Since the ascension of the Lord Jesus, He has been working through His body, the church, by the Holy Spirit. This is the new creation that greatly transcends the original creation. In the beginning, God walked with man, but now He comes to dwell in man. This is the greatest of all benefits of the New Covenant, and as Paul wrote in II Corinthians 3, it is better than what Moses had even though he had to put a veil over his face because of the glory. As Paul later wrote in Colossians 1:25-27:
that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints,
to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
It seems too wonderful and too fantastic, but it is the sure Word of God. Christ is actually living in us by His Spirit. To live by this knowledge is the ultimate quest and is the answer to everything else.
How would our day have been different if Jesus had been physically manifested and stood next to our bed this morning? Then suppose He had stayed with us all day—how would our day have been different? Those who walk in truth, (the Truth Himself), would not have done anything differently. They would have seen Him all day with the eyes of their hearts. If we are walking in truth, what we see with the eyes of our hearts will be more real to us than what we are seeing with our physical eyes.
Again, our calling is to be like Him and to do the works that He did, because we are in such unity with Him that He is able to do works through us. We are changed into His image by seeing Him. Before the end of this age some are going to walk in this in its fullness. This study is about taking the land, which is possessing our promises. There is however, no greater promise than to be like Him and do the works that He did. There will be a great company who walk in this before the end of this age. Why not us? Where does it say that we cannot do what Enoch did? Would that not be the ultimate rapture–to walk with God until we get so close to Him that He just takes us?
What the Lord does in the last days will trump anything Hollywood has ever come up with as far as people walking in supernatural power. God is going to manifest Himself in His people. He is going to come in His people before He comes for them. How is He seeking to come in us today?
I receive reports regularly of spectacular miracles that have just taken place. It is always wonderful to hear about something great that the Lord has done for someone. However, what is even more encouraging is an unmistakable trend that can be seen in these. Until just a couple of decades ago, almost every miracle was performed through a well-known minister. Now almost all the miracles I hear about are done through those not even in full-time ministry, with a growing percentage done through children.
As we discussed a few weeks ago, there are Christians who thrive when they are walking by the spontaneous leadership of the Holy Spirit. There are others who thrive more in following a good plan. Both are necessary and both can be just as much the Holy Spirit. God made us all different. There are those who are made to live on the edge, and those who are made by Him to thrive more in a structured environment. Even so, those who love the spontaneous often need a bit more structure and planning in their lives, and those who are more systematic in their walk probably need more sensitivity to the spontaneous. We all need each other!
I love to see or hear about miracles. I also love science, though there is little room in science at this time for the miraculous. Quantum physics and quantum mechanics were basically developed to explain miracles or anything else that would not fit neatly into the present scientific perspective of the universe. Science will never come up with the right answers to some basic principles until they admit to a Creator, and it is exciting how more scientists are now admitting to "intelligent design," because the whole universe is one big miracle! The evidence of this is so overwhelming that all who do not admit to intelligent design are looking increasingly foolish.
Jon Amos Comenius prophesied in the early 1600s that all true science would lead to the Creator. The odds that the universe, as it is, just evolved would have required millions of events to have happened in perfect combination, with perfect timing, just to bring forth a single living cell—this is too extreme for true intelligence to even consider. Science was hijacked by some very foolish people with a very foolish agenda, but it will be recovered. The only evidence that the Theory of Evolution could possibly be true is the fact that if some human beings believe such foolishness, it is possibly evidence that some human beings did evolve from the ape, and obviously have not evolved very far!
The Theory of Evolution, which is now taught as scientific fact in our public schools, has no scientific basis, as there is still not an example that a species evolved from another. They still have not found "the missing link," so if the theory was true, there should be thousands of fossils proving it on almost every square mile of the planet. It does not take a prophet to prophesy that eventually the Theory of Evolution will go down as one of the most foolish of all "scientific" theories and the greatest of all embarrassments to science. It already is that, and many scientists are admitting it in a growing wave of determination to recover the integrity of science.
Except for this embarrassment of the way the Theory of Evolution was accepted so blindly, with such flimsy evidence, we can thank science for much more than we have time for. Blinded by human arrogance, science may have lost its way for a time, but it was still used for much good, and we can count on integrity to return to it. When it does, honest scientists and honest theologians will have much to share with each other, though neither is called to the place of the other. Even so, science and faith will ultimately be best friends.
As science has matured, the fact that there was intelligent design is overwhelmingly apparent. We can debate who the Creator is, but every truly honest scientist will admit that there certainly was one. Even so, just as Paul wrote in Romans 1, the whole creation does testify of Him, loudly. Jon Amos Comenius wrote, "Nature is God's second book." That is true, and it is a most wonderful book, but it will always be His second book. Even God's second book is better than anything we will ever write, but we must always keep it second.
One of the things the whole creation testifies of is the Lord's love for diversity, as well as intricacy. The intricacy of the universe, its balance, and the way it all fits and holds together, is still far beyond the greatest human minds to fathom. Einstein once wrote, "It is enough for me [to comprehend] the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvelous structure of reality, together with the single hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature."
Einstein did have a great mind, and though he began as an atheist, as he matured in his understanding of the universe, he, too, came to understand that there certainly was a Creator, and that the Creator had a Reason that manifested throughout the creation. Of course, that Reason was Christ, and as we are told in Colossians 1:16-17, "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authority—all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
Christ was the Reason for all things, and it is by Him that all things came into being. As we are told in Ephesians 1, all things will ultimately be summed up in Him (see Ephesians 1:10). Once we understand the place of Christ in all things, all things start to make sense. If you do not understand Christ, then there will be confusion.
In reading Einstein's works, I could see over and over where he was explaining or articulating Christ as the Word of God that John explains in the first chapter of his Gospel. Even though there were many ways in which Einstein may have grasped Him through nature, it is not clear that he ever realized that the One he saw as the Reason for all things was made flesh and dwelt among us. As John explained, the One who made the world came to the world, and the world did not recognize its Maker. That is one of the saddest statements ever made. However, in the end, the world will recognize Him and bow before Him. But we get to do that now!
The first and greatest miracle was the creation. The next one is "the new creation." Not only did the Word become flesh and live among His creation, but now He has come to live in man, in us. Just as science has had such a struggle figuring out the beginning of all things, but is now starting to get it, Christians have had a similarly hard time grasping the new creation, but are now starting to get it. When we do, the change in Christianity will be profound—a reformation much greater than the Reformation.
