DISCERNING THE LORD'S BODY

The ability to discern the body of Christ lies within the realm of the senses. Therein is the problem. Before the fall Adam was a spiritual man and lived by his spiritual senses, which I call the senses of the body. The senses of the flesh were not evident in his life. Thus, we have a difference - the senses of the body and the senses of the flesh. He lived in the spirit and the used the senses of the body. He did not use the senses of the flesh because he had not fallen from grace yet.

"Before Adam and Eve sinned their spiritual senses were more awake than their physical ones. The gates of that realm were not closed by day or night and that realm was even more real than the physical things which lay about them."(George Hawtin).

When Adam lost his body (spiritual body), he entered the realm of the senses of the flesh. When Adam sinned, he lost his light body and was clothed with another body. He immediately realized he was naked and quickly covered himself with leaves. God gave him a garment of skin after their conversation (Gen.3:21). From that point on Adam was carnal and his senses were corrupted because they looked to the needs of the natural man at all times. "Man alone of all of God's creatures finds it necessary to wear an artificial covering."(George Hawtin). The loss of the spiritual senses of Adam caused him to seek protection under the natural senses. Thus, the senses of the flesh nature took over.

It is into this realm that you and I have been born. The realm of the senses of the flesh are quite evident in the world today. Sensual desires etc. are prevalent in all aspects of life. The unreal has become the real. The desires of the flesh realm are reality to many. It is the senses of the flesh that discern the natural body and the cravings to provide for the natural body. When hunger pains become real, the search for food begins without consideration of anything else. The five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, feel) on the natural plane are always active to provide for the fallen nature of man.

Consider that before the fall, the there was no need for food, it was provided as needed by God. There was no need for shelter because everything was in harmony. The peace of creation was evident. All the senses were used for spiritual things. Have you not been in a service where the fragrance of God filled the room and it was pleasant? Such was a constant similar experience in the garden before the fall.

In 2 Kings 6:17 we see contrasted the realm of the spiritual senses with that of the fallen man. Elisha is surrounded by the chariots of men. His servant was in fear and trembling at what stood before them but Elisha was unmoved. His solution? "And Elisha prayed and said: 'Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see." The servant obviously had eyes. He could see. But he was not spiritual. He was carnal. The servant lived in the senses of the carnal man. The senses of the carnal man feed the natural man, not the spiritual man.

But Elisha lived in the spiritual man and was fed by the spiritual senses. Thus, he was not worried about the natural because of the life of the senses in the spiritual plane. Jesus in His temptation was given many challenges all based on the fallen senses. What was His response? I have bread to eat that you know not of. Jesus was fed and sustained by the spiritual senses. The spiritual senses open up the heavens unto us. When Jesus came out of the wilderness, at the Jordan, God spoke and opened the heavens unto Him (Matthew 3:17). An effectual door was opened.

The Spiritual senses open up the heavens unto us. Jesus came forth from the wilderness experience in power. He was dynamic because the wilderness taught Him the clear difference between the natural senses and the spiritual senses. Our booklet, From the Wilderness to the Promised Land, tries to deal with the purpose of the wilderness. Jesus won the battle of the wilderness because He remained in His god nature when confronted with the challenge of the senses. He decided not to follow the desires of the flesh.

Adam cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Adam bears the image of the earthy. Because the Adam nature is corrupt, it tries to purify itself with a religious nature that is also part of the fallen senses. Adam cannot discern spiritual truth clearly. Adam can discern half-truths. Only the Christ nature can discern the real truth. Only a heavenly man can enter into the fullness of God. The man who lives by the senses of the natural will always be deceived by those senses. Paul writes that "for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep."(1 Corinthians 11:30). Why? Because they did not discern the Lord's body. Like the servant of Elisha, they beheld the natural and did not see the spiritual.

Discerning the Lord's body (vs.29) has to do with the spiritual senses. The natural senses reap judgment to the body. Spiritual senses reap life eternal. If the natural senses, the senses of the flesh, are used to discern the body of Christ, it reaps gangrene and death to the body of Christ. For Christ's body is a spiritual body. Adam lost sight of his spiritual body when he had to be clothed.

Paul states that we live in an earthly house that when removed we will be not be found naked but clothed with a heavenly house, ie body. (2 Corinthians 5). When we come together then we are to discern the body of Christ. How is that? If we come together in Christ, then our spiritual senses will identify the spiritual man within the vessel. The body is neutral. It houses the spiritual house within which the spiritual man lives and the carnal man who lives in the outer man. Only the carnal senses discern the dislikes of the flesh! The fleshly senses focus on those things which displease our outer man. Could our inner man find any fault with some one?

