by Victor Hall | Download PDF | Purchase Hardcopy

I have had a burden, born in the Holy Spirit, to express again a precept that seems to have been largely lost in the last thirty years. It is that very basic aspect of our understanding of the gospel – the ‘new birth’. How is the gospel proposition transacted? What is the relationship between the new birth transaction and our adoption as sons of God? Have we or have we not participated in this transaction? To this end, my theme in this meditation is that the word comes speaking; a word of God comes speaking, calling into existence that which does not yet exist. I would ask you to ‘reason with me’ as we search this matter out together. Isa 1:18.

As we consider this subject, we will examine ‘the adoption’ as Jesus Himself discussed it, as well as the whole transaction of the new birth: what happens to us, what actually takes place and what are the implications.

What new creation is not

To begin this endeavour, I want to clarify our thoughts in relation to new birth and new creation. 2 Cor 5:17. Most have probably believed that the new creation is a mix of our ‘believing’ and God’s adding to that by the Holy Spirit – God and us – and the two components are mixed via some spiritual exercise. Perhaps we ‘shook’ a bit or maybe cried a bit at some point in our spiritual experience. Some may have spoken the four spiritual laws and, hopefully, found some assurance. Whatever happened, that ‘bit’ of Him and that ‘bit’ of us together were perceived as the new creation. We were never really sure what it was, but what I’ve expressed here is largely our traditional understanding.

Pantheism

In essence, this type of understanding is ‘pantheism’. Pantheism proclaims, ‘God is nature and nature is God; God is in everything and we’re in God’. That is the natural religion of man. The most developed form of this religion can be seen in the religion of Hinduism, with all of its different expressions of deity. So we should be careful not to allow pantheism to creep into our way of thinking.

New creation is Jesus Christ

What, then, is ‘new creation’? Truly, the new creation is Jesus Christ only. We can add nothing to Him in our new birth.

So what is new birth? In the letter of the apostle Paul to the Galatian Christians, he asks them the question: ‘Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?’ Gal 3:5. While this refers directly to Christ, we know that it also applies to Christ’s messengers. In this small volume, I will endeavour to convey an illumination, an understanding, by way of me communicating a word and you hearing it, so to speak, with the hearing of faith. As we gain understanding of this operation, we will see that the new birth occurs at the point of illumination.

An order by which God opens His word

When it comes to the communication of the word of God, we see that there is an order by which God opens His word to us, and that’s why He gives ministry graces. Eph 4:7. This means that I, as a communicator of the word, have a limit whereby I ‘lay down’ my work to others who then contribute according to their grace. And so the work proceeds. At a minimum, there are at least three steps in every action of ‘laying down’ and ‘laying back’ so that ‘no flesh can glory in His presence’. 1 Cor 1:29.

So we can have a sure hope that the word being preached to bring us illumination is coming out of a fellowship; there has been a ‘walking in the light’; it’s coming out of a humble spirit. ‘As we hear, so we speak.’ 1 Thess 2:4. We are acknowledging that there is a gift involved. It is through the gifting of ministry graces that God opens His word to us. No man or woman can claim a pat on the back for anything.

Wayside ground – no illumination

So we understand that there is a fellowship out of which a word is spoken to us by Christ’s messengers, to which we have opportunity to respond. Let’s consider some of the responses that we can make to the word that is spoken to us. These responses are clearly portrayed to us by Jesus in His parable of the sower and the seed. What happens, for instance, when the ‘seed’ of the word enters the heart of a person described as ‘wayside ground’? Matt 13:19. Satan comes; the birds of the air take it and devour the seed of that person. Why? Because that person ‘understood it not’; there was no illumination. The seed or, we could say, the word declaring that person’s name, came, but it did not illuminate. Why is it that this happens?

