ONE SON - LESSON 6
                              BY J W LUMAN

                        THE RECONCILED SON
                    
                  THE GREATNESS OF OUR SALVATION

Turn with me to Romans 5. We have been dealing with the finished
work of the Cross, bringing forth a Son in Christ Jesus of Whom it
is said that He stands before the Father in love, holy and without
blame. Where did we read that? Ephesians 1, "According as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love." Now, "we should be"
is not like saying well, you aught to be. It is saying He has
chosen us in Him, so that we would be....In other words, in Him we
stand holy without blame before Him in love. How is it that there
is such a Son? We have said a lot about that Son; and yet we have
not really touched the surface of that Son that you are in Christ.
Honestly we have not really touched the surface of the greatness of
your salvation. I want you to know now, that this is all we are
talking about. We are talking about the greatness of your
salvation. We are talking about what has transpired through your
coming to Christ. We are talking about what He has done, and who He
is in you. We are saying that so that the Holy Spirit may have
grounds upon which to reveal the greatness of that Son. 

                HEARING THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN CHRIST

We take verses like, "How shall they believe, except they hear",
and we apply that to the Africans, and we apply that to the
Heathen; but, in the Scriptures, "the heathen" is simply
translated, "the nations", and that includes you and I. Not only
that, but it includes you and I in Christ. How can we believe? How
can we go on to believe that which we never hear? How can we follow
that which is never set before us? There is a hearing that is
brought about in you by the revealing of the living Word of God;
but there is a hearing necessary for that revealing, and that is
just hearing the truth, the truth as it is in Christ. That is the
foolishness of preaching and the necessity of teaching. "How shall
they believe except they hear, and how shall they hear without a
preacher, and how shall he preach except he be sent." Now, there is
a divine order there, the ignorance of which is keeping the Church
in darkness today. There is a divine order there. "How can they
believe except they hear? How can they hear without a preacher? How
can he preach except he be sent?" There is a divine order there, I
say again, the ignoring of which, and the ignorance of which is
keeping the Church in darkness today. 

I think that we are now hearing a cry," Awake thou that sleepest
and Christ shall give thee light. Awake thou that sleepest." There
is that state of slumber in Zion. There is that state of ease in
Zion. There is that state that we get into until the hearing of the
Word begins to rattle our cage, or stir up our nest, or set before
us the purpose of this whole thing, that we cease going around and
around in circles, and begin to say, "Wait a minute. The purpose of
this thing is to grow up in Him." God has purposely set forth a Son
in the Beloved, standing before Him in righteousness, holiness, and
without blame. It is only the preaching of that Son that will bring
Him into view, and only when He is, by the Spirit, brought into
view, in you, are we changed into His image, and bring Him into
view. That is what it is all about. There is such a tremendous work
going on in the believer, going on in Christ. 

                 THE RESULT OF THE FINISHED SON

Then this Son is the result of the finished Son. The finished work
is the Cross. The Cross stands in the center of this eternal Plan
of God. It is there that Christ, it is there that the Son Himself
came and He finished the work; and in finishing the work He brought
forth in His resurrection. I want you to know it is His
resurrection. It is not mine. It is His. It is not yours. It is
His. We are joined together with Him in His resurrection. We are
joined together with Him in His death. It is also His death. It is
His death and His resurrection. That means it is complete. It does
not mean it is without me. It means it is complete. We are joined
together with Him in His death. "Know ye not that so many of us
that are baptized into Christ are baptized into His death, whereby
we are buried with Him, that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so, as Christ, we should walk
in newness of life." It is His death, therefore it is complete. It
is His resurrection, therefore it is complete. In Him, as Adam, we
all die; but in Him as those that are one with Him, as those who
are Christ's, we have life. But the life we have is not my own. It
is Christ Who liveth in me. So that, here I live, and yet it is not
I, it is Christ Who lives in me even as I live, and move and have
my very being in Him. What a Son! What a salvation! What a work! 

I am telling you, the seeing of it in a lesson is not the living of
it. It has to go beyond that. The hearing of it with this ear is
not the living of it. It has to go beyond that. Oh yes, it must be
heard. If I did not believe that, if the Scriptures did not state
that, if the Spirit of God did not constrain me in my innermost man
toward that, then I would just pack it up, go home and raise
peaches. I would not put up with all that. I would get me a good
job where I could pay my bills, get me a long fishing pole, and
say, "See you in the sweet by and by where we will all be
together." I would just forget the rest of it. If that is all there
is to it, it would not be worth me even seeing you, let alone
saying anything to you. Now, that is my heart, that is the way I
feel; because I have seen the thing from the inside out and, except
we be growing up in Him, it is not worth messing with. If I
believed that this Gospel of the Kingdom, not preaching the
Kingdom, but this Gospel of the Kingdom, which is Christ Himself,
if I believed there is no necessity of declaring that throughout
the earth; if I believed that you did not have to set that thing
forth, I would be doing something else right now. But, I am telling
you though, it must be heard. "How can they believe except they
hear? How can they hear without a preacher?" This is God's Plan and
God's desire. I did not formulate this in my cradle, and neither
did you. It must be set forth. But, even in being set forth, by any
way in which you want to set it forth, it has to go beyond that. It
must be embraced. It must be received. And, for that, other things
must be laid aside. It must possess my thoughts, my time, my
energy, my desires, and I must desire to know Him more than I
desire to live another day. I must desire to eat His flesh and
drink His blood more than I desire to eat dinner this afternoon. It
has to get there in that place. 

