Module 11 Our identity in Christ
Who Am I?
There are things about me, that are a part of who I am, but they do not define me as me.
I may be a wife, a mother, a child of so and so, a divorced man, a business leader, a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, a friend to so and so, a teacher, an electrician or a nurse, a supporter of such and such, but none of this is wholly who I am. I also may be impatient, or fearful, a former drug addict, an ex-witch, or someone who had an abortion or committed crimes, but these do not define who I am.
Who we are is fashioned by God before we ever existed on the earth. The eternal spirit He made in His image, with gifts and callings that cannot be revoked because He spoke them. When we come back into relationship with Him through Christ, that spirit is reborn from the curse of sin and death. And like a baby growing up in the natural would do, we grow up in our knowledge of Him and who He made us to be. This is what it means to know “who we are in Christ.” His Word will reveal who all His children are, but His Spirit will reveal to each of us personally who we are.
II Cor. 5:15-18 …and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Jer. 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you wer born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Spiritual Maturity
I Cor. 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
I Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…
I Cor. 14:20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
Ephesians 4:14 So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Hebrews 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Babies—new to the faith, may still be struggling in the basics of the faith, often difficulty with grace and forgiveness, little knowledge of the Word, little experience with faith, trials, tribulations, testing. Limited discernment. Want to believe. Grateful to God for saving them. Still have many soul issues to work out.
Carnal Christian– Carnal means flesh. Very fleshly motivated. Focused on things of the world, the stuff of earth and not heaven. Easily offended. More quick to cause division. Little personal knowledge of the Word. May be liberal and political. Little to no church involvement. Critical. Often spiritually blind or apathetic. May be living in open sin. Spiritual apathy, laziness, ignorance.
What is carnality in our culture today? ______________________________________
Sexual sin. Materialism. Self-preservation and self-exaltation. Do whatever is popular. Accept the evil presenting itself as good.
Mature spiritual Christians—have grown in the things of God. Serve. Give. Show honor to others. Selfless. Know a lot of the Word. Understand the basics of the faith. Have spiritual disciplines. Able to forgive, show grace, show patience, hold their tongue. You can see the fruit of the Spirit. They stay busy about the Father’s business. Eternal perspective. Have weathered some storms in faith. Move in more discernment. Experience in dealing with the devil and overcoming the flesh.
What you see on the outside is not always the mark of maturity or stability on the inside. A fifteen-year-old sold out Christian could be far more spiritually mature than a 50 year old saint who serves as a deacon in the church.
The world will measure who you are by your appearance, your occupation, your wealth, your social status, and your influence. Accomplishments and admiration do not make us who we are. Try as we might to find self-verification in how we look, our social status, the money we make, and performance to be somebody, we will fall short of satisfaction and wholeness, peace and self-worth. Whatever pinnacle of self -identity we achieve will crumble under the pressure of any hostile rejection, criticism, fear, or guilt we endure. Do not fall for the guise that no recognition, or no money, means no hope for happiness.
God looks at the heart. Jesus was secure in His identity and purpose, regardless of what man thought of Him. He routinely rejected the accolades of man, but welcomed the praise of true and humble believers.
The only identity equation that works in the Kingdom of God is that you plus Christ equals wholeness and meaning. Our relationship with God is our key to wholeness and self-worth.
Would you change your appearance if you could? Why? Why are we so caught up in appearance? Does it give you confidence, joy, security, contentment, fulfillment?
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
Numbers 13:33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Judges 6:11-12, 14-16 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”….Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” 15 So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”
Exodus 4:10-11 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?
Can you see yourself as God see you?
I Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Trinity of Man
I Thess 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”
We are saved, being saved, and will be saved.
Only our spirit is new and pure, holy and sanctified. Our soul and body must learn, conform, and submit. The spirit is the new creation.
Romans 12:1-3 …present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Hebrews 12:1 …since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
If you sin it does not mean you lose your salvation, or none of us would be saved.
I John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I John 3:4-10 is referring to a hard heart, perpetual unrepentant sin, refusal to submit to God. It cannot mean that a follower of Christ will never sin or none of us would qualify. That would contradict I John 1:9 just a few chapters prior. You are no longer a ‘sinner.’