Falling backwards, snared and destroyed

We know that in the parable of the seed and sower, Jesus was specifically addressing the Jewish nation. He said that the prophet Isaiah had shut their eyes and closed their ears so they could not hear the word, so they could not see; there was no illumination! Isa 44:18. The word came to bring life and light to them. It came line on line, precept on precept. Isa 28:13. It came as milk, as seed, so they could be born and grow. But it had a breakpoint. They didn’t see, nor did they hear. They were then ‘falling backwards, snared, taken and destroyed’. Isa 28:13.

This is the nature of the word, and we do well to remember that. Wherever the word comes, there is an agitation. For example, there is fearful agitation created in the ‘stony ground’ person who does not see it, does not understand it or has some other theological predisposition based in law of some kind.

The word resisted

It is my conviction that when it comes to preaching the gospel, we need to keep bringing it to people till they resist. Everyone hates ‘Bible bashers’ but unfortunately, without confronting some people with the word, there will be a point of accusation that says, ‘But you never told me these things’. So the word of their predestination comes to them until resisted. It is the love and mercy of God which brings the word of their salvation until it is resisted. Consider how Paul dealt with the Jews. ‘But since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.’ Acts 13:46.

He brought the word, and the resistance he experienced spilled his blood.

Affliction because of the word

In the book of Hebrews we are reminded that, ‘after you were illuminated, you had a great struggle with sufferings’. Heb 10:32. The gospel comes to us as an illumination. The ‘stony ground’ of our heart is illuminated and ‘we [receive] the word ... with joy’. 1 Thess 1:6. We realise, however, how easy it is to become offended when tribulation and affliction arise ‘because of the word’. Matt 13:21. Fortunately, we can come through the affliction.

Now, some have the idea that when we come to Christ and join the fellowship of the church, there should be a lovely consensus of opinion with no discomfort. But inevitably we experience some kind of affliction in conjunction with receiving the word of the gospel. There are usually two alternative explanations advanced for this kind of affliction. People either accept it as part of the process of receiving the word or they claim that the one bringing the word or causing the affliction is ‘of the devil’.

So, do we endeavour to avoid conflict by preaching a gospel that’s all-inclusive, with consensus to make everyone happy? If the word preached creates a slight jar and people are upset, does that mean it becomes a false gospel?

Certainly not! The false gospel is the one that panders to the flesh! Now, we can blame the devil for our troubles, but only if we are refusing to enter the sufferings of Christ. Rom 8:17. And, of course, we need to be illuminated in that aspect. I would question any gospel that does not launch those who receive it into affliction ‘because of the word’.

Enlightenment

In the first three verses of chapter six of the book of Hebrews, the author writes about perfection and the six foundational principles of the doctrine of Christ. Then in verses four to six he refers to them again and calls the first principle ‘enlightenment’. ‘After you were enlightened and received the heavenly gift.’ Heb 6:1-6.

In these few pages, I want to help us understand this enlightenment. This is the work of the word, or the coming of the ‘seed of you’, before the heavenly gift of the new birth takes place.
John sums up the gospel in these words: ‘The Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourself from idols.’ 1 John 5:20,21. The apostle Paul dwells on this thought extensively in chapters three and four of the second book of Corinthians when he refers to: ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’. 2 Cor 4:6.

The work of the Spirit is illumination. There is and has to be an illumination. Note that I am connecting ‘word’ and ‘illumination’ here.

The Scripture clearly states that for one who hears and loves the word, Jesus ‘will love him and manifest [or illuminate]’ Himself to that person. John 14:21. So there is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ at the same time that the seed of you is proclaimed to you.

Abraham’s faith

Let’s reflect on Abraham’s faith for a moment, as the apostle Paul reflects on it. In his letter to the Romans, Paul refers to this faith as follows: ‘As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations” in the presence of Him who believed’. Rom 4:17. Three elements of Abraham’s faith that are important for our meditation are identified here.

