Is the Son Coming in You? - UBM [David Eells]

(2Cor.3:18) But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. If our face is truly unveiled, we accept what happened at the cross and see by faith the finished work of Christ in the mirror. Only in this walk of faith are we "transformed into the same image". We accept by faith that God made an exchange of Christ's life for our life. (Col.1:22) yet now hath he reconciled (Greek: "exchanged") in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: (23) if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel.... Through this exchange we died and Christ now lives in us by faith. (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. Only seeing the real Jesus in the mirror by faith will transform us into the "same image". Aspiring to be like "another Jesus", as Paul called it in 2 Corinthians 11:4, will not bring forth Christ but antichrist in us. Having our eyes on self, our ability, our failure, is to see our "natural face in a mirror" and is not walking by faith. This will bring no power to obey but will make us hearers and not doers of the Word. (Jas.1:23) For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. These are the ones who do not unite faith with the Gospel so that Christ can be manifested in them. (Eph.4:13) [T]ill we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Paul is confident in the power of God to do this declaring "that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God" (3:19).

Those who wish to live the old life believe that it is not possible that Christ could be manifest in this body. (2Cor.4:10) [A]lways bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. (11) For we who live are always delivered unto death (to self) for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Notice he speaks of Jesus coming in this mortal flesh, not glorified bodies. In Paul's day they were falling away from this truth, which led to many dark centuries of apostasy. (Gal.4:19) My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.

(Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth 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. I am learning that it is not I, living the Christian life and doing the works of Christ, but it is I accepting my death and exercising faith so that Christ may live and do His works through me. Jesus gave up a natural body in order to take up a corporate body so that He could continue on a much larger scale His deliverance of this fallen creation.

(1Cor.12:27) Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof. We are not the body of "another Jesus", a weak and worthless Jesus. We are the body of the same Jesus Who walked in that first body, exercising God's power to set the captives free. (Heb.13:8) Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday and today, [yea] and for ever. It is sad that most do not agree that Christ's plan is to continue exercising the sovereignty that He had in His first body, in His second. (Amos 3:3) Shall two walk together, except they have agreed? We must agree with Jesus working through His body today to do the Fathers' work, that the body of Jesus today, would walk as Jesus did in His first body 2000 years ago.

Through faith in the Gospel we can expect the life of Jesus to be manifested in our human bodies. The life of Christ is not only His fruit but also His ministry, as we shall see. Those who teach that we cannot expect the life of Christ in this life are deceivers. Those who preach that as long as we are in this body we will always be in bondage to sin are deceivers. (2Jn.7) For many deceivers are gone forth (from the Church) into the world, [even] they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. The KJV falsely says "is come in the flesh" because they thought this spoke of His first body. There is no manuscript that says this. Even the Received Text says "coming in flesh". The ancient manuscripts also say this and the numeric pattern proves it to be true. When Jesus physically comes again, He will have a glorified body, not one of flesh, however, He is coming now in the flesh of His body of true believers. Those who preach that our ultimate hope here is only to be forgiven, and not transformed, are deceivers. Paul explained that he was revealing a mystery with the words "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col.1:27). He said that the wisdom in this mystery was to "present every man perfect (complete or mature) in Christ" (28). The seed of Christ must become manifested (bear fruit) in us "from glory to glory". (Col.3:4) When Christ, [who is] our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. Christ manifested in us has power over sin and the curse around us. (See our book Sovereign God, For Us and Through Us) As we come to realize the purpose of Christ is to live in us, our faith in what He can do in us and through us grows exponentially. (Phm.1:6) [T]hat the fellowship (Greek: "sharing in common") of thy faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ. The seed of Christ that we have received has the potential for the whole plant but it must have the fertile ground of repentance and faith.

POWER FOR SON-SHIP

Suffering brings about this repentance, which is the suffering on our own spiritual cross of death to self. (Rom.8:16) The Spirit himself beareth 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 so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified with [him]. Notice that "we are children of God" and we will be heirs if we suffer the death of self that Christ may be glorified in us. "Child" is the Greek word teknon, which is always distinct from the word for "son", which is huios. Jesus is always called the "huios" of God. Vine's Expository Dictionary describes the difference. "Teknon, a child...gives prominence to the fact of birth, whereas 'huios' stresses the dignity and character of the relationship". A born again spirit makes us a child of God but only a born again soul gives us a pure and mature relationship with Him that a son like Jesus has. Our soul is our character, our mind, will, and emotions. Our spirit is reborn through an initial gift from God of repentance and faith. The soul is born from above by obedience to the Word given to that spirit. (Jas.1:21) Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted (or rooted) word, which is able to save your souls. "Christians" who will not be ruled by the Word are deluded. (22) But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. Paul speaks of salvation as a process that Christians must cooperate in by standing in the faith of the Gospel to "hold fast the word" or else they "believed in vain". (1Cor.15:1) Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, (2) by which also ye are (Greek: "are being") saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. The ancient manuscripts, the numeric pattern, and the Received Text say, "are being saved" here. Peter teaches us to see the soul as already saved by faith but he also shows us that obedience to the Word is the method of manifesting soul salvation. (1Pet.1:22) Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: (23) having been begotten (born) again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God. We are to endure in our faith to see the manifestation of soul salvation. (9) [R]eceiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls. The soul that is born again manifests the nature of Jesus or the nature of son-ship. It is a soul submitted to the spirit that is led by the Spirit of God. (Rom.8:14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. To manifest Jesus, the huios of God, is to manifest son-ship. The Scriptures do not teach the lying gospel of "just accept Jesus" that fills churches with tares. Jesus is the One Who does not accept anyone who does not repent, meaning change their mind, and believe the Word.

