control, manage, and execute authority over theology for the clergy on down.

In so doing, institutionalization stripped the beauty and mystery of the Gospel, Christ’s promise to “father” sons and daughters into the fullness of his likeness, the heart of his Isaiah 61 Commission through healing and restoration.

Without the Lord’s direct intervention, it hinders if not blocks the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit to the deeper truths of God’s Word in growing intimacy with him, placing men as mediators between God and the children of God, competing with Christ for the hearts and lives of God’s creation (1 Timothy 2:5).

If you tamper with the opportunities and promises of spiritual life in Christ by hindering personal encounter, discovery, revelation, gifting, transformation, etc., Scripture becomes ink on paper and Christ a person of history.

It is tragic to think of the untold millions who missed the opportunities and promises of intimacy with Christ, because our level of intimacy with Christ here affects our eternal position.

The new birth brings all into salvation, but intimacy is a different matter.

God had his Enoch and Noah, Jacob his Joseph, Moses his Aaron, Israel its Samuel, God his David, Solomon his virgins, concubines, queens, but only one choice one, the Kings their inner circle, Jesus his inner circle, etc.

Institutionalization makes it easy to teach broad masses of people what you want them to learn and follow, treating the Bible like a textbook, but that is not the corporateness the Scripture envisions when it speaks of the body of Christ.

What it envisions is a vibrant intimate relationship with the living Christ, each part of the body led by the Holy Spirit in cooperation with one another.

Father God presented Christ as a “blood sacrifice” to “each person individually” to be received as their atoning sacrifice (1 John 2:2), just as Christ personally and individually under fathering gave the entirety of his life (a living blood sacrifice), to destroy the curse of sin passed through the generations once and for all.

The most valuable offering anyone can offer God, which Christ did without sin, is to offer their life in destroying the curse of sin passed to them from their generations, in fulfillment of what the OT blood sacrifices foretold.

It is not the liquid in the body of Christ saving you and me, but the eternal life of the Spirit in Christ having destroyed the curse of sin, entering resurrection life before his ministry, his first glorification, which saves you and me.

(Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10, John 12:28)

Jesus displayed what the new creation looks like, even sharing what glorification looks like in the spiritual realm with the three on the mount.

The Making Of Christ

Creeds and traditions crush the thought of the “making” of Christ. Why?

Because nothing angers the spirits of darkness more than seeing the unfolding fulfillment of the mystery of Christ in a Christian’s life through intimate fathering when we learn Jesus pioneered the way for us (John 14:6, Heb. 2:10, 6:20).

Nothing is worse to the enemy than religion becoming “alive and active,” seeking Christ for his promised coming (fathering) – the promise of healing and restoration through Holy Spirit transformation in putting sin to death. (NIV, Hebrews 4:12)

(Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 1 Cor 15:20-23, Eph. 5:26-27, Phil. 2:12, 3:10-21, Rev. 3:1-13)

If the enemy cannot stop men and women from entering the new birth, at least he can put the brakes on receiving intimate fathering and healing by pointing Christians the wrong way – any way but towards Christ’s pioneering journey.

After the new birth, the enemy’s strategy is to position men and women to fix their eyes on Heaven as the prize, instead of intimacy leading to union with Christ here.

By tempting early church leaders to write overarching doctrines, helping to hide the “making” of Christ (his pioneering journey) behind the Roman cross of Calvary, the enemy limits the “Vision” of depth men and women can apprehend in Christ (keeping them short of fathering), achieving an important victory over the Kingdom of God.

Important

If the enemy can keep Christian’s passive, blind to what Jesus pioneered for them through his “making” journey leading to resurrection life, then Jesus will be alone at the altar without those made intimate (brides) through fathering.

And, if the enemy can keep Christians from seeking refuge in Christ through intimate fathering, then almost nothing is stopping him from a full court press against their salvation, especially in times of duress, like the end times when the Great Falling Away is prophesied.