The beginning of our walk in the kingdom of God starts with our become aware of Him. His Spirit draws us. For this to occur God has to awaken in us spiritual senses which have been deadened or at least desensitized due to the development of the senses of the flesh. In 1 John 1:1-2 we find this statement: " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the word of life...". Note that John is expressing that his spiritual senses were used.

Salvation is an experience wherein the person hears the spiritual word, sees the life in Christ that he desires, handles it by experiencing salvation. The spiritual experience of salvation is the beginning of the redevelopment of the spiritual senses. Seed will produce after its own kind. Spiritual senses will produce spiritual sense in others. Where each breath is spiritual it is life. When you see spiritually, you give light for all to see. The spiritual senses create life. You become the bread broken for the world. For the world needs a saviour and you, an inchristed vessel, become the salvation to each individual you pass by because your spiritual senses are the light of the world.

John goes on to say in verses 2-4:"...we have seen, and bear witness...that which we have seen and heard we declare unto you...that your joy may be full." Note that in these verses the result of seeing and hearing is the begetting of life which causes feeling (joy) to be full. Seeing and hearing creates life. Revelation is necessary for the saint in order that the saint can live. A revelation from the Lord brings great joy to inner man. The understanding of the thought just has to be shared because it is life and it cannot be contained since it is such a joyous revelation to you.

Now then, when the body of Christ, which you are, forsakes not the assembling of itself, there is great joy in the camp. The joy is extended because each brings their "light" to the group. The wattage of the light of the group is collectively better than that of the individual. The manifestation of Christ is better seen. But who comes to the fellowship meeting on Sunday with a bright burning light? Most do not. They come with a wick that needs trimmed because it give off black smoke. Why black smoke? Because the senses of the flesh still predominate in the life of the individual.

When the services start, expectation of God "coming in their midst" is hoped for the senses of Adam do not discern that the others there are "God in their midst, the body of Christ". The senses of the flesh cannot discern spiritual things. Thus, the body of Christ is eaten unworthily that day when he is experienced. Recently, a brother was ministering on the need of evangelism of this "new day" word to people overseas. He told of the finances it would take and how the "end-time body" needed to reach out in a missionary zeal. I fully agreed. But a man came to afterward and said it was an old order service asking for tithes and he wasn't going to be bound by tradition. This poor brother was bound by the senses of flesh. He wanted to hold on to his money. If he was in Christ, he would have discerned the heart of the brother and not heard words that he interpreted as flesh. He did not discern the body of Christ.

When the body of Christ comes together it has its senses exercised to discern that which is His body. It does not focus on the adamaic man. This is life eternal. This is spiritual discernment.

HEBREWS 5:14

American Standard: "But solid food is for full grown men, even those who by reason of

                                    use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil."

New International: "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained

                                 themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Amplified Bible: "Solid food is for full-grown men for those whose senses and mental

                            faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between

                           what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to

                          divine or human law."

The verse is a significant verse in the understanding of the truth of discerning the body of Christ. The phrase "good and evil" used in KJV, New Int'l, Amer.Std, comes from the Greek root meaning beautiful and worthless. Only those things which are in Christ can be beautiful, for they are life. In fact, the Greek "kalos" for the English beautiful means to fuse deity, the universe and humanity into such a union that there is eternal fellowship.

It is the mature saint who has practiced the uses of his senses who cannot be deceived by vain imaginations, lusts of the senses of the flesh, etc. The key to practicing the uses of spiritual senses is not a process or formulae which would create a legalistic system for obtaining life. The key is developing a release into Christ who will teach you all things.

The assembling ourselves together is to create the opportunity to allow the flow of life from each vessel to enter into the other. This is done by exercising our spiritual senses. It is not done by looking at someone's clothes, makeup, hair style, or smelling someone's body odor, etc. The coming together is to foster the development of the body of Christ, to exercise the body, so that it is a fit and trim athlete.

Why were some weak? Why were some sick? Why were some asleep? As Paul states in 1 Corinthians 11, they had eaten unworthily. These people acted out of their carnal senses. Their discernment was done in the flesh, by the senses of the flesh, rather than done by the spirit. We must rightly discern the body of Christ. Failure to walk in fellowship (1 John) creates sin and death if we walk in the darkness of our own counsel.

