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Mysteries and the Christ
By Lloyd Ellefson
Blessings in the name of the Lord! The natural man does not have the capacity to hear spiritually because he is devoid of the Spirit. That is why he can't comprehend a spiritual message, nor can he understand those who are speaking in the name of the Lord. It is meaningless to him because it has a spiritual significance, and he only understands natural thinking. He hears the words, but they only have a natural meaning for him.
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Rev. 2:29;3:13,22) Notice that it doesn't say that he is to hear what the scriptures say. We don't hear the scriptures, we read them. To hear the message of the scriptures we need the Holy Spirit. A lot of people claim to understand the scriptures even though they only understand them in the natural; their understanding does not come through the quickening of the Spirit and does not produce spiritual life. To really understand spiritually, we need to receive the Holy Spirit!
How do we receive the Holy Spirit? As we search the New Testament scriptures, we see that it doesn't come by water baptism. They show that some people received the Spirit before they were baptized, and some got it after, but NEVER during the time they were baptized. Nor does it happen automatically at our conversion. This is illustrated in Acts 8:14-17 where people had received the word of God and had been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, yet had to send for Peter and John that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Conversion and forgiveness are foundational to receiving the Holy Spirit of God - which is an act of faith.
If you understand this, you have an understanding that most religious people, even many of the preachers and theologians and Greek students in the seminaries do not have. The natural mind cannot understand this. Multitudes of people call themselves Christian just because they are identifying with the Christian church. But they do not know what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is someone who has received Christ - and Christ is the anointing! But the anointing is not the conversion! When you are anointed with the Spirit you actually receive the Christ. The Greek word CHRISTOS is translated as Christ, Messiah, and anointing. Unless a person has submitted himself to the Spirit he cannot understand this.
Now I want to share with you the mysteries that are mentioned in the New Testament. Something we can't understand, we call a mystery. The kingdom of God, the coming of Christ, hearing the voice of God, and the things that are happening in the Spirit, are mysteries to the natural mind. In the kingdom of God there is no more literal, no more natural, and no more Old Testament external law and condemnation! The new message of the kingdom of God can only be heard in the Spirit! Only after we have been quickened by the Spirit can we hear and have communication.
Only the one who knows the mysteries can reveal them. Since the Spirit and the kingdom are mysteries, God has to reveal their meaning. He has to reveal the mystery of God and the mystery of iniquity to us. Man cannot find the answers by reading the Bible. As I have often said, the scriptures or the Bible are not the Word of God. Calling them the Word of God shows that we have never really heard the Word of God - for the Word of God is not a book. Christ is the Word! If Christ is in you, you have the anointing. If not, you have a depraved mind, and you will not hear.
In Mark 4:11 it says, "And He said unto them, `To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside, get everything in parables.'" Everything Jesus said was a parable to those who were outside the kingdom; they did not understand. This was quite obvious, for they rejected Jesus. The hierarchy of religious people rejected the testimony that came from the mouth of Jesus. They rejected His idea of the Father, of the kingdom of God, of repentance, and of believing the good news of the kingdom which He was proclaiming.
He said, "To you has been given the mystery." The understanding of the mysteries is given. But the only people who can receive the understanding of the mystery are those who have been chosen. We are chosen in Christ, and Christ is the anointing. It is the anointing that teaches us all things. The Bible is wonderful, but it does not teach us everything. We use the Bible because we need a double witness! We need both the anointing and the Bible. We cannot reach people without having them first accept the things which they can receive in their natural mind. If they reject that, they will also reject the Spirit.
Paul said, "But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory." (1 Cor. 2:7) This mystery resided in God. Paul was actually speaking that wisdom - the understanding which he had received in the spirit. That wisdom is a mystery to the natural understanding. When Jesus spoke God's wisdom, it was a mystery to the people because they did not understand spiritually. That is why they crucified Jesus!
