God's channel for accomplishing His Will on Earth
We have all wondered at some point why God allows suffering on earth, or why, although fully aware of our needs, He requires us to first offer prayers before answering them. This seemed like a waste of time, or at least ineffective. But to understand the principles governing our lives, we must return to Genesis, to Creation, when God defined humanity's purpose. It is written:
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Man was thus created to care for God's earthly creation. In the image of God governing the universe, man was to govern the earth: a supremely glorious mission entrusted to him by God. However, man did not possess spiritual life within himself; he did not possess the capacity to accomplish this noble mission. God, in his sovereignty, decided not to impose it upon him (the capacity), but to place it at his disposal. He therefore planted the tree of life in the midst of the Garden. It was by consuming from this tree that man would acquire the fullness of God's life to fulfill his mission. But man had the choice between acquiring this life from God or developing his own faculties to live independently (Genesis 2:9) In other words, man had the choice between eating from the tree of life or eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (which would turn out to be the "tree of death"). We know the rest of the story: man went astray by choosing to live on his own. And unable to drink from two different (opposite) sources, he was thus separated from the tree of life. But praise be to God, it was only for a time, as it is written:
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live”
“Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
“ Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. [...] It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
Yes, once again, God has brought down among us the tree of life, the true manna from heaven, whose consumption, and nothing else, gives us life. And this tree is Christ, but as He so aptly puts it, the Scriptures use spiritual language, for it is through His quickening Spirit that He transmits this life to us. Yes, once again, God offers us a choice; our future is therefore no longer the consequence of the regrettable choice of our ancestors, but rather the result of our own. Today, we still have to choose between Christ, who is life, or death, which consists of continuing to live on our own, relying on our own intelligence and our attachment to our pseudo-freedom, which is in fact nothing more than slavery to our desires.
Illustrations
Christ, coming to earth, had a major, primary, essential mission, as we have demonstrated throughout the first part of our article; that was to save us; however, he also had a related mission.
The related mission of the Lord Jesus Christ was to provide a model for anyone who would accept God's salvation, a model for anyone who would become his disciple: to show how to rule the earth, to govern earthly creation. For through Christ, God, by restoring to humanity the life without which it could not fulfill its mission, also restored to man his original mission: to govern the earth, to ensure that God's will is done on earth as it is done in heaven.
Let us acknowledge at once that an article as modest as this cannot possibly shed light on all the mysteries revealed to us by the life of Christ; however, we wish to highlight one aspect of this mission, namely, that of revealing to us the dependence on man for the fulfillment of the divine will on earth.
Christ, although He was the Son, chose to live like us, to provide us with a model, to reveal to us certain things about our new nature in Him, and about our vocation on earth. He wanted to lead us to realize that, as His disciples, as His Bride, what our mission would be and how we should undertake it.
The Word made flesh
Through the life of Moses, the most prominent image of Christ in the Old Testament, God wanted to reveal to us how His Son might have come among humankind centuries later. A Hebrew, one of God's people, was placed in a makeshift basket and displayed prominently where Egyptians, representing this world, could see him and adopt him as one of their own (Exodus 2:1-10). Indeed, Christ, coming from heaven, could very well have descended among humankind, already fully formed, a being enveloped in flesh, and thus been seen by Mary in a basket. But God, in his sovereignty, decided otherwise. It was the Spirit of God who would descend to Earth to ensure the miraculous conception of Christ in the womb of a woman. To bring his own Son down to Earth, to ensure the salvation of all humanity, God decided to involve a woman; the "contribution" of humankind was necessary in the divine work of salvation. The Son of God, conceived, came among humankind through the womb of his own creation: an incomprehensible event for human understanding, to the point that some were seduced into elevating her to the rank of "goddess," but this was not the case; God was simply providing us with a lesson.
