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Chapter Sixteen
Power and Humility Revealed
What is there about man that the Father desires to let man have rule over the Universe? Consider that you and I have stood next to Christ the Lord and Father merged us with Christ just as He did with Jesus. Christ is in us waiting for us to submit our lives to His Lordship so He can lift us to the place that He created us to fulfill. Places of power and authority coupled with meekness and humility.
Remember-- we are appointed Kings to rule and take dominion. We are to receive that position by inheritance from our King – the Lord Jesus Christ -- but before we can safely take that place we have to learn humility so as not to be lifted up by our power and authority. So I’m to first learn humility as a son of God and then --my inheritance is to be a King in the Kingdom of God.
Did you ever wonder why God made man so weak? Man by comparison in size is one of the most puny of all creatures. An ant by comparison is far stronger. It should be easy for a man or woman to be humble. He can’t make himself one inch taller by his own power. Almost everything in the fallen creation can kill him. Demons would rip him apart if God wasn’t holding them back. I don’t know why man is so proud. It should be easy to be humble and meek. But if man will take his God appointed place -- he is the greatest of all of God’s creations.
(Heb 2:5 KJV) For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
(Heb 2:6 KJV) But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
(Heb 2:7 KJV) Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
(Heb 2:8 KJV) Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
(Heb 2:9 KJV) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
We don’t see ourselves in this place that God has called us to yet -- but we do see Jesus there and He is the first fruits -- or the first one of our kind to fulfill the place He was destine to be in. So also will we be brought into that place --if we will humble ourselves. The power and authority of Christ is in us -- now -- He is waiting for the meekness and humility to be established in us. We will know that we are to that place when we are more than willing to bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in us.
Christ the Lord created all things by His Word as He spoke the Universe into existence as it says in -- Psa 33:8 KJV) Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
(Psa 33:9 KJV) For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
This creative act was done by the Lord Christ. This creative breath -- or Word of God-- isn’t seen as works. It’s seen as the love of a life giving Spirit to reproduce Himself . Then we read in -- (Psa 102:25 KJV) Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
Psalm 33:8 is a creative act. Psalm102:25 is a restorative act. The Word of God breathed isn’t works -- it’s the power of love bringing forth its new life. The work of God’s hands is seen as works. So --the first Adam was the product of both – God’s breath and His hands. The first is God’s breath of love; The second is the work of God’s hands to restore what was lost.
Well -- why does God have to do works to restore? Why can’t He just recreate? Because that implies that God made a mistake and has to do it over again. God doesn’t make mistakes and so --He restores that which was lost and thus -- makes it even better than it was when it was first brought forth. It is not just God breathed life -- it’s resurrected life that has come forth out of the power of the blood of Jesus the Christ.
To restore -- God had to buy back that which was lost. That requires that God do works because justice has to be satisfied. There is a price that justice exacts through the law and that can’t be just passed over by making something new. It has to be restored by payment for Sin.
So man was brought forth as a composite being. Someone that was capable of becoming God and yet --also capable of becoming Sin and paying for Sin. Christ wasn’t capable of paying for Sin. He couldn’t die physically. Therefore -- He brought forth man that was capable of paying for Sin and then --Christ became a man in the person of Jesus.
When Christ brought forth man -- He had Jesus in view. So when Christ created man on the Earth He made him in the image that Christ would become after Jesus was born. Christ made Adam in the image that Christ would become when He took up residence in submitting to Jesus. Christ only paid the price of spiritual death when He submitted Himself to the will of Jesus.
Christ the Lord would accomplish the will of the Triune Godhead forever -- but He would submit all His actions to the man Jesus. This is an astounding revelation to us through the Word of God: That God would invite a man called Jesus into the Godhead and submit themselves to His approval of their will is almost inconceivable.
This gives us some insight into how important God considers submission to authority and not only that – the greater is submitting to the lesser. Christ submitted to Mary to bring forth Jesus. Christ submits to each of us to bring forth a new creation in each of us.
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When we submit our wills to the will of the Lord -- our natural spirit man dies to himself and is born again -- or made alive in the spirit in Christ Jesus. When we do that -- we are changed into a different person.
(Rom 8:2 KJV) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
So the first Adam had to be the product of the uncreated breath of God’s Word and the created work of God’s hands. The breath of Christ’s Words could never die and the restorative works of Christ’s hands could die. Adam and Eve were made from both the uncreated breath -- or Word of Christ -- and the created works of Christ’ hands -- the dust of the earth.
Jesus -- by inheritance -- received His Lordship over the works that Christ did when Christ gave up His Lordship over Creation -- set aside His glory and descended into the body of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem.
