Jesus is the guideline for those who follow him. Many descriptions of Jesus also apply to those strive to be more like him. Numerous statements in the scriptures pertaining to Jesus also pertain to his followers.
References
1. Like Jesus, we are to be one with the Father
Not only did Jesus say, “I and the Father are one” (John
10:30), he prayed to the Father for those that are his
disciples, “that they may be one, even as we are one” (John
17:11) and for those who will believe through their word, “that
they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they
also may be in us” [in union with
us]
(John
17:21) and, “that they may be one even as we are one, I in them
and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” (John
17:22-23)
Saying “I and the Father are one” is equivalent to saying
“the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John
10:30 + John
14:10) While Jesus prayed for us to all be one he also prayed
for us to be in the Father saying, “just as you, Father, are in me, and I in
you, that they also may be in us.” (John
17:21) And, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” (John
17:22-23) Earlier in John, when Jesus speaks of the day when the
Holy Spirit will be given, he alludes to the same sense of oneness when he
said, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I
in you. (John 14:20) The concept of
the Father being in us and us being in the Father is also a major theme of the
first epistle of John. The following verses in 1 John shed further light on how
the author wants us to understand this concept of being one:
- Let
what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the
beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the
Father. (1John 2:24)
- And
now, little children, abide in him… everyone who practices righteousness
has been born of him. (1John
2:28-29)
- And
this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus the Messiah and love one another,
just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,
and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit
whom he has given us. (1John
3:23-24)
- No
one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. (1John
4:12)
- By
this we know that we abide in Him and He
in us, because He
has given us of His
Spirit. (1John 4:13)
- So
we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is
love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1John
4:16)
It is in this context that we should understand what Jesus
meant in John 14:9-11 when he said, “If you
have seen me you have seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak
on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” So we see that Jesus was
not claiming to be God but was claiming to be “one with the Father” as a
servant and representative
[agent]
of God. In the same sense that Jesus was “one with the Father,” we are to
be “one with the Father”. The Father is to be in us in the same sense that the
Father was in the Messiah Jesus. We
are to be in the Father in the same sense that Jesus was in the Father. God our
Father, Jesus, and us; we are
all to be in each other. (John
17:21) We are all to be perfectly one. (John
17:23)
2. Like Jesus, we are sent into the world
Jesus referred to himself as one “sent into the world.” (John
10:36) but also said, when praying to the Father, “As you sent
me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John
17:18) We understand that being sent into the world is being
raised up as a bond-servant
of God and being sent out into ministry (Acts
3:22-26).
3. Like Jesus, we are not of this world
Jesus stated, “I am not of the world” (John
8:23, John
10:36) but also said of his followers, “you are not of this
world” (John 15:19) and “they are not of the
world, just as I am not of the world” (John
17:14) when praying to the Father.
4. Like
Jesus, we may be filled with all the fullness of God
Paul wrote, “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to
dwell” (Colosians 1:19) and
“in him the whole fullness of the
nature of God dwells bodily” (Colosians 2:9). But Paul also wrote
that he bowed his knees before the Father (in prayer) that, “according to the
riches of His
glory, Hhe may
grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16) and
“to know the love of the
Messiah
that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
(Ephesians 3:19)
5. Like Jesus, we may become the image of God
Paul refers to the “gospel of the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).
Paul also refers to Jesus as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
all creation.” (Colosians 1:15)
The context of these verses pertains to the gospel in which the Father has
“qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” through
which the Father has “transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” (Colosians 1:12-15) The gospel thus
provides the means for us to be presented “holy and blameless and above
reproach before him.” (Colosians 1:21-22) Paul later says in
Colossians, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear
with him in glory” and says to “put on the new self which is being renewed in
knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colosians3:1-10) Indeed, God
predestined us [marked us
out beforehand] to be
“conformed to the image of His
Son, in order that he might be the first born among many brothers” and
“those whom He
justified [made righteous]
He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30). “As is the man of
heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man
of dust, we shall also bear the image of the glorified, immortal man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:48-49)
“We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord [Messiah], are being transformed into
the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
These references reveal to us that the “gospel of the glory
of the Messiah” is
the good news that we can be redeemed and transformed into the same image of the Messiah Jesus, who has been glorified and
is the image of God. (1 Corinthians 4:3-6, Colosians 1:12-15)
6. Like Jesus, we share in the glory that God
had planned from the beginning of creation
Jesus said, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It
is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’ (John
8:54)
and he asked of the Father, “Glorify me in your own presence with the glory
that I had with you before the world existed.” (John
17:5)
However, Jesus praying to God said, “The glory that you have given me I have
given to them, that they may be one even as we are one” (John
17:22) “so that the world may know that you loved them even
as you loved me.” (John
17:23) The suffering of this present time is not worth comparing
with the glory that is to be revealed to us - the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:18-19). The secret and
hidden wisdom of God is what God decreed before the ages for our glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-7). Those
who will be saved are vessels of mercy, which God prepared beforehand for glory
(Rom
9:22-24). When the
Messiah
who is our life [in him] appears,
then we shall also appear with him in glory (Colosians 3:4). In the Messiah, we have obtained an
inheritance according to God’s purpose for the fullness of time (Ephesians 1:11). We are created [as new creations] in the Messiah Jesus for good works, which
God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) The manifold wisdom
of God is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God according to the
eternal purpose that he has realized in the Messiah Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:9-11).