There are a lot of things that are described as mysteries in the scriptures. Even though we have the Holy Spirit, we still need to be enlightened by the Spirit. Paul writes, "That by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ." (Eph. 3:3-4) Paul explains that his insight came by revelation. We too have to receive it by revelation; otherwise it will remain hidden to us! Christ is the anointing! He is the spiritual image of God! (1 Cor. 15) He is not a physical man. The knowledge Paul received came through the teaching of the Holy Spirit - through the anointing that he had received.
This mystery "which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power." (vv.5-7) As Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom, he was rejected, beaten times without number; five times he received thirty-nine lashes; he was imprisoned, he was shipwrecked and had to endure many hardships! Why? Because people did not understand the mystery of God's wisdom which he declared! Since they rejected his message, they did not receive the Spirit, so they could not understand what he was saying.
"Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints." (Col. 1:25-26) Paul did not discover the hidden mystery by his own searching of the Old Testament scriptures. It was given or bestowed on him! He was given the understanding of the mystery which was hidden from the ages, or from ages and generations! This message was hidden, and man was unable to find it. People were unable to understand when it was preached to them by Jesus, and later by Paul. Only those could understand to whom it was revealed.
This mystery was spoken to everybody, but only made manifest to the saints who had received the Holy Spirit. "To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (v.27) Paul said that we are to test or examine ourselves, and recognize that Christ is in us. If we don't recognize that, we fail the test. (2 Cor. 13:5) Christ in us, is the hope of this glory when the understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom of God are manifested in us.
In Rom. 11:25-26 Paul said, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, `The deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.'" Isn't it strange that he should say a deliverer would come out of Zion and turn away the ungodliness that is in Jacob, after Jacob had been dead many years? What does this depend on? Who is Jacob? Who is Israel? Does only Israel need ungodliness removed? God said that everyone had gone astray; there is not one who is good. He has considered all under sin! Why then these special words to Israel?
Israel thought they were righteous because they had the law and the prophets. So Paul pointed out that not all Israel is Israel. "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel." (Rom. 9:6) This sounds confusing, doesn't it? He also said that a Jew is not one who is one outwardly. The Jews thought they were Jews because they were descendants of Jacob, but Paul was emphasizing something spiritual! He wanted them to know that they needed more than the physical lineage - they needed to be enChristed!
Jesus Christ was a mystery to those who did not understand that God was being manifested through Him. They couldn't see beyond the flesh. "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel..." (Rom. 11:25) "...that blindness in part is happened to Israel..." (KJV) They couldn't see beyond the physical body of Jesus. Only those who were true Israelites could. Looking back to Old Testament symbolism, we find that only two sons, namely, Joseph and Benjamin, were born to Jacob after his name was changed to Israel. Ten before, and two after. So we have TEN and TWO, which was typical of the trial and the witnesses respectively. The number ten represents the law (the ten commandments) and two is the number of witness.
"Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: `Through Isaac your descendants will be named'." (Rom. 9:7) Through Isaac his descendants are named! It is interesting to note that Isaac was born miraculously! He was the son of promise; he was not born through the will of the flesh. Abraham couldn't fulfill the promise on his own! "That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants." (v.8) The natural descendants of Abraham, those generated in the flesh, are NOT the children of God. The children of the PROMISE are regarded as true descendants! The children of God are children of faith in Christ Jesus!
The promise to Abraham is fulfilled by the coming of the Holy Spirit. "In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Gal. 3:14) The promised Spirit comes through Jesus Christ. We don't get the fulfillment of any of these promises outside of Christ, because the law and the prophets are fulfilled in Christ. All the promises of God have their yes in Christ; and "by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us!" (2 Cor. 1:20) It is through the anointing that we can receive revelation knowledge of the knowledge and wisdom of God! This goes beyond our natural comprehension - for it cannot take in God. The blessing of Abraham is for the Jews as well as the Gentiles, that through Jesus Christ all might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith!
Receiving the Spirit is the same as receiving Christ. But Christ is not a physical person, nor can He be produced by our imagination. Christ is the anointing of the Spirit, and He quickens our spirit so that we can hear the voice of the Spirit of God. This is the only way we can hear God.
