(See here for Part Three – Creation of the Cosmos)
Who are you? (Hint: you are more than you believe is possible.)
God has determined to reveal Himself to you in a way that captures your heart, and He has worked from before the beginning of time to accomplish this. The reason? He wants you to believe what He believes is true about you. His mind has been eternally made up about who you are and why you’re here, but the issue is that you don’t really believe it.
There is a surface version of “you”, the one that’s a compilation of everything in life that’s led you to this moment, as you glimpsed when hurtling backwards in time. It includes things you’ve done, stuff you’ve said, and also stuff and things that others have done and said to you. You’re a fantastic, drastic, spastic collage of your own history and the history of those that have gone before you, the seemingly obvious version of “you” that stares back at you in the mirror each day and speaks from inside you to yourself. It’s quite convincing, this default mental image of what you really believe about yourself. THIS is what we all start out believing, and it seems somewhat obvious and matter-of-fact.
But the seemingly obvious version of you is NOT the real you. The real you, the one God has known from eternity past, lies well beneath the surface. It’s the “you” before you had a chance to DO anything. It requires some patience and forces us to take a longer look, but what we will find is well worth the effort. Your real life is not readily apparent when looking through natural eyes. But when you catch His revelation of your Real Life through the eyes of your Light-Flooded heart, it changes everything.
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Here, in the pre-Beginning, we’ve discovered the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). If we look close enough at the scene before us, the beautiful Three-in-Love, the shadow of THE cross and the One it bears starts coming into sharper focus. We have the strange but confident sense that this is a Love above all Loves . . . overpowering and all-encompassing.
The real version of you and me is found as we look long and hard at the scene before us now, where we begin to see something deeper in Calvary’s cross.
If we were to fast forward to 1st century Palestine, we’d be able to see the crucifixion event happen in time and space. But this trip to the pre-Beginning affords us a preview of Calvary’s essence before the Story actually unfolds. As we look closer, this cross in the center of the scene continues to grow clearer, larger, soon overwhelming and out-of-proportion gigantic. You’re staring at a Mystery that stands triumphant over all of history – from pre-beginning to post-end – hidden within this Cross lies the entire Story of the cosmos.
It’s a horrible scene at first glance . . . the blood, the bruises, the innocence lost, the excruciating agony of death pangs, the rage and violence of humanity focused into a single act . . . but there is so much Wonder and Weight awaiting beneath the surface. At this point, the Cross might give us hints about two important things:
- It graphically exposes the bloody, violent patterns of our sin – that we would torture and kill God Himself
- It reveals the Love of Christ as a New and Foundational Reality, one that includes even His enemies
This Truth within the Cross exists independent of our opinions, our experiences, our beliefs or our background. It was Truth before the foundation of the world, and it remains the Truth today. And it was Truth initiated by and accomplished in Christ on your behalf before you had a chance to vote on the matter. You were hand-chosen to be the recipient of His eternal Calvary-Like Love, and He would have done this for you had you been the ONLY person on the planet.
The Lamb Slain in the Pre-Beginning is the means by which He has provided inclusion within the Godhead . . . the shadow pointing to the Reality that would play out in human history thousands of years later.
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Finished Work – Epicenter of the Universe
For many hundreds of years, the ancient rabbis diligently studied the Hebrew scriptures, becoming intimately familiar with its contents . . . to the point of memorizing large portions of the entire Old Testament, in some cases the full text. For them, it wasn’t only a surface knowledge. They allowed the scriptures to bring them a sense of reverential awe at the God revealed within, compelling them to live out Yahweh-honoring lives. These were people of renown, the ones who had a clear perception of who God was and what He was like, and cast hope-filled vision for Israel of the coming Messiah who would lead them into their ultimate destiny as a nation, when they would finally be able to rise up above their oppressors after centuries of cruel bondage, painful exile, and harsh oppression.
The ones who knew the scriptures best, and thought they knew God most, missed Him completely.
Now, it’s difficult to grasp the utter shock of Jesus’ words as He encountered Cleopas and his friend on the Emmaus Road, immediately after the resurrection. He gave them the gift of a Burning Heart as He opened up the scriptures to them, showing them a new lens for ‘interpretation’ that differed drastically from the way they’d understood until that point in time.
Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the Prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself… 33 And rising up that very hour, they went back to Jerusalem, where they found the Eleven [apostles] gathered together and those who were with them…Then He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything which is written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. 45 Then He [thoroughly] opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures . . .
– Luke 24:27, 33, 44-45 –
So . . . what caused their hearts to burn within them? Well, it came from the revelation that everything in the entire scripture was intended to reveal the Person and Work of Christ. The Eternal Christ, the One we see before the Creation, is the Essence of Unchanging Love. As Martin Luther wrote, “There is not a word in the Bible which is extra cruem (“outside the cross”), which can be understood without reference to the cross. The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.” And the revelation only came after Jesus Himself unlocked it for the disciples and taught them a new way to read . . . through the Lens of the Cross.