The people had eaten out of the body unworthily. As an example: Joe sees Fred and thinks to himself that Fred is a hopeless case and doesn't want to be bothered with him. Joe is not discerning correctly. Joe is looking with the eyes of Adam, that fallen nature. Joe is partaking of Fred unworthily. Joe is eating of Fred, who is the bread broken for Joe. Oh, what a sin. Oh, what a worm works.

Now, if Fred senses that Joe is put off by him, Fred can react two ways. He can react in the way of the flesh and withdraw further or react in the flesh by anger and lash out. Or Fred can be the spiritual man and discern the flesh of Joe and not hold him accountable for his sin, effectively forgiving his sin. Fred has a choice in the matter.

The question is, Is there really a need for sickness within the body of Christ? Is there really a need for weakness in the body? Does the body of Christ have to sleep?

How serious is this discernment? Very serious. The word "sleep" in 1 Corinthians 11:30 means to literally die. The same word sleep is used in John 11:13 where Jesus spoke of his death( the word sleep in 1 Corinthians 11:30). Or consider 1 Corinthians 15:51 "not all shall sleep" which means die. The other occurrence is in 1 Thessalonians 4:14. Discerning the Lord's body correctly means life. By the same token if one does not discern the body of Christ correctly, it means death. Very serious consequences indeed. We cannot and must not allow others to determine our fate. Those who fail in their discernment of the spiritual body by looking on the outward carnal man as if it were the spiritual man, must be reprimanded. If correction is not administered, my beloved friends, since we are all part of the body, we either live together or we all die together. Ponder that. Let us give life one to another that we might live to fulfill the law of Christ.

HOW IS THE BODY DOING?

The body of Christ is coming out of its stupor. Lethargy has left the body. The day is dawning. The voice of many waters is proclaiming the day. Its the time of His appearing, the fore-shinning of the Son. Its the time of resurrection, a new life has begun. There is one river, but many waters. There is one message, one voice, but many trumpets.

The first step in the manifestation of Christ is the corpus delecti must come to unity. The bones lie on the ground (Ezekiel 37) in the valley (lowest point of Adam). The Lord is bringing forth a word, a pneuma, a breathe of life, that is causing the bones, which have the marrow of life in them, to come together. A body, His body, is coming together. It is the dawning of the day of the manifestation of His body, His appearing.

JUDGES 14:8-14

AND AFTER A TIME HE RETURNED TO TAKE HER, AND HE TURNED ASIDE TO SEE THE CARCASS OF THE LION: AND, BEHOLD, THERE WAS A SWARM OF BEES AND HONEY IN THE CARCASS OF THE LION. AND HE TOOK THEREOF IN HIS HANDS, AND WENT ON EATING, AND CAME TO HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND HE GAVE THEM, AND THEY DID EAT: BUT HE TOLD NOT THEM THAT HE HAD TAKEN THE HONEY OUT OF THE CARCASS OF THE LION. SO HIS FATHER WENT DOWN UNTO THE WOMAN: AND SAMSON MADE THERE A FEAST; FOR SO USED THE YOUNG MEN TO DO. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THEY SAW HIM, THAT THEY BROUGHT THIRTY COMPANIONS TO BE WITH HIM. AND SAMSON SAID UNTO THEM, I WILL NOW PUT FORTH A RIDDLE UNTO YOU. IF YE CAN CERTAINLY DECLARE IT ME WITHIN THE SEVEN DAYS OF THE FEAST, AND FIND IT OUT, THEN I WILL GIVE YOU THIRTY SHEETS AND THIRTY CHANGE OF GARMENTS: BUT IF YE CANNOT DECLARE IT ME, THEN SHALL YE GIVE ME THIRTY SHEETS AND THIRTY CHANGE OF GARMENTS. AND THEY SAID UNTO HIM, PUT FORTH THY RIDDLE, THAT WE MAY HEAR IT. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, OUT OF THE EATER CAME FORTH MEAT, AND OUT OF THE STRONG CAME FORTH SWEETNESS. AND THEY COULD NOT IN THREE DAYS EXPOUND THE RIDDLE.

Out of the cater came forth meat. Out of the strong came forth sweetness. In three days they could not understand the riddle. The truth of the story of Samson lies in its prophetic significance. While it was a literal sight that he saw, his riddle had a spiritual meaning that perhaps he may or may not have known.