We have seen that the kingdom of God is a mystery, that there is a mystery of Christ, a mystery of this hidden wisdom - and the glory of this mystery is Christ in you! The Jews do not understand God's wisdom because they are blinded and therefore cannot see these things. The mystery of Israel's blindness is not in the same category as the mystery of Christ.
We have another mystery. "Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." (v.50) There is no way that anything that has to do with any part of this body, including the natural mind, can inherit the kingdom of God! "The mind set on the flesh is death..." (Rom. 8:6) Minding the flesh is death, but minding the Spirit is life! By forming our own conclusion of who God is, we actually establish an idol in our mind, call this idol God, and worship it! We need to be redeemed from our reasonings. Therefore it is important that these mysteries are unfolded by the Spirit! Not only is it necessary; it's vital, it's the gospel! It's where redemption lies! We are redeemed from being bound to the limitations of our own reasonings, our own speculations, our own comprehension, and our own mind!
Jesus told the Israelites that they were ignorant - they didn't know God, they didn't hear Moses, and they didn't know that it was God who had sent Him (Jesus)! When Jesus came, God was manifested in the flesh. That means that God was manifesting Himself in Christ Jesus. Jesus came to a people who had been prepared by the law to know that their self-righteousness could not fulfill the law. This gave them a tremendous sin-consciousness, for they knew they were guilty of not keeping the whole law! Since they had the most exacting law, they were more guilty than anyone else in the world! But this was all in God's purpose.
The reason for their ignorance was that they weren't hearing the Spirit. Jesus said, "If you had believed Moses you would believe Me." (Jn. 5:46) Those who do not believe God remain in ignorance. So the Israelites were indicted for their unbelief! God has concluded all under sin! Flesh and blood do not inherit the kingdom of God, and corruption doesn't inherit incorruption! In other words, our whole corrupt system of mind, flesh, body and soul, does not inherit the kingdom of God. This remains a mystery to the natural man because it can only be received by the spiritual man.
Those who are in Adam are in a sleep. God put Adam to sleep, and he was not awakened until Christ came. The prophet Isaiah cried, "Arise, shine; for your light has come." (60:1) Paul said, "Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." (Eph. 5:14) So what does Paul mean when He talks about sleep? When a person sleeps, he is unconscious of who he is and of what is happening. Spiritually speaking, it denotes an ignorance and a lack of understanding the things of God. If we are minding the flesh and living according to our own reasonings, we are asleep to the things of God.
"Behold I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." (1 Cor. 15:51-52) Many interpret this passage to mean that our bodies will be changed into new bodies and come out of the grave. They say this will happen in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump - and that has to be the end of everything. However, if there is going to be a rapture, you had better not figure on going up in your body of flesh and blood, because these do not inherit the kingdom of God; neither does a body of flesh and bones, for flesh is not going to enter in.
When Paul said "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye", he was referring to a measure of light that comes so quickly, that it cannot be measured. Light brings understanding. Those who have received revelation will understand this perfectly. Light wakes us out of our sleep, doesn't it? Spiritual light wakes us out of Adam's sleep and brings us into Christ's light! This is resurrection! In John 11, before Jesus demonstrated that He was the resurrection, He said, "I AM THE RESURRECTION"! Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever! He has always been, and He will always be the resurrection! When we receive Christ, we receive resurrection, because He IS the resurrection and the life! So we have been wakened when we received Christ.
He is also the last trumpet. He is the trumpet or voice that comes in the Spirit. He brings us the rest of God - the seventh day rest or the great Sabbath of God in which we have ceased from our works! We can rest from our works because we see that Jesus Christ has finished the work of God! He has fulfilled the law, He has demonstrated His victory over death, and He has given us the same Spirit that was in Him, that we might have the mind of Christ. His mind minds the Spirit!
Jesus lived under the law for thirty years. He manifested God throughout His lifetime - even while He lived under the law. He never sinned! He received the Spirit at the Jordan after He was baptized. That increased His understanding and wisdom, and began His ministry. He manifested God in the Spirit after that occasion. Then He began to preach the gospel of the kingdom, the mysteries of godliness, the mysteries of those things that man could not solve nor understand.
