“John testified about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, “He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.”’ For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” (Joh 1:15-17 NASB)
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Readers,
One issue that continues to bother me to this day is when I see so many of God’s people trying to live new covenant Christianity on an old covenant level. This concern especially includes placing faith in so-called modern day prophets. Hopefully I can provide some insight into this issue.
Before I deal directly with the prophecy issue, let me direct attention to the one matter that is crucial to new covenant understanding. It has to do with who Jesus really is and how this applies to Gods new creation. There has never been a covenant like the new covenant. We need to know why.
Paul said that in Christ,
“All the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” (Col2:9)
This expression simply means that Jesus is fully God. The word for fullness is the Greek term ‘pleroma.’ [play’-ro- mah]. It speaks of the fullest measure. Therefore in Christ is the absolute fullest measure of all that God is. Theologians refer to this fullness as, ‘the plenitude of the divine perfections’.
Sure it is a mystery to be understood with the heart but not always fully with the mind. So,
while Jesus was and is fully man, He also was and is fully God. To know what God is exactly like, we look to Jesus. Hebrews 1:3, says,
“He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [the Father’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature.”
Now let’s see how this affects new covenant believers. Listen again to John the Baptist:
“This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank that I, for He existed before me.’”
Then the apostle John adds,
“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” (Cf. Jn1:14-18.)
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Did you catch it?
The apostle said of His ‘pleroma‘ we have all received.
John is not saying that each of us is a little Jesus. Nor is he saying that we have become gods. John is saying that the full measure of Christ’s Spirit, that is, the full measure of the finished work of the cross now belongs to, and abides in every believer. It is because of this full measure of the cross that grace continues to follow grace in our lives.
The point is that no believer gets just a bit of Jesus and then goes on to another experience to receive a fuller measure. Every believer receives the full measure of the Spirit of Christ the moment of their birth from above. Failure to understand this is the platform for all kinds of ‘never-quite-arriving’ doctrines.
No believer in the new covenant is told to measure up to Christ. We have already received the full measure. We have the ‘plenitude of the divine perfections’ placed on our account. What is left is for believers is to grow up in the wisdom and knowledge Jesus Christ.
Paul said that in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this is what growing up in Christ speaks to. No believer can get more of Jesus that we already have. We have His fullness. Paul said we are to grow up in all aspects into Him. (Cf. Eph4:15)
Someone may ask, “Does this mean that we can do all the things that Jesus did?” The answer is, “Only if you learn to live the way Jesus lived.”
However, that misses the point in what I wish to get across in this journal entry. I realize how easy it would be to twist this out of shape.
So, the next question is simple…
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Do you hold the testimony of Jesus—
All of God’s children share in the same full measure of Christ in their lives. There is nothing left over that we must later receive. It is this understanding that becomes the underpinning for a fruitful new covenant walk. And it is this understanding that keeps believers from needing to find a prophet to give them a word from the Lord. (Such as was the case in the former testament.)
In the new covenant there are no prophets of the same order as of the former covenant prophets. The need for that kind of prophet no longer exists. Christ is now resident in the lives of all His people.
Today the heavenly Father speaks to each of His children in His Son. This does not mean that the Lord cannot address us through the speaking of others. He does that often. Yet all of God’s born-from-above children have the same indwelling spirit of Jesus in their hearts. This indwelling even includes a life-flow in our speaking.
There is one Scripture that expressly defines the heart or the very essence of prophecy in the new covenant. When the angel told John not to fall down before him, he told him why;
“Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Jn19:10)
The Greek for testimony is ‘marturia‘ [mar-too-ree’-ah] This word means ‘the evidence given.’ The evidence given is in the heart and in the speaking of all true believers. Paul said that the Spirit testifies to our own spirit that we are children of God. John said that we have the testimony in us. Thus when we are speaking for and about Jesus, our very speaking carries in it the spirit of prophecy.
So do you hold the testimony of Jesus? Jesus describes this idea of the flowing forth of new covenant prophecy:
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” (Or, ‘From his innermost being will flow the spiritual and living testimony of Jesus Himself.’) Cf. Jn7:38,39)
The fact again is that the Holy Spirit enters the heart of the believing person as the spirit
of the resurrected, ascended, and glorified Jesus. Thus the finished work of the cross becomes a present reality in our hearts. Our salvation is complete.
