THE FIFTH GOSPEL
There are many who may say, “it’s not fair that I live in these days instead of Bible days”. “If I could only see Jesus in the flesh I’d be a far better person.” “If only I could have been one of the Apostles, I’d be a victorious Christian.” “Why am I born now in this century with so much temptation and worldliness where I can hardly see Jesus?”
When Jesus was about to leave His disciples, He said that it was going to be far better for them when He was gone, but they didn’t understand what He meant. How could it be better if He went?
“Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor (The Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” “Its expedient (Better) that I go away. (To your advantage).” John 16:6-7
“Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29
How could it be, that it would be better without Jesus? We need to understand that It’s all to do with our faith and understanding the deeper things of God. These truths are like gold below the surface. The obvious reason why it would be better when He was gone, was the promised coming of the Holy Spirit and better fellowship with God. When Jesus was on the earth there were 70 disciples. Of these, only 12 could be Apostles and only 3 of them were in the inner circle. Of these 3, only one leaned his head on the chest of Jesus, and that was the Beloved John. It would have been hard to get close to Jesus in those days with the 12 Apostles, let alone today.
How could we have a relationship like that today, if Jesus was in His earthly body? With millions of disciples in the world, we’d have to make an appointment to see Him. We’d have to queue to touch Him. Jesus said that the coming of the Holy Spirit would help to solve this problem.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:16-21
THE APOSTLE PAUL
Paul was the greatest of all the Apostles, yet he never walked with Jesus like the other disciples. Jesus had died when Paul got converted on the road to Damascus. You would think that would put him at a disadvantage, yet he had a greater ministry than all of the others. He did the greater works that were spoken of in John 14
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12
Paul had found something different to the other disciples, for he’d caught on to something they hadn’t seen. When he was saved on the Damascus Road God separated him from everyone else for a while to be taught something very special. God took him into isolation. He was shut down and shown another Gospel. It was Christ by His Holy Spirit that revealed this Gospel to him as we see in.
“I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ….” Galatians 1:10-24
Paul was shown things that really changed his understanding and motivated him to do amazing things. The other Disciples hadn’t caught onto what Jesus had been trying to tell them, so God showed Paul this greater revelation. This is what he said in these three verse in the epistles.
Romans 2:16 “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel.”
Romans 16:25 “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel , and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”
2 Timothy 2:8 “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:”
Paul’s gospel had the power to establish you and it would be according to this gospel that you eventually would be judged by God one day. We see in the New Testament that there is the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 4 Gospels in all. But now we have a 5th - Paul’s Gospel? What’s this all about? Why didn’t God show the others this gospel?
One thing you need to realise is that the 4 Apostles only saw from their side of the cross, physically. The disciples only saw outwardly and didn’t understand the spiritual side of things. Paul however saw it from the other side of the cross and saw it all by revelation. He saw what was really going on. He saw the unseen. For instance the Apostles had nothing to say about the 3 days that Jesus spent in the depths of the earth, after Jesus had died, but Paul saw and understood by revelation. The Holy Spirit showed him.
Ephesians 4: 8-10 “This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)”
When Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended, the 4 Apostles only saw Him go up in a cloud and that was that. Paul however saw by revelation where Jesus went and what was accomplished.
Ephesians 1:20-23. “which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over every-thing for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” TLB
Paul had his eyes opened by the Holy Spirit as we see in Ephesians 1:17-18. Paul had revelation that was given to him by God. Have you ever seen those 3D pictures? When you first look at them they are just a meaningless pattern, but after looking at it for awhile an image pops into view like a bird or some animal. It was there all the time but you never saw it. That is what revelation from God is like. You can be reading the same thing over and over again then suddenly you see a truth you never saw before and it changes everything. Jesus said an important thing in Matthew 16.
Matthew 16:13-16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
This verse shows us that it’s by revelation that Christ builds His Church. It’s seeing things from a different perspective. It’s not just looking at the outward things like the Pharisees did. They missed who Jesus was as they only judged with their eyes instead of their hearts. For instance, the 4 Apostles saw Jesus dying on the cross physically, yet Paul saw that he too was being crucified there with Jesus, and not only that he too was buried with him and raised from the dead.
Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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.”
Colossians 2:12-13 “Buried with him in baptism, where also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
Ephesians 2:5-6 “Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”
I love how the Passion translation brings out these amazing truths. I am awed by what God has done for us.