Jesus and Christ are both One being now -- but Christ the Creator has submitted His power to Jesus. Jesus the Christ is a most revealing Word. Jesus -- who is the second in order of Creation -- is now before the Christ in the Kingdom of God’s order. This reveals that in the Father’s order -- meekness and humility must be over power and glory. The Lord Jesus is the second in order of Creation. Jesus came forth from the Father after Christ came forth -- but Jesus is now first in order of authority. The Christ is submitted to the Lordship of Jesus.
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Isn’t that amazing! God created Adam and Eve in the order of authority and power that was an image of God in the beginning. This is why we see Christ in the beginning called the Alpha God.
Then Adam and Eve -- through disobedience – rebelled against God’s order and by doing so -- turned the order of the original Creation around. Eve became first in the fallen Creation and Adam was second in order. Eve was the first to believe The Lie and so -- entered the fallen Creation first. That made her lord of that Creation and so -- first in authority. Then -- Adam entered that same kingdom of The Lie and so became the second in order of a fallen Creation.
So in the fallen Creation -- Eve has the authority and Adam has the power. We see that happening in the fallen Creation where the woman tends to run things and the man goes out and gets wealth.
Then God -- through Jesus Christ -- turns the order of the Godhead around by placing Jesus first in authority in the Kingdom of God and Christ becomes second in order with the power to bless. Christ can’t enter Jesus until He is born and so -- Jesus is first in the new Kingdom of God. Then Christ indwells the body of Jesus and so becomes second in order of the new Creation. They are the first of the New Kingdom of God and so Jesus the Christ becomes the Omega God of the eternal future.
The establishing of this Truth is supposed to be the pattern for the Christian family. The man has the authority and the woman has the power to bless. It’s the woman’s power that protects and provides for the family -- but it is always to be under the authority of the man.
Today we see the woman taking her power and using it to establish her authority over men and so the world takes on more and more the likeness to the kingdom of darkness where the order of authority is rebelled against.
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You see -- in the beginning Creation came forth by the Word of Christ. We can’t see humility and meekness there. You only see power and authority. Yet -- within the knowledge and wisdom of the Godhead there is a love for humility and meekness to be first. They know that it must be that way or pride will have an occasion to enter and destroy everything as it is revealed in Lucifer’s rebellion.
Christ the Lord came forth from the Father first before the original Creation. Christ was Lord over that Creation. However -- Christ the Lord is now second in order of the new Creation in the establishing of the Kingdom of God. Christ the Lord has humbled Himself and taken the second place in the order of the new Creation of the Kingdom of God. In the establishing of the Kingdom of God -- Jesus the man -- is now first in authority in the Kingdom of God.
So in this un-submitted desire that Eve had to be first in authority -- the purpose of the Father is fulfilled in Jesus as Lord because of His humility and meekness. The Scriptures say of Jesus that He didn’t seek after an equality with God -- but put on humility and meekness. Without that -- being first is a curse and the sentence for that choice is death.
So it is Jesus we see sitting at the right hand of God. Well then –Where is Christ the Lord? He is in Jesus -- but it is Jesus we see because they are both in the earthly body of Jesus the man.
(Acts 2:32 KJV) This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.(Acts 7:55 KJV) But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
(Acts 2:33 KJV) Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Why is this so important to see. Because it reveals the determination of God to establish order and He submits even Himself to that order. The Father has exalted man to this unbelievably high place in Jesus. Why – because man is God’s rescue plan for all of Creation and even Himself. Why would God ever need rescuing? Because of His love for righteousness He submitted Himself to death so that He would be the God of resurrected life. That is God’s desire and He accomplished it in His second Son -- Jesus the King.
Jesus is in a likeness to the second son that went into a far country but Jesus didn’t squander His inheritance on Sin – He gave His inheritance to the heathen and destroyed Sin all in one act of submission to His Father’s will.
So to apply this Truth to our everyday life -- the woman has been given first place in power in the New Creation -- but she must submit that to the man with humility and meekness because he has the seat of authority.
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In the New Kingdom of God -- the man has been given unlimited authority -- but he can’t get anything done without going through the woman who has the power. So the man is submitted to the woman if he wants the use of her power. But the woman can’t use her power until she puts on humility and submits herself to the man’s authority.
The marriage between Jesus and the Christ is a picture of what marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman. The woman must put on humility and submit to the authority of the man in order for her power to be a blessing to the family. The statement that there is a good woman behind every successful man is more than just a saying.
I have used the illustration many times of the authority of the man and the power of the woman like two people riding a two seated bike. The man has the authority to steer and the woman has the power to help peddle. The bike is like a rear wheel drive. The woman can be submitted to the authority of where the man steers but she isn’t peddling. That is not submission to authority. That is rebellion to authority. Yes --she is going where the man is steering but she isn’t putting her spiritual power into what they are supposed to be doing together.
This is a difficult problem to detect because the woman looks like a meek and submitted woman on the outside – but she hasn’t taken the place that God has called her to in the releasing of her spiritual power to get the life they are living to where God wants it to go.