The “making of Christ” points to the critical need for our own making journey in Jesus under intimate fathering (the coming, appearing, etc., of the Lord), what Paul calls “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23 bold and italicized mine),

James “mature and complete” (NIV, James 1:4), Peter partaking of the “divine nature” (NIV, 2 Peter 1:4),

John “for we shall see him as he is” (NIV, 1 John 3:2), our Savior’s warnings about being fully known, Matthew 25:12,

and Jesus’ promise to come and father his children in John 14, calling his “saved” disciples orphans.

The Lord sees unfathered “Christians” as spiritual orphans.

Only through intimate fathering do children and young men and women become fathers and mothers of the faith in union with Christ our Savior.

The making of Jesus (denied by the creeds) and the making of us in Christ (the mystery of Christ in us), can only come about through the journey of “fathering.”

The OT “foretells” the final Christian pilgrimage of intimate fathering through the feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths (“Tabernacles” the fall harvest of fruits, nuts, and olives),

just like the OT foretells the new birth through Passover and Pentecost in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

I have a post coming on the “Making Of Christ” taking a deeper look at his pioneering journey to completion from a unique perspective comparing and connecting OT prophecies with NT Scripture.

This will make it even clearer Jesus was fully Jesus (Savior) when he entered ministry,

the New Covenant fully effective in him having fulfilled everything necessary for our salvation,

having a name above all, all power and authority, seated in Heavenly places, etc. (seated refers to “authority, intimacy” not earth-Heaven geography!).

Important

This coming post will show the OT foretold, combined with the revelation of the NT, Christ’s sacrificial offering of his “life” in accord with his Father’s foreordained plan – promised coming of grace – for him to put sin to death for his generations (and those who receive him), by his own “blood.”

This is what Jesus tried to reveal to the Jews, it is “not” the blood of Abraham, nor the blood of bulls and goats sanctifying them, which are of the earth, earthly, but a greater, Heavenly, “blood” – life empowered by the Holy Spirit by grace through faith in him (e.g., John 6:53-63), that will bring them true sanctification and transformation.

That he, by the power of the Holy Spirit by grace, having destroyed the curse of sin over his generations, was walking in an eternal life source – the Spirit of God – greater than the blood of the body, i.e., the power of the Spirit in resurrection life (John 3:34, 6:53-63, Heb. 5:7-10), and that we through him have access to the same life.

This is why the New Covenant is such a dramatic shift from the Old – because now we have the opportunity under fathering to enter eternal resurrection life here in the flesh.

Jesus compared the sustaining power of earthly life through the blood of the body and bloodlines of the Tribes, with the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit to heal and restore leading to eternal resurrection life in the flesh, i.e., the New Covenant bloodline of the Spirit through him (Romans 8:10-11, 1 Timothy 2:5).

Instead of sacrificing animals for the “legal” forgiveness of sin (justification), they are now to sacrifice their lives – offer their lives as a sacrifice like their Savior (Ro. 6:5) – the pioneer, first fruit, and firstborn of the new bloodline, for “experiential” cleansing and healing from sin (glorification),

Christ having paved the way through the sacrifice of his “life” in destroying the curse of sin passed to him from his human ancestry, leading to his first glorification before ministry.

The Blood And Cross Of Christ To Resurrection Life (Glorification)

When the Apostles (following Christ’s lead, John 6:53-63) speak about the blood of Christ, they are using it the way the OT uses it when speaking about a person, i.e., to represent “life,” not the liquid in the body.

It is important to understand the use of the word “blood” is not the same when speaking about people as it is when speaking about animals.

The “heart” was the center of the Old Testament sacrificial system, offering God those things used for sustaining life, e.g., livestock, as a testimony of God’s care and continuous provision,

that sin leads to “death” (eternal separation from God), evidenced by the killing of defective free livestock (property critical to life),

God accepting their “heart” sacrifice of livestock as repentance, acknowledging their substitutionary offering through forgiveness by the sprinkling of the blood in the Tabernacle (to cleanse the Tabernacle) and release of the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement (to send their sins into the wilderness).