He was basically saying this: The Cross and the Love it represents changes Everything. It reframes the entire Story of Creation. It changes the way we understand relationships and see the world. Without placing it as the Epicenter of the Universe, we are unable to grasp and digest the essential flow of the scriptures. However when lifted to its rightful place above the whole Cosmos, we see all of scripture and all of life in a brand new, Calvary-Infused light.
The Cross changes the whole ballgame, and we are seeing its Lamb-Carrying shadow-image before the Story of human history even begins. Is there anything more in this Pre-Beginning scene before us, the Cross in the midst of the Three-in-Love carrying the Perfect Self-Sacrifice that would create the means for us to enjoy the Divine Sanctuary?
Yes, there’s something more than just the Lamb on the Cross. We were there, too. And not just in the crowd. The Savior didn’t just die for our sin and the sin of the world here. He also included you and me into His own death, a death that clears the way for the Life He longs to share with us. He died as us. The shadow-image of the Cross contains the portrait of you and me and all of humanity within Christ.
This Truth-infused freedom resident in the Cross is fully activated by way of your horrific and glorious death. The Story shadowed in the Pre-Beginning crucifixion scene . . . shock of all shocks . . . featured you. Drink deep.
Christ loves compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake. –
– 2 Corinthians 4:14-15 –
We see Jesus, who…suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
– Hebrews 2:9 –
Funeral Celebration – Truth Moves in Mysterious Ways
In order to participate in this Truth, to experience “abundant life” (John 10:10) and the “same power that raised Christ from the dead” (Eph 1:17-23), we have to be spectators at our own funeral. This has to be visceral, raw, and real for it to carry transformational impact to our hearts. But wait . . . what do you mean, my funeral? I’m not dead yet! I’m walking around, living and breathing in reasonably good shape, with hopefully several decades left before I worry about that stuff! What on earth are you saying, that I need to be a spectator at my own funeral? Are you playing mind games with me?!?
No, this isn’t a mind game.
Yes, we are talking about your own funeral.
How? Because
. . . you died 2000 years ago on a Roman cross in 1st century Palestine.
Jesus was not only the “Lamb slain before the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8) . . . in the apostle John’s vision (Revelation 1), he turns to see a “Lamb appearing as if it had just been slain.” Apparently, the implications of Christ’s Crucifixion extend from pre-Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation, somehow defying time itself. And this is precisely the point. Jesus’ death signifies an eternal reality, both physical and meta-physical, that can never be constrained by time. The Love it represents is able to capture and consume us whole at any point throughout history, quite like the Black Hole we’ve seen at the Beginning. And it’s precisely why God was able to baptize (completely immerse) you into Christ’s death 2000 years ago, the event that we are seeing in shadow-form prior to the Creation as we gaze at the images within the cross.
So, your “funeral” actually happened when Christ died – your obituary is recorded in several places in scripture (Rom 6, Gal 2, Eph 2, Col 2). There is absolutely no value in feverishly trying to create a better version of yourself over the course of your existence. That’s man-made religion, and it’s a lifelong quest for a dangling carrot, a futile insanity. Rather, the Spirit compels you to recognize yourself as dead, which allows Him to live out His new life in and through you. You are IN Christ, and He is IN you – He has deposited His Very Life and Love on the inside of you without you having to do a single thing to earn it!!! This is almost too good to be true when we see it in all its Radical Beauty and Ridiculous Splendor. . . but THIS is the REALITY of the GOSPEL. Because of Christ – you are Innocent.
You died with Christ,
you were buried with Christ,
you were raised with Christ, and
you were seated in heavenly places with Christ.
Let it drown you and sink you into the depths of His Love in Awe and Great Wonder.
Wait . . . What Died?!? I still have a physical body!
You died to the need to draw life from anything in the world.
All you need for Life, for Love, for Identity . . . lies within you.
Without the work of Christ, the natural man gains his life from things external to his spirit. He defines himself by what’s going on around him – what people are saying and doing; his thoughts, experiences and accomplishments; and of course the inputs that he receives through his 5 senses. He is the outside-in old man. And this man, infused with this outside-in “Adamic” nature that died with Christ, was placed in a permanent grave.
Because of Christ’s Finished Work, man is now able to draw his life from the seed deposited within Him containing the Spirit of the Living God. The entire man is ‘redeemed’, and is now designed to take its cues from deep inside. He is the inside-out New Creation Man, the one that emerged from the tomb at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Reminder: Don’t get lost in the metaphysical, the metaphorical, the abstractness of this description. We’re simply looking at a picture of how Christ makes it possible to partake in His Life, in His Essence.
Truth. What is it? Why does it matter?
The tru-est Truth and the real-est Reality about every single person on the planet is that we are loved Radically and with Wild Abandon by God in Christ. We are each the object of a Great Affection, greater than any love at the peak of our imaginations.