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
Negative emotions are based in sin: fear, anger, sadness, denial, blame, shame and guilt, pessimism… We see this when Adam and Eve ate the fruit. In their children…Cain was selfish, jealous, prideful, angry, murderous. Sin marred the image of God is us, but it was not completely lost.
Image of God
How are we in the image of God?
We have intellect, rational understanding, awareness of morals, emotion, thought, capacity to choose, capacity to love, ability to be creative and make things, ability to talk and communicate, ability to spiritually connect.
We are and eternal spirit with a soul. He gave us a body of flesh.
The only way we are similar to animals is biological makeup, and the fact that animals have some degree of emotion and choice. We glorify God in a way animals do not. Animals are not made in His image, and are not called His children. He did not give His life as a ransom for anything but humankind.
We have arms, legs, eyes, hair, hands, feet. These are all things He is described as having. God and man can both see, hear, feel, speak, plan, have emotion. He is described as ‘He’ so He made man a ‘he’ and then He made woman out of man. He did not choose to come in the form of a woman, an animal, an angel, a tree, an orb of light, or anything else. He came as a man.
To criticize ourselves and look down upon ourselves is to criticize the work and creation of God, because we are all made in His image and likeness.
Isaiah 45:6-12 “That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; 7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’ 8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. 9 “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’? 10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ” 11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. 12 I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.”
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.
Romans 9:20-24 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? 22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Triune being “Let Us make man in Our image…” God is a triune being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one. We are spirit, soul, and body. Now we also have a new spirit man, reborn, restored to who we were created to be in the beginning before sin stole that identity, and an old man, unregenerate and bound by the curse of sin, who must be taught the ways of God to conform and to submit. That is part of the curse still on mankind from sin. That and physical death, breakdown of the body, sickness and disease.
After the fall, or nature changed
Everything was more difficult. Our purpose God gave us became more difficult. By nature, we became children of wrath. From our nature flows our choices. We needed another image bearer to come. Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father. He predestined us to be conformed to the image and likeness of His Son. We are in His image, we are being conformed to His image, and this will be fully realized in eternity.
Ephesians 2:1-5 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…
Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Redemption in Christ returns us to the original mandate, to be image bearers of God in the earth. We are reborn, with a new nature.
Hebrews 1:1-4 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
We are Sinners
Objective moral ideas/standards are evident in society, the moral establishment then had to come from God. Everyone feels guilt of falling short of the moral standard. The fact that there are morals points to someone creating morality.
Collective truth will decide what is truth based on the majority opinion. But truth has to be one truth to exist as the truth. Everything else is weighed against it, measured against it, compared to it. Sin will deter from the standard of God’s truth and make its own ‘truth’ which is actually a lie.
Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.
Relativism believes there is no truth, and it is all individual. For example, there are many ways to God, or there are many genders.
Romans 1:18-20 says Gods wrath is against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Sin creates a debt we cannot pay. This is why crime has punishment. Degrees of sin and moral standard. Greater punishment for killing a person than an animal, no punishment for killing a bug.
If you tell a police officer you have not sped for 1000 times before, and wore your seatbelt every time before, but he pulled you over for speeding and not wearing our seatbelt, you still broke the law and have to pay the penalty. Your previous obedience will not have bearing on the current infraction.
God says that sin can only result in death. So, every soul that sins will die. This is why Jesus had to die for us, to become sin, so that we could receive life again, as if we had never sinned.
Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Proverbs 10:16 The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin.
Ezek. 18:20 The soul who sins shall die…
We are His masterpiece
Ephes. 2:8-10 the gift of God, not works, we are His workmanship, made for good works…
We have nothing to do with our salvation and righteousness. The good works we do are through the grace and love of God, not in and of ourselves. The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it. That means the selfish old nature will always veer toward self, which to God is wicked and twisted from the original order. There is no self-righteousness. There is only God’s righteousness. There is no love outside of God because He is love and He created the capacity to give and receive love.
Phil. 2:12-15 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…
We work out our salvation with fear and trembling means we learn to submit our soul to the Word and will of God as we walk in a fallen world. Grace by the Holy Spirit empowers us to do this. Yes we keep a holy fear of God as we walk out this life with Him, but we are not terrified of His disapproval and rejection should we fail.
Ephesians 4:22-24 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
The restoration process with Christ will take a lifetime, and continue into the time when Jesus returns and sets all things right.
