How can Jesus Christ have died, been resurrected, have returned to the Father where He abides today at God’s right hand serving as the “mediator between God and Man” (1 Tim. 2:5)–AND BE ON EARTH AT ALL TIMES? The answer encompasses a number of factors, one of which involves exactly WHAT He is: Notice EXACTLY WHAT is sitting on God’s throne with Him–“THE MAN, JESUS CHRIST.” Let that incredible Truth sink in. THERE IS A MAN SITTING NEXT TO GOD IN HEAVEN RIGHT NOW. Keep this in mind as we answer the “how” question put forth in the first sentence.

Another statement relative to the “how” question was spoken by Jesus the MAN years after having died on a cross and having joined His Father in heaven as recorded in Acts 22 where we find Saul of Tarsus lying on the ground, having been knocked off his horse and blinded by the brightness of the light in front of him. The Lighted One says to him: “Saul, Saul, why DO you persecute ME?” Notice that the question was spoken in the PRESENT TENSE (“do”), and that it INVOLVED THE SHINING ONE. Not knowing with whom he is dealing, Saul asks the Shining One Who to identify Himself. Notice how He identifies Himself: “I AM JESUS OF NAZARETH WHOM YOU PERSECUTE (are persecuting now). Note that JESUS CHRIST IDENTIFIED HIMSELF USING HIS HUMAN NAME AND BIRTHPLACE. Many years after He had returned to heaven JESUS IDENTIFIED AS A HUMAN BEING (1 Tim. 2:5). He was also a God sitting on a throne in heaven. JESUS WAS, AND STILL IS, A HUMAN BEING WHO IS ALSO A GOD. This is another key to answering the “how” question. It also says wonderful things about those who will live with Him for eternity who will be exactly as He now is and forever will be.

That statement tells us much about those who will rise in the first resurrection and accompany Christ and His angels to the Mount of Olives, enter Jerusalem and there establish the Kingdom of God where He and they will reside forever? IT TELLS US THAT, UPON HIS RETURN, TRUE SAINTS WILL BE CHANGED FROM FLESH AND BLOOD HUMANS TO SPIRIT HUMAN GODS. THIS IS THE “BORN AGAIN” EXPERIENCE THAT HIS VERY ELECT SAINTS WILL EXPERIENCE BECAUSE, AS HE TOLD NICODEMUS, “FLESH AND BLOOD CANNOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”

This rule also applied to Jesus as a man. HE HAD TO BE BORN AGAIN (changed from flesh to spirit) in order to enter God’s presence. Being born again upon Christ’s return, the saint can then, and only then, enter the kingdom that Christ will create in the area today called the “Promised Land.” Read Born Again. Key word–Born. There His true saints will be as He is–HUMAN BEINGS–WHO ARE ALSO GODS- WHO WILL RULE, FIRST THE EARTH, THEN, FOLLOWING THE MILLENNIUM , THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. Read God’s Very Elect: Future Caretakers of the Universe. Key word–Caretakers.

Which brings us back to the “how” question: HOW CAN CHRIST BE SITTING BESIDE THE FATHER ON HIS THRONE IN HEAVEN (Rev. 3:21) AND BE ON EARTH AT THE SAME TIME? Colossians 1:25-27 gives us a general explanation. Here we find the Apostle Paul telling us that his ministry was to preach God’s Gospel, which was the MYSTERY of God which He was making known to His apostles who would then make the mystery known to His true saints. This mystery involved the glory of God being manifested IN them. That glory is: “CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY.” Notice that CHRIST IN US GIVES US THE HOPE OF GLORY (SALVATION/ REBIRTH). Read Romans 8:24,25 carefully and with an open heart. The Truth is clear: NO ONE IS SAVED/BORN AGAIN IN THIS LIFE. When Christ returns He will have “salvation in His wings” (Mal. 4:2). Salvation will be awarded to those who “… endure to the end” with their holiness intact in spite of the persecution true saints will have suffered at the hands of the false church (Mat. 24:4-13). Read Persecution using that word as the key.

Now we will specifically address the “how” question. God in heaven SPIRITUALLY LIVED IN Jesus of Nazareth as He “walked” through His human life. Jesus tells us how He did this in John 5:19 and 12:49 where He declares that everything He did and said He saw the Father do and heard the Father say. He was able to do this only through the Holy Spirit which lived within Him, exactly like holy saints see and hear God today. In this way, when people saw and heard Him (Jesus) they saw and heard the Father. It is through the Holy Spirit that God’s appointed and anointed ministers “hear” His voice and “see” what He is doing. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that these saints do what Christ did and speak what He speaks, as He promised true believers in John 14:12. By obeying the Lord, all saints become HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS, THE END RESULT OF WHICH IS SALVATION. Carefully read Romans 5:21 and 6:22. As the Apostle Peter declares in First Peter 4:17,18, JUDGMENT IS ONGOING IN THE CHURCH, AND ONLY THE RIGHTEOUS (HOLY) WILL BE SAVED.” By comparing our lives to the Holy Scriptures, we “work out our own salvation” (Phil. 2:12). Note that we do so with “fear and trembling.” Note that Jesus feared God, which is why His prayers were heard (Heb. 5:7). JESUS WAS A MAN AND SUBJECT TO THE SAME COMMANDS AS EVERYONE ELSE. Those who obey as He will share the same inheritance in the future (Rom. 8:14-18). Such an inheritance (the universe) will be awarded only to those who obey God as did Jesus of Nazareth.

As He did through Jesus, the Almighty lives (“walks”) in His Very Elect saints through His Holy Spirit which fills the true convert (Acts 4:31). Read about true and false conversion. Key word–Conversion. There are several series on this subject. I suggest that you read them all. As the saint “walks as He walked” while on earth (1 Jn. 2:6) under the leadership of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14), God is spiritually “walking” in them. Just as Jesus presented His Father to the world, the true saint presents their Father to the world. In this sense, saints are, as Jesus was, God in human form. These are those who can say, “When people see me, they see God.” These are those who will rise to meet Him in the clouds at the end of the age, descend to the Mount of Olives, ….

In order to walk Christ’s walk one must use the Holy Spirit’s power to “… overcome (Satan’s temptations to sin)” as did Jesus and thereby earned the right to sit with God on His throne (Rev. 3:21). In the spirit world, only Gods are allowed to sit on thrones. Only humans who “walk as He walked” and “overcome as He overcame” will be born again from flesh to spirit and be allowed to sit with Jesus on His throne.

That promised prize will be awarded to the “few” who enter the strait (difficult) gate to God’s true church and walk His narrow (restrictive) path in this life. This eliminates the “only believe” system embraced by “sinners saved by grace.” Read about them in Revelation 3:14-18.

Now that we understand the “Mystery of God,” let us be about letting Him live in us so that when the world sees us, the world sees Him. Nothing else matters.

Check out what Pope Francis recently decreed for the Catholic Church. One day all churches will fall in line behind him or his successor. As I have stated several times, I believe that the “false prophet” of Revelation 16:13; 19:20 and 20:10 will be the reigning pope who will rule the one-world church in existence during Tribulation Period. L.J