The best the OT sacrificial system could do is “credit” righteousness (legal righteousness, just short of the new birth).

In sharp contrast, the New Covenant, through the new creation life Jesus pioneered fathered by God to perfection ushered in justification by faith (new birth born again experience), having offered the perfect sacrifice through his journey to completion.

(Romans Chapters. 3-6, 6:10, Ephesians 2:14-16 see interlinear, Hebrews 5:7-10).

Further, his journey to perfection fathered by God ushered in what God desired all along for men and women, experiential righteousness leading to glorification “sonship” (NIV, Ro. 8:23 italicize mine), etc., in this life, restoring what Adam and Eve failed to apprehend.

Important

The OT sacrificial system at its core symbolized the giving of one’s “fallen” life to God for redemption and renewal by faith through repentance and forgiveness.

It symbolized the putting to death of sin, on the one hand by killing it (their personal sacrificial offering in the Outer Court), and on the other by transfer to a substitute and sending it away (corporately, by the High Priest).

It used an animal to foretell a coming time when God would give “tools” to those seeking him on how to destroy the curse of sin in one’s life (e. g., through inner healing, intimate fathering, Christ having pioneered the way),

by bringing the sacrificial system of atonement, the cross of Christ, directly to the heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit, destroying our contracts with the enemy sending his emissaries to the cross of Christ.

What the Scripture calls “credit righteousness” was the best they could do in the OT without the promised coming grace (1 Peter 1:10-12), to “intimately father” (like Jesus is doing today) to maturity and completion, i.e., experiential righteousness, “sonship,” glorification. (NIV, Romans 8:23)

The OT sacrificial system did not foretell the killing of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, but the killing of sin blocking redemption, renewal, healing, and restoration.

The meaning of “blood” in the Old Testament “animal sacrificial system” does not carry forward to the meaning of blood for the Lord Jesus Christ, or for any human.

The Old Testament use of “blood” regarding animal sacrifices (giving the best of your livestock) points to the New Testament use of “life” for humans,

Christ giving the entirety of his life (his most important possession in relationship to his Father) to be “made perfect” (NIV, Heb. 5:9 bold italicized mine),

becoming the pioneer, firstborn, first fruit, forerunner, and perfecter of the new creation in resurrection life, our Savior.

(Ezekiel 33:1-9, Isaiah 53:10, John 6:53-63, Romans 5:10, 6:10, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8, also Heb. 2:10, Col. 1:15, 1 Cor. 15:20-23, Heb. 6:20, Heb. 12:2)

The Apostles freely used the word blood knowing their readers understood it referred to the person of Christ, his life,

what he did to put sin to death “once and for all” under fathering, becoming mature and complete, perfect, without sin, atoning for what they could never do making experiential salvation possible through healing and restoration.

Important

They knew by the Spirit the use of “sprinkling” of Christ’s blood meant it was now possible for them to pursue intimacy with God through Christ, having destroyed the enmity “in his flesh” (God’s sanctuary), through the promised coming of grace (1 Peter 1:10-12), paving the way for Christ to do the same in his followers.

“Blood” is the most intimate expression possible to articulate the depth and extent of Christ’s sacrificial “life” offering in his journey to completion, including rights and privileges (Phil. Chap. 2), “made perfect” in life, not death. (NIV, Heb. 5:9, italicized mine)

The use of the word blood connects the “OT sacrificial system” with the “NT sacrificial system,” “foretelling” the promised grace to come in Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12), (not the promised killing of Christ), i.e.,

“God presented Christ” (his “life,” NIV, Ro. 3:25, italicized mine) as a sacrifice to destroy the curse of sin for his generations by grace through faith in repentance and forgiveness on their behalf.

In destroying the curse of sin without sinning, the Father raised Jesus to eternal resurrection life, his first glorification, having fulfilled the law perfectly in his flesh, fulfilling David’s foretelling of his coming in Psalms 16 and 23,

redeeming and restoring the opportunity of men and women (in him, Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11), to put sin to death, raised to resurrection life, he having taken the wounding and piercing of the structures of sin we could never endure.

(Matt. 5:17, Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10, 7:16, Isaiah 53:4-6)

Christ’s pioneering-atoning work abolished the OT sacrificial system, but it did not abolish the need for personal sacrifice as led by the Holy Spirit (creeds make salvation a one-time event contrary to Scripture, which describes a deepening journey in Christ over time for those who seek him).

God the Father “made” Christ mature and complete (Heb. 5:7-10), entering Heaven (Heb. 4:14, 7:16), the perfect likeness of his Father (John 1:14, 3:34, 14:9, 2 Cor. 4:6, Col. 1:19, Heb. 1:3).

(Ro. Chapters 3-6, 6:10, 8:10-11, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10)

All this – his pioneering journey – occurred before his ministry!

God set a “banquet” “feast” of grace, love, and mercy before Israel hoping they would turn from their traditions to the grace and love of God in Christ (Matthew 21:37), fulfilling over four millenniums of intricate planning and labor to bring his perfect Son to Abraham’s seed.

Important

The new birth in the New Covenant (the creative act of God of “light and life” upon our spirit, i.e., born again, John 3:3, bringing tangibility to the Kingdom of God),

gives Jesus as a gift, our “scapegoat” and passport into the Kingdom of God (justified by faith, Ro. 5:1-2, 8:29-30), fulfilling the “scapegoat” of the OT Day of Atonement in the NT for those who “begin” their journey in Christ by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8),

and of course, fulfilling the shedding of blood foretold by the Old Covenant in his long fathering journey of putting sin to death, raised to eternal resurrection life before his ministry – having given the entirety of his life “a true blood sacrifice,” to cause of his father in bringing salvation to humanity beginning with Israel first.

To repeat again, because it needs much repeating, according to Scripture, Christ made “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (NIV, Ro. 8:3 italicized mine, also Ro. 1:3, 2 Cor. 5:21, Gal. 4:4, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 2:11, 2:17, 4:15), dying to the enmity in his flesh without sin (Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 4:15, 5:7-10),

fulfilling the law perfectly (Matthew 5:17), raised to resurrection life (his first glorification, John 12:28, Ro. 6:10, Heb. 5:7-10, etc.,) before his ministry, through his pioneering journey fathered by God (Heb. 2:10, 6:20),

offering the totality of his life to God the Father (his blood sacrifice), including rights and privileges on the cross of the Holy Spirit (Phil. Chap. 2), “made perfect” (NIV Heb. 5:7-10, italicized mine),

is our blood sacrifice, and the blood sacrifice for he and his generations, fulfilling the personal OT Outer Court offering on the Day of Atonement, the sprinkling of the blood throughout the Tabernacle, and scapegoat, in the New Covenant fulfillment of redeeming and restoring access to God, intimately, and deeply.

Important

Referring to the Isaiah 53:5 reference, contrary to opposite teaching for almost a millennium and a half, wounding, etc., did not kill the man Christ Jesus, but led to his healing and restoration from the effects of sin passed to him from his human ancestry – see the Hebrew interlinear noted at the end of the post.

Yes, the wounding and piercings of Isaiah 53:4-6 led to Christ’s first glorification, destroying the curse of sin in his human lineage, raised by his Father from mortality to immortality in the flesh before his ministry,

because wounding and piercing applies to the structures of sin passed through the generations, not wholly to the person of Christ – someone had to show the enemy the flesh lead by the Spirit (Gal. 5:17), could put sin to death – and Christ was chosen to do just that!

Isaiah 53:7-9 is the fulfillment of Calvary; the prophets describing by the Spirit centuries earlier what unrepentant hearts would do if they did not come to repentance in his ministry.

It should not be shocking it has taken almost fifteen centuries for the correct understanding of Christ’s blood, etc., Calvary, and Christ’s two glorifications to finally “surface” above the veil of creeds and traditions.

It took a millennium for grace through faith to “surface” again in the 1500s, leading to four centuries of greater revelation of Christ and salvation, immediately followed by re-surfacing of Pentecost again in the 20^th century.

With the first two Christian pilgrimages now widely known and relatively complete in the Church (new birth and Pentecost), God is re-revealing intimate fathering.

The power of creeds and traditions should never be underestimated – it takes a lot of labor by the Lord to bring break through to the body of Christ – like the cutting away of the flesh so Christ and his Word can be truly glorified by the Word of God and the not traditions of men.

That is, he made “provision” for NT men and women to be fathered into completion (i.e., glorified, resurrection life, Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 8:19-23, 8:29-30, 2 Cor. 3:18, Phil. 3:10-21, 1 John 3:2-3), so the Temple of our body, soul, and spirit (our Holy of Holies, 1 Thess. 5:23) can be inhabited by God/Christ.

***

Jesus also had other things in mind when he used the term “blood,” beyond the sacrifice of the entirety of his life in destroying sin, “made perfect” NIV, Heb 5:9, italicized mine), like:

referring to himself as the “source of life” in the New Covenant he established by destroying the enmity in his flesh from his human ancestry (i.e., the “testator” of the old nature put to death),

destroying false beliefs “blood lines” to Abraham imply righteousness, and, among others,

announcing a new “blood line” based on the Spirit (the new birth), and not the flesh.

(John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8, e.g., Ezekiel Chapter 33 and Isaiah 59:3 and 59:7 are expressions where blood is symbolic of a person’s life, not the liquid in the body).

Important

In the Old Testament, the purposes of animal (blood) sacrifices instituted by God were:

to show how far sin had taken them from intimacy with God, the cost of sin, represented by offering their choicest possession to receive atoning forgiveness, blood representing the cost – sacrifice – where nothing is kept or hidden from God in this life,

a means for God to reach their hearts in the things that greatly mattered to them; acknowledging before God and others their utter dependence upon God for life and his faithfulness to not only replace but multiply their choicest provisions, 

foretelling a future time when God will ask his people to give their most prized possession, “themselves, as a living sacrifice,” when overflowing grace is presented to them as his Gift, i.e., his only begotten Son,

paving the way through his atoning-pioneering journey (the promised transformative grace through faith, 1 Peter 1:10-12),  for the healing and restoration of wounds and brokenness animal ”blood” sacrifices could never cure, which over time, the Lord despised.

(Isaiah 1:11-18, 29:13, 51:16-17, 66:2, Hosea 6:6, Joel 2:13, Amos 3:12 speaks of rescue, healing, and restoration even when the situation looks utterly hopeless, Amos 5:21-24)

The Old Testament animal sacrificial system continually drew hearts to turn back toward God.

Christ came to show us the way of the “cross,” not the cross of Calvary, but the cross of the Holy Spirit, where we no longer lead our own lives (John 21:18-19, 2 Cor. 4:10-12, 2 Cor. 7:1, Galatians 5:17, etc.), but are led by the Lord like he was led by his Father, to die to the enmity in our flesh.

So, God the Father can raise us like he raised Christ from mortality (Psalm 16) to walk in new creation-resurrection life (Ro. 6:5-6:10, Phil. 3:10-21), as partakers of Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission, i.e., intimate fathering through healing and restoration.

Important

There is a spiritual “cross” of dying to sin (which Jesus pioneered), a physical “cross” for killing someone,

a “suffering” in putting sin to death (which Jesus took for us, Isaiah 53:4-6), a “suffering” in physical crucifixion,

a “death” to the lusts and cravings of this world, a “death” to the physical body,

a “sacrifice” of one’s life under fathering to maturity and completion (1 Cor. 13:11-12, 2 Cor. 4:10-12, 7:1, Gal. 2:19-20, Eph. 4:12-13, 5:26-27, Hebrews 11:39-12:29, 1 John 3:2-3), a “sacrifice” of one’s life in physically dying for your faith,

a “resurrection” from the lusts and cravings of the flesh to walk in resurrection life, healed and restored, a “resurrection” from physical death,

a Holy Spirit limitation and restraint “boundary lines” (NIV, Psalm 16:6 italicized mine, see also John 21:19, Gal. 5:17), for our lives under intimate fathering on the “cross of Christ,”

as God transforms those who earnestly desire him from eating from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to eating solely from the Tree of Life, “making” our dwelling a habitation for God (atonement, Romans 6:5),

whereas, in contrast, those on the “cross of Rome” also restrained and limited, receive torture as compensation for their actions, leaving them only one certain outcome.

And there is a spiritual “pouring of blood” (Matthew 26:28), one the Church has struggled with for 1500 years,  

Christ Jesus, having offered his life as a living sacrifice to completion, becoming the “atoning sacrifice” in his first glorification, our Savior (Ro. 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10),

went beyond what his Father had planned for him, choosing his Father’s preferred will to not take the Kingdom by force, giving more time for grace to bring men and women to forgiveness by willingly “spilling his blood (his life!)” in physical death,

allowing what was foretold by the prophets “what “unrepentant men” would do to the one bearing the Gospel message,” to come to pass, not to atone for sin, but to openly display to the people of Israel their sins, wounds, and brokenness on the marks of his body (1 Peter 2:24).

(I suggest reading 1 Peter 2:24 in an interlinear, because Peter contrasts Christ’s suffering at Calvary in the first part of the verse, the utter irony of it – he having previously put sin to death in his pioneering journey before ministry, in the last part of the verse. This is one of a number of passages where both deaths and/or glorifications are mentioned in proximity – see 1 Peter 2:24 in the previous post.)

Jesus kept his calling as the Prince of Peace to the end, giving more time for grace, deferring his vengeance (Isaiah 61) for his coming near the end of the Tribulation.

Important

Christ emptied his life including “rights and privileges” (the latter the subject of  Philippians 2, the spiritual cross of dying to sin to walk in new life), before the Father, pouring out his life so completely it could only be rightly called a blood sacrifice,

doing what we could never do, atoning for our sins – destroying the curse of sin passed through the generations, creating a new bloodline of the Spirit fulfilling in him for man and woman God’s plan from the beginning (Gen. 1:26).

If the enemy stirs up murderous thoughts and hatred against you (speaking of Jesus), refusing to repent of the sins they harbor against themselves, others, you, and God, after all you have done to show them righteousness, goodness, and the kindness of God,

and you are determined to save lives no matter what the cost, you are not going to retaliate or resist the sinful plans they have against you, because you have entered eternal resurrection life, having authority over your own body,

you allow their actions, hoping they will “see by the eyes of grace” what they have done, their natural eyes bearing witness to the thoughts and actions of their unrepentant hearts leading to your horrible death,

“connecting” your wounded to death body on the Roman cross to the imaginations they and their leaders conceived as a witness of their sins against an innocent man (Acts 2:36-41),

through conviction of the Holy Spirit you will be able to draw the poison of sin out of their hearts onto the altar of repentance and forgiveness you created perfectly in your first glorification.

***

If the resurrection is our hope at physical death, nothing has changed between the Old and New Covenants, then we are as Paul says, “of all people most pitied.” (NIV, 1 Cor. 15:19 bold and italicized mine)

If our hope is resurrection at physical death, and not Christ’s Isaiah 61 Commission in this life, then what has really changed between the Testaments, besides the new birth?

Did Jesus go through everything he went through just to give us the new birth, which is great, but it is just one step above the OT?

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is saying Jesus gave us more than “hope” but the promise of fathering, intimacy, in this life leading to transformation, healing and restoration to walk in resurrection life before we get to Heaven!

Creeds and traditions have so convoluted the Scripture unless you see the New Testament without them the heart and purpose of Christ’s coming is missed – and missed drastically.

The New Testament is a new and better covenant, not a little but a giant leap over the Old Testament.

Jesus gave us more than hope but a journey to intimate union if only we would seek him for fathering, his coming, like Scripture exhorts.

(1 Cor. 1:7, 4:5, 15:20-23, 2 Cor. 7:1, 13:9-11, Gal. 5:5, Phil. 2:12, 3:10-21, Col. 3:4, etc.)

Jesus came no less than to bring healing and restoration to those grafted into him – to fulfill what the OT saints could see by the eye of faith but not enter.

The promise of reigning with Christ in glory is meant to start here (Ro. 6:5, 8:10-11, 2 Cor. 3:18, Gal. 4:19).

***

Peter separates Christ’s first glorification from his second glorification on the day of Pentecost (Acts Chapter 2).

First, Peter explains Jesus fulfilled David’s Psalm 16, it was “this” Jesus (the Jesus of Psalm 16, the Messiah, walking in resurrection life) God raised from the dead after Calvary. (NIV, Acts 2:32, italicized mine)

Peter made it clear they killed the “resurrected” Christ, meaning he had fulfilled David’s Psalm 16 alive (having destroyed the curse of sin passed to him from his human generations he entered eternal life, immortality), “he became” the Messiah (NIV, Hebrews 5:7-10 italicize mine) before ministry.

They killed the one who ushered eternal life in the flesh back into the story of humanity, redeeming what Adam and Eve lost, anointed by the Holy Spirit to do the same in those who come to him (his Isaiah 61 Commission).

Surely, the crowd before Peter understood Calvary had nothing to do with bringing to pass their salvation, honestly, that would be the farthest thing from their mind or anyone’s mind, including Peter.

Peter makes no assertion, implied or otherwise, Christ’s death at Calvary purchased his or anyone else’s salvation.

On the contrary, the Apostles viewed and understood Calvary was nothing more than the killing of their Savior, the lover of their souls, their closest and dearest friend, a father, by an act of lawlessness contrary to God the Father, having nothing to do with the “making/perfection” of Jesus (Heb. 5:7-10).

Stephen makes clear in Acts 7:52 what the Apostles thought about the killing of their Messiah.

Unless anyone misunderstand, all humanity is guilty of killing Christ, Jew, and Gentile, everyone must bend the knee to Jesus.

Contrary to ushering in the New Covenant as the creeds teach, Calvary stopped the Gospel in its tracks, until Jesus injected life back into it with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was the New Covenant in flesh and blood the leaders of Israel tried to stamp out, but God counter-moved against the enemy with Pentecost.

No one in Scripture views Calvary favorably or as the atonement for our salvation.

Creeds and traditions make Calvary the touchstone of our salvation, when the honor of our salvation belongs solely to Jesus, who destroyed the curse of sin in his pioneering journey, fathered by God to completion – a masterpiece of God’s work in Christ he presented to Israel as a gift for redemption and healing.

Some Final Thoughts

For over a millennium, the Church has conditioned itself and those outside the Church to see the Gospel of salvation through the lens of torture leading to physical death because of extra-biblical “human” creeds and traditions.

Not only does the “physical death” teaching contradict both Old and New Testaments, it opposes the law of “in-kind” God established in creation: good trees produce good fruit, bad trees bad fruit.

When we understand Jesus and the Apostles used words like death, life, blood, cross, suffering, sacrifice, sleep, fallen asleep, etc., to mean any number of physical or spiritual truths (John 6:53-63, 1 Cor. 2:13, 1 John 5:7-8),

and “see” certain Scriptures in an interlinear before adjustments made by translators to conform to the creeds (like Acts 2:23, Matthew 26:54, and others), it becomes obvious there is more to Jesus’ story and salvation than Calvary.

