“And you–are,                                                                                                                                       in Him (in Christ Jesus),                                                                                                                 {having-have-been-made-}                                                                                                            complete/full.”      a     ;                                                                                                                                                        Colossians 2:10                                                                                         (Lit. frm. Grk. txt & wrd ordr)

    It is a fact of each of our upbringing that we read & understand the scriptures through the filter of our comprehension of words, through the lens of how we have come to an understanding of definitions, of what words mean, whether our understanding is fully correct or that we have limits of the true fullness of denotation (actual meaning).  Over the last couple of decades, and increasingly more in the last number of years, etymology (the study of the origin of words) has come to really capture my heart & mind, most predominantly in the study of the Word of God.  And what I have come to learn by the Holy Spirit, who breathed into the writers of the scriptures  (II Timothy 3:16a – “All scripture – God-breathed …” ), is that God means what He says with far greater denotation, fulness, and intent than we have believed. 

    Yet also what I am continually discovering is how much greater the working of the finished work of the cross of His Son Jesus is and consequently is to be in our lives as that which is a continual-present working by His Holy Spirit to change us, that which makes this working of Grace “unforced effort”.  That is to say, the finished work of the cross & the consequential resultant working (breathing) of the Holy Spirit inside of those who have believed [& especially evidently inside of those those who are continually believing] into Jesus is that by which our “deeds” are fruit and not a work of “effort” on our part to produce fruit. 

   True Biblical “Christianity”, our life in Christ on earth, was never meant to be a comparable religion to other religions but with the Name “Jesus” attached to this religion.  The work of “religion” among all the religions of the world keeps people focused upon themselves, their “deeds”, based upon some kind of (empty) hope that they are pleasing enough to their deity in hopes of being good enough to make it into heaven.  Focus is forever and always on self within the religions of this age, even upon one’s own works, with one eye maybe looking up now and then.

   Our believing into Jesus for our salvation, for our Liberty – our freedom from sin and freedom to live before the face of God our Father with joy and without a sense of condemnation – comes to be as a living reality, not by each of us focusing on ourself, our deeds, rather by our ongoing focus upon the Face of our Savior, Jesus our LORD, in whom is our true identity (Colossians 3:3), by which we are changed (II Corinthians 3:17), a resurrection grace-glory transformation into the image of His resurrection glory in that continual gazing upon Him, beholding Him in that glory gained for us and as us because of the utter completeness of what is the finished work of the cross in having dealt with our sin, and so thus also in His having been raised to newness of life because of our complete justification in the sight of Almighty God (Romans 4:25).

    Our understanding of what is to be a daily living in this Liberty of Christ, this Liberty in Christ, requires a paradigm shift in our comprehension from out of an understanding rooted in Old Covenant “Law obedience” to what really is solely wholly our New Covenant walk; that is to say, what is – through the grace-truth of the finished work of the Cross – New Covenant “obedience”.  And trust me, Dear One, it is not at all the way we have heard all of our lives.  True New Covenant, grace-truth “obedience” is not at all an effort of self-focus on our deeds … whatsoever!  This is going to be a huge earthquake in our heavenlies, Beloved, a paradigm shift of utter divergence in our thinking from how we have been “wired”, yet one that is going to bring about for the Bride of Christ a Liberty in her thinking in who she is, right now, as a royal Bride of her LORD, the King of kings  … her TRUE and real identity, which will thus cause her to walk (to be walking) in such royal Kingly authority that will topple the strong Hamans who have intimidated her and her people with threats for far too long.  She will see this accomplished in the work of the rest of the finished work of the cross, because this authority will come by her words, but from THE Throne far above all principalities and powers, where sits AND rules her LORD, the Lord of lords (ref. Psalms 110).

   There is a foundation being properly set in this Kairos hour, Beloved, both a taking apart of the wrong foundation and a proper, faithful re-foundationing – of Christ Jesus – the true and exact architectural design in what is this grace glory, this resurrection/ascension/Royal-Throne-seated authoritative identity of Christ in Christ.

    Beloved, the day we believed into our LORD Jesus Christ, we were eating from the tree of life.  That moment we were born again, our nature was wholly changed … whether it looked (or looks) that way or not – (see Romans 6:4-11). 