That also happens to us once we have entered into this unity with Christ, and have begun minding the Spirit. In redemption, we are awakened out of our death in Adam and we receive our life in Christ. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear together with Him! Today we are to be manifesting God in the earth just as Christ did. He said, "As the Father has sent Me, so send I you." We have received the same commission Christ received! He has given us the ministry of reconciling people to God. (2 Cor. 5:19)
"And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory." (1 Tim. 3:16) Godliness is a great mystery to those who do not have the Holy Spirit. Since it is not a mystery to God, it is not a mystery to those who have received the Spirit and hear His voice, for God reveals this to them through the Spirit. That is why it is impossible to explain spiritual realities to people who only think naturally. The Spirit leads us into all truth and causes the testimony of the Bible to bring life and illumination to us!
"God was manifest in the flesh..." (1 Tim. 3:16 KJV) "He who was revealed in the flesh..." (NAS) God revealed Himself in the MAN Jesus - in His fleshly body. We have to understand that Christ was in perfect subjection to the Father and always gave glory to God! He said, "I do nothing of Myself. It is the Father IN Me who does the works...I don't bear witness of Myself." That is what we are also called to do. God was revealed in the flesh, but the Jews did not like that manifestation of God, and put Him on the cross. It was man who killed Him - not God. Check John chapters 5 through 7 and notice how often men desired to kill Him BEFORE He was put on the cross.
"He was vindicated in the Spirit." To understand what God says, we have to hear what the Spirit is saying. Since the natural mind cannot understand spiritual realities, it can only bring confusion. He was beheld by angels or messengers, and was preached to the Gentiles. In Christ, God was preached to the Gentiles. He is now to be revealed in us because we have received the anointing. "And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him." (1 Jn. 2:27) The anointing does not leave us!
We have seen that there is a mystery of the kingdom, a mystery of godliness, and a mystery of hidden wisdom. 2 Thess. 2:7 speaks about another mystery - the mystery of lawlessness or iniquity. Iniquity and lawlessness are really synonymous. "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way." It isn't difficult to see that lawlessness is at work even when there is restraint. But what happens when restraint is removed?
"And then that lawless one will be revealed..." (v.8a) Who is that lawless one? We say it's the antichrist - and that's true. But people were anti-God before Christ revealed the true God. When Christ revealed the true God, they became anti-Christ. So being anti-God or anti-Christ is really the same thing! What does it mean to be anti-Christ? Any spirit that is against Christ or takes the place of Christ is antichrist! Are not man's reasoning and natural comprehension always against God and Christ?! (Gal. 5:17) Man creates his own idea of God and Christ, and of himself, thus putting his own ideas above God's testimony of Himself. By doing this, man sets himself in the place of God. By believing the things that he has received through his own mind and his perception of things that came through his senses, he is anti-Christ, anti-Spirit, or anti the Anointing. The Jews only saw Jesus through the eyes of flesh; they didn't see Him as one who was actually revealing God while He was on earth.
"...whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming." (8b) The words of His mouth are truth, and truth brings an end to lies! His presence is so powerful and wonderful that all animosity and superiority flee from His presence!
Paul said, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." (1 Cor. 2:12-13) Paul spoke the wisdom that he had received from the Spirit - wisdom hidden in the Spirit. The natural man cannot understand this wisdom, for it is only unveiled by God to the spiritual man! The natural mind cannot search out and discover this wisdom, for it can only come to natural conclusions. Since natural wisdom is not spiritual, it is not life-giving; it won't take us through death either. This is the gospel! Those who leave out the spiritual mind have not received the enlightenment of the mysteries of the kingdom, the mystery of godliness, and the mystery of iniquity.
What is this mystery of iniquity? Who is the lawless one who is destroyed by the Lord? "That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." (2 Thess. 2:9-10) Jesus Christ is the way and the truth! He came into the world to bear witness to the truth! Why did He have to do that? Could the people not receive truth by reading the Bible? No, they could only understand it in the natural because of the limitations of the carnal, human mind. And Israel proved that this mind rejects Jesus!