Abraham believed, firstly, that Yahweh Son would become the Son of Yahweh. Secondly, he believed that the Son of Yahweh would become Abraham’s son. And, finally, he believed that God gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist, as though they did. Rom 4:17. All of these things would need to occur for the promise God made to Abraham to be fulfilled. So how is it that these things will become reality? It is through the declaration of the word. You see, the moment He starts calling them, they exist! So we want to look at the nature of the word. It is the word that has come calling.

How does it come calling? Well, firstly it’s preaching your name to you. It is proclaiming each person to be a son of God in the determined counsel of God, and that each individual’s name is in the Seed [Christ]. Acts 20:27.

The seed of you comes crying

With that in view, let’s remind ourselves of the passage in the book of Galatians where we read that ‘the seed of you’ comes crying out ‘through the Spirit of his Son’. Gal 4:6. But then, we are reminded that it is the Holy Spirit enabling us to cry, ‘Abba, Father’. Rom 8:15. So you come into Christ. The Father is in Christ and He sends forth the ‘seed of you’, that portion of the seed of Christ which contains our name, and it comes crying ‘Abba, Father’, as it comes to us.

In Romans chapter ten, the apostle Paul records that it is ‘the righteousness of faith’ which is speaking or calling. And so, the righteousness of faith coming to us, once we are in Christ, firstly begins to cry out. ‘He sends forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart crying out, “Abba, Father [Daddy, Daddy]”!’ So the seed itself, the seed of you, the name of you, from the eternal covenant, comes calling each son into existence.

We are dead

But we are dead. We already exist but we are dead ‘in trespasses and sin’. Now note that ‘dead’ means ‘lost, not remembered, gone’. In God it doesn’t mean ‘without existence’. But even if we didn’t exist, God is able to go where we are not and speak to us and henceforth, we are!

‘Lord, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You. Will You work wonders for the dead?’ Psa 88:9,10.

You who are struggling with fearful condemnation as you read these words; who battle with your sin and trespass; who are bewitched with your penance; who are troubled and oppressed trying to work problems out by your own effort – your own goodness, your own salvation – you are dead! You were dead before you were born – in Adam you died. You came forth from your mother’s womb, dead! ‘Will You work wonders for the dead?’ You are ungodly and you were born ungodly.

The ultimate grace - Calvary

‘The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God.’ Psa 9:17. ‘Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Shall Your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in the place of destruction?’ Psa 88:10,11. The psalmist is referring to Calvary where Christ gathered up all men; the death of all from Adam. This is the ultimate grace where we have God declaring wonders for the dead.

‘Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?’ Psa 88:12. In this verse the psalmist refers to the three hours of darkness that covered the earth during Christ’s crucifixion. At the end, Christ cried out, ‘Why have You forsaken [or forgotten] Me?’ Matt  27:46.

It is finished

But when He cried out, ‘It is finished’, everyone who would believe could be joined with Him in His triumph over death, which was accomplished in those three hours. And everyone who would not believe was finally, completely and forever cast out; they were finished, with Him who died. He was the ultimate cherem.¹All death, all redemption – everything – is summed up in the cross.

Redemption

Through the cross, God made a provision for the redemption of all of His sons.

‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.’ Gal 4:4-7.

Redemption means ‘buying back’. Redemption places us in the position of a son justified by faith, adopted and declared to be a son. That’s the first stage of the adoption. It is God who justifies the ungodly. Rom 4:5. How so? He just chose to do it. He’s our God and we are ungodly, so the Father redeems us. Christ’s work on the cross did that; that’s the finished work. When He said, ‘It is finished’, that’s what He was speaking about. ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself’ – and He did it by blood, the blood of His Son. 2 Cor 5:19. Then,when we hear the word that comes and we respond, He places us in a position in Himself as a son. We are not yet sons but we are in the position of sons. So how is it that we can make this transition from being in the position of a son to being a son born in the house?

