Being1inChrist

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

A person with a carnal mind makes decisions on what they know naturally, through information gathering and experience, thinking it’s coming from himself. If you’ve read many of the other studies you know that the man of sin is within us and is the old serpent who from the beginning has asked “did God say?” It is the deceiving spirit/thoughts within us that claim they have knowledge separate from God and cause us to question God’s authority as the sole Creator in even the smallest matters. Scriptures plainly say that we do nothing of ourselves and all things are of Christ The Creator:

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

In Genesis Chapter 1, when God created the woman, he put Adam to sleep…Adam being asleep is a parable of us not knowing where our wisdom comes from. While Adam was asleep God created wisdom (wisdom is called a woman in proverbs) and presented it/her to him. When Adam awakes he takes credit for the woman as coming from him. “She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.” Adam, though he awakes, is still a walking dead man. His statement that woman came out of him reveals he is mortal, without the knowledge of God or Christ. The truth is everything comes from God, but we take credit for all things as coming from ourselves or other men. Every thought comes from God. He uses some thoughts to reveal Himself to us and build us up into the kingdom of God and some thoughts He creates for man to worship himself as a beast, thus hiding Himself from man. Some thoughts build up the spiritual and others are for the flesh. “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God.” Some are for the first Adam, flesh, others are for the benefit of the second Adam who is a life-giving Spirit, in other words Christ in us. Christ is represented by the woman in Genesis. God made Christ to be all wisdom. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. “

The woman was taken from Adam’s rib. The word rib is H6763 from H6760 – a rib, literally of the body or figuratively a door. Christ is the door. “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” Our first man Adam, believes all thought/wisdom passes in and out of himself. The new man, the spiritual Adam being created in us is being brought to understand all comes through Christ alone. He alone is all wisdom. “All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” All thoughts that do not pass through Christ as the door, that come from our flesh, based in the lie that they originated from ourselves or any other man, become thieves and robbers. We attempt to steal glory from Christ who is the true owner of all things. As we grow in understanding of Christ, we realize all we need is Christ. He alone is wisdom. This Truth, that Christ is ALL, quells the “storms” of thoughts that attempt to capsize us into fear and unbelief. This Truth keeps us humble and wards off the roaring lion of pride who is constantly looking to seek whom he may destroy. “And will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent for it is written I will bring to nothing the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent.” This is picking up our cross and following Christ. It is daily, hourly, minute by minute, crucifying our own wisdom.

So how does the “wisdom of men” playout in our everyday lives? Scripture teaches that the wisdom of men is at the core of unbelief in God and instead puts faith in ourselves, in our own “wisdom.” It is in every aspect of our lives and must be identified as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is the beast of Revelation with two horns like a lamb but speaks as a dragon. “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”

My carnal mind, my man of sin, my satanic nature believes that it “knows” things (most of the time EVERYTHING) and that with this knowledge that he obtained through life he can produce something. He believes the knowledge came from him, not Christ, and it is his knowledge, not Christ Himself, that creates. But the truth of scripture tells us, and though we’ve already quoted it, it bears much repeating: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