“My old identity has been co-crucified with Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of his cross crucified me with him. 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, and dispenses his life into mine!” Galatians 2:20
“For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!” Colossians 2:12-13
“Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace! He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ!” Ephesians 2:5-6
You might say that you just don’t understand how this could be. How can I receive all this for free so to speak? If you reverse the equation. How did you become a sinner? You know you are a sinner through the word and found out that you were actually born as one. It all came about through Adam’s sin and no choice of yours. Since Adam and Eve were the first humans, when they sinned all of the human race was in them so sin passed on to us all. It seems unfair. Yes, it does but God has provided a way of escape. If through one-mans sin, sin passed onto everyone it stands to reason then that through one man’s righteous act, salvation can be passed on to everyone who believes. The difference now is that you have to believe this truth and by doing so you are placed in Christ and receive all that He did as a gift. You were in Him when He died, was buried and rose again. Amazing. Again lets look at the passion (TPT)
“Now, there is no comparison between Adam’s transgression and the gracious gift that we experience. For the magnitude of the gift far outweighs the crime. It’s true that many died because of one man’s transgression, but how much greater will God’s grace and his gracious gift of acceptance overflow to many because of what one Man, Jesus, the Messiah, did for us! And this free-flowing gift imparts to us much more than what was given to us through the one who sinned. For because of one transgression, we are all facing a death sentence with a verdict of “Guilty!” But this gracious gift leaves us free from our many failures and brings us into the perfect righteousness of God—acquitted with the words “Not guilty!” Romans 5:15 -17 TPT
All this revelation came from a man who never walked with Jesus in the flesh. It was all shown to him by the (unveiling) of the Holy Spirit. This is how Jesus said He would build His Church- by revelation. If you do not understand this truth your walk with God will be like acting and it will be in your own strength, failing often. When you see what Paul saw and identify with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, you’ll become far more victorious. Your walk with God will be Him doing it in and through you, and not you doing it in your strength. You’ll start to have more success by accident than you ever had on purpose.
These are some thoughts from Pastor Bill Johnson on the Throne life that I copied down from a utube clip that may help you understand more about this amazing 5th Gospel of Paul.
Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit of Resurrection, He ascended and was seated at God’s right hand and glorified. He achieved all of this on our behalf, so much so that the bible says that we are raised with Him. If this is so then His resurrection is our resurrection. We are as raised from the dead as Jesus is. It’s not like He was raised and then shares out some of that blessing to every one of us who believes. We are raised together with Christ. His resurrection is our resurrection. It’s not possible to fully comprehend this truth, but what is possible is that through biblical meditation we can fill our minds with truth and consider what seems to be too big, and too good to be true. The Lord invites us into encounter with Him so that we start thinking and seeing according to the biblical reality. What is more true? Fact or Truth? This is the challenge we face every day. There are times when there seems to be a contradiction of fact and truth. The bible gives us a challenge to use our minds. Our minds are very valuable for believers. The Lord takes the mind of a yielded believer and begins to put impressions of His heart upon that mind. Like an artist paints on a canvas. He deposits His perspective on life, His reality on the issues and challenges we face. He begins to paint on the canvas of our minds and lets us catch glimpses of what He’s saying and what He is doing, positioning us for extreme obedience and a radical demonstration of who Jesus is on the planet. This all comes out of the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead, resurrected and defeated every enemy of humanity. His victory is our victory. When Jesus was raised from the dead He didn’t just do it for you, He did it as you. In this season He is enabling us to explore the inheritance. Faith explores what revelation provides. It’s like standing on a high place looking out at all the land that is ours. It’s exciting to see it all but more exciting to actually go and explore it personally.
“For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power.” Colossians 2:9-11 TLB
“In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” Hebrews 1:2-3
What an awesome thought. Jesus fills all in all. His presence holds every cell in place. He is the glue that holds everything together. You can go billions of miles out from the planet at the speed of light (186 billion miles a second) and not even begin to exhaust what we know is out there. It’s all held together by His presence and that fullness dwells in Christ bodily. It’s not just in His head but bodily. In the Church.
“Raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in heaven, far, far above any other king or ruler or dictator or leader. Yes, his honor is far more glorious than that of anyone else either in this world or in the world to come. And God has put all things under his feet and made him the supreme Head of the Church— which is his body, filled with himself, the Author and Giver of everything everywhere.” Ephesians 1:20-23
He has given power to every believer. All things are under our feet. Jesus was raised from the dead and placed far above all principalities. Not just slightly - but far above. There is no contest and all for the Church which is His body. He is constantly saying “come up higher.” Everything has been placed under our feet for the position of ruler ship. His plan has always been to use redeemed humanity to illustrate His ruler ship through us to show the world who Jesus is. This is the fifth Gospel.
“and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself.” Ephesians 3:19
He wants us to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled with the fullness of Christ. It’s the intention of the Lord to demonstrate who Jesus is on a daily basis through believers. The enemy works hard to make us ignorant of these truths so that we don’t access this reality with our hearts. Our thought life is so vital. It explores what God says is true. In that exploration there is the opportunity for faith to apprehend and take possession.
“Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here. You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God. And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with him and share in all his glories.“ Colossians 3:1-4
Because you have died, stop acting like you are not dead. Set you mind on things above. Set your mind on your life that is hidden in Christ. The Presence of God is our home. Everything else down here is just a field trip.
“Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here. You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God. And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with him and share in all his glories.” Colossians 3:1-4
These verses are so abstract compared to daily living. It’s a lot easier to get into the middle of a problem and just ask God to just fix it. “Please do a miracle for me.” This revelation is different, it’s a lifestyle, a place from which to live. To live from the abiding presence of the resurrected Christ. Not just the theology but to encounter an abiding relationship with the Almighty God and then living from that place. It changes how we think and how we live and what we expect in our life. The throne life, the ascended life, is the essence of the fifth gospel. It’s an invitation for every believer to co-operate with the fullness of God’s presence.