7. Like Jesus, we are loved and blessed from
the foundation of the world
Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you
have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given
me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John
17:24). And he also says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34) God has not destined
us for wrath, but that we might receive adoption as sons (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, Galatians 4:4-5). No eye has seen, nor
ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who
love him. (1 Corinthians 2:7-9) All
things work for good for those who love God and are called according to his
purpose (Romans
8:28-29, Ephesians 1:3-5). God saved us and
called us to a holy calling because of His purpose and grace which He gave us in the Messiah Jesus before the ages began (2 Timothy 1:8-10). Jesus was foreknown
before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for
our sake (1 Peter 1:20). The saints are those whose
names are written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world (Revelation
13:5-8).
8. Like Jesus, we are sons of God through the
resurrection
Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according
to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” (Rom
1:4, Acts
13:32-35) Jesus, said regarding the coming kingdom, “but those who
are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the
dead … are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the
resurrection.” (Luke 20:35-36) Creation waits for the
revealing of the sons of God and we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:18-23, Romans 9:22-26, Ephesians 1:3-5) According to God’s
purpose, He
predestined [marked out beforehand]
the Messiah to be the firstborn among many brothers, so that we would
be conformed to the images of his Son. (Romans 8:28-29)
Note: Disciples of the
Lord Messiah Jesus have now at this time received the spirit or adoption –
sonship. (Romans 8:15;
9. Like Jesus, we are sons of God by the Spirit
of God
Jesus considered himself to be the Son of God. In the Law,
they were called gods to whom the word of God came. (John
10:35-36). Jesus was merely claiming to be the Son of God, although
the Father sent him into the world and was doing the works of the Father [as His agent]. (John
10:37) In a similar sense, it says in Romans, “all who are led
by the Spirit of God are sons of God… you have received the Spirit of adoption
as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”” (Rom
8:14-15) and the Spirit “bears witness with our spirit that we are
children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with the Messiah.” (Romans 8:16-17). “We know that for
those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) “For those whom He foreknew he also predestined [marked out beforehand] to be
conformed to the image of His
Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29)
10. Like Jesus, we are anointed by the Spirit
of God
Jesus proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord - Yehovah is upon me, because He has anointed me.” (Luke
4:18)
Indeed, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power - he went about doing good and healing all
who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him, (Acts
10:38) In a similar way those who come after the Messiah receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon them (Acts
1:8, Acts
4:31).
Like Jesus, our ministry is to be attested in
power and in the Holy Spirit (1
Thessalonians 1:5, Romans 15:19, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5). We
are anointed by God. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 1 John
2:20)
11. We die, are buried, and are raised with the Messiah
We die, are buried, and are raised with the Messiah: We are to take up our cross
and follow the Messiah. (Matthew
16:24) Through repentance, we have died to sin and self and the elemental spirits of
the world. (Colossians 2:20) Those
of us who have been baptized into the Messiah Jesus were baptized into his
death (Romans 6:3) We
were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead, we
too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4) We
believe that if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall
certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:5-11, Colossians 2:12-13, Colossians 3:1-4)
12. Jesus is the firstborn of many brothers - who will inherit the Kingdom - priests to his God and Father
Jesus said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear
the word of God and do it.” (Luke
8:19-21). If we are in his flock, it is the Father’s good
pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luke
12:32-34). Jesus will assign his
followers a kingdom as the Father assigned to him a kingdom, that they may sit
on thrones judging the tribes. (Luke
22:28-30) We should walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls us
into his own kingdom and glory (1 Thes
2:12). He foreknew and predestined [marked us out beforehand] us to
be conformed to the image of His
Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29). Jesus is the
firstborn of all creation, in that God has delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13-15).
Since He who
sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source, Jesus is not
ashamed to refer to those sons who are called to glory as brothers (Hebrews 2:11). Jesus had to be made
like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in service to God (Hebrews2:17). God has chosen those
who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which
he has promised to those who love him (James 2:5). Jesus the Messiah the faithful witness, the
firstborn from the dead, has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father (Revelation 1:4-6). He
ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation, and
made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth (Revelation 5:9-10).
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the
second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and
they will reign with him for a thousand years (Revelatoin 20:6).
Written by heophilus
Josiah, Founder
of Integrity Syndicate and
edited and added to by Bruce Lyon
