The Daily Word of Righteousness

That Which Is Perfect, #9

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

It is important to note that the Lord Jesus does not only show us the way, He Himself is the Way. The Lord Jesus does not merely tell us the truth, He Himself is the Truth. The Lord Jesus does much more than give us eternal life, He Himself is the Resurrection and the Life.

The Lord Jesus is not the way to Heaven, He is the Way to the Father. The Lord Jesus is not the truth of Heaven, He is the Truth of the Father. The Lord Jesus is not the life of Heaven, He is the eternal Life of the Father. The distinction is important.

The goal of the believer is not to go to Heaven, to the spirit Paradise. The goal of the believer is to be with the Lord where He is in the bosom of the Father.

No human being ever at any time will find perfect rest and perfect fulfillment until he or she is dwelling in the Father. To know the Father is the end of the human quest for love, joy, and peace.

Only the Lord Jesus can bring us to the Father.

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)

"That which is perfect" is the full possession of the Father.

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. (John 14:7)

Here we are getting to the heart of the matter, when discussing "that which is perfect." Here is God's ultimate goal for His elect.

Whoever saw the Lord Jesus, saw His actions, heard His words, felt His compassion, was seeing the Father, seeing the Father's actions, hearing the Father's words, feeling the Father's compassion.

Why was (is) this? It is because the Lord Jesus and the Father are One in Substance, in Spirit, in motivation and action.

The Father's will is that the Lord Jesus be the first of a company of brothers. The brothers are not as great as the Lord Jesus, but they are to be of one Substance, of one Spirit, and one in motivation and action in Christ in the Father.

Christ is the Firstborn among many brothers and the Leader and Author of their salvation.

We are to eat the flesh of Christ and drink the blood of Christ until we are living by Him as He lives by the Father.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)

To live by the Lord Jesus as He lives by the Father is "that which is perfect."

The Apostle Paul declared that Christianity is not the keeping of the Law of Moses. Neither is Christianity a legal amnesty, a perpetual guiltlessness because of our identification with the righteous Jesus. Rather, Christianity is the crucifixion of the believer and his resurrection and ascension with the Lord Jesus until it is a fact that he is living no longer and Christ is living in him.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 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)

To be continued.