The cater was a lion. The lion is both a positive symbol and a negative symbol. Satan is pictured as a lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). On the other hand, Jesus is the Ron of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5, Gen.49:9).

What good can come out of the eater, the devourer, the waster? What good can come out of Adam? Adam, the-'lion, the one strong in his flesh was made capable of dominion of all the earth. However, with the ability comes the curse to produce after the flesh. What good say you? Ah, it is out of Adam, that Eve, the mother of all living came. Through Eve's childbearing salvation would come to all. It was Mary, the descendant of Eve, who brought about the deliverance of man from the lion, the waster, the devourer. Salvation, ever so sweet came forth from her womb, and his name was Emmanuel.

Samson brought forth an analogy to Christ and his resurrection from the grave. For three days He resided in the grave. For three days Jesus was in the womb of death, the waster, the devourer, Never being in death, while residing in the place of death, Jesus came forth the Christ the conqueror, the victor over the vanquished. Death, the realm of the waster, could not contain the life of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Sweetness comes forth out of bitterness, the dregs of the waster, death. Ile fife of the Lion swallowed up the dregs of death, the bitterness in the cup of suffering.

There is the Lion within every lion. He seeks to devour death of the outer man, that beast, which is the first lion (Rev. 13:2) The beast of the carnal nature is removed by its own death. It is dead, reckoned so in Christ (Romans 6:6). This allows Christ to come forth out of the tomb, the carcass of the lion, which lies on the earth. For it is an ascent. The sweetness comes forth from the lion which lies dead on the earth, that realm of death. The fragrance of fife emits unto the heavens, the place of refuge where life is. Woe to

those who dwell on the earth (Rev. 12:12) and rejoice ye who dwell in the sweetness, the heavens.

For Christ ascended into the heavens, breaking the bands of the earth. His aroma, fragrance, will lift every passerby into the mighty way of life eternal. Even as Samson passed by and partook of life, never to remain the same, so others have, are and will continue to partake of the life of Christ.

The church the body of Christ has slept in death. The world is looking for an alternative choice, since the church has not fulfilled its call. We have discussed this in the first two messages. It takes the death of Adam for the world has too long seen the Adam in the Christians. It has taken time for Christians to understand that they cannot be lukewarm. We cannot be a Christian and in Adam. The disassociation with Adam, that organized denominational monster, and the disassociation with the mentality of Adam are the precursors of deliverance for creation.

One can take the saint out of Egypt (the denominational church system), but it is the wilderness experience that takes the Egypt out of the person. This has transpired since the last major move of God in 1948 and the input of the charismatic move of the sixties in the USA. The body of Christ has been asleep in death, in Adam's nature.

But the rumbling of earthquakes in diverse places has caused the tomb to be opened. Within the body of Christ is one like unto the Son of Man standing with the candlesticks (Rev 1:13). Not part of the churches, the Pentecostal candlestick realm, but of the experience. They have withdrawn from the system to stand within but not of. They are the light which gives fight to the other. They have the keys of death and hell. They once were alive (before the fall) but now- are alive forevermore! They have conquered death and hell * They live in die heavens, encompassed about by a body of death, even as the lion with sweetness in it, with meat (life) in it.

Whoever along the road of life stops to cat of the meat found in the Lion is empowered to progress further because the Christ life changes, empowers, quickens the individual. Virtue went out of Christ and the same virtue goes out of you since you are the body of Christ. "This is my body broken for you," Christ spoke as He took the bread and passed among his disciples. The bread, the staff of life, was His body.

How is it different with you? Corporately, individually, we are the body of Christ. We are broken for the world- He breaks us with His hand, no one else does it. Ah, it is not the devil or Satan that breaks you up. Hear and rejoice! It is the Master's hand that breaks the bread, His body. He and He alone breaks you so that you can be the food, the staff of fife to others who are hungry and have a great need. It is He who loves you and sees the qualities in you to break you up. He sees enough of Himself in you that He breaks you up so that others can eat of Him, who is you. Oh, rejoice, ye, the body of Christ. It is the Lord's doing.

How can creation be restored if it does not have food to eat? How can creation drink of the life of God if there is no drink offering to be given it? Ye are the food, the bread. Ye are the drink, the life of God. Jesus was "poured" out. He was the drink that satiated the killing of Abel as the earth cried out. Jesus was the deliverer of creation and caused the waters to stand all the way back to the city of Adam (Joshua 3:16). It was Jesus, the son of God who became the propitiation for our sing. Now, He has called you to be poured out that you might fulfill Matthew 6:14-15, 10:40-44.

