Dr. Douglas Wingate, Ph.D.
Life Christian University
Have you ever played the party game of telling a secret from one person to the next, and then compare what the final person heard with what the first person said? The results are sometimes hilarious. But when it comes to passing on what God meant when he said something to a succession of people for several thousand years, the final results can be spiritually catastrophic. That is why it is so important to find out to the best of our ability what God said in the original language.
The Bible says in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.” In simple terms, he created the known universe. But you have to read to the end of the chapter to find out why He created this universe. You see, God had already created an angelic family, and that ended with disappointment. One third of them followed their leader, Lucifer or Satan, in a rebellion against God, trying to usurp his throne and authority.
But God had something very special in mind. He wanted to create a human family that was exactly like him. Now consider this, God, knowing his own eternal nature, wanted to create a family that would satisfy His every need for that same eternity. In other words, God’s human family is His dream come true. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them.”
Now any Sunday school student can tell you what happened next. The first man, Adam, God’s dream come true, failed and fell from His grace. But God was never caught off guard. He wasn’t surprised because he gave man a free will, and God already had the plan in place to redeem His family. Jesus, who would be His own son, conceived in the womb of a woman, without the sin nature of fallen man, would come and be the last Adam.
He would be the one who could make the miraculous exchange of His righteousness for mankind’s sinfulness. In His death on the cross, all of humanity would die with him. In his burial, all of mankind would go with Him. But when the claims of justice were satisfied against Him, all of mankind would have the claims of justice against them satisfied too. When Jesus was raised from the dead He took all of mankind with Him. When He was raised up again to Heaven to take His place at the right hand of the Father, all of humanity was elevated and seated with Him as well.
Now this is what Jesus did in the realm of the Spirit, and so it does not benefit any human unless they accept the free gift of God’s grace by faith. But that is done in an instant when a human simply believes that God raised Jesus from the dead for their benefit and then receives Jesus as the Lord of their own life. Then the Holy Spirit moves into the human’s spirit and they are then a sealed a member of God’s eternal family. You now get the benefit of being God’s dream come true. He will be delighted with you for all of eternity.
This marvelous story is born out in an excellent paraphrase translation of the New Testament call the Mirror Word. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1:19 and 20, “I pray that you will understand beyond all comparison the magnitude of His mighty power at work in us who believe. Faith reveals how enormously advantaged we are in Christ. It is the same dynamic energy that He unleashed in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and forever established Him in the power of his own right hand in the realm of the heavens.”
Ephesians 2:6 continues with God’s thoughts through Paul: “As much as we were co-included in His death, we are co-included in His resurrection. We are also elevated in His ascension to be equally present in the throne room of the heavenly realm where we are co-seated with him in His executive authority. We are fully represented in Christ Jesus.”
Now with this understanding about our new position in Christ, the secret to victorious Christian living can be found in Paul’s letter to the Colossians in chapter 3:1-3. “See yourselves co-raised with Christ! Now ponder with persuasion the consequence of your co-inclusion in Him. Relocate yourselves mentally! Engage your thoughts with throne room realities where you are co-seated with Christ in the executive authority of God’s right hand. Becoming affectionately acquainted with throne room thoughts will keep you from being distracted again by the earthly (soul-ruled) realm. Your union with His death broke the association with that world. See yourselves located in a fortress where your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
In the world that we are surrounded by, with its lost condition, not knowing what God has done for them through Christ, our victory comes by immersing ourselves in His kingdom, allowing His presence and anointing to permeate everything about our lives. Then we are kept in peace that passes all understanding, and when we share this incomparable good news about our Lord, it goes out under the anointing of Heaven. It will have its greatest impact that way.
Be blessed.
Dr. Douglas J. Wingate,
President and Founder of Life Christian University
www.lcus.edu
410 E. Chapman Rd.
Lutz, FL 33546
813-909-9720