by Wade E Taylor
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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. Galatians 2:20
I live yet not I. This statement should resonate deep within those who have yielded the totality of their being to the Lord.
There is a process that we must go through for this higher realm of identity with Jesus to become a personal reality in our daily life experience. Jesus will become the manifest head of His Body (us), when we become so transparent that only He can be seen. Then He will begin to live His life, through our lives. This is the end-time witness that will greatly affect the world.
But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to Me. Acts 1:8
In the original, the word translated witness is martyr. To the extent that we die to our self-life, we become the expression of the life of Jesus. We ourselves are to be this witness (You shall be witnesses). As we come into a personal relationship with Jesus, and become one with Him in intent and purpose, His life will be seen through our lives.
Few of us will ever have the opportunity to give our lives as a martyr, but all of us can become a living martyr. We are, by divine design, capable of becoming this witness I live yet not I.
So God created man in His own image. Genesis 1:27
Through mans transgression, this image (our spirit) was lost. In redemption it is restored, but it must be developed (we are to grow into spiritual maturity).
For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Romans 8:29
The words to be conformed tells us that this is a process to which we must submit ourselves.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 NKJ
Not all Christians will respond to this opportunity to press toward the mark for the high calling of God, as this is conditional and will be actively opposed by the enemy of our redemption. Thus, as we continue to press, or rise above all opposition, we become an overcomer.
And the Lord God formed Man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
The Lord breathed into Adam the breath of lives, as man was created to live on two levels of life, the earthly and the heavenly. This word is plural in the original. He was formed (soul) and then breathed into (spirit). Because man was created to be dependent (dust), he was placed in a probationary environment.
Adam could not be dependent unless he also had the opportunity to become independent. By abiding in a dependent state, his spirit could commune with the Lord, which was the intention and desire of the Lord.
When Adam partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the part of Adam that was spirit, died. As a result of Adams transgression, man is but dust (soul) and cannot cleave to anyone, or to anything, without the impartation of spirit that had been breathed into him. Apart from a redemptive act by his Creator, man is unable to enter into the purposes for which he has been created.
When we repent and receive Jesus as our personal Savior, that which Adam lost (spirit) is restored, and begins to function within us.
As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. I Peter 2:2
As a spiritual baby, this restored part of our being (spirit) must be developed. After our new birth experience through redemption, we are given a newborn consciousness of these two realms: the earthly (soul realm), and the heavenly (spirit realm). The first relates to our natural life.
And as we have borne the image of the earthly…. I Corinthians 15:49a
We easily relate to, and function in the earth realm, which is the place of our natural environment and life. But there is more; our creation does not end with our identity with the earth realm of existence, as the breath of lives (earthly – soul life, and heavenly – spirit life) had been breathed into man.
We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. I Corinthians 15:49b
We were created to also function in the spirit realm. But, there is an active enemy who ever seeks to keep us earth bound in the soul realm. Therefore, we must come into a measure of dependent identity with the Lord in order to function in this heavenly realm, in which ever increasing levels of relationship with the Lord are available to us.
This is a marvelous thing – finite (man) relating to and communing with the infinite (God) in the heavenly realms. In developing within this higher realm of spiritual life, we become the visible expression of the life and ministry of Jesus, that the corporate Jesus would manifest the Fathers glory, leading to the establishing of the Millennial Kingdom of God.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus demonstrated that the Shekinah had been embodied within Him, but was not yet available to us. Now, in His resurrection and ascension, the veil has been rent and a way has been made for us to enter into identification with Jesus in His abiding Shekinah Glory. The flaming sword is no longer a hindrance to our experiencing His manifest glory.
Adam said that he hid from the presence of the Lord because he was naked. This nakedness has nothing to do with clothes, but rather, with the loss of the Shekinah covering that enabled him to enter the manifest presence of the Lord and commune with Him.
The Lord slew an animal for a covering, which in the Passover became a lamb, and then, the blood of Jesus. We can continue to abide in this covering for sin that Jesus provided, receiving His forgiveness, but never coming to the place that Adam (we) lost – that of being clothed upon with His Glory.
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1:18
Many are satisfied with only the redemptive covering that has been provided for them through the atonement of Jesus on the cross, and feel comfortable to stay there. The Lord is looking for those who desire a full restoration of all that was lost the restoration of His Shekinah glory.
When He shall come to be glorified in His saints. II Thessalonians 1:10
Jesus ascended in glory and will return in glory. Those who are seeking to go further to receive His transfiguration glory, will become the end-time witnesses of His manifest presence and power to the world in these last days, as Jesus expresses His life through them.
Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you. And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:1-3 (emphasis added)