Too High and Lofty to Be Really Known?

While God is clearly not present to our sight, He is Ever-Present!

His invisible Presence does not make Him less present than if I could see Him.

I do know His Presence in the reality of a Spirit-to-spirit connection which gives credibility to His claims in His Word to us in the Bible.

Yet, God may appear to many to be too high and lofty to be really known.

The incarnation of Jesus gave us the exact image of God in human form. The God-nature and flawless character of Christ, the God-man Jesus, show us exact likeness of our Creator which we understand. Without the human life of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, Son of God, we might still be floundering with our search for trying to know what God is like.

But the claims of Jesus to be doing the will of the Father require us to know Him as the Son of God, born of Mary, a virgin. The miraculous birth became the pattern for spiritual birth for all who receive Jesus Christ as Savior from sin. The Holy Spirit imparted the seed of the Son of God into the womb of Mary. The same Holy Spirit imparts the seed of the Son of God into a repentant believer's spirit and the union of Spirit-to-spirit brings God-life into the believer.

Christ in you, the hope of glory! That statement from Colossians 1:27, written by the Apostle Paul, a former murderer of Christians, declares that this is a 'mystery'. The 'mystery' hidden from the foundation of the world was this: Christ would occupy human flesh in a residency within which would enable the very saving Life of Jesus to be visibly observed by the watching godless world. Only after Jesus, the Christ sent from heaven, returned to heaven to take His place at the right hand of the Father, could His followers have His Spirit residing inside mortal flesh. It was that "going away" which Jesus spoke of in John 14 to His disciples which seemed to concern them. How could things ever be the same without His physical presence to encourage their mission?

The Apostle Paul made clear that fact of Christ 'in you" as the "hope of glory". There could be no glory for the apostles and Christ-followers if they could not perform the works of Christ which they had been told to take to all the world. There could be no glory for God and no belief in the Gospel Message if they could not present the stories of Jesus and the Truth which He proclaimed in a powerful way of demonstrations of His works. Jesus was always able to do what He said He would do for those who would believe on His name, His authority as Son of God.

The glory of God was Jesus Himself. So, for a Christ-follower to claim to have the Spirit of LIfe in Jesus Christ dwelling inside was a radical claim. The Jesus of history was crucified, dead and buried. Certainly Jesus was no longer with these radical Christ-followers.

Or was He with them? Something happened to these Apostles who had been The Twelve! The Christ of the flesh was no longer visible. He was 'ascended' to heaven , they said. Yet, there was a spirit about them, a very real Presence which attended them wherever they went. It was as if the Spirit of Jesus was actually resident inside their bodies.

The Apostles, the Twelve, spoke with such authority that people recognized that it was the authority of Christ. It could not be mistaken for simple human confidence. The likeness of Christ was so very real in the Apostles. They were "charged" with a boldness which was breath-takingly disarming.

Much like today when Christ-followers confidently speak authoritatively in the challenges of life and come up with some interjection of Life which appears to be above the norm. One might say the works accomplished were very much like Christ. The Spirit emanating from their mouth, the inflection of the voice, the absolute assurance of Truth being proclaimed -- all these stem from a substance which is far above the normal communication of a polished orator or a confident presenter of ideas, etc. There is a recognizable Spirit which is not simply that of human origin. It is supernatural in that it brings into the moment the very Presence of God. It is as if Jesus Himself were present in the situation.

This is the actual work of the Holy Spirit today -- to use ordinary citizens to be the spokespersons for God in the matters of ordinary life. It is God's intention that people in whom Christ lives and has access to use at His will can be sure to speak on life issues as if He were present in physical form. He occupies the innermost being of those to whom He has become THE LIFE WITHIN -- the 'glory of God' inside human beings. It is the "Christ in you" reality of the glory of God received by human invitation.

Residency inside human beings is not something to be scoffed at or scorned. The change of nature inside human hearts is supernatural and of God. He promised that He would give people a new heart. Why? BECAUSE the human heart inside every person is, at birth, bent towards being desperately wicked in God's sight. The Fall of man in the Garden of Eden gave all of us a sinful nature which must be recreated by God in order to be restored to His original creation of us in His image -- able to be spiritually connected to God who is holy and is a spirit, not human flesh. In order for us to be connected to Him in our innermost being, our spirit relationship, we must be made alive to Him spiritually.

Jesus, the Life of God, comes in to our innermost being to BE LIFE in Spirit form. The Holy Spirit of God quickens our mortal being to be alive to God spirit-to-Spirit. We are then a New Creation relation to God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a supernatural Spirit-birth which becomes our true self alive to God for the first time. We live on in that relationship as His followers doing His work and His will in His way as we continue to have fellowship -- a love relationship with Christ -- through all our days on earth.

That relationship is intimate and produces the very 'fruit' of our lives which God is after among His people. Being one of His people by New Birth, I am grafted into His People -- those who have been chosen as His beloved.

Why? To bring us back to Himself in loving adoration and to enable us to have the Life which is lived in loving harmony and obedience to His will and purpose for all mankind.

God is not willing that any perish -- or live outside a relationship with Him -- apart from Himself -- but desires that all come into relationship with Him, knowing His lavish love and defining purpose for their lives.

No, God is not too high and lofty to be really known, but has come to us and made His home in us so that we can portray His love and speak of His goodness to everyone. By that, He will be known by all mankind . . . sufficiently that they may be able to choose to receive Him and His love . . . or not!

Can you imagine anyone saying "NO" to Jesus and His great saving love so freely given?