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Out of the shadow into the Light…
Paul says that we have already been raised up and seated together in Christ in the heavenly places. You cannot get more saved than that.
Which brings us back to the issue of new covenant prophecy — The book of Hebrews begins with,
“God, after that He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He made the world.”
Notice that the Old Testament prophetic ministry is a thing of the past. It is no longer required. We have passed out of the shadow of God into the very reality of a direct experience with the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ. We can now hear Jesus for ourselves.
The redemption revelation in the Old Testament came in bits and pieces, by way of the prophets. What they had in part, we now have in fullest measure. The Father no longer speaks to us by way of the Old Testament prophet. He speaks to all His children in and through His Son. Thus we hear Jesus say to unbelievers,
“But you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish.” (Jn10:26-28)
We need to press it a bit further. Paul said in the latter times many would depart from the faith [a full faith one-on-one relationship with Jesus], giving attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of devils. Peter adds,
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies … in their greed they will exploit you with false words…”
This begs a question —
Why would any believer need to depend on someone else for a prophetic word from the Lord, when we all know the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way? It isn’t that God can’t speak to us through someone else. But if this is what our life is centered on, we are missing the very heart of a new covenant walk.
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They will all know Me.
Is Jesus not your personal Lord and Savior? Listen to how the prophet Jeremiah describes the new covenant that was to come. (Note the terms in bold):
“’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD.
“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law [instructions] within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” (Jer 31:31-34 NASB)
Now hear it from Ezekiel:
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh [tenderness]. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes … so you will be My people, and I will be your God.” (Cf. Ezek36:25-28)
None of what I have shared precludes the gatherings of God’s people into flocks. The gathering of flocks is first of all a gathering to Jesus. He is always in the midst of the gatherings of His flocks. Actually the Lord has ordained the flocking of His people for the purpose of their own growth, fellowship, and protection.
God spoke through the prophet saying,
“Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.”(Jer 3:15 NASB)
This may sting a bit, but it needs to be said. Those who continually seek out a prophet to give them ‘a word from the Lord’ are still trying to live in the new covenant on an old covenant level. They continue to look for modern day prophets who can go behind the veil and bring to them a word from God. How sad. How little to they realize that they are ignoring their own spiritual heritage from God.
This in itself is not my only concern. My greater concern is with those believers who ‘love it that way.’
Jeremiah gave a warning about this:
“An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?” (Jer 5:30-31 NASB)
Does what Jeremiah warned have any relevance today? Yes. I could share a number of Scriptures. But here is a simple example —
Some time back a person shared with me what took place at an apostle-prophet meeting. The prophets made four or five lines so all the people could get their personal word from the Lord. This person made it their business to go through all five lines. As I listened, I thought, ‘When are you ever going to grow up?’ (Of course the prophecies are always generic. They only become personal when the receiver reads their own thoughts into them.)
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What about proper ministry…
Does any of this do away with offices of ministry? Not in the least. The offices of ministry are placed by God, and serve a unique purpose for God’s people. The primary duty of a God-called minister is to help equip the saints for the work of service in God’s kingdom. Paul says,
‘Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Cf. Eph4:11-13)
The unity of the faith and to a mature man in Christ relates to all believers realizing their own uniqueness in the family of God. It speaks to every believer coming to the place of being able to allow the life-flow of Jesus. The goal is for each believer to become a conduit of heaven.
But this also calls for a caution. Even when a believer feels he or she has reached a high level of spiritual maturity, no believer should take to himself the idea of being superior to other believers. Even when Paul was forced to defend his apostleship, he carefully spoke to this;
“For if I wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.” (2Co12:6)
Did you catch it? Paul knew that the Lord’s purpose for all believers was for their growth in spirituality, and that every believer was uniquely a child of God. And while he indeed had the calling and the authority of an apostle, Paul also knew that his role was not to call attention to himself, but to call attention to the Lord Jesus. It is in this sense that Paul wanted the people to see the gospel in him, but not to see him as someone special above themselves.
The apostle said,
“Not that we are adequate in ourselves as to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2Co3:5,6)
So, dear believer, we are all to become God’s love letters to a dying world. We are not simply to preach the gospel. We are to become the gospel.
And please listen to me — Stop trying to live your Christian walk on an Old Testament level.
How about it? Take time to listen again to one of my favorite songs by my favorite group, the Isaacs, entitled, ‘Stand Still.
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Always in love with Jesus.
Buddy
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