As He Is part 3
Ok. Boldness in the day of jugdment. A boldness that comes from our total and complete identification with Jesus. Let me work this for a minute. First things first: Judgment day was 2,000 years ago on the cross. But it's also every day. We don't judge... but we excute the judgment that God passed down from the Father to the Son. John 5:22 tells us that, "...the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." The Father judged the Son. And because Jesus had drawn us all into Himself when He was lifted up on the cross, His judgment became our judgment. As He is, so are we in this world. We were never judged, except that we were in Him when HE was judged. And that judgment of God was NOT, "I'm really mad and I have to kill someone." Jesus laid His life down so that He could pick it back up. Jesus' death was a SACRIFICE, not a judgment. In fact, God was IN Christ on the cross. He didn't leave Him or forsake Him, and He didn't kill Him. Look at Hebrews 9:27-28, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this ithe judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." First comes death THEN the judgment. So death can't BE the judgment, right? Right. Jesus died--both for us and as us--and then Jesus--and us in Him--was judged. Judged RIGHTEOUS. His sacrifice was accepted. Just like with Cain and Abel, the slain lamb was the sacrifice that God accepted. So the judgment of God was not death. The judgment of God was raising His Son (and us in Him) up from the dead! That's why we can be bold in the day of judgment, and bold about the day of judgment! Because the judgment was in our favor! Jesus was judged favorably. He became sin and died so that sin might die. So that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And then He appeared the second time--the new birth--in us and through us and as us without sin. And when we see that appearance--in ourselves, in the mirror--that's when we are changed into that same image from glory to glory. That's when the love inside of us starts to manifest all around us. That's when we can execute the judgment of life that the Father gave to His Son! And what is abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life? It's a life filled with love. To live is to love and to love is to live. So when we know that as He is, so are we in this world, when we know and believe the love the Christ, that's when His love is perfected in us. That's when we are filled (to overflowing) with the love that we are already full of! That's when we TRULY are as He is. Because that's what He is. That's WHO He is. God is love. And we are as He is, so WE are love!