We Shall Be God! (Part 2)
By John W. Ritenbaugh
February 22, 1992
Tape 007
While watching a report about the Olympics, I began to notice what little difference there is, frequently, between being a gold medal winner and being an "also ran".
I became aware of this during a segment in which they were featuring Bonnie Blair. She won the gold medal in 1988 in 500-meter speed skating. In this year's Winter Olympics Speed Skating, she won two gold medals—in the 500 meter and in the 1000 meter. During this segment describing her win, they revealed that the total amount of time by which she won all three races, all of them added together, was only ¼ of a second!
They went on further to explain that Katarina Witt, who was the 1988 Olympic Gold Medal Women's Figure Skating Champion, won by 2/10 of one point! They give those scores you see on the television screen—5.6, 5.8, 5.7, or whatever. They were, at that time, given points in three different categories. When they added the total of Katarina Witt's points in all three categories, she beat the second place girl by only 2/10 of one point!
In almost all of the key events, the difference between a gold medal and being an "also ran", most of the time was less than two seconds! I couldn't help but think of four years or more of hard, sometimes very painful, frightening, undoubtedly tiring training—going up and down hills and crashing as you see them do—and in a matter of only 2 seconds, they could also be an "also ran"! So, for all of that training they have nothing to show for what they have done except that they at least participated!
Picking up on the same principle of how a small matter can mean a great deal, I began to think of this in relation to the opening remarks of last week's sermon. How it is the destination, the goal, which determines the preparation.
Now what if one is flying from Los Angeles to New York City. You take off from 'LAX', you get up into the air, and you set the automatic pilot of your plane—but it is one degree off. You aim it to New York City, but you are one degree off.
I did a little bit of calculating on a piece of paper. I drew it out to a matter of twelve inches and found that in twelve inches, one degree only amounted to less than ½ of an inch. One degree is so tiny! It's like the tick of a clock! It's here and gone in a snap of a finger!
Yet in three thousand miles, if you were in that airplane and you hoped that your destination would be New York City, you would either land in Hartford, Connecticut to the north or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to the south! Because in three thousand miles, that little tick, that one-degree, would amount to over one hundred miles of difference!
This little illustration points out that all along the way there must monitoring of one's position in relation to the destination.
What happens if one has the wrong destination to begin with?
Abraham, it says in Hebrews 11, looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. What if Abraham was looking for the wrong city? Thank God that he wasn't because we're following in the footsteps of that man, and we are his children if we are Christ's!
Abraham, I am sure, was positive that he was going in the right direction. We can be just as positive as Abraham.
The point of all this is that what we perceive as the destination is going to make all the difference in the world as to what we will do with our time—here and now!
Even though God has undoubtedly built into His purpose a sort of safety net for the heirs of salvation—because we are saved by grace through faith and not by our works—we still don't want to allow ourselves the liberty of abusing His grace. We want to be going in the right direction. We want to make every effort count.
If we have the right destination it is going to make a great deal of difference as to the monitoring that we do along the way, as well as the effort that we are going to put into making that destination.
At the beginning of this sermon, I want to review some of the implications of the things that we covered last week. The first is found in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:26-27 "God said, Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness: let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female, created He them."
Right from the beginning of the Bible man is shown to be in an exalted position, different from the rest of the natural creation. This is clearly shown in that he is given dominion over all of the earth.
Man's exaltation, his glory, is in the fact that he is in the image of God. So the primary thrust of this—that he is in the image of God (in the Old Testament)—involves shape and form. God implies very strongly that man is created after the God-kind.
The implication that we can derive from this, when it is connected to other scriptures that show the same general principle, is that when we are changed—that is, when we are transformed—we will be changed into the kind from which we have sprung—God!
The second implication begins to become clear from Genesis 2:7, a scripture that we did not use last week:
Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
The way that we are different from the rest of the natural creation is that we have mind, not instinct! This begins to be seen in Genesis 2:7 where God Himself, personally, breathed into man the breath of life. There is no indication at all, in any other aspect of creation, that God took a personal, direct intervention in order to give life.