Born from above  

It is through Christ who is the Son that our sonship is transferred to us. Once we are in the Son, the Father sends the Spirit of the Son into our hearts expressing sonship. It’s living sonship, coming as us, to us and into us. We are born from above, because this living sonship is coming from above as we confess and believe the word of the righteousness of faith that comes speaking. Rom 10:6.

A word comes speaking to you, about you, about your sonship. You hear that from the messenger and you say, ‘I believe that, I receive that and will come into the position of a son’. So it comes speaking but you have to actually believe the word crying, ‘Ábba, Father’, which is wanting to come into you. Imagine! The ‘word of you’ coming to you.

Place of no transgression

Each person’s name in that seed, that part of Christ, that part of new creation, is coming, knocking, crying out, ‘I’m here, open the door so that I can come in’. And as it comes, Christ will bring the Father: ‘He will come into you and sup with you.’ Rev 3:20. Then the Father will send forth that portion of the Spirit of His Son that belongs to your name, into your heart.

This is an amazing picture! And it is only so, because ‘He is the God who justifies the ungodly’. Rom 4:5. He positions us in the place of no transgression when we’re hearing and receiving this word. Rom 4:15.

Our own faith has no merit for we can’t believe ourselves to be saved. Faith is not affirmation; it’s not positive thinking. Faith operates this way: the word that names you, comes to you; you hear it and you believe it. It’s reckoned to you and you say, ‘I’m going to have it; I accept it’. It’s not a human positive desire or act of will. ‘Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.’ Rom 10:17.

So we have the word speaking, which brings illumination, and faith comes. Then a response can be made. There is nothing we can do except receive it, rather than resist it.

So faith came. It’s the gift of God. ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.’ Eph 2:8 When we look at that we could say, ‘Oh well, salvation is the gift’. Yes, but both the grace and the faith are the gift. The whole package is a gift. It’s not of you, for you are dead. It’s not of works, for God willed it so.

The righteousness of faith speaks

‘Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them”. But the righteousness of faith speaks this way [and I’m saying to you that as it comes speaking, it is crying out ‘Abba, Father!’], “Do not say [so it even comes helping you – don’t say that, don’t go there, don’t go affirmative, don’t go positive thinking], ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down from above), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)” … the word of faith.’ Rom 10:5-8. Let me emphasise here the apostle’s statement – it is the righteousness of faith that speaks to us as a word, or utterance, from God in the mouth of the messenger.

The word is near you, crying out your name

So He’s given us a word! What word? Not just any word, but a specific word. The righteousness of faith comes speaking. What does it say? This is a word from God that comes near to us and it brings illumination to us saying, ‘I’m here, I’m already crying out your name. I’m already saying, “Abba, Father”.’ Then that word that is crying out our name is in our own mouths as we start confessing this word of truth. But our interaction with the word must go further. The word finally takes root in our hearts and we ourselves start saying, ‘Abba, Father’. And now it is us; we have become the very word that has been spoken to us – and we are born. In other words, birth is by a word. We have been born by the word of the righteousness of faith that has spoken to us of our sonship.

Mary’s faith

We can see how this process operates in the lives of saints throughout history. For example, Christ was formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary by a word. She received and understood in her heart the word that God spoke to her by the messenger. That word then accomplished God’s will in her body as she said, ‘Let it be to me according to Your word’. Luke 1:38. And so the Word became flesh in her womb.
Then, later, she became renewedin the inner man along with the apostles and disciples. This was after Christ rose from the dead and breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. John 20:22. That process also was by the hearing of faith.

The shekinah glory

The power of the Highest that overshadowed Mary when she received the word is the same reality that Ezekiel saw and wrote about in the book of Ezekiel chapters one to three. That whole dimension of the shekinah glory came and stood above her. And she saw it! I believe Mary actually saw Him. That is why her song (The Magnificat) is so full of meaning, for she heard and saw so much. Luke 1:46-56. In those words she is discussing the revelation of the power of the Highest when He overshadowed her. She had a mighty illumination before the conception of the Word in her womb.