                         “So-then, if any ‘in Christ’, a NEW creation;                                                                  the ‘old’ (old things) passed-away;                                                                                  BEHOLD, have-come-to-be ‘new’ [‘all’ (all-things)]                                                                                                                                     II Corinthians 5:17         (Lit. frm Grk. txt word order.  Bold is emphasis frm. Grk wrd.ordr) 

    So then, let us consider this: A fruit tree does not “try” to produce fruit, does not strive, or with effort, go, “uugggghhh” in order to produce fruit. It simply receives the nutrients – from the sun, from the rain, from the soil – and accordingly produces fruit after its kind.  Likewise, the true working of the Holy Spirit inside of us, in accordance with the blood of Christ now upon the true Mercy Seat in heaven, WILL PRODUCE in and through us the fruit of righteousness, the very testimony of the finished work of the cross, and hence, the very image of Christ in and then through us (Hebrews 9:14).  Thus it is, the believer, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of our LORD Jesus Christ, into His resurrection Life (I Peter 1:18-19, 23), in our ongoing “abiding in the Vine”, we will be, by this ongoing flow of grace, producing fruit after the kind of the incorruptible seed of which is our new nature.  Our life in Christ is not be a work of our flesh, our effort, to try to be “Christian”.   Our “work”, if you will, is to simply abide in the Vine (John 15:1-7; John 6:56; Romans 5:17b), staying connected in our ongoing relationship with our heavenly Father – in the Word/the Bible, in prayer and praise & worship, on a daily basis, yet not doing this by rote religious exercise, rather because it becomes to the believer precious daily relationship in getting to know – to personally really know – this Almighty God (Psalms 119: 103, 161b-162) Who is Abba Father, in the unveiling of Jesus, from the scriptures, in His resurrection glory (Luke 24:27, 32) by Holy Spirit who lives inside of each one who has believed into Jesus (John 16:13-15), seeing that this daily partaking is literally life giving substance, a breaking of daily bread, a willing pouring out of grace by Him into us for the day (Romans 5:17b).

     Look at the word of the LORD to Joshua in Joshua 1:8; but do not, in reading this command to Joshua, see this apart from Exodus 24:13 and 33:11b.

    Joshua is not merely being told to meditate in a book of words that are by God.  Joshua already had been, by his own willingness, learning the living voice of YHVH during the desert years under Moses’ leadership and with Moses.  The “words on the page”, the words of the book Joshua was going over when the LORD spoke to him (Josh 1:2-9) were not at all to Joshua just mere words of scripture; he had learned the voice of YHVH,  And it was thus, through this living command of Josh 1:8 and consequential ongoing hereafter inclining of his ears daily to these written words, that YHVH would be grace pouring out of His life into Joshua.  Joshua and YHVH already had cultivated living relationship.

 Look back at Moses’ request for grace-glory, and then David’s.

“And now, if, I pray Thee, I have found grace in Thine eyes, cause me to know, I pray Thee, Thy way, and I know Thee, so that I find grace in Thine eyes,..”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Exodus 33:13  (YLT.)

“Teach me Your ways, O LORD [YHVH];  I WILL WALK in Your truth:”                                                                                                               Psalms 86:11a (NASB)                                                                                                (“Thy” changed to “Your”)

    David wasn’t committing to walk in the truth if he got taught the LORD’s ways.  Rather, he knew that somehow there would come to be transformation of his walk into the truth of the Word by the Word, if he learned the LORD’s ways from His word. (Remember, Beloved, “grace and truth” from YHVH specifically are one and the same – per John 1:17 et al ; hence, to walk in the Truth of YHVH is to walk in the grace supply of YHVH-shua   …  Selah  …)

     The opening verse of this blog teaches us that we are, in Christ Jesus, already complete, having have been made so by His gained resurrection glory position – “as He is now, so also are we in this world” (I John 4:17).  This is that into which the Holy Spirit, within the pages of the epistles, bring us into remembrance, and accordingly unveils to us, through that finished cross view, this “In-Christ-Completeness“ within the then following scriptures.