This seems to imply that there is more here than just the starting of life. It also implies the imparting of a spirit that adds to mankind a dimension the other of the other natural creation lack. It is the power of mind that is imparted by a spirit.
Unlike animals that merely react according to pre-set patterns, we must gather information. That is, gather knowledge, analyze, understand, and choose to do the right as stipulated by instruction in its broadest sense, and law in its more specific sense.
As a result of man having a spirit, of man having mind, man has spirituality! He has personality. He is capable of holiness, of love, of dominion, of responsibility. This requires time and experience because these qualities are acquired; they are not given.
Now the implication of this is shown I think mostly clearly, in Romans 5:1.
Romans 5:1 "Therefore having been justified by faith [Paul says] we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Chapter 5 begins with justification, which occurs at the very beginning of the conversion process.
Romans 5:2-3 "Through whom [that is through Jesus Christ] also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulation: knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;"
Notice this process of production. Tribulation, trials, pressure (it literally means) produces perseverance!
Romans 5:4-5 "Perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Sprit which is given to us."
So the implication is that this process is acquired and sets character in the mind. That process that began with God breathing into man the breath of life, that implies also the giving of a spirit that imparts mind, so the traits of character, personality, love, dominion, and responsibility can be acquired.
Implication number three: The character sets in the mind according to the image the person is conforming to. That is, making choices to be like! For all in the world—and all of us have been in the world—it is to be like, or to be conformed to, the world. With a Christian, it is to be conformed to Christ!
Now in the Old Testament, mankind appears as created after the image of God. That is very clear. There are many statements about this in the Old Testament—that mankind is created in the image of God.
But in the New Testament, the image of God makes a very decided shift. In the New Testament, Jesus—the second Adam; the man from heaven (as He is described); the Eternal Word—is the image of God. Not mankind in general!
Jesus is seen as the prototype, the first full scale and functional form of a new type. Now get that! That is the major difference in how mankind is presented between the Old and the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, man is presented as being in the image of God. He never entirely loses that, even in the New Testament, because that appears several different times in that kind of a context. However, in the New Testament there is a very decided shift in emphasis, and Jesus becomes the image of God!
Jesus is seen as the prototype, the first full scale and functional form of a new type! The image of Christ then becomes the end—the goal of salvation—of redeemed men.
Now there is an implication to this I feel is very clearly expressed in Colossians 3:10.
Colossians 3:10 "And have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him:"
It is not the image of God, just a general picture of God, but specifically the image of Christ who created us (remember He is our Creator) that we are being formed into. He becomes the goal of salvation of redeemed men.
The implication is that to be conformed to the world requires little or no effort; we just naturally blend. But the Christian must consciously put on Christ. Those traits of character, of personality are not something that is put in us by fiat; it is something that is acquired.
Implication number four: being brought to the image of Christ. We are seen in the Bible, in the New Testament, as the created work of God.
It is stated in a number of different ways—those in Christ are a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17); He has a desire for the work of His hand; we are His workmanship; He is the potter, we are the clay; we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind; we are created in Christ Jesus unto righteousness and true holiness. These are just a few of the statements that are made.
Hebrews 6:1 "Therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God."
The implication is that salvation is a creative process of character building. A process, which begins with the calling of God, leads to repentance, and ends with the glorification in the Kingdom of God.
It is a process of completion, a process of perfection. It is the process of salvation. It is the process of character building. All of these are synonymous with one another.
Hebrews 2:10-11 "For it was fitting for Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifieth and they who are being sanctified are all of one: for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
Hebrews 2:14 "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same; that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil."
Hebrews 2:17-18 "Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted."
The key word in this section for you and me as I mentioned last week, is this word that is translated in verse 10, "author". In the King James Version it is translated "captain". It's the Greek word achegos. It can be translated variously—captain, author, pioneer, trailblazer, founder.