When I was young I worked on a thousand acre cattle ranch and farm where I was taught how to handle cattle. Every year they would truck in six to eight hundred cattle and we would put each cow through the corral and then through the chutes to remove their horns, give them shots, tag them and then brand them. Then we would spend the next year getting them fat to send them off to be slaughtered. In my time working at this ranch, my carnal mind was taught various skills through experience. One of the things I learned was how to build cattle troughs. Some days ago my wife and I had the thought to build a trough for our two cows. I set out with complete confidence in my “experience” and no thought that without Christ, nothing is created. So according to MY wisdom I had attained in my past life I set out gathering lumber and things needed to build this feeder. Right out of the gate I did not ask God for the guidance. To teach me a lesson, God put it in me to rely on experience, and thus it never eneterd my mind to ask Him for guidance. So, off we went and my wife who had been persuaded to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with me, trusting that I knew what I was doing, separate and independent from Christ, helped me in the assembling of this feeder. Not too long after starting I got my first warning to stop and pray because I got a splinter in my right hand. Then my attitude began to change and the Lord set about revealing my old man who claims to know everything. Consequently, I began to get grouchy and stern. My wife would suggest something and I would disregard it. I didn’t need advice, I knew what I was doing! When the skeleton of the feeder was complete we chained it to the bucket of the tractor and took it to where I had decided was best. My man of sin was being set up for failure by God (praise God!) God had me flying high on pride in carnal wisdom. Well no sooner did the cows begin feeding from it I realized that I had put the two main support legs in the wrong spot causing the cows to have to step over them to get to the feeder. I realized that in winter with the ice and rain they would be slipping on those support legs and they needed to be moved. So I had to remove them one at a time and put them on the ends where they belonged, which was another blow to my pride. (Hadn’t I done this before? Shouldn’t my experience have prevented such a silly mistake? Hmmm.) Still locked in stubborness, the Lord continued the lesson. When it came time to put the metal on the roof, each roof joist was two inches too long. Now my man of sin was roaring. The bruised pride of my flesh was howling. To sum up, one thing after another had to be adjusted until we finished the trough. It was not the smooth operation my flesh had anticipated based on its years of experience. By then my back and legs were aching, my shoulders were hurting, and both of my hands were swollen and in pain. My wife, as the Lord prompted her to do, asked me “what were you thinking when you were building it?” In her simple question, I realized that I had leaned to my own understanding and not relied on Christ as The Builder and Maker. The pain was a chastisement from God because I thought I was the builder. I reaped what my individualism from Christ had gotten me. I asked for forgiveness, repented from taking an ounce of credit for building the feeder and from being dismissive to my wife. The pain began to ease up. By bedtime it was almost all gone and I slept well. “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”

My old man thinks he knows what’s best for me. He has been there and done it all. He is arrogant, rude, and bull headed. He believes he has all wisdom. He never trusts in God and was not made to trust in God. He was made like a beast to think for itself and made to be destroyed. Every detail of life is like every cut, every screw, every piece of the cattle trough. It is made by God, fashioned by God and placed by God. I do nothing. My old man does not believe this, he believes that God is there just for the big things and the details are left up to me to finish. Apostle Paul said “in God we live and move and have our being.” That is a bold statement of entirety. And the scriptures quoted above from Colossians that Christ created everything and by Him all things consist also proves that we don’t take a breath without Him giving us that breath. The power of The Spirit Apotle Paul spoke of was what was played out in my pain. I erred from the truth in unbelief not seeing Christ as The Builder and my unbelief was what Christ died for. But the beauty and power of resurrection played out in chastisement, which brought knowledge of why I was being chastised, then confession, then repentance, then physical relief and conversion. This builds our patience and faith in The Creator.

The wisdom of men goes a lot deeper than we think. If you’ve read the Revelation study then you understand that the 144,000 represent every minute of every day given to Christ as Creator in loving God with all my heart, soul and mind and my neighbor/Brother as myself. I was not doing that in the building of the feeder. I had left my first love and started mixing with my old man’s ways. Because I am who I am in Christ, God was not mocked and I reaped what I had sown. I had planted to the flesh’s natural laws of wisdom and recieved the laws of the flesh in pain. If we walk in the Spirit then we shall reap from the Spirit: “…love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”

This same principal of the wisdom of men plays out in our mourning for the loss of loved ones. The wisdom of the natural man tries to explain what happens to the dead. Common Babylonian thought (religious or secular) says everyone has a free will independent from God and everyone makes free will choices. These choices, which are independent from God, decide whether one will spend eternity in heaven or an eternity in hell. Most use the parable of Lazarus and the rich man as their foundation. Then you have those who believe in the wisdom of men that say in another life God will gather all of the human race and use selected people to reprogram/convert them thus teaching ultimately a free for all in which everyone ever created will be in a place called heaven. These are teachings for the “itching ears” of the flesh. They soothe the flesh in one way or another either with retribution and reward based on works, or the laissez faire attitude of eat drink and be merry because we all end up in heaven anyway. There are thousands of different ways according to man’s wisdom to get to either of these two outcomes. But the truth is simple, so simple that the carnal mind cannot conceive it. The truth is that what God has promised to Abraham will enter behind the veil, the kingdom of God, because of Christ being The Seed promised to secure them. Christ is The Seed promised to Abraham and Christ has secured ALL of Abraham’s spiritual seed. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. “