How the body of Jesus writhed on the cross. It was nailed in the feet and hands. The sagging of the body caused breathing to become hard. So, the feet in order to help the lungs pushed up, feeling the pressure of the nails tear more with searing pain. But the feet felt the need of the lungs which could not work properly because of the way the body was suspended. So, the lungs inhaled and gave life to the body. The heart in the meantime felt the stress, and the head hurt from all the pain and the thorns. The arms flexed because of the involuntary muscles which were extended beyond their endurance. They stretched so that the feet might have some respite from pushing up and the pain of doing so.

The body of Christ was fitly fashioned. It was knit together. For good or ill, the body worked together. It know that it was dying. Nothing could take it from the cross. The cross was its call, its mission. Such pain and agony was enough to kill the body. The body of Christ was broken for our transgressions. Christ proclaimed, "It is finished."

We who have been fashioned in His image, His very own body are we, are called to be the staff of fife unto others. We arc to be torn. We are to be cut asunder. We are to be beheaded. We feel it when it occurs to the brethren who are part of us. But the breaking makes the broad give fife. Matthew 15 states there were only sewn loaves of bread yet baskets of broad were left over after feeding four thousand. Mark states another time there were five loaves and live thousand people fed, with baskets left over.

You who are broken for the masses will be enlarged. You will be bigger in the giving of yourself from five loaves (grace) or seven , (divine completeness), greater in the end than in the beginning. It is the small beginnings that produce the great harvest You are His body, broken for the world. What a joy! What a call! Who could love you more than He who also was broken? Who could understand you better in the working out of the body of Christ being broken than He who experienced it first? What a Lord, what a Saviour, who has bestowed His love on us that we might shed it abroad in the hearts of men.

1 Corinthians 10:16

The bread we break and partake of IS communion with Christ. The bread we break and partake of IS communion with the rest of the body of Christ We have fellowship with one another as we walk in the Light as He is in the Light. Our fellowship of light and life is Christ. Our fellowship is in the breaking, the sowing, the giving of the bread, which we are. Cast upon the waters (Rev.17:15) are we. Cast upon the sea, the masses of humanity that we might give them liberty.

What is the "communion of the body of Christ"? Fellowship is not the same as communion. When the brethren, who are the body of Christ, come together to a church service or just to have fellowship, this is not communion. Communion occurs when the saints gather and share the living ascended Lord, and by that we mean how He has been working and manifesting in them.

The word "communion" means to share something in common intimately. A normal religious church service is a personal affair. The saint is in the service and worships individually with others. It is a personal blessing. The preacher preaches and the saint is blessed personally. The service ends. Communion is not that church service. Communion creates, builds, establishes and enhances the manifestation of Christ through intimate involvement with each other.

The communion of the body of Christ in the standard communion service, is the sharing together of the people's experience in the literal eating of bread, which is a symbol of the body of Christ. The real truth of that symbolic and lifeless communion service is the spiritual counterpart. That counterpart begins with each person partaking of the Christ in each other (eating the bread). For we are His body. The walls saints build about themselves to protect themselves from pain, relationships etc. are torn. down when true communion occurs.

True communion is the manifestation of love with unconditional acceptance of another member of the body of Christ without regard to one's own personal protection. True communion is vulnerability. The natural body is open to infection as an example, let's say a cold. It wears the whole body down. The defense system (immune system) deals with the invader, but the body continues to function. Such is the body of Christ. It continues to love, hung on a cross, pierced by thorns, speared by a javelin die body continues to offer itself up as a pleasing sacrifice acceptable to God.

Romans 7:4

We as the body of Christ corporately and individually are to follow the lead of our cider brother. As He laid Himself down for others so do we. As He laid down His body so that we could become dead to the law and live by grace, so should we also follow the pattern set before us and do likewise. Release creation from the bondage of do's and dont's by revealing life to them. Too long the USA has lived by the laws of the Old Testament good are they if followed by the Spirit but for too long our nation followed these laws after the order of the flesh. Holding the flesh in abeyance will not bring liberty from the flesh.

