How did God and man live together between Genesis 1:27 and 3:28 before man hid himself from God? What was the relationship between man and God like before the fall? Man was completely dependent on God for everything and obeyed God in everything. After man ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he became twice bitten for he now perceived and sifted all things through the conscience realm of what he believed to be right and wrong or good and evil. Self now replaced God, so to speak, in his life. Being ruled by self through our conscience, however, presents an unavoidable problem for everybody’s conscience is different. We are taught right and wrong by our family, friends, teachers, culture, etc. What is right to one is wrong to another and since “self” now rules, conflict becomes inevitable. It is absolutely futile to try and live this way. The only answer is to return to being directly ruled by God.
To return to God, then, and not be self-ruled or ruled over by man, we must be:
1. cleansed of an evil conscience by allowing the mind of Christ to be formed in us and
2. stop eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil for it only continues to feed the carnal mind and keep us enslaved to that mindset.
Man in his primitive state knew only God and not self. That is why Jesus said, “And this is life eternal that I may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom that hast sent” (John 17:3). This is the wonder of eternal life. Eternal life is living in this higher realm where we eat only from the tree of life. Until man reaches this higher realm where he is completely caught up in God and not self, he will continue to be self-ruled and man-ruled. It really all boils down to obedience.
There are two kinds of obedience. One is based on the conscience of right and wrong. We do it because we are told to do it “or else”. The other obedience is a spontaneous response by one’s nature. The second type of obedience enables man to live in harmony with God because he is able to sense Him by his (man’s) spirit. This is what is required of us to enter into and abide in the kingdom living under God’s direct rule.
God is presently in the process of delivering us from being both self-ruled and man-ruled to bring us back to the simplicity of being directly God-ruled so that we can once again abide in the presence of God. The mind of Christ overrides good and evil so we are to live above right and wrong and be ruled by the living Spirit of God only because the mind of Christ can only accept what comes from God Himself. For example, even though it is right to tell the truth, it may not be a good thing to do. For instance, if a person has received a report that he is going to die due to a terminal illness, are we going to speak the truth of his dying or are we going to speak life to Him? Sometimes what is required is not the truth but words of life. Words of life come from the higher realm. God does not come from a place of right and wrong; Jesus took care of that. He comes from the place of life. This is a new and living way that we are to abide in. We have a High Priest who has made this way open to us. By applying the blood removing all doubt and self-condemnation, we are able to experientially enter beyond the veil into the very life of God Himself.
This is how we identify the sons of God “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Living and walking in the Spirit means that we have reached a place in God where our heart’s conscience has been purified of self whereby we have the boldness to enter the Holiest of All by the blood, the life and the love of Christ for we are in Christ Himself who has taken us beyond the veil where we are able to see the Father through pure hearts having become centered in the life of God Himself. Here we are able to sense the spontaneous knowing of the will of God due to the intimacy we share with Him. There is no more the need for the law due to this intimate knowing of Him. It is written in our hearts and has become supernaturally natural for us to obey Him.
This is the higher life of living above the “do’s and don’t’s” and the “rights and wrongs” no longer taking offense or giving offense. It is where we satisfy all the laws of God by loving Him with all our mind, heart and soul and loving all others as we have come to love the new self hidden in Christ. When we really love someone, we “sense” their being; we just know what they’re thinking or feeling. It is this transparency that the Father so desires for it is what makes a relationship real and genuine for there is no more hiding or covering up due to shame. Being completely open in this way, we can see the glory of God.
There is a value to obedience that we need to be experientially taught in order to appreciate it. Righteous obedience means that we live to do God’s will; living above that which is right and wrong where we sense, feel, taste, think and know God to the point that our spirit knows His Spirit. This is the meaning of eternal life that we may experientially know Him the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
……to be continued
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