Isaac representing the single seed of Christ, was the promised child, not Ishmael who represents our flesh. Christ is the promised seed to whom all the promises are made. Because we are in Christ, we also partake of the promise and the inheritance. Scripture says if you are in Christ, then you are heirs to the promise. The new man is the promised child, not my flesh. “Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God.” All of Isaac’s seed, Jacob, is loved, not Esau’s seed. Jacob represents the Elect (new man) and Esau (old man) represents our flesh. Then you have all the twelve tribes that come from Jacob that represent the One tribe. Again if you’ve read the Revelation study you understand that twelve equals one, as twelve hours equals ONE day and twelve months equal ONE year. The ONE tribe is Christ. All who are in Christ are ONE with Him and everything in them are ONE with them. We are in the spiritual, Abraham’s inheritance, as promised to him by God, secured by the One Seed who is Christ. “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. “

“I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.”

All that God has promised to Christ are the same that were promised to Abraham. Christ is The Seed in which all come through. Like Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, so we believe in Christ and it is accounted to us for righteousness. We are the offspring of Christ, we are His seeds, children. We are the children of the promise that are counted as heirs. “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” The promised children are those whom God has chosen to be children of the promise and given to Christ. Just because someone was born in the literal lineage of Abraham that does not make him a child of promise. The promised children are those who have Christ in them, The Seed. It is not according to lineage or to a denomination, or to knowledge, or birthright in the flesh. If you are a child of God promised to Christ, then you have The Seed in you and that Seed grows in faith and in belief according to the promises of God. The inheritance is not based on works of the flesh or because of your lineage, but solely based on the Election of God. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded unto this day.” “…the election hath obtained it…” nothing more needs to be said! The election of God obtains what has been elected. And if you are an elect then you are justified in Christ and are glorified in Christ and walk as Chris.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, THEM he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

False doctrine places the belief before the election and basically says that my belief saves me. But the truth is that we believe because we were elected to believe. Our belief is a manifestation of our election before we were ever born. We were chosen to believe because Christ was predestined to be in us. We did not come out of the womb knowing who we were, it was manifested to us who we were by our belief. God chose us to believe. It is a work of God that we believe in Christ, it is not a work we can do. Election obtains the promise to believe and that belief from God is counted for righteousness. The belief is God’s work that is righteous. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:”

We are no different from any other human on earth in the flesh. But we have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be in the kingdom of God through The Seed. We are an offspring of Christ, an heir to the throne of God with Christ. False doctrine teaches us that our freewill is what gets us eternal life. We either choose life or we choose death. False doctrine teaches that I believe in Christ because of my freewill, to turn from my sin and receive atonement. The truth says I believe because I was chosen by God to believe. It is a work of God that I believe. “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”  It’s not a work of the flesh to believe it is “the work of God, that we believe” in Christ. It is a work of God for us to believe that Christ is in us creating us into sons of God. This is the simplicity of the gospel. So simple that the wisdom of men cannot attain it. “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

The serpent in me was made to slither through me to cause me to doubt God. The doubt either causes me to lean on Christ or it causes me to separate from God. It either causes me to trust Christ as my savior or trust in my works as savior. It separates the wheat from the tares. It either trusts God that Christ is recreating me or it chases its own fabled free will to believe. Stay in Christ we have life, chase our own servantry and we die. This simplistic parable is played out in the story of Shimei. Shimei cursed David as he fled Jerusalem from Absalom:

“And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.” After David is restored to the throne he pardons Shimei. “Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him.”  But, upon his death bed king David told Solomon to remember what Shimei had done:

“Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,….And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.” 