He humbled Himself

He, the Creator, the Word, the Father’s only begotten Son, arose from that throne of glory and He proceeded into the realm of mankind, to become a little lower than the angels. He humbled Himself until He looked her right in the eye in the same way that he had done with Abraham. Then the Holy Spirit gave her utterance and she said, ‘Let it be to me according to Your word’. The Word from the beginning, He who contained the word of Mary’s sonship that was spoken to her by the messenger, then becomes the incarnate Word, clothed with her flesh.

When He ascended after His resurrection, He stripped off the angelic realm and put them under the body (of Christ). He came back to the throne that He left when He came down to the virgin’s womb as the Word of the Father.

He stripped off the power of the angelic order as He passed through the heavens right back to the Father and sat down with Him in His throne. Rev 3:21. And, at the same point, the Father returned to Him His intrinsic glory that He had before, as Yahweh Son,and said, ‘Sit here at My right hand’. John 17:5; Psa 110:1.

Even the wicked heart can believe

So, that word is expressing ‘you’ and it’s Christ. It’s your sonship. It’s living sonship. It’s in us, and we are in Him. We are born from above when we confess and believe the word that the righteousness of faith comes speaking. It’s in our hearts and we confess it with our mouths, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ‘For with the heart one believes unto righteousness.’ Rom 10:10.

So that’s where He motivates us; that’s where He wills to believe, where He wills the doing – in the heart. And the ‘heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked’. Jer 17:9. But He begins right there. So right from the depths of our wicked hearts we can believe unto righteousness and be sons of God.

‘And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame … whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”.’ Rom  10:10,11,13. So we have ‘a deep calling to deep’. Psa 42 7. We confess, or express, what the word is birthing.

The word becomes what it says. It comes calling. The word is giving understanding, it’s proclaiming what ‘is’ and that is the truth. It is calling us into existence.

Salvation or delusion

Now let’s consider what Jesus Himself said in the book of John chapter fourteen. I am going to challenge you right up front here. If you have a ‘believism’ that is not a response of obedience; if you have an inclusive kind of doctrine; if you have a consensus type of view concerning how salvation comes – or any other view that does not make you bow before the lordship of Jesus Christ and become His disciple – I have sad news for you. You may not be saved at all; you may be in total delusion!

Steps to inheritance

What are the steps that bring us to the inheritance of our sonship? Firstly, ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments’. John 14:15. So, very simply, if I keep His commandments then I am a disciple and discipleship will be the result.

This all ties in with the book of John chapter eight. ‘Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”.’ John 8:31,32.

The word proclaims and comes with a grace

The word comes to us first and it brings with it an illumination causing us to love Christ and giving us the desire to keep His commands. The word proclaims our sonship and it comes with a grace that enables us to be what the word proclaims. The Reformers called it a prevenient grace; a grace that is ‘previous’. The word actually comes with its own grace and it brings illumination.

While we are hearing it, all the demons and all the power of sin that has enslaved us, all the bondage whereby we could never know or see or be part of anything – that veil of law – is, as it were, pushed back. And then, with the entrance of the word comes light. There’s an illumination coming – but we are not saved yet!

We can resist all this; we can go some other way with it, and begin to deny its truth. The danger is that we do not ‘say what it’s saying’, in response to the word that comes speaking to us. That very same word that comes speaking must be in our mouths for us to be saved. We must not name ourselves according to our own or anyone else’s perceptions, or we will become liars, children of darkness living from our own resources. If we hear that word coming and we say something else, we are likely to damn ourselves, and the very word that promised us life will stand as a witness against us.

The first package of the gospel

So, the word is firstly bringing illumination and it’s pouring in love, causing us to love Christ and giving us the desire to keep His commandments. The word is the righteousness of faith that comes speaking to us, calling us to believe for sonship and to lay our lives down in obedience to Christ to be His disciples. These processes make up the beginning of the gospel for us.