The beginning of Christ's ministry
On the eve of his ministry, Christ, though he was God, deemed it "right" (his words) that John should baptize him. John the Baptist knew that Christ was the Son and that he was merely the servant. He was aware that the Bridegroom was Christ, but that he was only a friend. However, in his sovereignty, God willed that it should be a man who "introduced" even his own Son into his saving mission for all humanity. And John, aware of God's infinite Wisdom, simply obeyed: the Son of God was baptized by a mere man, his own creation; introduced into his spiritual vocation, he, the Father of spirits, through the agency of a mere "human spirit"; a fact unsettling to human understanding, but in this way God offered us a lesson.
The lesson of Christ
God, through Christ, has thus revealed to us, at a great price, through an unimaginable humility of his own Son, an essential lesson: The fulfillment of God's will on earth must necessarily pass through man, who is His chosen representative on earth. God has given man a mission, but to accomplish it, man needs to rely on God, listening to Him constantly and continually referring to His Holy Spirit, whom He has placed within us. Thus, just as God, in His sovereignty, has decided that everything will pass through man, to whom He has entrusted the governance of the earth, so too must man, born again in Christ, realize that it does not possess within itself—that is, in its flesh—the resources required to fulfill its mission. Consequently, it must constantly seek to rely on God, who, through His quickening Spirit within, will guide it at all times.
This lesson is precisely what we encounter throughout the life of Christ: Although he was God, he constantly prayed for God's guidance: he wanted to provide a model for us. Although he was God, he constantly invoked his Father and performed no miracles in his own name: he wanted to provide a model for us.
The man and the woman
Finally, let's consider the image of man and woman. By creating woman alongside man, God did not simply provide man with an help; he also amplified his image in man.
Indeed, beyond biological considerations, we know that although man possesses the seed of life within himself, he cannot manifest this life without the participation of woman. A woman is needed to carry this life in her womb and, at the appointed time, to give birth to it. Man carries the seed, but woman is the fertile ground indispensable for the manifestation of its fruit. God, in his sovereignty, has therefore sovereignly decided to accomplish his will on earth through man. It is this allegory, in particular, that the Apostle Paul sought to illustrate for us in these terms:
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you”
“Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.”
God expects us, therefore, to be aware of the immense responsibility that is ours. We must preserve our spiritual virginity, which is the purity of heart, by maintaining communion with Him through His Holy Spirit. We must constantly intercede so that God may enlarge our hearts and thus we may bravely endure the pain of childbirth, for God has decided that His life will be poured out on earth through us.
Christ has placed the seed of his Spirit in our hearts, and he expects us to beget disciples, children of the Most High God. Following the example he has set for us, we must lead a life of fervent and unceasing prayer, constantly discerning how to move forward, interceding to ensure that young converts do not fall into temptation, and granting us the wisdom to give them spiritual nourishment in due season and solid food in due season. Yes, the Church, as the Bride of Christ, has an extraordinary responsibility. May the Lord continually reveal it to us and lead us to embrace it with courage and faith.
The line that should never be crossed
We call upon heaven and earth as witnesses; it is not our intention here to incite anyone to become conceited and believe themselves to be gods, endowed with inherent power, ability, or glory. No, no, no! On the other hand, we affirm and confirm that God has sovereignly decided, most often, to use Man upon whom He pours out His Holy Spirit to accomplish His will among men. Thus, it is always God alone who, in Christ, will baptize us with both water and the Spirit; but most often, He will do so through a man. It is God who, in Christ, will teach us through His Holy Spirit, but very often He will do so also through teachings He has given us through a man. It is God alone who, in Christ Jesus, will see to our spiritual well-being and even our food and clothing, but in most cases, He will ensure that people are around us who have His thoughts and who will intercede for us in secret, or even assist us with their resources.
So, I implore you, my dear brothers and sisters, never let your hearts swell with the belief that we are inherently worthy or of any intrinsic value. We are simply benefiting from God's extraordinary grace to be used as vessels by the Divine Potter, who alone deserves all the glory. We are merely a body, into which He has placed His Holy Spirit. But the glory belongs not to the body, but to the Head, upon whom rests the Spirit working within the body.
Glory, magnificence, adoration, and acclamation be to the Father and to Christ, the Lord Jesus!
Amen!
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