3. April 17, 2014 Union



Norman Grubb writes in "The Key to Everything":

"So Jesus gave us the vine and branches illustration. Through this our eyes are opened to the secret of the universe union — the mystery of the universe: how two can be one and yet remain two.

In this dimension, infinite truth is always in the form of paradox. We never get beyond facts that are seemingly contradictory to common sense. In this dimension we can never fully comprehend truth through our senses. Our reason cannot teach it to us. We have to live with opposites which don't meet, with facts that are, to our understanding, not completely logical. It is good for us to recognize this, and to learn to accept both sides—both ways of knowing—in their proper proportions.

This illustration of the vine and the branches is one of those paradoxes.

The living God, the living Christ, and I actually become one person and function as one person. Separation is impossible. It has disappeared. We function entirely and forever and naturally as one person. And yet we remain two!"

The union paradox is key to understanding our identity in Christ. Paul writes in Galatians,

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that [life] which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, [the faith] which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me." (ASV)

Lets go to the next step. Paul states that the one living in him is Christ. He died and Christ is seated in him. So back to the Brown Sofa, the one I though was me sitting on the sofa is not really me. It is Christ. Christ and I are one and since I have died, it is Christ who is my life. That is why the scripture "there is no condemnation to those is Christ Jesus" is true. Jesus cannot be condemned, therefore I cannot be condemned. Christ cannot sin, therefore I cannot sin. My flesh may sin, I am not my flesh. The more my carnal mind is transformed, the more Christ-like my flesh becomes. 

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2. 

I remember a story read to me as a young boy. It was about a peasant boy. He got into all kinds of mischief and trouble. Everybody thought he was good for nothing. As the story unfolds, the boy is really a prince and heir to the thrown. He returns to his proper home in the castle and amazingly he starts to act in a princely manner. When he believed he was a rotten peasant, he acted like a rotten peasant. After accepting his true identity, he acted like a prince. 

Our transformation begins in understanding God's truth about us.

Next time we will begin at the beginning. Genesis.

Blessings,
Tom