    The key imperative, Beloved – for us to see & so live in this grace-truth reality in this life – is in letting sink into our hearts what means, at the very moment of Jesus’ final breath on the cross, the overt ripping, from top to bottom, of the veil within the temple, the very type and shadow of that access into THE Holy of Holies in Heaven, into the presence, even before the Face of so awesome in holiness a God (Matthew 27:51: Mark 15:38: Luke 23:45).  Eternally-judicial Holy satisfaction was utterly met, out on Golgotha’s hill, borne-witness to in this one single moment, not merely in this finite age, but this moment in eternity … this single, so drastic an event, equally borne-witness to by all those outside at the very same instant the unexplained darkness was rent to let the glory of the light of the sun burst onto the three hour darkened land (Luke 23:43-46).  “Liberty”, Beloved, the true fullness of all that salvation means in the space of eternity, came to be a reality for mankind in that one single moment.  And it took place between two parties, Holy God and sinful man, this invitation to stand uncondemned/without judgment, without fear of wrath, without fear of judgment, in the Face of this Eternal God who had made Himself our Father as God in and through His Son’s exchange price of His Life for our life upon that cross for our redemption.

“Blessed be the God and Father of the our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, THAT WE should be holy and blameless before Him”                                                                                                                                                                    Ephesians 1:3-4 (NASB)

   God the Father’s heart I believe has always been Face to face relationship with each one of us – every man, every woman, every child.  This intention of His is seen prophetically throughout the pages of the Old Testament, and in the etymology of the word “before”, both in the Hebrew and in the Greek.  The New Covenant, cut in Jesus’ blood, makes this clear, even prophetically evident, in the life of the father of faith, Abraham.

    In the midst of going over the last verses of Joshua 5 recently, {Joshua encounters a Man walking toward him with His sword drawn while he had initially been standing some distance away outside the walls of Jericho, after having crossed the Jordan with the rest of his nation, after having also celebrated the first Passover in the promised land (and the first passover under his leadership).  When Joshua comes to hear from this Military figure who He is, he falls face down to the ground before Him, and then asks, “What has my Lord (Adonai) to say to His servant?”   What follows is amazing, and yet does not end with v15, the final verse of chapter 5.  This Man goes on to speak to Joshua in chapter 6}, I was suddenly remembering that Moses, and before him, Abraham (as Abram), had a similar-to-Joshua’s “Face to face” encounters, and I quickly turned to those passages to study them; I wanted to see if both Moses and Abram hit the ground as did Joshua.  It was in studying Abraham’s Genesis 17 encounter that I unexpectedly found these early verses equally jumping off of the page exactly as have been the early chapters of the book of Joshua.  And it was here, in “tearing apart” the Hebrew, looking into the etymology of a few words, that I saw something of the work of grace, God’s unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor to us and into us, even through the work of the cross of Christ Jesus our LORD … which brings about to be in us this “effortless grace” to walk in “obedience”.  ( I want to tear this word apart right here before you, Beloved, because so many of you hear and thus understand this word incorrectly, I believe, than what it really means in Hebrew, in Greek, … AND in English.  At least for now, just know that when you see here written the word “obedience”, there is not from me the implied imputation being dumped on you in order for you to focus on your effort or deeds … this word wholly has to do with inclining your ear to the One speaking.  “Deeds” are consequential fruit of this word, not effort.)

    “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Genesis 17:1 (KJV)

   Be honest, here, Beloved: when reading this verse, are not the commands “walk before Me, and be thou perfect”  what seem to speak the loudest?  We tend to read commands from the LORD within the pages of the scriptures as God standing back, giving an order, and then watching to see us (if we) “obey”; and we accordingly then begin to focus and work on our effort to do just that.

     It has been, as the LORD Jesus has been helping me to learn and understand the Hebrew text, that I am seeing from Him who He is to us as the One giving these commands; and this is, especially because of our lives this side of the cross, lifting off of my thinking the not-comprehended, the not even taking into account, ongoing gifting, the continual supplying, of His grace as that which lifes us, if you will, to do His words, His commands to us.  Look again at the above verse, but with emphasis from exactly as the LORD speaks to Abram.  But pay attention here, Beloved, to some of the details as understood from the Hebrew text.

” And was, Abram, ninety years old and nine.                                                               And YHVH_was-seen to Abram.                                                                                       And-He-said, “I  – EL  SHADDAI [God Almighty/Powerful(-One)];                   {Make-yourself-to}-walk before-My-face and be complete”                                                                                                                                              (1st line – KJV/                                                 The the rest – Lit, from Heb. Massorectic text)

    YHVH caused Himself to be seen to Abram (ref. John 8:56 & 58).  Remember what has been taught thus far in the previous posts concerning unveiling the revelation of this Name, in seeing in Him the plan of the cross from Eternity to render to us Grace.  It is from this, Beloved, that YHVH, in word, reveals Himself as El Shaddai, God Almighty.  Our LORD Jesus is the mystery veiled here, yet unveiled (Eph. 3:4b, 8b-9;  Col. 2:25:b-27; Jhn. 8:56-58).  YHVH was, in the the entirety of this chapter, setting forth the mystery of the good news of New Covenant four hundred plus years before the Old Covenant of Law was even given! 