There is a basic concept or theme that threads through all the uses this word can be put to. That is, that an archegos is one who begins something in order that others may also enter into it.
Jesus is the archegos of our salvation.
If we use the various definitions or usages of this word, we would say that He blazed the trail in order that we might enter into salvation; He set the pattern that we might enter in; He entered into a family into which we may follow.
In the process, He Himself was perfected. He was made complete in order that He might be our Savior and our High Priest—fully able to be the pioneer of our salvation!
Now the whole reason for all this—Him becoming a man, Him taking on humanity, Him fully sharing in our humanity—was done in order that many sons could be brought to glory!
Is not the implication here, since we are able to enter into that which He began and share that with Him, that we are going to enter into the same kind of glory that He Himself also has?
Hebrews 2:11 ".... sanctified..."
In Biblical terminology it is in this stage that we now find ourselves, in this process of conversion.
You're familiar with the term justified or justification. The next step is sanctification. The last step is glorification.
Sanctification bridges between our being set-at-right with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and entering into glory to share salvation with Jesus Christ. Sanctified means to set apart; sanctified means to become holy.
We are being completed through a process in which Jesus Christ, as High Priest, played a very important role. We're in that stage of sanctification leading to glorification. He is leading us through sanctification by way of experiences, through which He, as our captain—the pioneer, the trailblazer—has already passed, that we might share glory with Him.
We are all of one; it says here, one Father, one God, one family. We are brothers.
The archegos is seen both as the cause and the basis for our salvation. In other words, because He did what He did, He became the basis. Because of what He became, He then becomes the cause of our salvation.
We are saved as a result of the work of our High Priest. We are saved by His life.
I want you to notice how His experiences highlight into ours. He has shared humanity—Hebrews 2:14, 17. He was tempted in all things and became the example for others to follow, not just because of the way He lived, but to be our example.
We will find when we begin to connect other verses to this, that He is also our example in glorification as well.
Romans 8:29 "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren."
Tie this to Hebrews 2:10.
Hebrews 2:10 "...[Christ is the archegos] to bring many sons to glory..."
Romans 8:29 "...[we are] to be conformed to the image of his Son, who is the first-born of many brethren."
That's very clear.
Let's tie this to a verse that we mentioned last week but did not go to—Colossians 1:18. It is obviously talking about Jesus Christ:
Colossians 1:14 "In whom we have redemption through His blood [Jesus is the subject of the context]..."
Colossians 1:16 "For by Him all things were created in heaven and earth..."
We are in His image, in form and shape.
Colossians 1:18 "He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He may have the pre-eminence."
This adds something that Romans 8:29 does not have—that Jesus Christ experienced this birth by means of a resurrection. He is the first-born from the dead.
It was through this resurrection that He became glorified, that He was transformed, that He changed from physical and subject to death like the humanity in whose image He was made. He became a man to become glorified as God!
We have to consider questions such as these that I am going to ask. God has given us the natural and physical world to understand things that are of the spiritual world. He has given us these things so that we won't be in doubt in regards to the process that God is working out here. The great purpose.
When a baby is born, is it any less human than its parents? Less aged—yes; less authority—yes; less knowledge—yes; less skilled—yes; less developed—yes; but not less human!
The Greek prefix here, as in Romans 8:29, is "proto" and it means first, earliest, in front, beyond, ahead. Does it indicate pre-eminence? Of course it does!
In the entire Bible, the principle of the pre-eminence of the first-born is very clear. But it also indicates that others will be following Him in birth as well. If there is a first-born, there will be a second! The scripture guarantees that!
He is the first-born of many brethren. He is born by means of a resurrection. He is God! He is the prototype!
So in this case, in which "proto" is used as a prefix, it means that there are going to be others following the prototype in birth. Are these, who are going to be born as the prototype was, any less than the parent? Less God, I mean? Are they any less than the Elder Brother?
Again—less age, less authority, less skilled, less developed. They will never have the pre-eminence of the Father or the Elder Brother. But that doesn't make them any less God; any more than the baby born to a human parent is any less human than his parents!