Just as in Jesus' day the creation of God was waiting for a Son to come with the Word of deliverance from the curse of corruption, so it is in our day. (19) For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.... (21) that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. In Jesus' day spiritual children had led His creation into bondage to corrupt religion and sin but God sent His Son to deliver them with the unleavened bread. So it will be in our day. The foundations have been destroyed by many generations of children put in positions of leadership by those who have wanted their ears tickled. In times of apostasy God gives them what they want. (Isa.3:4) And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. (5) And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the old man (mature), and the base against the honorable. ...(12) As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. God's solution will be to reveal His sons whom He will use to restore a repentant remnant with the truth that sets free. Jesus in His first body offered this deliverance to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" before there was a great falling away, but Jesus in the corporate man-child will offer it to the called of the "whole creation" to restore the elect. (Rom.8:22) For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. The work of the Spirit is to bring us to adoption: spirit, soul, and ultimately body. Jesus was the Son of God abiding in the Son of Man. He was the Son in Spirit and Soul when He still inhabited a body of the seed of David (Rom.1:3). His ability to fully walk in the kingdom came when He received His redeemed, glorified, body. So shall it be with the man-child manifested sons. They will first manifest son-ship in spirit and then progressively in soul through persecution and suffering as it was with Jesus. (Heb.5:8) though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; (9) and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation.... Through this stage the man-child sons will minister in power to the called of God as it was with our pattern, Jesus. Then back in Romans we see the last step of full adoption through the new body. (Rom.8:23) And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for [our] adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body.

Our faith, like our Father's faith, "calleth the things that are not as though they were" (Rom.4:17), so we must claim our son-ship before we see it. (Gal.3:26) For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. The manifestation will come to those who walk by faith beholding the Son in the mirror. However, as long as we walk as a child we are servants in bondage and do not realize our heritage of being lords of our Father's domain. (4:1) But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all; (2) but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the Father. Servants do not serve for love as sons do and they do not have authority over a father's domain. All sons are servants of their father but not all servants are sons. Christians who are children are in bondage to the principles of the world. They walk by their physical senses instead of by faith. Sons live according to faith principles of the kingdom. (3) So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments (Greek: "first principles") of the world: (4) but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, (5) that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Paul exhorts children, who walk under law to religion, to receive the gift of son-ship by faith in what Jesus did. Those who seek to be justified by the works of the Law (whether man-made or Old Testament) are children of bondage and cut-off from Christ and grace. (Gal.5:4) Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace. For this reason Paul said unto them: (4:19) My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ (son-ship) be formed in you. Those who claim their son-ship and the authority and privileges that go with it because of the redemption wrought in Christ are accounted as sons. We are "justified (Greek meaning accounted righteous) by faith in Christ" (2:16). If I believe that "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me" (20), then I am a son by faith even if I am not yet by manifestation. (3:6) Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. (7) Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. Therefore, if we have received the Spirit of Christ and believe that He now lives in us to do His works, we are sons by faith. (4:6) And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (7) So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Those who live as joint-heirs with Christ are walking in the faith of son-ship and will manifest His works by God's power. Jesus said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father (Jn.14:12). God is carefully bringing His servant/children who walk by faith to manifest son-ship, first the man-child and then those disciples who follow in His steps. (Pr.29:21) He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become a son at the last.