Everyone who rejects Jesus is obviously anti-Christ. Paul said, "The letter kills." Those who limit themselves to the letter of the scriptures, are against life - and Christ is the life! A spirit of rejection is working in these people. Can they be anti-Christ even though they are pro-Jesus? Yes they can, for they are not understanding the truth of the gospel! They think this wonderful Jesus died for them as their substitute so they can now go to heaven when they die. Friends, that is not the gospel! The gospel is that we died with Him, were buried with Him, and were raised with Him. (Col. 2:12) When He comes we are coming together with Him. (1 Thess. 4:14)
So who is this lawless man, this man of iniquity, or this man of sin? It's the man who hasn't received Christ. "Through one man sin came into the world." This man is the natural man, the Adamic man; he is the one who opposed the image of God in Jesus Christ and rejected the manifestation of God in the person of Jesus Christ; he also rejected His words. This is the lawless man, for he can never obey the law. He is always lawless, no matter how hard he may try to keep it. His pride and pharisaical attitude do not help him to obey the law.
It is only Christ who can fulfill the law, and He comes into us - not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. He said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." (Matt. 5:17) He comes to fulfill it through the Spirit He has given us; this worked in Him and fulfilled it in Him.
These are mysteries to the natural mind but not to the spiritual mind. We have only touched on these mysteries to show that the manifestation of God in man cannot be understood by natural humanity. Although Jesus was the perfect figure and type of God, yet humanity did not understand Him nor care for Him. It sufficed the Jews to know that they were Israel, God's chosen people, the children of Abraham, and had been given the law through Moses! But they had not allowed the law to stop them from boasting. They even declared that they had never been enslaved by anyone! (Jn. 8:33) But they could not deceive Jesus. He said, "You are of your father the devil." The things they said did not come from God. Because the Jews were not of God, they were not hearing the words of God!
The only way we can grow in our knowledge of the Lord is by hearing the Spirit! When we have ears to hear the Spirit, everything changes for the better. This is the fulfillment of the gospel! This is more important than speaking in tongues and having a great healing ministry. Hearing what the Spirit is saying to the church, understanding the mysteries and seeing the reality, is life! Those who have not experienced this will not understand it. That is why Jesus said, "If they hated Me they will hate you." He knew that without the Spirit people could not understand spiritually! Without involvement, people will be against the spiritual knowledge in us.
Seven is an important number in the Bible. God's creative work was completed in six days, and on the seventh day He rested because His work had been accomplished. Now we are living in something new. Then in Revelation we read about the seven spirits of God, seven churches and seven trumpets. The seventh, or last trumpet is sounded by the seventh messenger, and is followed by the seven vials or bowls of wrath. This may seem rather confusing to us because of the destruction that is caused by them. Though this seems bad to us, the destruction of that which is not reality is good!
Only truth can destroy our delusions - and Jesus Christ is the truth! When truth comes, everything that wasn't truth is put under judgment. Truth brings judgment! In the end there will only be truth. Since a lie doesn't have reality, nor any true basis for its existence, it can only work its delusion on the basis of a wrong interpretation of truth. That is why Jesus said, "Get thee behind Me, satan." So in order to understand the mystery of the treasures of His wisdom, we have to know that true wisdom is hidden with Christ in God. (Col. 2:2-3)
In Rev. 10:7 we read, "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when He is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets." Angel means messenger; angels are NOT winged creatures flying from place to place! If you can hear the true angel, the great messenger, you are hearing Christ. When He sounds the last trumpet, and you hear the voice of the Son, you will live (Jn. 5:25), for His words are spirit and they are life! Wow!
The voice of the seventh messenger is heard only in those who are Christ's - in those who have received the Holy Spirit and have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. These mysteries are finished by being unfolded, by being made known, by being unveiled. "The mystery of God is finished as He preached to His servants the prophets." The prophets had already been informed about this mystery, but they did not understand it.
"Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry..." (1 Peter 1:9-10) The prophets inquired and searched for the grace that comes in Christ Jesus. They longed to see the fulfillment of their prophecies; they longed for that time, but it wasn't for them - it was for us! While they did not fully understand what they were saying, yet they were obedient in giving forth what they heard.
