“So when that day comes, you will know that I am living in the Father and that you are one with me, for I will be living in you.” John 14:20
Jesus said these amazing words before He died on the cross. He spoke of the days ahead when He would share His New Resurrection Life with the Church. Most of us can get our heads around the fact that He would be going back to the Father, and that He is now in our hearts as a ticket to heaven, but this whole idea of being one with Him, is just too hard to understand, and maybe a misprint.
After Jesus went back to heaven, even the Apostles didn’t grasp what Jesus was trying to tell them. It wasn’t fully unveiled until the Apostle Paul had a revelation of what really happened at the cross. The Apostles didn’t see that it wasn’t just Jesus dying alone on the cross but they too were co-crucified with Christ and also resurrected with Him. This revelation empowered the early Church to do amazing things for God.
It wasn’t long before Satan robbed the early Church of this wonderful truth, through persecution and a lack of sound teaching. (They didn’t have bibles like we do now.) The Church lost its way and during the Dark Ages the only ones considered to have Christ in them and the keys to heaven, were the Popes. The masses were taught that in order to please God you had to work for your salvation and even pay to have your sins forgiven at one stage.
It wasn’t until the invention of the printing press and the mass distribution of bibles in the common language that light began to shine on this truth once more. The Reformation brought back the revelation that you could ask Jesus into your heart by faith, and that salvation was a gift from God.
Sadly John 14:20 still wasn’t fully appreciated, for having Jesus in you was more or less just your ticket to heaven and the whole idea of being one with Christ would have been considered blasphemous.
Even as recently as the 1970’s the Christian Song “I am the Righteousness of God in Christ,” by David Ingles was banned on some Christian Radio Stations in the USA, even though it is in scripture. 2 Corinthians 5:21
One minister I knew in New Zealand would not allow his congregation to sing, “It’s no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 2:20, for how could we say that when we fail so often? He believed that it was for those who had got it all together one day.
Praise God we are now in the 3rd Day and great favour is being showered on the Church, especially for all those who are paying attention. The call is going out for the Bride to get herself ready, and ‘know’ her beloved, to be one with Him. Lets look at this verse in John 14:20 again.
“So when that day comes, you will ‘know’ that I am living in the Father and that you are one with me, for I will be living in you.” John 14:20
The word ‘know’ is the Greek is ‘Ginosko’ which is similar to the Hebrew word ‘Yada.’ It speaks of knowing intimately, like the love between a man and a woman.
Most of us today understand how Jesus has gone to be with the Father, and how He is within us by His Spirit, but the whole idea of being one with Him just seems far too incredible. This thought however is crucial in order for the Bride to get herself ready.
Unfortunately for most of us we only see Jesus as a ticket to Heaven, which is just a fraction of the truth. Yes, its crucial that Jesus be in us so that we can enter Heaven, but He actually wants to be far more than that, He wants to be the source of our life.
When you know that you are one with Him, it’s very much like a man and a woman becoming one in marriage, it changes everything. If you know that you are one with Him, then you will understand that you are living in the Father like Jesus is.
“That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:21
This is what Paul was revealing to us in Ephesians 2:6 and also Colossians 3:1.
“For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Another verse that speaks of how we are one with Christ is found in Galatians 2:20 I love how the Passion Translation puts it.
“My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me - we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine!”
This is hard to get your head around at first, for we need to have our spiritual eyes opened to see beyond the physical realm. The Bible says that we are a New Creature in Christ when we become a Christian. The fact is that you may look no different outwardly but the truth is that in the Spirit you are perfect and glorious. This is the way God sees you. We have to believe this by faith, for without faith its impossible to please God.
Likewise we also need to believe by faith that we are placed in Christ and become one with Him at conversion. We are washed in His blood and become clean and perfect regardless of how we feel. Remember that Jesus doesn't allow anyone into Himself that is not perfect. You may not feel that you are worthy and made perfect, but as you read and believe the word, faith arises and you begin to see it as truth.
It was Paul’s passion that every believer understood that they were made perfect in Christ.
“Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory! This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it!” Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Jesus Christ.”
Paul prayed a powerful prayer in Ephesians 1:16-22 and we also need to pray this prayer.
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
This word ‘Knowledge’ here is ‘Epignosis’ which again speaks of an intimate knowledge. A knowledge that changes you. The Passion Translation brings this out very clearly.
“I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know him through your deepening intimacy with him.”
The word ‘Epi’ means to ‘come upon’ to change, and is the same word that the Angel Gabriel said to Mary explaining how the Spirit of God would come upon her and birth the Christ Child within. It means to super-impose. The word ‘Gnosis’ means to have a precise knowledge and has its roots in ‘Ginosko’ which speaks of an intimate knowledge.
We live in the Age of Laodicea, spoken of in the Book of Revelation. This Church boasts of being able to see, but Jesus says that they are blind, and advises them to have their eyes anointed with eye salve so that they may really see. This is an anointing of the Holy Spirit.
“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ - and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, BLIND and naked - I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” Revelation 3:17-18
The Laodicean Church Age is the most enlightened people ever. Thy can see things that no other generation has ever seen, with televisions and live streaming from all over the world. We can see places that we have never been too and even the far reaches of space. We can see creatures on the bottom of the ocean and even cells in our bodies. We say we can see but God says we are blind.
We desperately need an anointing of the Holy Spirit to open our spiritual eyes so that we can really see. To see our heavenly position in Christ and who we are in Him. For how can 2 truly walk together unless they agree?
Its interesting to note that the greatest of all the blessings for those who overcome in all the 7 messages to the 7 Churches is for this last Church Age of Laodicea. It’s an understanding of being positioned in Christ in Heavenly places.
“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:21
This just another conformation that its now time for the Church to fully understand and enter into John 14:20. This is the day to not only know that Jesus has gone the Father, but also to know that we are one with Him, sharing in all the blessings that He has received for us from His victory on the cross for us.
“And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.” Romans 8:17
Unless you understand how you were ‘co-crucified’ with Christ there is no way you will understand how you can be ‘co-glorified’ with Him, for you will always feel unworthy. Satan is working overtime, blinding so many Christians to this truth, for He knows that when we see that we are one with Him we will become dangerous. I believe that this will be a fulfillment of John 14:12-14.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