While the apostates were waiting for the coming Messiah, He was being manifest in their midst as a man-child born to a woman. According to this type the apostates in our day are waiting for Jesus to come in the sky to save them. The do not understanding that He will come first manifested in the man-child. The Son will come to be manifested only in those children who "abide in Him". This is what the manifestation of son-ship is. Those who do not manifest son-ship will be "ashamed" like the man without the wedding garment, when they physically see Jesus. (1Jn.2:28) And now, [my] little children, abide in him; that, if he shall be manifested (in us as son-ship), we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming (Greek: Parousia, meaning His physical "presence"). Both the ancient manuscripts and the numeric pattern say, "if He be manifested" here. "If" shows that only the "children" who manifest Jesus or son-ship will not be "ashamed" when He comes. The KJV translated this "when He shall appear" because they thought this was a reference to Jesus' physical coming, which truly is a "when" and not an "if". A major problem with this translation is it has Jesus' coming twice at the same time. "When he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming". However "manifested" here is the Greek word Phaneroo, meaning "to appear or make visible". It comes from the root word Phan meaning "to shine". The same word used in many other places plainly shows us that the glory of Jesus will "shine" out of our "mortal bodies" to "appear" to the world. (2Cor.4:11) For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested (Phaneroo meaning "shining appearance") in our mortal flesh. Obviously this is a spiritual shining of the righteous glory of God out of us but sometimes God allows even lost people to see it. Around 1984 I was witnessing to a man who said, "I saw you some years ago and there was a light shining out of you wherever you went and I wondered what it meant". Recently, I did some conferences that were video taped and went all over the country. On the same day two people contacted me, one from Washington and the other, a prophet from Florida. They both said that as they watched the video they saw a light shining out of me. (6) Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Notice in the same text that if we know the true "face of Jesus Christ" in the mirror by faith His glory will shine in us. (3:18) But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory. (Col.3:4) When Christ, [who is] our life, shall be manifested (in us), then shall ye also with him be manifested (shining appearance) in glory. Back in our 1 John text, we see that when we are children He has not yet made His shining appearance in us. (1Jn.3:2) Beloved, now are we children (teknon) of God, and it is not yet made manifest (shining appearance) what we shall be. (If He makes His shining appearance in us "we shall be like him".) We know that, if he shall be manifested (shining appearance, i.e. in us), we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is (in the mirror). The ancient manuscripts, the numeric pattern, and the Received Text all say "if he be manifested" here. Notice also that those who "see him even as he is" in the mirror by faith "shall be like him". We must believe that "as he is, even so are we in this world" (1Jn.4:17).

The rest of this text confirms this manifestation of Jesus will come in those who have "confident expectation" of it. (1Jn.3:3) And every one that hath this hope (Greek: "a good, confident expectation") [set] on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Can we purify ourselves as "as he is pure"? Those who have a "confident expectation" of this manifestation of Christ in them will receive grace to walk in it. (Titus 2:11) For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, (12) instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; (Only those who are "looking for" the "shining appearance" of Jesus' glory from them will have it.) (13) looking for the blessed hope and appearing (Greek: Epiphaneia meaning "a shining forth") of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (Notice that this does not speak of the coming of the Lord but of the coming of His glory. Epiphaneia here speaks of Jesus' coming in us and is distinct from Parousia, which speaks of His personal "presence" or coming. In other words, He will come for those from whom He is "shining forth". He is coming in His saints before He comes for His saints. To this end He sacrificed Himself.) (14) who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works. The man-child is those who are the First-fruits company to manifest the glory of this purity. Those who fight the good fight of faith shall have this epiphany of Jesus, either as the man-child or as the woman He leads into this understanding. (2Tim.4:7) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: (8) henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing (Epiphaneia). Like Paul, those who have loved His "shining forth" in them shall have the "crown of righteousness".

CONDITIONS FOR SON-SHIP

There are many who reject these awesome promises of "Christ in you" satisfied merely to get their toe in the door, but God has no interest in promoting the lukewarm. Those who justify their "just accept Jesus" religion in order to live as they like will not have eternal life, much less be in the First-fruits man-child. They may be servants but are not sons. (Jn.8:34) Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. (35) And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. Those who have imputed son-ship through their faith in the true Gospel are included with these eternal sons. Both sons and servants have been given the First-fruits of their inheritance here on earth but the sons will keep their inheritance and the servants will not. (Ezk.46:16) Thus saith the Lord: If the prince (Jesus) give a gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. (17) But if he give of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. Notice that when Jesus returns to set at "liberty" His own, He will take the gift He had given to the servants who had not born the fruit of son-ship, and give it to the sons. Jesus confirmed this in several parables. He described Himself giving gifts of His inheritance called "talents" to His servants. (Mt.25:14) For [it is] as [when] a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. (15) And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey.... (19) Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them. He finds that two of these servants have used their talents and brought forth hundred-fold fruit; the servant with the five talents brought forth five more and the servant with the two talents brought forth two more. The servant with the one talent reported that he "hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own". In other words he kept what was given and used it for earthly purposes but bore no fruit. Jesus will accept no excuses from these fruitless servants. (28) Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. You see, the inheritance of the fruitless servants will be taken away and given to the sons. (29) For unto every one that hath (fruit) shall be given (inheritance), and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not (fruit), even that which he hath shall be taken away. (30) And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

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