Making Visible the Invisible God

"Making visible the invisible God" is another way of saying "making witnesses." As I prayed this morning the word came to me, "Christ is the word made flesh." I had not been thinking in these terms, and so I did not know what to make of it at first. So I sat down with my Bible and asked God if this is what He wanted me to preach on. Verse after verse came to me. Then I knew this was to be the topic this Sunday morning.

(7/9/2006) The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word, the Expression, The Revelation, the Radiant Glory, the eternal Witness of God. God is invisible. God always has been, always Is, always shall be. He is everywhere at once. All the creation reflects God in one way or another.

There are three Persons in the eternal Godhead at this time: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are not the same Person, but they are in such perfect oneness that sometimes one is tempted to believe they are the same individual. But they are not.

God the Father is invisible. He cannot be seen by any human, or perhaps by any angel for that matter, though some angels may stand in His Presence.

The Word, whom we know as Christ, came forth from the Father. He is the fullness of the expression of the Father. Moreover, He is visible. He is the visible representation of the invisible God. This is why Jesus could say, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." This is not because Jesus is the Father, it is because He is the Word, the eternal Expression, of the Father.

At some point, it was decreed that the Word would become Flesh, and also be referred to as the Firstborn of the Father. Jesus Christ, formerly the Word, now is the firstborn Son of the Father; and also the Firstborn from the dead.

The purpose of all of human history is to make possible the creation of a counterpart for the Firstborn, referred to as the Wife of the Lamb, the Body of Christ, the sons of God, the brothers of Christ.

Perhaps all I have said so far has been understood by most Christians. What may not be as clear to us is what God has in mind for these who have been elected to be the conformed to the image of Christ, thus to become His brothers.

God's plan is to bring these people into the Oneness that we refer to as the Godhead. Such a thought would be blasphemous, were it not clearly scriptural. And it certainly is scriptural! We are to become one with Christ and the Father, and with one another.

According to the Apostle Paul, in the Book of Ephesians, we are to be filled with all the fullness of God. Think of it! God means what He says.

You know, there are numerous promised in the Scriptures. Some of them are quite understandable. Some of them, such as being one with Christ, or being filled with all the fullness of God, are a bit staggering. But they are as true as those which require relatively little faith or imagination.

How are we to approach the promise that we are to be one with God and filled with His Fullness? If we intend to please God, we are to lay hold of it, believe it, and expect its total, uncompromised fulfillment in our personality.

Do we lay hold on the promise presumptuously, or with the intention of becoming some great one in the Kingdom of God? Not at all. We look up to God, knowing that His ways are high above ours, and say, Amen! Why God would extend Himself in this manner we are not certain. But God said it, and that settles it.

Actually, God's purpose in calling us into Himself in this manner, is not that mysterious. God desires to be visible to all of His creatures, whether in the heavens or on the earth.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Truth. What does this mean? It means that when we see Jesus we understand what is true of God and man.

Satan is a liar. When we see Satan we derive a different understanding of what is true of God and man.

The contest between the truth and the lie has been from the beginning. God showed His love to Adam and Eve by placing them in Paradise. Satan, the lie, came and planted a doubt in the mind of Eve and Adam concerning God's Character.

So it is today. Numerous people, including many "Christians," are giving a false witness of who God is and what man is. A few believers are showing in themselves the truth of God and man.

Sometimes Christian people are ready to tell others accurately concerning the theological facts pertaining to Christ and His salvation. But these people may be bearing Satan's witness. Why is this? Because their behavior is telling the world that God is an unforgiving, lustful, covetous person. With their mouth they are reciting religious doctrine. With their behavior they are preaching the lies of Satan.

Jesus could say, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." What did people see in Jesus? Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. They saw the Father. This is the image of the Father.

We want it to be said of us that whoever has seen us has seen Christ, just as the Apostle Paul spoke concerning himself, "Christ is living in me." When people see love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control in us, they are seeing Christ. In fact, they are seeing the invisible Father, for this is what He is like.

Aeons in the past God spoke into existence a plan that stretches from then to the coming down to earth of the new Jerusalem. That plan is coming to fruition today. One can study the history of the Christian Church to the present hour and notice the self-seeking, the wars, the selfishness, the murderous rage directed toward those who were not in agreement with the doctrine of one group or another.

A study of the churches today reveals more politics than it does faithfulness and truth. People look at us but they do not see Christ. They do not see the invisible God.

This situation will change over the next few years. Those who have come as far as the Pentecostal experience are being challenged to press forward into the spiritual fulfillments of the final three feasts of the Lord. When these have been experienced, the world will get a glimpse of Christ in the Christian people—a glimpse of the invisible God. God will give the fullness of His Glory to Himself and not to another, by giving His Glory to Jesus Christ and those who are filled with Him. Christ is not separate from God and we will not be separate from God.

We are speaking of bearing a true witness of God. Our adamic nature, that which we inherited, cannot bear a true witness of God. It is a fallen creation. In Adam's sin we all died, we all received a sinful nature.

The only way out of our prison is by working with the Holy Spirit as He enables us to put to death the deeds of our sinful nature. As we confess our sins and turn away from, with the Lord's assistance, we are changed into His image. As this transformation takes place, the Father and the Son come to us and make Their abode with us.

The adamic nature in us is put to death, the death of the cross. Then the reborn, spiritual nature grows in strength until it can be said of us: "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet it is not I who am living but Christ who is living in me."

It is God's will that we of today press on past Pentecost until we have been filled with all the fullness of God. Some of the believers will do exactly this. They will become hundredfold reapers of Christ, we might say.

Marvelous promises are held out to those who overcome and keep Christ's commandments. While the remainder of God's people are wandering about in confusion, eating, sleeping, playing, working, reproducing, and doing little else. A minority will seize the hour and press forward in Christ, counting themselves crucified with Christ and risen with Him.

You can be part of Christ's firstfruits and follow Him wherever He goes, if this is what you desire with all your strength.

"Narrow is the gate and filled with obstacles is the way that lead to life. Few find it"!