Our verse defines a practical focus for our consideration, “growing up into salvation.” Obviously, Peter is speaking to people who are already in Christ Jesus, people who have been born from above and now have Spiritual identity.

We sent three GNs in January focusing on: (1) God’s reigning grace; (2) The walk of the believer contrasted to merely living in Christ, and finally, (3) A summary piece on Sanctification, focusing on our choices within God’s reigning grace.

Sanctification is about people with a new identity in Jesus Christ! It is about applying righteousness to soul and body, in resurrection power.  Its about choosing between living Life or living death.

One view of the Redwoods never reveals a full scene. In this picture, how many Redwoods do you see? Two? Maybe three? How about five? There is SO MUCH MORE than meets the eye. Seven times Paul uses “so much more” in Romans 5 to describe Grace. It is so much more than we visualize but it is revealed in His love. Grace reigns in those born by God into His righteousness.

We peered into 2020 from Romans 8 looking at context of who we are after being born again Spiritually!  Our discussion was blended between living and walking, that is, between living in Christ and working out who we are by “walking”  in Christ Jesus.  We combined both doctrine and application without making distinction between living and walking; we were interested in the what rather than the how!

Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Jesus prayed to the Father: “The glory you have given to me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,” -John 17:22. Clearly, God’s glory is seen in physical light piercing the dense, living redwood fence reaching upward into God’s kingdom. Much more than this, His organic glory within each believer connects us with each other as we grow consuming grace. His eternal glory within us often escapes our attention. His glory becomes our glory as our oneness in Him and each other is manifested even in our own flesh, Romans 8:11. Here is one mystery of Godliness unlocked for the believer who “hJesus Christ is Lord, to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.  

We have been considering what it really means to be in Christ Jesus … but not just to be in Jesus “positionally,” rather, created in Jesus. There is a huge difference between being symbolically in Jesus and to have actually been created spiritually in Jesus. This is the specific difference our Greek word makes in these few verses we have suggested for memory into our own hearts and souls.

A golden thread binding together the entire Word of God is glory, given to us in grace. It is found in the beginning with Genesis 1 and stitched into every book and letter written through Revelation. Even Old Testament law was given in grace and here also God’s glory is front and center, from Moses on Mt. Sinai through the desert, to the Mt. of Transfiguration in the New Testament, from Calvary’s cross into a new creation within a believer’s heart. Even now we wait, in anticipation of the glory of seeing Him face to face, and the glory then following when every eye shall see our coming King.

God still owns planet earth including all created universes!

God is who life is all about; God’s Life is pure righteousness, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. We have now, in our own body, not what God provided Adam. We wear a corrupted version of the glory possessed by Adam. The joy we derive from this mortal fleshly body, is inherited through physical birth corrupted by human interdiction.

We gaze into an eternal fog when we first believe. We know with certainty we are a new person but without understanding the mystery of being in Christ and Christ being in us.

Grace is God’s process of revealing this relationship! Faith is our response to God’s grace. God is love and His agape love grows through this relationship of grace with faith and faith with grace! Grace is a relationship!

We are doing a side trip into Romans 8. It is an opportunity to summarize GN over the past several years and briefly nail down essentials about being in Christ Jesus. We are not abandoning Hebrews; we will come back to chapter 5 after this significant excursion; we pray it will be a useful jaunt.

“Entering into Rest” is a thought set in things we plan to accomplish or take out from our daily chores; it gives us a sense of “time-out” or repose. We think in terms of relief from daily hassles that pressure our image in community or often, perhaps, whom we see, looking at our own self.

We are walking through the letter to the Hebrews. In our last GN we looked at “Living in His Glory”from chapter 3, verses 3 thru 6.  His glory shines thru us when in us,His life shines. This is possible because Christ Jesus literally died to be “created” in us; “born from above,” so that His life isonce again visible but now thru us.

God is building a house of people in His created worlds and upon His earth. Israel became His chosen people. They rebelled and did not acknowledge God as Creator or Savior. Glory will come back to Israel but right now all Israel is not Israel. The “Arm of the Lord” is seen in Isaiah in both judgment and blessing toward Israel. In fact, Isaiah is a whole Bible in miniature. Just like the Bible, it has 66 chapters. The first 39 are about the judgment of God against Israel and the last 27 show the grace of God in salvation. The church is tucked inside Isaiah but it was not visible until Jesus came and was rejected by Israel. Isaiah is the most quoted OT book in the new Testament and in it is depicted “death and Life.”

Jesus is here pictured as our Apostle and High Priest having come into finite humanity, faithfully rescuing mankind out of sin, adorning us in His righteousness. Israel is depicted as God’s house with Moses, His son, overseeing God’s righteousness in God’s House. God’s law measures Israel’s righteousness through Moses. Isn’t God’s word amazing!

Suffering the pains of humanity in His own human body, Jesus forsook His heaven of purity and righteousness to give us grace. In shoe leather we walk in Jesus’ name since our new character is in His essence awaiting our maturity. Let’s not neglect Pink’s observation concerning the essence and character of Jesus. Pink’s insight is good council for walking in God’s grace. May we realize the full impact of what High Priest Jesus is still doing in our behalf, “helping us who are being tempted.”

Our last discussion eluded to the character and essence of Jesus. Finite created people, like you and me, have Spiritual discernment only if we have been born again by God and only by mercy and grace. Humanity became Spiritually dead when Adam, humanities’ head, violated the fellowship of trust God Himself provided. Yet, in Christ, here we are now in a loving relationship with our divine God because our Lord Jesus Christ entered into our human circumstance, redeemed us back to Himself, freeing us from the bondage of our own corruption. His love is manifested to us just as was His loving concern for the woman at the well. She criticized Him, abused Him, but He smiled and offered living water.

Our last discussion focused on the work and glory of Jesus. Having sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, having satisfied the righteous requirement of God’s nature and character in human flesh, fellowship is offered to fallen mankind through Jesus’ excursion into created humanity. Having sat down on God’s throne tells us: grace is available!! Man can now share in God’s glory, not only on earth, but through the eternal abode of glory, in the presence of Deity Himself.