“I am the Lord; I do not change.” “He is the same yesterday, today and forever.” “In Him there is no hint of of change” (Mal. 3:6/ Heb. 13:8/ Jam. 1:7 respectively). From day one of His earthly ministry the man Jesus did not deviate from the perfect ministry template (pattern) which God continually revealed to Him through the Holy Spirit. Jesus humbly acknowledged this Truth in when He said: “I do only what I see My Father do.” Then he said in John 12:49,50: “… I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father which sent me gave Me a commandment (message), telling Me what I should say and what I should speak. I know that His commandment (Word/message) produces everlasting life. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, the Father has spoken to Me. That (and only that) is what I speak.” He again confesses His total dependence on the Father in John 5:30 where He admitted: “I can of My own self do nothing.” But there was much more to the Father’s message to His Son than words. And when His Son relayed the Father’s message to His apostles that Truth it did not change. The unchanging God’s ministerial message to His Son’s apostles is still in effect.

In the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel we find Jesus, having been baptized by John and having received the Holy Spirit, arriving in Galilee where He is heard preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, saying: “The time has come and the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent (of sin–breaking God’s Law–1 Jn. 3:4) and believe the Gospel” (vs 15). Having called the first two of His disciples, He told them to “Come after Me (do and say what I do and say) and I will make you fishers of men.” He made clear His emphasis was on their emulating His Words and acts when He said: “Come after Me,” meaning that they were to pattern every aspect of their lives after Him. After calling two more disciples, the five of them entered the synagogue in Capernaum where He taught the people who had gathered to hear the reading of the Law. The vast majority of the people were illiterate and dependent upon the priesthood to read the Scriptures (the Law and the writings of the prophets) to them and to explain their meaning when necessary.

In verse 22 we are told that the people were astonished by the authority with which Jesus spoke. He spoke God’s Words with the expectation of their coming to pass BECAUSE HE SPOKE THEM. This brings to mind the Apostle Paul’s statement in Second Corinthians 1:19,20 where he wrote that the words he and the other apostles spoke (Christ’s Words which He had heard from the Father) were not “yes” and “no” (meaning “perhaps”), but “IN HIM”” (Christ) God’s Words were “YES.” “For all of the promises of God IN HIM are YES and, IN HIM, AMEN (so be it) to the glory of God.”

It is vitally important to pause at this point to strongly suggest that you read a series that concerns the most powerful Word in the entire Bible relative to the promises of God, including the most important promise: eternal life. That Word is “IF.” Read this series using the word Powerful as the key word. In the Corinthian passage “IF” is replaced “IN HIM” (CHRIST). Together they mean, “IF ONE IS IN HIM.“ Combined in a narrative, the statement would read: “For all of the promises of God are yea and amen IF one is IN CHRIST.”

Believing that one is IN CHRIST and actually being IN CHRIST are two entirely different things. In Matthew 25 Jesus uses a parable concerning ten virgins (church people). All ten believed that they would marry the Bridegroom (Jesus) upon His return. However, half of them were dead wrong. The five foolish virgins “knew” that they were IN HIM until He told them: “I do not know you.” Being called “virgins” tells us that they once were IN HIM but had sinned their way out of Him. How had this happened? Their sins are not identified. I believe the parable is a condemnation of the church’s “only believe and repent” lie which has been around almost as long as the church herself. Revelation 14:4 describes true “virgins” as those who sins–symbolized by intimate sexual relations–have been forgiven, after which they remain true to God until death. These “virgins” (true Christians) are the “first-fruits of the Lamb” who will rise to meet Him in the air upon His return.

The importance of the Words “IN HIM” relative to God’s promises is highlighted in First Thessalonians 4:16,17 where we are told that, upon Christ’s return to earth (His Second Advent), both the living and the dead “IN CHRIST” will rise to meet Him in the clouds. Only those “IN HIM” will be resurrected, will join Him in the air and will return to earth with Him where He will establish the Kingdom of God where He, the Father and those who had lived “IN CHRIST” following their conversions will live forever. Read The Three Resurrections and The Kingdom of God. Key words–Three and Kingdom respectively. I will say no more on this subject except to direct you to a statement found in First John 1:5 concerning God the Father, His Son and those who will live with Them in the Kingdom of God: “This is the message that we have heard from Him (Jesus) and declare unto you, that God is light (holiness), and “IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS (SIN) AT ALL.” Relative to holiness, God and Christ are the same, so much so that Jesus said that to “see” Him was to “see” the Father. He said in John 10:30: “The Father and I are one,” meaning that They are one in every way except numerically. Together They comprise the Godhead. The key to receiving the promises of God is to be “IN GOD AND IN CHRIST” where there is “no darkness (sin) at all.” Isaiah 59:2 tells us that sin “separates you from your God.” Contrary to the church’s “only believe and repent” teaching, it is impossible to be “IN HIM” and separated “FROM HIM.” Nor is it possible to be “separate from Him” and “walk with Him” which we must do in this life in order to live with Him forever. Amos 3:3 tells us that we can only walk with Him if we agree with (obey) Him.

It is imperative that we know this Truth: THE PROPHETS WROTE ONLY TO GOD’S PEOPLE ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE AND THE APOSTLES WROTE ONLY TO THE CHURCH AND ABOUT THE CHUCRH. In First John 1:6 the apostle says that if we claim that we walk with God while continuing to sin we “lie and there is no Truth in us” because we claim to be walking in agreement with Him. In other words, if we continue to sin we are telling the world that God condones sin. In 3:6 John writes that whoever abides “IN HIM” does not sin and whoever sins has not “seen” Him and does not “know” Him. In verse 8 he says that whoever sins is (a spiritual child) of the devil. In verse 10 John says that whoever does not walk in righteousness is not of God. In verse 9 he says that he that is born (begotten) of God “cannot sin.” The Word “cannot” in Greek is the conjunction of two words: “can” (dynamai–have the power to) and “not” (ou–refuse to). The statement means that God’s saints can sin but refuse to do so. Jesus could have sinned but refused to do so. We must “walk (live) as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) while in total agreement with Him (Amos 3:3). We must overcome temptation “… as I (Jesus) overcame” (Rev. 3:21) in order to receive eternal life upon His return. In part 2 we will return to the subject of this series–Christ’s exemplary ministry and how it is the message of His true messengers to those who wish to join Him in paradise forever. L.J.