Too simple? Perhaps. Jesus, who came to manifest that Truth to us, is revealing that He didn’t become a Savior when He came to earth. He has ALWAYS been a Savior, He has ALWAYS loved us, He has ALWAYS pictured humanity participating in His Divine Life. We just have a hard time entering into that reality – I sure did. So, God had to make it real for me and take it from my head (nodding in agreement with the facts I read) down to my heart and soul. He had to invade my inner world with Reality in order that Truth would be embedded in my soul.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
– 1 John 4:13-16 (Message) –
Collision with Christ – Dream Sequence
I share this to illustrate how God established the reality of my co-crucified Identity with Him in the deepest part of my soul and spirit. Since God is never constrained to formulas, the only point I’d like to make here is that His infinite creativity in revealing Himself knows no boundaries in how He might establish this same reality within you. This dream sequence was from several years ago, and featured a 2.5 year gap between scenes 1 and 2.
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SCENE 1 – I was standing alone on the beach . . . stretching endlessly to both sides . . . overlooking a beautiful sunset with brilliant colors donning the horizon . . . I was simply soaking it all in. Oh, how I love the ocean!
I recognized some storm clouds starting to brew in the distance, and like dreams sometimes flow, things started to speed up exponentially and the wind started to whip up the waves as the storm headed my way. I felt the fury of the sky as it drove the ocean into a frenzy, and a huge wall of water started to build and bear down on me, in a U-shape pattern . . . somehow I knew that the anger of the sky and water was not a random act of nature, but directed at me.
As this 30-foot wave was about to crash on me, I knew without doubt that the instant it touched me I was going to die. Then, 2 things happened in ultra-slo-motion the moment before my death . . .
As the wave froze in time before me:
- I recognized that it was not water at all. It was raw sewage, filled with the most grotesque, stench-filled substances I had ever known, enough to elicit a vomit reaction but I held it in. The garbage was moving within the wave like a strange mural, alive and snarling ugly.
- A flash of understanding came to me . . . this entire wall of sewage, 30 foot tall and about to end my life, had been entirely generated from within my heart.
And immediately the dream ended.
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SCENE 2 – 2.5 years later, during a Sunday service at our church, we were singing this chorus during worship: “I love you Lord, You rescued me, You are all that I want, You’re all I need.” In an instant, I was launched back to the scene on the beach. The wave was about to crush me and I was filled with terror.
Out of the corner of my eye, to the left, I saw the blurred image of someone hurtling towards me. I didn’t have time to think, but remember only that the eyes were incredibly intense, laser focused on me . . . and I knew that he meant me no harm.
I felt the crush of his body hitting me, harder than any linebacker hit I had ever seen, and felt my body being driven down into the sand. He buried me completely . . . I saw only one image before my vision went black and that was his outstretched body over mine as I fell to the earth, forming the shape of a cross against the background scene.
I felt the weight of the wave crashing down with incredible force, but felt none of the pain . . . for the man who was on me absorbed the raw sewage all into Himself, while at the same time absorbing me into Himself. It ended as suddenly as it had begun, and I was launched back to the worship service.
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I have no words to describe the gift of this picture, this image of what my Savior, the Merciful One, went through on my behalf. It felt crude and raw . . . intimate and messy and heavy. Somehow I became part of the cross and part of the burial . . . not just figuratively. He did this for me to bring to life the identification with His Work, and for 10 billion others it was just as intense and intimate and heavy. This is when “union” really forged its way into the deepest parts of me, and changed from a concept into something that caused my heart to leap with joy and astonishment.
Even now, no matter how hard I might try, I could never un-see or escape the weight of Love I saw in His piercing eyes . . . nor would I ever want to.
Those eyes . . . those Beautiful Eyes.
I also knew, though not part of a dream (not yet, anyway), that when He got up from that sandy grave, I would also rise as a part of Him.
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We have to let this Reality get on the INSIDE of us, and not remain on the nightstand at home where we can stare at it and appreciate it from many angles. Sometimes, we have faith in an insight, or faith in the scriptures about an insight, or faith in the way we can explain an insight in great detail, or even faith in faith itself . . . but those are never to be the objects of our faith. JESUS is the object (and the source) of our faith! I like to describe faith as an inner astonishment to what Christ has done . . . which gives us open access to draw from Christ and make what’s true of Him, true of us.
What is God’s by nature is given to us as a gift by His Grace.
Again . . . Hallelujah!!!
Let’s Agree in Prayer Together:
Father, in the Glorious Name of Your Son, by the power of Your Spirit, take this Reality and bring it to life on the INSIDE of us. Show us the Truth that we were there 2000 years ago when Your Son died on that horrible, beautiful cross. We died with Christ and were raised with Him as a New Creation!!!
Don’t just let us appreciate this as simple insight . . . make it real, make it raw, make it beautiful inside us and cause it to change the way we think about ourselves when we see our reflection in the mirror of your Face. Replace our “insights” with the revelation of Your very life within us.
Jesus, You are altogether Beautiful. We adore You and magnify Your Great Name today! Amen, and Amen.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
– Galatians 2:20 –
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret.
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
– the Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupery
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