So Solomon gives Shimei an order. Build a house in the city and you shall live. If you leave the city you shall die. And that is exactly what he did. He built a home and lived in it for three years until his servants ran away and he went chasing them. The word came to Solomon and he executed Shimei for disobeying his order. “And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither. For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head. And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath. And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the LORD, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word that I have heard is good. Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged thee with? The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head; And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever. So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”

If we remain in Christ as Savior (represented by staying put in Jerusalem, the “teaching of peace”) we live, if we chase after our own works we die. If we are in Christ we remain in Christ. The parts of us that are not in Christ chase after our own works and die in unbelief. As the kingdom of David was established in the hands of Solomon by the death of Shimei, so the kingdom of God is established in the death of our old man. Christ’s kingdom is established by the death of our own Shimei (our own wisdom) and we are blessed as Solomon. Stand in the simple truth that the election has obtained us and Christ is The Seed in us, and we live. Go running after your own servantry through works (works based on wisdom of the flesh) you die, yet the Kingdom of God is established. The world in me is chasing their servants, their works and wisdom all will die and the Kingdom of Christ will be established. Our citizenship in the kingdom of God is based on God’s election and He sent His Son to establish our citizenship by His own death for our cursing. The debt was paid in full, all we are told to do is stand in the New Jerusalem and never leave it. Staying in the church, staying in communication with Christ strengthens the new man and produces peace. Leaving New Jerusalem and mixing with the doctrines of the world produces death. Either way the kingdom is being established. If you believe you are a son of God, you believe because you were predestined to believe. The alternative is to turn to your own vomit and die in your fabled free will. Because both of these events must happen, they both are part of the process that establishes what and who you are becoming in the kingdom of God. All the Elect start off as Shimei, in the flesh, with a paid debt for our cursing, as David pardoned Shimei. But our fleshly wisdom chases after our works and those parts of us have to die. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” When we stay in the wisdom of Christ, which is knowing our Election is based solely on God’s choice, not our works, represented by staying in Jerusalem in the story above, then we are standing in liberty and our debt remains paid. The story of Shimei helps us understand the following verse: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” If we chase after our works, after anything that comes from ourselves or believe we have anything that comes from ourselves, after we have received this understanding, then we sin willfully, and that part of us will be judged and destroyed.

“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.”

I was blinded by my own experience, my own works, in building the cow trough and it did not turn out as I had planned. Trust in Christ as The Creator of everything I am and all goes wel. Trust in Christ as The Great Carpenter and it is built correctly. The name “Shimei” means “renowned”. The people who came out of the mixing between the sons of God (Seth’s lineage-new man) and the daughters of men (Cain’s lineage-old man) were said also to be renown. The word “renown” is H8034 and means the following; “an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character: –  + base, [in-] fame [-ous], name (-d), renown, report”

Shimei in us is our thoughts of worth, our own “mark of individuality.” Solomon orders “Benaiah” to kill Shimei. “Benaiah” means H1141; “Jehovah has built.” What “Jehovah has built”, which is Christ in us, will destroy the “mark of our own individuality.” “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”

If my thoughts of citizenship in the kingdom of God are based on the mark of my own individuality then that part of me is dead and in the place of the unknown. If I live and move and have my being because of Christ in me, then I am living in the New Jerusalem and not needing to chase servants. If I chase my own individuality then that part is a dead man, walking around with the mark of Cain, the mark of individuality. And if anyone tries to kill my individuality then I will take vengeance seven fold on them. I will fight for my rights as God has put in all flesh, which does not enter the kingdom of God. As beasts, by nature, we will fight for our rights to the death. It’s called pride. “And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.” If I fight for my rights as a free will being then that part of me is dead and in the place of the unknown. If I am a child of God because The Seed is in me, then I have no pride of being renown, and give ALL GLORY TO CHRIST FOR WHO AND WHAT I AM. Christ has translated me from the kingdom of the sons of men (Cain-old man) to the kingdom of the sons of God (Christ-new man) where we don’t mix with the cursed individuality of my old man. We long to just rest in New Jerusalem, city of peace, but there are still Shimei thoughts in us that chase after our own servants. Shimei never rests in New Jerusalem because the flesh loves its individuality more than its King Who Is Christ. The flesh would rather hold on to its illusion of free will individuality unto its last breath than to submit to Christ as its Creator and sole reason to be in the kingdom of God. Die to self/Shimei and live in the city of peace/Jerusalem.