We see these processes operating in the life of the Philippian jailer as his story is related to us in the book of Acts. When the jailer, who was about to kill himself, called out, Paul told him he ought not harm himself for all the prisoners were still there. In the midst of these circumstances, he cried out, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Acts 16:27-30.

Paul went home with him and brought the word of illumination. If he was to be a son of God, then he would have to keep Christ’s commands and become His disciple.

The statements and summary of the steps to inheritance from the Scripture

So that’s what the word comes speaking; that’s what the messenger comes speaking. And, as we believe, the Holy Spirit comes to help us.

‘I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it nether sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.

‘At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me and I in You. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord how is it that You’ll manifest Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word: My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me”.’ John 14:16-24.

The spirit of adoption

So, the word comes to us first. It brings an illumination with it, causing us to love Christ and giving us a desire to keep His commands. The word is the righteousness of faith that comes speaking to us, calling us to believe for sonship and lay our lives down in obedience, to be disciples of Christ.

As we believe, the Holy Spirit comes to help us. He is the Spirit who is bringing the adoption to us. Rom 8:23. The Spirit of adoption helps us by bringing the seed of Christ into our hearts. He transfers it to us as our possession causing us to cry out, ‘Abba, Father’ and we are born of God by the Spirit. We are born of the seed of Christ.

The Holy Spirit comes into us to dwell within us forever. Why is it forever? He will forever enable our sonship because He joins us to the Lord so that we are eternally one spirit with Him. John 14:16; 1 Cor 6: 17,20.
This is what I call the fellowship of the seed, the expression of the reality of our being joint-heirs with Christ. That’s what Christ is laying out for us. He desires that we be joint-heirs with Him in relation to the Father, so He comes with the Holy Spirit in order that this relationship with the Father can be realised.

Now, as we hear the word, receive it and seek to obey it, Christ sees us. The word is proclaimed from the messenger, and as we hear it, it enters in, and Christ sees us.

He prays to the Father for us, requesting the Father to send Him to us through the agency of the Holy Spirit so that we are not left as orphans.

Making intercession

‘If you love Me, keep my commandments. I will pray the Father.’ John 14:15,16. So the moment He sees that we are receiving the word and we want to obey the commands, then He starts praying for us. Concerning the throne of grace, Scripture records, ‘He ever lives to make intercession’. Heb 7:25.

We can know consolation. When we are witnessing the word of the gospel to an unbeliever, and they begin to hear this, Christ Himself starts praying for them. What is it that He is asking? He’s asking the Father to give them the Holy Spirit, the Helper, so that He may come to that person and abide with them forever. He said He would not leave that person as an orphan but He would come to them.

This means that as we hear the word, receive it and seek to obey it, Christ sees and prays to the Father for us, requesting the Father to send Him (Jesus) to us through the agency of the Holy Spirit so that we are not left orphans. What is He saying?

He is saying that we are in the position of a son! We are hearing the word, the blood is redeeming, the adoption is working. Christ is saying, ‘I don’t want them to be orphans. I want them to be joint-heirs with Me’.

Joint heirs

The Son comes and He desires that we be joint heirs with Him in relation to the Father. So He comes with the Holy Spirit, enabling this relationship with the Father to become a reality.

The Holy Spirit brings Christ to us. We are born from above and then, ‘A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you.’ John 14:19,20.

What is He saying? The Holy Spirit brings Christ to us and we’re born from above. Because He lives, now we live; we are born again. And, on that day, the day when we are born again, born from above, we become related in His body. We receive illumination and begin to understand that Christ is in the Father and that we are in Him.

‘In that day you will know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you.’ On that day we know that we are in Him; that is, in His body. And He is in us, both as the seed of our newborn identity and as the second person of the Trinity, revealing His own life through us, ‘supping with us’. Rev 3:20. Thismeans giving us constant personal aid and life; feeding us the bread of life.