Consequently the man has to both steer and peddle and because he is so tired from peddling he begins to look for someone else to help peddle.
Christ is submitted to the will of Jesus in the Kingdom of God. Jesus the man is submitted to the power of Christ -- the Lord of the original Creation. Because of that order Christ can receive all things by inheritance. It’s through the death of the Christ that is in Jesus that they’re both blessed by inheritance.
The woman was the head over the man in the fallen creation. When two people get saved and make Jesus Lord over them -- they become the likeness of Jesus Christ in their lives. The woman that had the un-submitted power in the old creation is now submitted to the man in the new creation and so-- she is able to use that power to bring the blessings of God to the man by inheritance. It is her power that brings in the blessings and in so doing -- she blesses the home by inheritance as she submits her power to his authority. It’s the man’s prayers that go before the woman so that she can release the power of her faith to get the blessings to flow into their home.
The woman’s power is submitted to the man’s authority in the world so she can receive all things by inheritance and not works.
Do you see the wonder of this? God is being very exact in His demand that there is submission to authority and a submission of authority -- even in Himself. The Scripture says that it isn’t given to a man to direct His own way.
(Jer 10:23 KJV) O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
This is difficult to put together in our thinking about Jesus the Christ. Are we talking about one person? How is Jesus different than Christ? Jesus is the name of the man that was brought forth through Mary. Christ is the eternal God of Creation. They are both in the one body -- submitted to each other. But they haven’t always been one person. Jesus as a man didn’t exist until He was born through the body of Mary. Jesus existed as a Spirit being before He was conceived in the body of Mary and given the name of Jesus.
This is a most astounding revelation: The Lord Christ can become Jesus the Christ because Christ created Adam and Eve. When Christ created Adam and Eve He knew that He would become Jesus the man through the seed of the woman.
As we study -- we will see that Adam and Eve were unique creations. They were a new revelation of what God would do in the future -- and that future plan would include even God submitting Himself to this new kind of being called man. Do we realize the astounding truth that Christ the Lord has submitted Himself to us when He indwells us when we receive Him as Lord. Although we receive Him as Lord we seldom submit to Him as our Lord and yet --He waits for us to agree to do His will before He can act on our behalf. Jesus said – You call Me Lord and that is who I am – so why don’t you do what I say?
There is a man tonight sitting on the throne of God in Heaven. He has been invited into the Godhead and made equal with and part of the Trinity of God. Then an even more astounding revelation is that He is called the forerunner of many sons and daughters that are also invited to come and join the Triune Godhead.
We -- as human beings -- have that illustration within our own being. We are spirit beings as well as physical beings. We have a spirit man that lives on after we die physically. That spirit man is a real being. We don’t sense much about our spirit man while we are in our bodies because we have been so used to only hearing the voice of our soul man coupled with our physical man.
Our spirit man will make himself heard -- if we will listen for his voice. He is in touch with the Holy Spirit if we are born again. If we are not born again -- our spirit man is likened to being dead. That means he doesn’t hear God’s voice. He only hears the voice of the evil one through our soul and body.
When we are born again -- our spirit man comes alive and is able to hear God’s voice. Our spirit man is made alive by the breath of God’s Word as we hear the Truth and believe it. We are made alive by our belief alone. Then -- because we believe The Truth -- we act on that belief and confess with our mouth the Lordship of Jesus. So from this -- we can understand the relationship between our spirit man and our natural man.
When we are born again -- our spirit man is made alive and so --the order of the new creation is established. We were alive first in the natural man. Then -- the spirit of Christ enters our heart and we are made alive in the spirit. Then as the natural man submits to the spirit man -- the work of God’s hands -- which is our natural man submitting to the breath of God’s life which is our spirit man -- the order of the Kingdom of God is established.
As our natural man with his authority -- humbly submits himself to the Lordship of Christ within us -- the power of Christ is released to establish the Kingdom of God in our life.
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Our natural man only gets the benefits of the new life of the spirit man when it submits to that new life that is in us -- Christ in us the hope of glory. When we are born again -- the Christ of God comes within us and submits Himself to us. He can do nothing with His power unless we agree with what He wants to do. Then -- as I submit myself to Him-- it becomes no longer I that live -- but Christ lives within me and we live by His faith and power.
(Gal 2:20 KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
That means that we live by Christ’s faith in the Word of God. The virtues that release the power of the Christ that is in me is belief and humility. I must humble myself before the mighty hand of the Christ that is in me. When I do -- He will exalt me in His time and in His way. Christ in me will begin to bring me to the place that He created me to be in.
That is how Jesus the man and Christ the Lord can relate to each other within the body of Jesus. Two beings in one body -- exactly like Adam and Eve were brought forth from the hand of God. God called their name Adam.(Gen 5:2 KJV) Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
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