Now remember, putting Romans 8:29 together with Hebrews 2:14, 17, that Christ was transformed; He was glorified by the resurrection.
The thought in joining these scriptures together is that even as Christ is shown to have fully shared in our human lot, we—as his brethren, born by means of a resurrection—will fully share in His transformed and glorified nature! What an awesome thing!
Romans 1:1-3 "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, (which He promised before through His prophets in the holy scriptures,) concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh;"
Notice how Paul introduces Jesus as human, the son of David.
Romans 1:4 "And declared to the be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead:"
Declared to be a Son by an act of power.
Now there is no doubt in our mind—or in anybody's mind who reads the New Testament—that He was a son before this; obviously indicating that following the resurrection, He was a Son in a way that He was not while He was still human.
The key word is power! When Jesus Christ was resurrected He had the power of an endless, joyous, and productive life! He had the power of God once again in its fullness!
What Romans 1:4 is doing is validating the importance of the resurrection, not only to Jesus Christ, but to us as well. Paul ties this into the gospel.
Romans 1:1 "... [That he was] an apostle, separated to the gospel..."
He draws the reader's attention to the gospel because it is the gospel that teaches us that the purpose of God for humanity is revealed through Jesus Christ.
The life of Jesus Christ is the medium through which the divine focus and the divine nature is, by far and away, the most clearly seen.
We see the Son of God coping as a man, a man who has the Spirit of God. We see it in a wide variety of situations—born into a human family; having to experience growing up under the authority of parents; having to learn and study and to develop the mind, so that at age 12 He was able to confound the priests who were at the temple. These were things that He acquired! The same way that you and I do!
We see that sometime in His life He lost His father and became the support of His family. He was left with a widowed mother.
We see little elements of His life in that He operated a business. He was a carpenter or a stone maker. He was a contractor. He ran a business. He probably had employees. He had to meet a payroll. He had to deal with people that He contracted with. He had to deal with people who didn't pay their bill. He had to deal with workman that He worked with, and for, and whatever.
He had to go through the kinds of things that you and I have to go through—supporting a mother; being an elder brother; giving comfort, strength, whatever was necessary as the leader of the family. Even though He was never actually a father, He experienced the leading of a family.
In principle He went through everything that you and I go through, so that He would understand and be able to be completed, so that He could be our Savior and High Priest. In so doing, He sets us an example that we should follow in His steps.
When we tie this together with Romans 1:4, we also see Him glorified as God! The example to us of what lies at the end of the course for us as well! That is so clear!
I John 3:1 "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God [even now because we have the spirit of God; we are impregnated by God; we are the children of God] therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."
He came to His own and His own didn't recognize Him, and they won't recognize you and me as children of God.
I John 3:2 "Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be..."
Now that does not mean (sometimes we have a tendency to think) that we don't know yet what we are going to be in the Kingdom.
We do know what we're going to be in the Kingdom. We're going to be a king. We're going to be a priest. We're going to have dual responsibilities like that.
We don't know how extensive our authority will be. We don't know exactly what our position in the family will be. But that is not what John is talking about here.
When he says that it does not yet appear what we shall be, what he means is that we are simply not able to comprehend it with our thinking. We don't, literally, see it yet!
But it is very clear that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him! I don't know how God could make it any clearer than that!
He doesn't say we are going to be a shadow of Him! We're going to be like Him! He is God! And we are going to be God!
Now the result of that then, in verse 3:
I John 3:3 "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself, just as He is pure."
It points back to sanctification. Sanctification is a process of making us pure, making us holy in the way God is holy, in order that He might be able to glorify us as Christ is now glorified.
Revelation 1:12-17 "And I turned to see the voice of Him that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to His feet, and girded about the chest with a golden band. And His head and His hairs were white like wool, and white as snow; and His eyes like a flame of fire; and His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. He had in His right hand seven stars: out of His mouth was a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last."
That's quite a description! I think that we can put this together with other portions of the Bible in which we do not see Him in a glorified state.