Made alive

Christ sums up the proposition just stated and restates it. ‘He who has My commandments keeps them; it is he who loves Me and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I will love him and manifest Myself to him.’ John 14:21.

He’s making it very clear how the adoptive process works; how the new birth operates in us. Judas asked, ‘How is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ And Jesus re-stated the proposition, ‘if anyone loves Me …’. John 14:22,23. You will be made alive. This is the adoption spelt out in the Gospel of John.

Hearing the messenger

Let me pose this question for us to consider. In the place where we as individuals gather with God’s people, are we part of a culture that’s obedient to the messenger, to the deaconing men who are sent? Or, are we ‘consensus’ people who believe we need to have an equal say on everything? If it’s the latter, it’s because we are those who submit to nothing and obey no one.

We are not, then, people of obedience. We are not people to whom the word comes. We are always those who measure the word. In many places as I speak, I see people sit and ‘hear’ what I say, but not really hear at all. They just make an assessment as to whether I’m right or wrong. And they give me a mark as they leave – for they are the source. They have no capacity to hear a messenger.

The steps of adoption are wonderfully set out in the Gospel of John. We need to know these so that, as we bring the gospel to our neighbours and friends, this is the transaction that takes place. But, of course, just as it is for us, they will have to hear and obey a commandment.

Essence and substance

The righteousness of faith comes speaking to each one and that word calls into existence its own substance. There is a difference between ‘essence’ and ‘substance’. Essence is not a biblical word, but a theological word. We cannot be part of the essence of God; that’s the essential element of who God is. But we can partake of His substance because ‘faith is the substance’. And so the word calls into existence its own substance.

It is ‘birthing by calling’. Rom 4:17. The word births firstly, then it creates. It struck me this way. There is a word speaking out into a void. Illumination results from the spoken word. Here is the word of God speaking, proclaiming something. If it is proclaiming a word, an identity, a truth, a reality, it is bringing a light and an illumination. And there will need to be an ear to receive! To hit an ear, it will have to create an ear, and then a brain, then a heart.

As it comes, the word is calling into existence its own substance, for the word is the very substance of that which it is speaking. And it will keep speaking that word until illumination comes and it finally speaks back!

The word comes speaking to you until finally, you receive enough illumination to speak back. You say, ‘Hello, word, this is me. You spoke me into existence. I am now a son of God.’ It came proclaiming ‘you’ to you until finally, by faith, you replied, ‘Hello, here I am’. That’s ‘deep calling to deep’. Psa 42:7. You are birthed by calling. Illumination results from the spoken word.

Then the illuminated one answers back and keeps faith with the word by being the expression of the word. That’s the righteousness of faith.

The righteousness of faith

The word of righteousness calls the righteousness of faith into existence in us. And that is what happened to Abraham. Yahweh Son brought the word of righteousness to Abraham. That righteousness of faith called to Abraham until finally Abraham believed.

God called that faith into existence in Abraham so that the righteousness of faith was then Abraham’s righteousness. And then God said, ‘That’s yours. I imputed it to you for righteousness’. So the word of righteousness calls into existence the righteousness of faith!

God says, ‘You can be a son of God’. You may say, ‘I’m a wretched sinner’. But, ‘Say not who shall ascend, who shall descend.’ Say none of that. ‘It is in your mouth …’. Rom 10:6-8. I reckon that is right. I can be a son of God. Rom 6:11.

Accredited as righteous

This righteousness of faith declares that you are now accredited as righteous. God accounted, or reckoned, it to Abraham as righteousness so that it became Abraham’s faith-righteousness. That is the meaning of the Scripture: ‘So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I send it.’ Isa 55:11. It comes speaking until you speak it back. Did you hear? It is going to return but it’s going to return from your mouth, having accomplished that which it was sent forth to do.

1. Cherem   devoted to cursing

Author: Victor Hall | Brisbane Christian Fellowship BCF
Published by Vision One at Toowoomba Christian Fellowship TCF
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