As the days of the manifestation of the sons of God approach us, we are eager to become sons. We want glorified bodies and divine health; we want everything of God’s provision. However, certain spiritual changes must precede those physiological changes. We must first experience an overwhelming manifestation of the divine nature before our release from the human nature is made manifest.
God does not want His people to react like human beings, responding to situations on an emotional plane like sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. He does not want them to live their days without direction, just drifting or dragging along. He is concerned that they have definite divine objectives.
Divine goals differ greatly from human goals. When Christ came to the earth, He said, “I come to do Thy will, O God.” His delight was to be wholly absorbed in only one thing: the spiritual will of His heavenly Father. Nothing else meant anything to Him; therefore He reacted in every situation with deity. Likewise, we are to respond as deity in the making, as sons coming to glory, rather than reacting as human beings.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own (often interpreted, “His own people”; however, the Greek word has a neuter meaning: “things” or “His own creation”), and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become (remember those words—the right to become) children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:10–14.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (authority) to become children (it gives prominence to the fact of birth)
of God. John 1:12a. When you ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart and to make you a child of God, you do not see the physical manifestation immediately. Something must first be wrought in your nature so that you will want to be a child of God and not a human being. Therefore, the Lord puts you through a process that will bring you into sonship, into deity. Do not be passive in that process. Assume the deity that God wants His people to have.
The Gospel and the Epistles of John follow a similar pattern in emphasizing not only the deity of Jesus Christ, but also the deity of those who accept Him. Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is. I John 3:2.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14. What is in Jesus Christ will also be in the members of the Body of Christ: the Word becoming flesh, full of grace and truth, the glory of the Father coming forth. God becoming man means nothing unless we become God, unless we become lost in Him.
Perhaps this sounds like heresy, like something distorted, but it is not. The concept of it will hit you with an impact. It will jar you. It will change the way you think about yourself; but more importantly, it will change your attitude toward everything that happens to you, and toward the things you want to happen to you. The promise of this was spoken as Christ prayed, “That they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, and I are one” (John 17:21). We are to be one with the Father.
God’s plan is not to reach down to earth, throw a lot of human beings in a big gunnysack, and then take them to heaven. His plan is for His people to become what they have the right to become; and even more—what they have the responsibility to become.
True believers have the responsibility to move more and more out of the human plane and into the spiritual plane. Paul expresses this in I Corinthians 3:1–3. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men (or better, spiritual beings), but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
The Corinthian’s were walking as men. The worst thing a church can do is to walk like people, to live like people! They were walking as mere men when supposedly they were aspiring to something more than being members of the human race. They were aspiring to come into the glory that belongs to the sons of God.
Do you react like a human? Do you respond with jealousy and envy? God has something better for you. Anticipate it. Move into the plan that He has for your life. Like the Corinthians, you have not only the right, but also the responsibility of accepting deity. You must grasp that truth. It is your responsibility—do not water it down. You have a responsibility to participate in God, a responsibility to react and respond with deity.
Hebrews 2:5–7a is helpful in defining that responsibility: For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that Thou rememberest him? Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him? Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels.” (This phrase is quoting Psalm 8:5a which reads: Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God. It does not say, “lower than the angels”)
God’s people are not to consider themselves as being lower than the angels, for the nature of man, even in his fallen state, was that of an object of love. Angel obedience is somewhat mechanical; they were created to obey. Our obedience is wrought in us by a participation into the divine nature, not because we were created to obey.
“Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels” (God); “Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus (if this were interpreted that He was made a little lower than the Father, in that He laid aside His divine prerogatives, it would present a truer picture), because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. Hebrews 2:7–10.
Notice carefully what this passage is saying. It is not that Christ was made lower than the angels, but that He put aside His divine attributes and prerogatives and walked as a man, in order that He might taste of death for every man, and thereby bring us into the glory of the Father, which He had laid aside.
Hebrews 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. What does the word sanctify mean? Most of us assume that it describes the process of being made pure.
Actually, the word sanctify means to be set aside for a specific purpose. In this case it means being set aside for sonship, being set aside to come into the glory of sons.
You are not destined to dwell in the human realm, hour by hour and day by day, just hoping that the Lord will give you enough grace to survive. Refuse that human reaction. Get off of the human level. As long as you think of yourself as a human being, you will have the problems of a human being. Think of yourself in the divine nature, and problems of the flesh will leave.
Verses 14–18 tell how completely Christ took upon Himself humanity and human sufferings, participating absolutely and perfectly on the human level of our flesh. Because of this, He is able to rescue us from all fleshly problems and temptations normal to mankind.
Heb 2:14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Do you understand what God is trying to do for you? When you realize what He is doing and what He is working out for you, cooperate with Him! Do not draw back from the dealings of the Lord. Let Him put you in a corner! Let Him deal with your life, but do not give up—even if you are ready to fall apart! The pressure is on you for a purpose. God is cornering you so that you will flee to the Lord and find more of the divine in the situation. React as God would react.
Romans 8 is a wonderful chapter about coming into divine sonship. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (“Abba” is an endearing term, like “Papa Daddy.”) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (We are children of God! Who are you? Are you human or are you divine? You are a child of God!) And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans 8:15–19.
I John 3:22 says, … it doth not yet appear what we shall be. We are sons of God incognito, disguised with what appears to be a great deal of limitation. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Those who seek God will enter into the coming liberty of the glory of God first, and then all of God’s creation will follow.) For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Everything is in travail.) And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit … waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Romans 8:20–23.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Romans 8:28–29.
God’s plan from eternity past is not only that His people find salvation; it is that they become just like His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Long before He became incarnate in flesh, God planned to bring His Son through the route of flesh, and to bring His people out of their flesh and into Himself.
The natural creation is in a state of corruption. For that reason, God is not dealing with it. Instead, He is dealing with the new creation. He is making available to man, in his lost state, the responsibility of moving in and into deity. He first teaches him how to move in God; then He teaches him how to move into God.
That process happens through the grace of Jesus Christ, which creates an infusion of God so great that you can say, like the apostle Paul, “Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
The divine nature, with its responses and reactions, will take over; you will become totally different, even though you are still yourself. It is a mystery, for when you look in the mirror you see the same face; nevertheless you know that you are not the same as you were a year ago. You are in a state of change. You are going from glory to glory—many sons are coming to glory (Hebrews 2:10). And it is taking place during this phase of the restoration!
Is it difficult for you to adjust to what is happening to you spiritually? Is it even more difficult to adjust to what is happening to someone else in the Body of Christ? If you have known someone a long time, or if you know certain things about them, it is especially difficult to believe that they will change; but you must not think of anyone in terms of the past. Discover what God is doing in their life and adjust to God’s way of thinking. Think that way about your brothers and sisters and think that way about yourself.
Do not think of yourself in terms of past insecurity or inadequacy. You are changing constantly. Adjust your thinking to the present. Erase the out-of-date ideas about yourself. They belong to a time when you were not in a state of grace, a time when you were not progressing or growing spiritually. Evaluate honestly the marvelous process that is taking place in your spirit; you are a son of God, going from glory to glory!
And whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (This already is accomplished in the thinking of God.) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:30–32. This explains that we are heirs with God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. If we suffer with Him, we will reign with Him (II Timothy 2:12).