Undoubtedly this vision was given to John in order to set the stage for the entire book of Revelation. It is symbolic in its application. We have to understand it that way because He doesn't always shine with all of His glory before men.
After His crucifixion, when He was resurrected, He appeared to the apostles and others in a state in which He did not appear (as we see here in Revelation 1).
He showed that He was not just an ethereal, formless, shapeless spirit as well because he ate a meal with them. Even though he could pass right through solid walls and doors without opening them, He still nonetheless could eat.
So we see that the transformation is one that radiates the glory that He is entirely! That is, radiates His nature. That is what we see here in Revelation 1.
Symbolically, the radiation of His glory—the glory of His nature—is what emanates from Him as a result of His character. That is what God is bringing us to!
That's quite a description given to you and me! It is very clear that what we are seeing here is a description of God our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 15:20 "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep [or died]."
I Corinthians 15:23 "But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterwards those who are Christ's at his coming."
I have to ask this question. How many kinds of fruit does a natural tree produce? Apple trees give apples, pear trees give pears, and peach trees give peaches. A tree only produces after its kind.
Jesus is the first fruit. The reference here to the first fruit is obviously something that has to do with the context of the time in which the apostle Paul wrote this letter. It undoubtedly came to his mind because it is just prior to the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Do you remember what happened, anciently, during the Days of Unleavened Bread? The barley harvest began. The wave sheaf offering was made on a Sunday morning between the two holy days, but after the weekly Sabbath—during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
That wave sheaf represented Jesus Christ. It was a small gift of the barley harvest, the very first thing that was waved or harvested during the spring. The acceptance of the wave sheaf consecrated the rest of the harvest to God.
Now a question: Was the rest of the barley that followed the wave sheaf different from the wave sheaf? Was it different from that which consecrated the rest of the harvest? Well that's almost stupid!
Think about what the apostle Paul is implying. Even as fruit trees only produce one kind of fruit, and grain (as in a barley harvest) only produces one kind of barley, so God only produces one kind of fruit as well—sons in His image, who are just like the first fruit, whose resurrection consecrates the rest of the spiritual harvest of God!
Brethren, again from the natural world: once fertilization has occurred—when the sperm hits the egg, that egg is attached to the womb of the mother, and gestation begins—there is absolutely nothing on earth that turns into something else, regardless of how many similarities there are to other life forms.
You hear the evolutionists say, while that little fetus or whatever is in its tadpole stage—this is just like an ape, or this is just like a frog, or this is just like a dog, or it's just like a duck.
It'll never turn into a duck! It'll never turn into a dog! It'll never turn into an ape! It always turns into a human being!
It is exactly the same way with God when He impregnates us and we are in the womb of our mother Jerusalem above. When we are born, we will be just like the first fruit that is produced.
The fertilization process has begun and we will not turn into something else. We will be exactly what we have sprung from, and that was God.
That's why we have a spirit like God—in order that His spirit can impregnate us, he then can fertilize that Spirit, and we can be born into His family!
External things may disfigure what is in the womb. Radiation for example, can disfigure what is in the womb. The mother can be an alcoholic, and the external thing (the alcohol) can damage the fetus that is in the womb. Other kinds of drugs. Accidents can occur.
Regardless of the disfigurement, what is born is still human. It is just a disfigured human. It never changes into anything else!
God gives us these kinds of illustrations from the natural world so that we can understand what He is doing here. He is reproducing Himself and we are going to be God!
I Corinthians 15:35-36 "But some men will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Foolish ones [Paul says] what you sow, is not made alive unless it dies:"
You can begin to see the parallel that he was picking up from the natural world.
I Corinthians 15:37 "And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain, perhaps wheat, or some other grain."
Think of the illustration here. A seed is put in the ground—barley seed, wheat seed, grass
JWR/dak/drm
Sermons in the We Shall Be God! series:
We Shall Be God! (Part 1)
Human Potential
We Shall Be God! (Part 2)
How To Be God