So, now we must ask “what classifies a thought as individualistic?” Any thought that pits its will against the will of God is individualistic. I’ll give a seemingly small example, yet very real in the individualistic thoughts of our flesh. We, my wife and I, went through great lengths to grow Fescue grass on our property. The ground all around our home was nothing but dirt and mud when it rained. There was no grass, of any kind, in the area around our home due to the ground being upended in the removing of trees and tractor work. It was muddy during the rains and dusty during the dry times. So we took our tractor and tilled the ground up and seeded it with fescue grass. It didn’t do much. We kept sowing seed, watering, sowing seed, watering, fertilizing, spreading straw to protect the seed and so on, yet not much praying or asking God to reveal His will. Well, three years later we had a beautiful lawn around most of the house. Then this year we noticed that the color of the grass had changed and at closer inspection we found that most of the fescue grass was gone. Where there was fescue grass there was now mostly stilt grass. Stilt grass is considered by man’s wisdom to be an invasive weed grass that is basically good for nothing and does not make for a “pretty” lawn. Much of our property has this stilt grass because it was filled with groves of trees and not much else will grow in woodlands or under dense canopies of trees. Another disturbing to our flesh bit of man’s wisdom is that grazing animals won’t eat it. It didn’t occur to us to care much about it when we first bought the property. We didn’t mind the stilt grass at all. At least it was green we had said. But in the acres closer to the house we wanted fescue grass. Anyway, when we first discovered the “invasion” of stilt grass into our highly prized areas that had been sown with fescue, it was sorely disappointing to us. We both knew that this aggravated disappointment was not how we were to receive this, and that we were leaving “Jerusalem” the city of peace, in which we know we are to remain. We remain in Jersalem by submitting ourselves to the authority of Christ in all things because He Authors all things. The new man in us knew it was Christ who first caused the fescue to grow and it was also Christ who was causing the stilt grass to take it over. HOWEVER, because Shimei, our old man, is still with us, we went running after our works which left us feeling cheated by all the work we claimed as our own to grow the fescue, along with anxiousness over the possibility that fescue may never be able to take root anywhere on this property and it will remain a haven for stilt grass – a grass that grazers won’t eat! The Lord has given us two cows so it was a little mystifying to us that He would deny the growth of a suitable grazing grass. And lastly, our pride was hit because we wanted the “look” of a fescue lawn. Like Shimei we were able to intellectually agree with Christ’s ruling and “stay in Jerusalem,” knowing that He is the Author of all things but ultimately the temptation was too great for Shimei, our old man, who simply cannot help but run after his servants, his fleshly works that he so desires to claim as his own. If we weren’t still claiming our own works, taking credit for all the hard work of sowing seed and then reaping the satisfaction of seeing it grow, like we were the creators of it, then when God thwarted our fleshly desires, we would have been able to take it in stride with perfect peace. Instead it disrupted our peace, caused frustration and disappointment and even a little anxiety that we wouldn’t have the “right” grass to feed our cows. All of this comes from taking in and mingling with man’s wisdom, claiming our own works, and taking our eyes off of Christ. This situation may sound silly to many people but it shows the level of detail God uses to reveal what is in us and to make His desired changes within us. God isn’t just in the “big” events of life. He IS life. When God thwarts our fleshly desires, big or small, the truth is always revealed about what is going on within us. We can speak great swelling words of righteousness but when tested, the truth of whether they are truly words of God’s righteousness or self righteousness will always be revealed. This is why God creates these scenarious, for our edification and for ultimately destroying a little more of Shimei with each situation, thus establishing more and more of the kingdom of God. These situations destroy our peace and bring frustration, disappointment, fears, even bitterness sometimes. The Lord has killed off a little more of our Shimei with this situation and restored our peace about whatever it is He desires to grow on His property. He is all wisdom and knows all things. We know nothing. He is a loving and benevolent Provider, Father and Husband. What more do we need to know? This is rest. This is remaining in Jerusalem.

