HE SHALL LIVE BY ME
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
What an amazing thought! Yet the truth of it comes from the very mouth of the Eternal Son of God himself! He actually states it is “AS” he lives by the Father, “SO” the soul which hungers after righteousness shall live by him! Amazing! For this not only directs the believer towards his union with Christ, but also to look upward to see that it is based upon Christ’s union with the Father. Therefore we learn that the regeneration of the believer is patterned after the Incarnation of the Son of God. For it is after the pattern of how God came to dwell in the human body of Jesus, that we see the same pattern as how God, by the Holy Spirit, comes to dwell in the humanity of every believer!
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
In the light of this awareness, let us carefully reread Christ’s prayer to the Father at the hour which had finally come for his sacrifice. John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24 ¶ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Carnal religion has so framed our minds that we fail to receive the spiritual import of that twenty-fourth verse. For the Lord is not asking the Father to allow the believers to come to a physical place, but to a glorified condition! He is not requesting that we all are allowed to “go to heaven.” He is requesting that his Incarnation be realized in our regeneration! For He, as the Head, would have his Body of the true church to be like him. Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
This is made clear when we prayerfully read verses one and twenty-two of John seventeen. For those who follow him by his accomplishment of redemption, into their reception of that redemption, shall as an immediate result, sit with him in a glorified state! Matthew 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration (“the Messianic rebirth of the world” – Amplified Bible), when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
This is not referring to just an eternal state. But we are to even now sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: Truly has he said, “because I live, ye shall live also.”
Therefore the focus of the glorified Bride even “in Heaven” shall continue to be upon her Bridegroom’s face!
“The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory
But on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth
But on His pieced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel’s land.”
Mrs. Anne Ross Cousin
1824-1906
Since his Incarnation is the pattern of our regeneration, it would greatly benefit us, with this in mind, to carefully study the passage of Luke 1:26-38. For there we have provided for us the account of Christ’s Incarnation in the angel Gabriel’s dealing with the woman chosen by God in this endeavor. For the soul’s regeneration is like a woman having baby, and not like a man making a decision! Therefore to strictly adhere to this account will deliver us from the deceptions that religion has encumbered us with as to the true work in the salvation of the sinner.
We clearly learn that she was chosen of God, but knew nothing of it until it was brought to her awareness in the conception of “that holy thing which should be born of her.” And so it is with God’s elect sinner. They were chosen of him before the foundation of the world. But knew nothing of it until the Holy Spirit quickened them. For no sinner ever wanted a new heart until he already had one! Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
And she was told that she would experience a birth and that it would be a son. Even so, with the Holy Spirit there are no miscarriages, for God the Son is formed within the hearts of every believer, without fail. (And the Lord does not have any grandchildren!)
Isaiah 66:9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. 10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: 11 That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
The child that was born of her was the Son of God who was given by the Father! Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
And the result of this was that she magnified the Lord. Luke 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
And so it is with the believer in his new spiritual birth. John 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
And as this birth caused Mary to ponder spiritual things within her soul, so the spiritual birth of the believer brings him into a realm of spiritual perceptions. Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
And lastly, Mary enjoyed only the fellowship of another whom the Spirit revealed was of the same experience. See Luke 1:36, 39 & 40 with 2 Corinthians 6:14 – 18.
Pastor Gene Breed
October 07, 2023
