To discern the mystery of Christ fully, we must have revelation of Him as the Pattern of the New Covenant, because the New Covenant is all about Christ. This is the subject matter of this article.
“Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.”[1]
“In these last days (God) has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power.”[2]
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.”[3]
“God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge…. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”[4]
Christ is God’s ALL – He is the Pattern for “the fulness of God”[5].
The apostle Paul wrote that in Christ dwells the “fulness”.[6] The “fulness” of what or of whom? Paul explains that it is the “fullness of God”[7] – that is, all that God is, and all that God says, and all that God does, and all that God has to give. The title (and the theme) of a wonderful little book written by Watchman Nee says it well: “Christ, the Sum of All Spiritual Things”. God hasn’t given us a number of spiritual “commodities” – He has given us a Person. If you have Christ, you have all that God has to give.[8]
Is it possible to summarize all that God has given in Christ? Is it possible to summarize all that Jesus came to give? There are numerous places in the gospels where Jesus announced that He had come for various reasons.[9] Is there one reason that may be the sum of all?
I believe Jesus was summarizing His life and ministry on earth when He was speaking to the Father in what we call His “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17:1-5
1“Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
All that the Father and Christ had in their heart and mind for the redemption of Humanity could be summarized as giving (or better, restoring) eternal life. Jesus said: “I came that they may have life and have it fully.”[10] In one of his epistles, the apostle John wrote: “He who has the Son, has the life.”[11] Just as “God is love.”[12], God is life. Immortality – eternal life – is the life of the Eternal One – without beginning and without end. This kind of life is only available in God,[13] through faith in Christ. This life is inseparable from God, meaning it is not a “spiritual commodity”; it is the Person of Christ Himself. “He who has[14] the Son, has the life.”[15]
Jesus defined this “eternal life” as “knowing[16] the only true God and Jesus Christ”. Indeed, Jesus explained that knowing Him was knowing the Father, for He had come to reveal the Father.[17] Jesus is our Pattern for knowing God, and therefore the Pattern of the New Covenant.
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“Christ The Pattern” is an excerpt from the eBook “A New & Living Way”, pages 233-235. See the corresponding eBook on our website.
At Christ’s Table – ACTpublications © 2018
“Explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” 1 Corinthians 2:13
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FOOTNOTES
[1] Hebrews 3:1
[2] Hebrews 1:2-3a
[3] Colossians 1:19
[4] Colossians 2:2b-3, 9
[5] Greek: pleroma, Strong’s # 4138, meaning that which fills to completion, i.e. “all”.
[6] Colossians 1:19
[7] Colossians 2:9
[8] On the same theme, I would recommend a great article by A.B. Simpson, “Himself”. http://www.atchriststable.org/himself.html
[9] Numerous places in the gospels Jesus announced that He had come for various reasons: “to fulfill the law”, Matthew 5:17; “to bring a sword (of division)”, Matthew 10:34; “to serve”, Mark 10:45; “to start a fire on the earth”, Luke 12:49; “to seek and save the lost”, Luke 19:10; “to do the will of the Father”, John 6:38; “to give light”, John 12:46; “to bear witness to the truth”, John 18:37.
[10] John 10:10b. “life”: Not “bios”, Strong’s #979, biological life; but “zoe”, Strong’s # 2222, spiritual life. See further definition and distinction in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, p. 367.
[11] 1 John 5:12
[12] 1 John 4:8
[13] 1 Timothy 1:17 & 6:16. i.e. Man is not created as an immortal being. Eternal life must be received from God through faith in Christ.
[14] “has”: Greek: echo, Strong’s # 2192, taken hold of, taken possession of (through faith).
[15] 1 John 5:12
[16] “know”: (Greek) ginosko, Strong’s # 1097, to know absolutely, to perceive and understand by means of a relationship, even an intimate relationship (e.g., between a man and a woman).
[17] Matthew 11:27; John 1:18; 14:9.