The truth is whatever Christ desires is what we should desire. We should not have an individualistic desire separate from Him. Christ said that His Father and He were one. He said that the words that came out of His mouth were not His words but His Fathers. And He said He always did what the Father desired. Christ has no desires of His own outside of His Father and so too with us. If we have been united to Christ and His Father as one, then what they desire, we desire, or should desire. What They want for our life, is what we want. This truth is shown in the parable of marriage. What God has brought together let not man (the individualistic thoughts of the man or the woman) put asunder. “And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

My thoughts should never divide my wife and I. They do at times, but Christ is teaching us to be of the same mind. This marriage example is the parable of the union between Christ and the church, His Bride, New Jerusalem. So, when we read the parabolic language of scripture regarding marriage between a man and a woman, it is speaking of Christ and His union to the church. The man and woman are parables of Christ and the church. Look at the following scriptures:

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.”

I quote these scriptures to show the truth of being united to Christ and for the purpose of expelling false doctrine. Christ is teaching us to submit to His desires in EVERYTHING. As He told the wife to do to the husband. And He tells us that He loves us as His own body and will not become bitter against us, as He told the husband not to do against his wife. It is easy to become bitter when we are walking in the flesh. When we are in the flesh the husband is not loving the wife as himself but is becoming bitter. He is not seeing her as the church. The wife is not honoring her husband as her head, as Christ, and is being disrespectful to her husband. These parables unlock the door for us to see our relationship with Christ. What and how I treat my wife is how I am treating my relationship to Christ. If I am talking down to her then I am talking down to Christ’s church. If she is being disrepectful to me then she is being disrespectful to Christ. How I treat her is revealing how I am treating Christ. This is the way we are to see individualism. Ever bit of scripture is to be seen inwardly and not outwardly. The parable of the man and the woman is also a parable of my relationship to Christ, inwardly. Another good example of individualistic thinking inwardly is the story of King Ahasuerus and Esther. The King is first married to Queen Vashti. He has a big banquet and requests that Vashti present herself to the people to show her beauty. But, she thinking of herself as an individual with rights, refuses:

“On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.”

Vashti’s beauty is outward. Without inward beauty we cannot please Christ, our husband. He creates us to have the inward beauty of a chaste heart.

“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:”

Inward beauty is what we are called to present to Christ when we are called upon to be humble, peaceful, kind and merciful to others. My old man does not want to be one with Christ but desires his own individualism before Christ. This is Vashti and she is replaced by Esther. Our old church called Babylon is prideful and arrogant, like Vashti. It thinks it sits on its own beast and all seven days, seven heads, are dedicated to her. Esther represents the New Jerusalem, the new Queen. She is humble, quiet, respectful, and submits to her husband in everything. Again, this parable of a husband and wife is speaking of Christ and the church. “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

There is no individualism in the kingdom of God. Everyone and everything is created by Christ and for Christ. This is our lives as Elect. Everything in them are created by Christ and for Christ for our good. He doesn’t let us run amuck, but purges us and prunes us to bear fruit. He slowly subdues the Canaanites living in our land that are individualistic. The name “Canaan” means “humiliated” H3667 and comes from H3665 which means “properly to bend the knee; hence to humiliate, vanquish: – bring down (low), into subjection, under, humble (self), subdue.” Christ is teaching us to subdue the individualistic thoughts in us as natural brute beasts and rule them. Submit to Christ in EVERYTHING as scripture says to do and we obtain it all. Fight for your rights as a man or woman as an individual and you get nothing. Become one with Christ you get it all.

“Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee. O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee“