THE MAN IN THE
MIRROR>>
JESUS
JN 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word becoming flesh is the greatest marvel since the creation of matter itself! First, God’s Spirit created and the became Lord of the universe. Then Jesus comes on the scene and God is Lord of the flesh! The Word became flesh means that God is in control of the man Jesus. Can I get a hallelujah! Don’t we understand that God wants to be and fill all things? He filled the atom with the life of the Holy Spirit and then filled Adam with the same. And now, God has filled a man with the spirit of Christ! That man is Jesus.
HIS BIRTH-
This is certainly a controversial area among Bible scholars. Some of the later gospels say Jesus was born of a virgin even though Paul didn’t teach or write about this in any of his letters. I really don’t believe he was born any differently than any other “child of God.” Some, however, are focused on the natural and believe Mary was a virgin who gave birth to Jesus. They believe this was a prophecy fulfilled when, in fact, the ancient writings of the Torah say nothing of a “virgin” having a son, but rather a “young maiden.” Some even go so far as to say she (Mary) remains a virgin even though Jesus had siblings like James. Many cling to the “virgin birth” as if this was all that mattered. Does it matter how his body came into existence? Was Jesus wrong when he said the flesh counts for nothing? We must understand that our true life is our spirit. So what is of utmost importance is Jesus’ and our spiritual births.
Wouldn’t it behoove ourselves to seek the higher spiritual meaning of what being born of a “virgin” may mean? Could it be that we are all “born of a virgin” in a spiritual sense? In truth, we are all born by the “power of the Holy Spirit.” How else could we (spirit) be born if not for the power of God’s Spirit? I believe the real “virgin” involved here is that virgin mind of Christ who is undefiled by the world or sin. In a sense, Jesus gave birth to Christ and became that “new creation” that we all must. He wasn’t born knowing he was Christ, his mind had to become mature and pure before giving birth to Christ.
HIS TEACHINGS-
Jesus was the greatest teacher the world has ever known! Like every good teacher, he reached his students where they were. He took the Truth down to their level. He only taught what his students could bear, so some may have gotten more advanced lessons from the Rabbi of God. What was also wonderful about his teachings is that they were true on so many different levels. Again, this aids in reaching us no matter where we are on the learning curve. His teachings go right to the core of our existence and the meaning of life.
LOVE EACH OTHER-
JN 15:17 This is my command: Love each other.
This single statement sums up Jesus’ ministry. Many get so bogged down in religious matters and forget that this is the path to peace and salvation. In spite of what many preachers say, Jesus didn’t teach the Ten Commandments, nor did Paul. Jesus didn’t teach we should love God with all our heart, mind and strength. This is all he commanded- “love each other as I have loved you.” It sounds easy, but for the natural mind, it is utterly impossible.
Only in the mind of Christ can we love everyone as our self because we see them as such. With the eyes of Christ we see that each is part of us- the Body of Christ. In the mind of Christ, we don’t think of them as sinful, but as needing healed or awakened. Even with our physical body, a part can fall asleep for a time. Do we curse it and cut it off? No, we give it time, so the blood will reach that area to wake it up. Of course, the “blood” I speak about in the Body of Christ is the spirit of Christ. Many say they want to “love God with all their heart,” but do they understand that this was part of the Law and therefore a shadow of the truth? The ONLY way to love God is by loving others like your self. We love others as our self because we are One in Christ.
TWO SONS-
This is a wonderful parable about the two sons who had something to learn. The younger son takes what his father gives him and goes out into the world for some fun. The older stays home never fully realizing what he really has. They both represent humanity in different stages of spiritual development.
The younger son represents mankind when our desire is for the world. We are God’s little kids who just want to play in the world. We take the many gifts our Father bestows upon us and squander them on the pleasures of the world. We come up empty in the end and seek to return to God. We are covered in shame and regret, but something stronger is leading us home. When we return to God, there is great jubilation at the forgiving hands of the Father!
The older brother represents those who are more mature and nearer to God, but still don’t realize what they have. In other words, many are very spiritual, but still don’t realize they are spirit. Much of their energy may be working for God in religious ways. They become bitter when others who don’t “work” as hard are taken in to God’s hands. Yes, all that God is, he wants us to have! We only needed to ask and it will be given.
WOMAN AT THE WELL-
Many lessons can be taken from Jesus’ encounter with the woman drawing water from the well. On a lower level, understand that Jesus speaking to a woman was not proper religious etiquette especially concerning a Samaritan. Jesus reached out to women just as Christ (male) reaches out to our soul (female). Because Jesus was the perfect image of the Word made flesh, everything he did was done in Truth. He demonstrated truth at every level of known existence.
As the story goes, this woman had no true husband. Not only was this true on a natural level, but also a spiritual one. She had no TRUE husband because she hadn’t yet married Christ, the Bridegroom. She, like many others, is spiritually seeking at the well. Yes she is looking for something more because she has already had five husbands. We have all had these five husbands too- our five natural senses. There comes a time when they just don’t satisfy us anymore. It is said she was married to them because her natural mind was attached to them.
Yet, now she had a desire for God and eternal life; she wanted the “living water.” Her current partner was the Truth of Christ, but the religion of men. As Jesus says this still wasn’t her true husband. All of our “bonds” outside of our marriage to Christ can be seen as adulterous. Once we come to our senses, higher senses that is, we will know that Christ is the only partner to satisfy our souls.
HIS BODY AND BLOOD-
JN 6:53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
This passage, taken literally, will cause all sorts of confusion. All Christians should be very familiar with the account of the Last Supper. The passage above relates to what he told his disciples that last, fateful night. Many believe that the bread and wine represent the actual body and blood of Jesus because he was about to die and give them up. This was certainly true on a lower, natural level. Yes, but truth comes from above, so we know there must be something more. Now others of the Christian community take the meaning of his words very literally and even lower to mean the bread and wine were actually his body and blood that we should eat for eternal life. They believe there is spiritual life in the bread and wine blessed by a priest. This kind of thinking reminds me of the priests who thought it right to sacrifice animals for the atonement of sin. This is going backwards in our faith. Let me offer another perspective on the matter of body and blood.
Let us first remember and believe that if you born of the Spirit then you are spirit. So our faith should tell us that Jesus was and is SPIRIT. So when Jesus says, “this is my body,” do we suppose he is speaking of the flesh? No, he is speaking of the body for the spirit. Again, where does the spirit live? Spirit lives in consciousness. Jesus was saying that he was giving up Christ-consciousness for us. This is the higher “body” that was given in addition the shadow body of flesh. When Jesus said he was going away “to prepare a place for you.” He wasn’t going to Home Depot to buy lumber and build a house, but rather, he was going into our consciousness to build his kingdom with spiritual stones tested by fire. This is the true bread that comes down from heaven to feed our hungry souls.
Now when Jesus says, “this is my blood,” this is not just a matter of what was poured out onto the ground. The real blood is spirit; it is life! Jesus surrendered his SPIRIT for us! He has given up his spirit of Christ (sonship) for us! We must drink of the spirit of Christ from the well deep within us. This blood and water flows out when the old self is pierced. This life is poured out to the world as we do God’s will. His life is not about eating crackers or drinking wine, but about sharing in his consciousness and spirit! This is the higher reality.
HIS MIRACLES-
I often wonder if Jesus didn’t show the world miracles would the world have listened to him? I don’t think so. Let’s face it. Miracles get our attention. They give our faith a booster shot. Jesus was involved in many miracles, but we should see him as really a catalyst instead of the power of healing itself. Whenever Jesus had administered a miracle, he would say, “your faith has made you well.” In fact, in his hometown it is said that Jesus couldn’t do hardly any miracles because of their lack of faith. Faith is the key to bring everything to life. Creation begins because of faith and will find its salvation in faith.
Jesus, being the Gatekeeper, released that faith inside of these pour souls. We all have what Jesus has, but we just haven’t fully realized it yet. As Paul said, “Christ in you is the hope of glory!” Jesus was fully connected to Christ. Now even though these miracles were mostly healings of the flesh, they certainly do show us what Christ is doing in our spiritual lives.
WATER INTO WINE-
The first miracle Jesus is seen administering is changing water into wine. This symbolizes turning the natural into the spiritual. There were six stone jars representing man whose number is six. These containers were said to have held about 20 gallons of water, which is about the weight of an adult man. Also note that this “transformation” is for the wedding feast of heaven. Christ transforms us until we are collectively his spiritual bride.
HEALING THE LEPERS-
The lepers had a terrible disease that disfigured, isolated and shamed them. This is not unlike the disease of sin on man. Sin is like leprosy because it disfigures our souls. We remove ourselves from God because of our shame and feeling “unclean.” Christ lays his hands on our minds and cleans them of sin. We are renewed, and we praise God!
SIGHT TO THE BLIND-
Giving sight to the blind was a fulfillment of prophecy for Jesus. Yes, he certainly gave some in this world 20/20 vision, but he real miracle is giving us our spiritual eyesight. With spiritual vision we can see what Jesus saw. We can see that this world is a graveyard filled with death and shadows. We can see that being “religious” is not the way to God. We can see that God’s kingdom is within us. We can see that we are here to save the world.
WALKING ON THE WATER-
Many higher meanings have been attached to this miracle. Some believe that by walking on the water, Jesus was showing that he walked above the teachings of men. What I am seeing is that water represents life in this world. Jesus was showing that Christ is King over this world. This world was created from water, and water is the life of the world. Jesus is showing that Christ is the higher life!
RAISING THE DEAD-
Lazarus was raised from the dead only to die another day. By commanding Lazarus to come out of the tomb, we should understand that it is God who calls us to life. We don’t choose to be saved, but God commands it. God is not concerned with raising flesh bodies from graves only to die again and again. God is raising our consciousness from the “dead.” This is another shadow of a higher reality. Long before his crucifixion, Jesus was raised from the dead as he walked the earth. Christ, in him, had come to life so to speak. It is written that Jesus cried out to God like all men to be saved from death. He was heard and saved. Jesus was saved because although he walked the earth as a man of flesh, he knew whom he really was. He was/is the Son of God who can never die. This is the meaning of being raised from the dead. The world is our grave, and Christ is our savior. He is not the savior of the flesh, but of our spirit!
HIS KINGDOM-
Jesus told us about heaven. Well, he tried to as best he could because it is beyond this world. He said the kingdom of heaven is like a seed, a field, a treasure, and yeast added to bread. Jesus understood the power of using these everyday shadows of this world to describe what was really going on! Many of them are saying the same thing. Let’s consider a couple of these examples given by the Lord.
A MUSTARD SEED-
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that begins as the smallest seed, but grows into a large tree where the birds can make their homes. Christ is the small seed. Remember that the sperm cell is the body’s smallest cell? Well, Christ may be a small seed, but he is more than adequate! Christ in us grows. That is to say our Christ-consciousness grows so the “birds of the air” can find rest. The “birds of the air” are our spirits who find rest in Christ-consciousness. Recall that spirit lives in consciousness? This all harmonizes in truth.
A TREASUE BURIED IN A FIELD-
I have written about this parable many times because it wonderfully reflects Jesus finding Christ and saving humanity. Jesus found the treasure that is Christ buried within him and all of humanity. Jesus sold all had of his earthly life and self to buy that precious field where the treasure was hidden. Christ has been hidden from the mind of man because the natural mind cannot have eternal life. This was established at Eden when God commanded that man not eat of the Tree of Life.
HIS RESURRECTION-
JN 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.
Most well-intentioned Christians are convinced that by simply believing in Jesus, they will be resurrected. They believe their bodies will float out of their graves to live forever. It is not my intention to be a bubble burster, but in this case I must. Jesus, the son of man, isn’t the resurrection and the life. Jesus said, “I AM” is the resurrection and the life. This may be splitting hairs to some degree. Even so, I must stress that carnal knowledge and belief in the man Jesus is good for nothing more than a religion. True life comes from Christ Jesus, which is to say the anointed Jesus. This Jesus is a life-giving spirit.
So when Jesus says the above quote, we must see that Christ, in Jesus, has already been resurrected from a kind of spiritual death. This is the true resurrection, not of our body, but of our spirit. Many point to the physical body of Jesus coming back to life for all to see. Jesus said the flesh counts for nothing. So, this again is simply a shadow of what takes place spiritually. This miracle was carried out for the same reason the others were, so that humanity would believe the man of Truth. If our natural bodies coming back to life were the true resurrection, then why have many done this long before Jesus? Clearly, our spirit is raised, not incased in a body of flesh, but in an incorruptible spiritual body.
Something many of us forget is that before one can be resurrected, we must first be dead. In a sense, we are already dead, but there is that little matter called the ego that holds us back from complete surrender to Christ. The ego must be taken to the cross, not our bodies. Jesus died long before going to the cross. Just as Paul “died daily,” so did Jesus and everyone seeking salvation. He suffered just as we do and put his “old self” to death, so that Christ would rise up in him and be his only life. This is the resurrection! This is the life!