The law was ordained through the agency of a mediator, namely Moses. (Gal. 3:19) But Christ is the mediator of a better covenant! We have one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. This man is the Son of Man, and He is a corporate man. Christ is the head and we are the body of Christ - ONE corporate man! So we are the mediator, because in our spirit we touch God, and in our words we touch humanity! Our natural words reach unregenerate humanity, and our spiritual words touch spiritual humanity. The extent to which they hear, depends on what they hear from us and upon how much they can absorb.
The voice of the seventh angel is the last trumpet. The great messenger of God who sounds forth this trumpet is the Christ, the Anointing! He is the one who teaches us all things. Obviously, He is the greatest of all the great messengers. His message brings us into the great Sabbath, the great rest of God where we cease from our labor and rest in the fact that God is doing His work in us.
On the cross Jesus said, "It is finished." To the Father He said, "Into Your hands I commit My Spirit." That Spirit is the Spirit God has poured out. In Gal. 4 it says that God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
The gospel is a great deal more than people have given it credit to be. Most Christians are only hoping for something to happen in the natural - like the return of a physical Jesus, the rebuilding of the temple, a millenium of years of righteous government with wonderful living conditions, the holy city coming down from heaven, saints getting new bodies, etc. But these are not the things the revelation of Christ brings us. It brings us new things. The city is a covenant, and she is the mother of us all. (Gal. 4) It reveals that the Sabbaths, temples, sacrifices, and people of the Old Testament were all types, shadows and figures of that which was to come!
An unveiling of what the types and shadows really mean has to come! This occurs in the coming of Christ, because Christ is the true image of God. He unveils the Father to us! As you know, when the Spirit comes, we do not cry, "Dear God do this...hello Jesus...I love you!" We cry, "Father". And we can't say that unless the Father has called us His sons.
Everything Jesus experienced - His baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit at the Jordan, His death on the cross, His burial and resurrection - was a demonstration for us. Since we are the body of Christ, it demonstrated that we died with Him, we were buried with Him and we were raised with Him. He did not die alone, he wasn't buried alone, He wasn't raised alone, and He is not coming again alone, for we are one with Christ in the Father!
To sum this up, we have to admit that there is a great spiritual famine. People are not hearing the message of the scriptures! Many believe they can determine God's will for themselves by randomly putting their finger on a certain scripture passage. But this falls short of the unveiling of spiritual realities. Many things may sound good to the natural man, for he doesn't know that there is much more until he is awakened and experiences more.
These are the mysteries that are unfolded in Christ - the mystery of the kingdom, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of God's hidden wisdom, the glory of the mystery of God, the mystery of Israel, the mystery that everyone shall not sleep, the mystery of godliness, and the mystery of iniquity. With the last trumpet sound the mystery of God and the great wonders of revelation are finished.
Christ came with spiritual truth; this brought judgment on all natural ideas - which seem like truth to the natural man. But natural truth is not the truth of God! If it were, God would not have had to send the Holy Spirit. The truth in Christ destroys lies and delusions, but it does not destroy humanity; nor does it have anything to do with our works - whether good or evil. But it does affect our works, for when our lies and delusions are destroyed, our works will come out of truth and life! It has to do with the grace of God! With truth, God is putting to death all the lies and natural thinking, for it cannot know God!
That is what the gospel is all about! But who has heard this voice? Who has believed our report, as Isaiah asked? Not very many. If you want to be one of those who have heard and believed, you will have to hear the Spirit! To hear Him, you must not be led by your natural reasoning, but by faith. As you let the Holy Spirit open up the scriptures to you, you will be built up and see things in a clearer perspective! You will understand how things fit into the greater picture.
I believe this is the gospel! Jesus told us to repent; this causes us to change our mind. That is what Jesus did when He went to the Jordan and was baptized by John. At that time He changed the government of His life from law to Spirit, and then began to unveil the Father spiritually. As the Father sent Him, so He sends us! He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. God bless you! Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you the understanding. Amen.