Even when translation adjustments made to conform to Church traditions remain as is, eyebrows should raise knowing:

a divided Kingdom cannot stand, God does not tempt men to do evil,

God fulfilled the promise coming of his Son for Israel to receive him (Matthew 21:37), not for Israel to kill him,

God “foreordaining” the coming of the Messiah, set in motion a stream of prophecies and events to bring the gift of his “perfected” Son to Israel, had nothing to do with the stream of prophecies foretelling what unrepentant men will do to God’s perfect gift,

which is no different than other prophecies where God includes the outcome in Scripture but does not interfere with the will of men and women – warning centuries in advance, like the coming Great Falling Away,

and other inconsistencies, like teaching Jesus did not have enmity in his flesh in clear opposition to Scripture, and like,

Jesus died to sin at Calvary when Romans says he died to sin to walk in new life, meaning eternal resurrection life, etc.,

where traditions pound square pegs into round holes, leading to an extensive list of errors and distortions about the story and person of Christ.

***

When Christ became of age, his Heavenly Father began teaching him how to put the enmity in his flesh – the temptations of his flesh in cravings and lust to live like his human generations lived – to death by:

learning how to flee temptation by grace through faith, crying out to his Father for rescue, taking the way of escape,

responding quickly to his Father for strength and guidance when temptation knocked on the door of his heart and cravings and lust rose in his flesh,

responding quickly to his Father’s lead by renouncing and rebuking the enemy’s claims against him and his generations through the agreements, lies, vows, etc., his generations practiced as a way of life (Ro. Chaps. 3-6, 6:10, Eph. 2:14-16 see interlinear, Heb. 5:7-10),

crying out to his Father for healing and restoration from generational wounds and brokenness, enduring the suffering of Holy Spirit wounding and piercing (Isaiah 53:4-6, Heb. 4:12-13), required to cleanse and heal the structures of sin passed to him,

never fleeing the boundaries of his cup and portion (Psalm 16) he possessed in his Father, staying in the secret place with his Father, never venturing beyond the limits and restrains of the cross of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:17, Phil Chap. 2),

sacrificing rights and privileges to the will of his Father on the cross of the Spirit (Philippians Chap. 2, the cross of Christ to us),

committed and steadfast in his Father’s plan to bring him to maturity and completion, no matter the cost,

wholeheartedly trusting in his Father’s plan of “fathering” him to perfection like the Scripture foretold,

quickly learning there is nothing in this worldly life coming close to the preciousness of his growing, intimate relationship with his Father, experiencing the vibrancy of healing and restoration,

settled in enduring the suffering involved in binding the strongman, reclaiming the possessions the enemy stole from his generations, Father God walking Christ through the process of transformation, destroying the enmity in his flesh passed to him from his human generations,

growing into intimate union with his Father leading to maturity and completion, without sin,

his first glorification, receiving “the Spirit without limit” (NIV, John 3:34 italicize mine), having the Word of God written not on tablets of stone, but engraved in the man Christ Jesus (NIV, John 1:14, 14:9, 2 Cor. 4:16, 6:16, 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 5:7-10, 8:10, 10:16 (Hebrews 1-10 is a biography of the “making” of the man Christ Jesus)), the pioneer, firstborn, first fruit, forerunner and finisher of the new creation,

becoming our atoning Redeemer (NIV, Heb. 5:7-10), entering eternal resurrection in the flesh (Psalm 16, Heb. 4:14, 7:16), “the exact representation of his being” speaking of God the Father (NIV, Heb. 1:3 italicize mine), having the “fullness” of God (NIV, Col. 1:19 italicize mine).

Love and blessings, Drake

(Tyndale) The New Greek – English Interlinear New Testament by Translators Robert K. Brown and Philip W. Comfort, Editor: J. D. Douglas. Copyright © 1990. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

(H-E) Taken from The Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and English Standard Version by Thom Blair, General Editor, Copyright © 2014, page 1561. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. (Interlinear used by permission from Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible copyright © 2004 by Logos Research Systems, Inc.)

(NIV) Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblical, Inc.™