Shame and Acceptance
Guilt- we are sad for what we have done, we feel bad, we feel the condemnation for the wrong doing and the negative consequences that come with that.
Shame- we are sad over who we perceive ourselves to be. If we cannot talk about the sin we committed, or the sins committed against us, it owns us. Shame came at the fall. It makes all of us struggle with self-worth because of our sins. Shame will bring denial as a means of escape from confession and healing.
Shame can numb remorse and repentance through blame. Blame affects our relationships and makes them suffer.
Shame is based in fear. Fear of God’s response, fear of other people’s response.
I John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
We can be fully accepted if we walk in the light, with our deeds exposed. Then we can have true fellowship. We can walk with others who know the sins we overcame and were forgiven of, and they love us anyway. That is God’s love. Even if we are still walking in sin, true Godly love will continue to accept and love, not reject and abandon. The Spirit of God will bring correction, but will not reject and condemn a child of God.
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed…
The curse brought frustration in creation, and a divide between the man and the woman.
Loving ourselves
Jesus said to love others like we love ourselves, so He said to love ourselves. He also restored the love that was marred by the curse between husband and wife. Salvation itself is loving yourself. Receiving life for death, hope for suffering, healing for brokenness, deliverance and freedom for oppression and pain.
Luke 6:31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
Ephesians 5:25-31 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
Lev. 19:18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Zech 8:11 Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate,’ says the Lord.”
Mark 12:30-31 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love yourself by walking in holiness, caring for your body as God’s temple, and staying close to the Lord, getting wisdom. This is because sin is destructive to self, and others around you.
Self-hate is based in shame, condemnation, fear, blame, and woundedness from others.
Weakness and Strengths
The world does not see any value in weakness, brokenness, or a contrite heart before God.
Humility is very hard for the flesh.
No one posts pictures of themselves crying, depressed, angry, and broken. We want to focus on our strengths. But how can we receive God’s grace if we do not know our own insufficiency.
I Cor. 1:26-29 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
II Cor. 12:8-10 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Jer. 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
James 4:6-8 “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Don’t hide your weaknesses, confess to God and your brothers and sisters in Christ. Let iron sharpen iron, encourage, admonish, correct in love one another according to the Word and the law of love. Sparks may fly, but that is how the instrument becomes effective for its purpose.
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
Slaves/Bondservant
A bondservant is someone who gives himself up to another’s will, offering up devoted service to the one. Jesus became one, and we are called to follow His example. A bond-servant in the time of Christ was not the same as slavery as we know it today. A slave had no free will. We all still retain free will as Christians. Slavery as we know it involved brutality, demeaning, abuse, and control. That is not our relationship with our Father. A bond-servant would enter into contract with their master to either pay a debt, or serve a punishment. The master would pay his debt. (See Exodus 21:5-6, Ephes. 6:5, Col. 3:22).
Phil. 2:7 Jesus emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.
Titus 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…
Psalm 116:16 O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds.
Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
Jesus paid my debt, so now I commit myself to Him to serve Him.
Sons and Daughters
I John 3:1-3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…
Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
Phil. 2:15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…
Matt. 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
There are only children of God or children of the devil
I John 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”
Romans 9:6-9 For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. 9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
A Royal Priesthood
I Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Jesus brought together the royal line and the priesthood because He is both Priest and King (as Melchizadek). No longer is it just Israel who was singled out as God’s special people in the earth. We all as His priests have access to God through Christ. There is no more veil, no more tabernacle, no more holy place and holy of holies, no more cleansing rituals and sacrifices. What was physical and natural has again become spiritual, as it is in heaven.
A priest represents God to the people. A priest communicated with God for the people. A priest brought cleansing and forgiveness to the people. A priest ministered to the people the things of God. A priest would work to keep the tabernacle in order.
Exodus 19:5-6 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Ambassador for Christ
II Cor. 5:16-21 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
An ambassador is an official envoy, a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state or country where they are a resident. They will not give their own opinion, but speak for the one who sent them. They speak not in their own authority, but the authority of the state or nation they serve. The honor and representation of his country are in his hands, so he is more than a messenger, he is a representative.
We serve in a foreign land as a representative of the King.
John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
John 17:16 “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
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