   This YHVH, who caused Himself to be seen by Abraham, showed, and thus imparted grace by this declaration-revelation (of Him as being El Shaddai) in order for Abram, in hearing and seeing, to receive and so be able, himself, to fulfill the command.  The LORD so introduces Himself, at the beginning of Gen. 17, unveiling His “God mightiness and burly power” before him.  In this glory, in this weight of Glory, YHVH was imputing/imparting to Abram the grace for Abraham to walk – not just uncondemned, but into the weighty estimation (combined Hebrew & Greek definitions of “glory”) –  from out of that glory revelation as one now able (abled) to make himself to walk, literally, and henceforth (wittingly or unwittingly) as such before, that is, in the Face of, “I – EL SHADDAI”, and thus to “be complete“, with all that this word denotes.

    Beloved, Almighty God, YHVH, was, here in the totality of all that takes place in Genesis 17 and what was to immediately follow (in the succeeding chapters), transforming Abram (into Abraham).  He was transforming Abraham’s thinking, moreover, and was imputing to him, was imparting to him, was gracing him (I will explain this literal “gracing” later) to cause him to know that he could make himself to walk before His Face, as though walking before Almighty God without a veil in between … even in his daily walk from this time forth, thus making him to see that he was – in this open Face walk – complete, and so could be – imperatively, intentionally (per the tense of the command in Hebrew) – complete!

   The LORD God was literally raising Abram-Abraham out of the mindset of this present age, and setting him into the view and mindset of the age to come, as one who was living now in the present age.  Please hear this, Beloved.  For this is the work of Face to face encounters.  This is exactly what happened at Paul’s conversion, and consequentially the outflow of Paul’s apostleship-ministry by Paul.  (I have to drop a nugget here as to Paul.  His name change {before the non-Jews} was a literal definition change from “Saul”, his Jewish name.  Paul’s name change reflected a nature change, exactly as had been his first forefather, Abram to Abraham.  “Paul” means “little”, reflecting hence the true work of grace to wholly glorify the Name, the Person whose Face he beheld. …  He that has ears to hear …)

   This view (of Christ Jesus in His resurrection glory – the revelation of “shua” to YHVH) and resultant imputing/impartation/gracing to bring about our mindset change is intentional by the Father, because it both changes us, and will then bring about an inquiring by those of the world, drawing them as that which is a “conviction of righteousness” (Jhn. 16:8-9), of what is true New Covenant, righteousness, thus planting a seed as that which will grow in the lost to draw them after this glorious Jesus whom they are seeing in us.

   Beloved, from this time forth, do not read “commands” from the LORD as that which He is merely “telling” you to do as though from a distance.  You need to see that your identity is in Christ, is in the Risen Christ, is in the glorified, throne-seated Christ, that the veil has been ripped, that the blood of our redemption – of our forgiveness, of our sin having been purged/having been removed, even , of sin’s power having been broken, and then and equally, of that living blood imparting eternal life NOW into us, of that blood causing us to walk in Liberty, thus gracing us ongoingly to intentionally walk before the Face of God daily in our daily secular (that is, in this world) lives, our jobs, etc, that by that blood we are complete in Christ, that thus by that blood we can walk as complete in Christ, even when we are aware of our own shortcomings, even when we blow it, that our confidence to walk before the Face of God with  an unveiled access to receive more grace, because our identity is based in what Jesus did (the finished work of the cross), not what we do.  Our royal identity as sons and daughters of the Living God, our Heavenly Father, never shifts or changes or bends out of the truth of our holy and blameless standing before Him.

You are, Dearly Beloved, in Christ wholly complete!

You are so greatly loved, Beloved                                                                           Mark Dingemans

There is another section coming to this.  I have given you a lot on which to meditate.  The revelation of the Grace given from out of the LORD’s name is going to be explained as seen in the lives of Abraham and his wife, and then of Aaron.  I have been antsy to write on Aaron because it reveals what is New Covenant priesthood.  This is going give you a whole new understanding as to our walk as believers, as true sons and daughters in the glory of the revelation of the finished work of the cross in the Face of our Father and our LORD Jesus in the eyes of the world.

.