The
Resurrection of All in All:
The
Raising Up of the Spiritual Body of Christ To See From
The Eternal Vantage Point
Dean Johnson, Ultimate
Redemption
Seeing
scripture as already fulfilled may be one step toward seeing reality from a
divine eternal perspective, as God sees it. Conversely, seeing reality from an
eternal perspective may be one step toward seeing scripture as already
fulfilled.
With
this divine insight, the Christ is come, and the resurrection is a present
reality, and the consummation is complete.
Some
call this Preterist theology, or fulfilled eschatology. In this view, there is
a progression, a working out of a divine plan that is now fulfilled. This is a
reasonable human understanding that can lead to a spiritual worldview that sees
all as now completed within the Christ. Within this view, when all is
fulfilled, the scriptures are unlocked and our interpretations and
understandings are freed from the fetters of time and cultural restraints.
Even
within the common futurist viewpoint, we are now that spiritual body
of Christ. This spiritual body has already been raised up to newness of
life. We are the spiritual house. This is a present reality. We have been
raised up, a spiritual body. We have all been baptized into this one
body, and raised up, and made to sit together in heavenly places. We don't have
to wait for the fulfillment of future events to have the fullness. Nor do we
have to look longingly into the past to regain a former golden age of glory.
We,
with all things, are now this one resurrected body. Ephesians 2:6, Ephesians 1:23
“Ye
also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house.” 1Peter 2:5
“There
is one body, and one Spirit.” Ephesians 4:4
“It
is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” 1Corinthians 15:44
The
body of Christ is that spiritual body that has been raised.
You
are that spiritual body. We are that spiritual body. We don’t have to wait for
some future day of transformation. We have been “fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things unto himself.” Philippians 3:21.
This
“body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” leads to the realization of God as
all in all. Ephesians 1:23,
1Corinthians 15:28.</>
Once
we see this our ultimate destiny as fulfilled, or realize this eternal reality,
then from the perspective of the consummation, or from the divine viewpoint of
eternity, we can understand that we always were raised up into heavenly places,
and always were partakers of his glorious body, the pre-existent or eternal
body of the Christ. We are (chosen) in him before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4. We sometimes come to this
realization of eternal oneness step by step, little by little, and revelation
by revelation. It is a new divine perspective. This realization is more than a
Preterist theology. However sometimes, it is through such a fulfilled
eschatology that this divine viewpoint may open up to us.
There
are hints of this divine eternal worldview within scripture freeing us from the
fetters of time and cultural restraints. One example of this revelation is
found in the study of that phrase “all in all”. It occurs three times
in scripture within time and in eternity, and serves as a clue, connecting
or uniting God and eternity with the universe and us, within the body of
Christ. The “all things” which are presented as existing in time, are also
presented as progressing through time, and finally as one with God in eternity
at the consummation. It is all one. In this way, all things are in Christ, one
with God, eternal, beyond time, even if we experience them within time.
Within
the scripture, once within time, “all in all” refers to the present
working of all things within the body of Christ for the good of all.1Corinthians 12:6
And
once progressing through time, “all in all” refers to the filling up or
completion of all things within the universal body of Christ, “the fulness of him that filleth all
in all.” Ephesians 1:23
And
once at the end of time, at the consummation, in eternity, “all in all”
refers to God being all, when all things are found reconciled and united in the
Christ "that God may be all in all." 1Corinthians 15:28.
Here
we see God is all, and all is One, with the Eternal.
The
consummation is the hint that helps many see that the Church, God, and the
universe are all one, now and eternally. Some see the coming of Christ and the
resurrection as a still future event to bring about this oneness. This is a
reasonable human perspective.
However,
these events don’t really make God to become something God wasn’t previously.
The sense in which the consummation makes God to be
all, is rather that it clearly reveals to us, and helps us to see, the eyes of
our understanding being enlightened to behold, even now, who God is and who We
are. As One Spirit with God, and possessing eternal life, we can know and dwell
in an eternal present, and
don’t have to wait for prophetic events to move toward a consummation. Know the
reality that God is all and God is one.
I
speak as a mere man for humans restrict their perspective and experience with
timelines.
Think outside time. God's view is eternal. May our eyes be opened.
God is all, Christ is all, and We are all… One… Eternally.
Regardless
of our view of prophecy, or our eschatological school of thought, in human
history, as time passes and as we mature, we may see all fulfilled in Christ at
the cross, at the comings, and then at the consummation.
Limited
by the perspective of time, we don't always see things as they really are. True
reality is the way God sees it. However, through revelation, we do have the
ability to look at reality through significant events, or standpoints in time,
receiving a glimpse into the eternal reality. Try looking at reality from the
standpoint of the consummation.
Dare
to take even one step further. From the eternal vantage point, it has already
happened.
Enlightenment
is seeing from God's perspective.
From God's point of view, from the divine perspective, even the consummation is
complete.
God is All.
He that is
joined to the Lord is one Spirit with the mind of the Christ,
URfriend, Dean Johnson
Albert Einstein:
"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
..."I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
as of 4-2007