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Christ's Flesh, Our Flesh - Part 2

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed – Romans 8:19

And so, we continue our investigation into the nature of Christ's flesh and its relationship to our flesh. We have been convinced that Christ in the flesh revealed God's character. Now we can go on to see an even grander scope in the plan of God.

Christ: Bridging the Gap

Scan John 14:1-14, focusing on v9-10. Jesus' bodily presence, His enfleshment, His Incarnation, was the most important thing that had ever occurred on earth at that time.

No one can understand God unless they see Him in the flesh.

The basis of the gospel is that God needed to come down to earth as a man; He needed to Incarnate Himself so that we could understand Him. It was a necessary thing.

It goes without saying that God had to come in the flesh for us to clearly see Him. As human beings, we are bodily, so there will always be a separation between us and the spiritual – and God is spirit (John 4:24). As has been mentioned earlier, who we really are is spirit as well (in fact, we were made in the spiritual image of God), but no one is fully in tune with that: No one is truly spiritual - at least, not on this side of heaven. We are all "of the flesh" in this world. As disciples, of course, we constantly fight that, but nothing will change the fact that right now, we are bodily, and we can't comprehend the spirit. We just can't get our head around what is in the spiritual world because we cannot perceive it. And so, God bridged the gap between Him and us by becoming a man.

Have the implications of all this dawned on you? The truth is that this fact leaves us in a quandary, because we have not seen Jesus. In fact, he was only on earth for about 33 years – so few people actually saw Jesus. And if we can only see the Father by seeing Jesus in the flesh, where does that leave you and me? Where does that leave us? Can we understand God without seeing him in the flesh?

I think it all comes back to Luke 10:24. Read it with new understanding: "Many prophets and kings have longed to see what you see but did not see it, and hear what you hear but did not hear it." (emphasis mine) Maybe they could read about it (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22…), but they could never see it. That's what they longed for. Don't we long for it? We're supposed to long to see God. Now we discussed earlier that our eschatological hope is connected with us seeing God in our flesh in heaven. But what about in the here and now? Can we see God? I think that the Bible has the answer.

The Church: The Fullness of God

Ephesians 1:22-23 says, "And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." The first thing question that this verse answers is why God created all things, and placed Jesus above all things. In other words, "Why did God make the universe? Why is God sovereign over the universe?" These are hefty questions, about which men have pondered for all time. But Paul's answer is simple:

It was for the church; the universe exists for the church.

God has authority over everything for the church. The church is the purpose of God's creation. A lot of disciples don't realize this, which is sad: Everything has been made for the church. Every quasar, every atom, every planet, every cell, every tree, every blade of grass - they all exist for one reason: the church. That is, so that people would seek God, come to know Him, and be part of His eternal Kingdom. And how does God describe the church? It is the "fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

The church is the fullness of Christ, and Christ is the fullness of God. The fullness of God dwells bodily in the church. In case we're not convinced, Paul says the same thing again in Colossians 2:9-10: "For in Christ all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." The church has been given the fullness of God. Should this be a surprise to us? The church is Jesus' body, so naturally, the fullness of Him dwells within it. How could it be any other way?

The church is filled with the glory of the divine fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 says "[I pray that you may have power] to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." The spiritual reality of the church is that it expresses the fullness of God. I believe that this is one of the greatest revelations of the New Testament – it's no wonder that Paul says it time and time again.

In the next chapter of Ephesians, Ephesians 4:12-13, we find it written that "[Leaders] prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." There are all passages which demand our deepest and most careful attention and study. It is essential that we let these truths permeate our hearts and minds. Collectively, God has imbued us with the glory and the completeness of Christ’s nature and love.

The Church: Bridging the Gap

The point of this is that Jesus represented the fullness of God during His time on earth. And then he went away, and the church was set up. And now, the church represents the fullness of God on earth. The body of Jesus is still here on earth – in the church, which expresses God's fullness, just like Jesus did. We already know why this is necessary. It is because God cannot be understood unless He is seen in the flesh. And this began in Jesus Christ, when God was seen in the flesh. And now, what flesh is God seen in?

Your flesh. The presence of God is continued in us; God is seen through His church.

The world must see the sons of God in order to understand God: The purpose of the physical creation is the spiritual creation, which is the church. The purpose of the church is to reveal God to the world – to be a priest to all the nations (1 Peter 2:9); to mediate God's love and God's justice; to show God to all people.

The prophets and kings longed to see what we see, but never did. Absolutely that verse applies today. It applies so powerfully, because it applies to the church, just as much as it applied to Jesus. We can understand God because we've seen God in the flesh.

Full Circle

Okay, we've come full circle. We've ended where we begun, at Luke 10:24. But there are still a few more things that must be said, especially about Colossians 1:24. Read it again, slowly. When you read it, try to think about all the things which I've said so far.

What is lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions? Well, in regard to their effect and power, of course, nothing is lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions. But what is lacking is the fact that Christ is no longer around: Christ's afflictions were limited not in power but in time - He suffered for a certain length of time, and now He's not around any more. He's "lacking" - His physical presence is lacking. Now obviously, He's gone back to His home, in heaven, where He's preparing a place for us (John 14:2-3), interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25), and so on - it's not like He's no good to us anymore or that He's forgotten us. No way! But He is no longer physically around. So what do we need to do?

We need to be filled with the fullness of God and represent God to
the world so that He can continue to be seen in the flesh - in our flesh.

So, our mission statement here on earth is to fill up in our flesh the fullness of God. That's just another way of stating Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:19, isn't it? That we be filled with the fullness of God. And that is the goal of the church in Ephesians 4:13 – that we attain to the whole measure of Christ. It is clearly our mission statement. That's why we're still here on earth.

When we think of showing God to the world, what do we think of? I think of God's glory, that is, His character, being shown through His people. Surely you already knew that our purpose is to glorify God. I guess the purpose of this study has been to deepen our understanding of what it means to glorify God. It means to make Him known. Perhaps the greatest application of this is that we need to live God's love in our relationships with each-other, so that people can see God's love through us.

There's not much more I can say about showing God to the world, because it really is the whole of the teaching of the Bible for us to be more like God, in righteousness and holiness, so that the world can see God. As it was in Christ's flesh, so it must be in ours.

Where to from here? Well, to find out more about Jesus' current "ministry" in heaven, scan Hebrews. The Gospel of John focuses on the concept of Jesus revealing God's character – there are seven major signs recorded in that book, which reveal different aspects of God's nature. The book of Ephesians, as you no doubt have noticed, has a special focus on the church revealing God to the world. I wish I could be more specific about these things, but these concepts, as you can see, are very wide ranging ones. My main advice as a result of this study to let these truths influence all your bible reading, as well as the way you see the church, from now onwards. I hope that this study has been revealing for you – you're now more than ready to plunge into the next one.

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