His death released us so that we could be married unto Him instead of married to the law and carnality. The body of Christ is today being broken up so that the world might find Him and be delivered from the flesh, that carnality to which they are currently married. You are to bring forth fruit. The world is to be your fruit. How has the world been chewing on you lately? Have you come to realize that you not only have the food but you are the food? Have you been able to satisfy the world's hunger?

Noting the above verse one sees "the body of Christ" delivers us from the law. While this speaks of our Lord and Saviour and what He accomplished on the cross, this verse also speaks to us in another sense. All the people- who are members in particular of "body of Christ" are freed from the law by each oth . Die purpose of "the body of Christ' is to manifest Him. His manifestation in you is to set another member of the body of Christ at liberty from the law of sin and death. This does not mean license. In order for the true church to bring deliverance to the world, the cosmos, it must first begin its own deliverance from the adamic nature. Your revelation of Him is to be the key that delivers another from death and hell (Revelation 1:13-18), for it is He, the corporate body of Christ now who is in the midst of the candlestick. This corporate body was alive, but died (alive in Adam until sin entered in but now alive forevermore because of Christ) and now lives to set others free. Those bound in the old sin nature become free through the revelation of the Christ in them. We need each other to deliver each other from the law so that we can more fully manifest who He is.

Further reading of the verse states that the body should be "married one to another". As the individual members of the body deal with each other openly, lovingly and intimately they develop a relationship of courtship. As each sees a greater revelation of Christ in the other, they are even more attracted to each other because of Him. In that sense, each becomes married to each other because the love of Christ constrains us; He is our beloved. How can we say we love God and hate our brother? (I John 4:20) We cannot. We are to be married to the Christ in each other, for we are one body.

Romans 12:5

Every one is the other! Has the body of Christ caught the -vision? Every person is you! Each person in Christ is a revelation of you because you are in Christ also. When you look at the other person who do you see? One looks with jaundiced eye bound in death when one binds the revelation of Him in the other. We are each part of the other. What husband who loves his wife win beat her? He cannot because if he beats her, he is beating himself. He hates her and does evil to her, he reveals he hates himself Has not the body of Christ hated itself? Each member tearing the other. Each member reacting out of the adamic nature because they did not realize who they were.

Why do the saints act so? Ile system has taught them that they are sinful, in Adam, but positionally Wive in Christ -meaning eventually. But the Scriptures declare we are alive in Christ today. So, we being one body IN Christ, let us realize we are in each other.

Every one a member of the other is a liberating theology. We are free in Christ to manifest Him and thereby because we manifest Him we automatically quicken, enhance, and change each other into a greater revelation of Him, individually and corporately.

I Corinthians 12:27

NOW YE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST, AND MEMBERS IN PARTICULAR.

NOW. Not tomorrow. The man of the earth, Adam, was removed with the deliverance wrought by Jesus Christ. There is no Adam. There is a now creation man. Some might say that they still see, Adam. I would probably agree that they do see Adam because those same persons are not alive in Christ. For He who is alive in Christ has it settled that Adam is not the creation of God, but the now man in Christ Jesus is. The new creation man is part of the body of Christ corporately and also individually.

Adam cannot identify with Christ. He always wants to be like the Lord but religiously, self-righteously, sets himself up as God when he declares that he cannot be like God. But if you arc in Christ's body, then you are alive unto God and not in Adam. You do identify with the Lord Jesus in that you are like Him, and this causes great consternation with those who hold others in bondage to the theological concept that "they are sinners'. Such a thought is true if you are in Adam, but Christ has freed us NOW.

Oh, that we can envision who we are so that we can assist each other into a greater revelation of Him in us. We do not only hope to be His body in the future. We are not in Adam looking for a change. NOW we are His body. NOW we are in Christ.

Colossians 2:17

WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME; BUT THE BODY IS OF CHRIST.

The actual Greek is "body" in this verse, although the KJV uses the word "substance". Paul writes in chapter two of our freedom in Christ. We are free from the judgment of men, Adam, because we are the body of Christ. We arc in Christ. Since we are in Christ, we live by the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus which has delivered us from the law of sin and death. There is nothing in us that can be judged by Adam because we have no desire to do anything that Adam does. Adam was a shadow of that which was to come. We are the "substance", "the body" that is Christ in the world. Praise God.

We are the substance of Him. He "became" flesh the book of John states. The Logos, the invisible God, became flesh. The substance, the character of God was manifested in a man. The new creation man is here. The appearing of Christ the second time is occurring in the people who are His body.