                  THE PURPOSE - MANIFESTING HIM

And, then, the Father begins to unfold in us the glories of His
death, the glories of His resurrection, and we being to walk in the
newness of His life. For what purpose? For the purpose of
manifesting Him in the earth. Unto what end? Unto the glory of God
filling all the earth as the waters cover the sea. Unto that end!
What a glorious end! Let us look, then, at another area concerning
this most glorious Son, which is Christ. This most glorious Son in
Whom we dwell, in Whom we live, in Whom we have our being. This
most glorious Son, Who is made unto us all that He is for the
purpose of manifesting His life. He is not only forgiven and
restored, but He is RECONCILED. I want to deal with that for just
a while.

This is our last lesson in this series. I just wanted to mention
the truth of reconciliation. Oh, what a truth! I tell you for sure,
if we had several days to touch upon this, it would take us many
days. I am telling you, until it comes forth in the Scripture, it
will not be worked out in you and I. We must get hold of this. God
is a God of divine order. It is not going to just be done. It is
going to be done through the order that He has set forth. "Well,
they will all know." No, they will not all know. Not until the
order is set forth and someone follows it, they will not all know.
We have gone through many generations, and how many more shall we
go through until we have a people who obey God and come into order,
and bring this thing into view? In that we are dependent one upon
another. 

              BEING BROUGHT TO A PLACE BY HIS BLOOD

Romans 5:9-11, "Much more then, being now justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him." "Much more then, being
justified by His blood..." Being brought to a place by His blood.
By His death is what that blood is speaking of, because there is
death and there is life in the blood. There is death in the pouring
out of it, and there is life in the receiving of it. The cleansing
of the blood that is talked about in John is translated "His life".
It is the cleansing of His life. "If we walk in the light as He is
in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
cleanses us." The working of His life cleanses us. Here it is
referring to  His death, the pouring out of that life. "Thereby we
are justified..." Again, "thereby we are brought to a point to
where it is just as though we never lived." That is how sure and
how quick and how deep and how thorough the Cross is. It deals with
me to the point that it brings me to justification just as though
I never lived. 

                            MUCH MORE ...

For he says, "Now, being brought to that place by His blood, much
more..." You say, "There is more than that?" Yes, there is more
than me not living. There is life after death. There is more than
me not living. There is more than me not sinning. There is more
than me not serving the old man. There is the living of His life.
There is the growing up in Him in all things, and it is in that
that we are saved. We take these words, "saved", and we bandy them
around, and we apply "saved" to the act of repenting, or we apply
"saved" to the act of praying through. No! "Saved" applies to the
whole of God's Plan, wherein we repent, wherein we pray through,
wherein we come by conviction and contrition, wherein we are born-
again, wherein we are Spirit-filled, wherein we walk in Christ.
But, the whole thing is the Plan of salvation, and it is unto the
end of that that we are saved, and being saved unto the fullness of
salvation. There is no one part of it in the Word of God that says,
"Now you have it and that's it, and you are OK. No! Even in "being
justified by His blood, much more..." 

Here is the much more Son up here. He is much more than Adam ever
was. HE IS THE MUCH MORE. "Much more we shall be saved..." That is,
thoroughly saved, thoroughly conformed by His life. In the newness
of His life. I do not know how we ever got to our present state of
condition in the Church to where it is just a religion, or just
some Holy Ghost feeling, or just a better life style. All of these
things are just gathering together to get our emotional fix so we
can make it several more days. That comes in all sizes, shapes and
forms, from little humble meetings to great lavish meetings with
huge cathedrals and pipe organs. It all amounts to the same thing.
We have come to get our fix. We have come to get our little shot.
We have come to get our little blessing, whether there is 5000 of
us or 5 of us. That is the mentality we have come to. I do not know
how it got there, but somehow it got to that point. We have ceased
understanding that this thing is a life that we are set forth in
the earth to live. It is to be preeminent in all that we do, so
that we understand here the life we have. 

We do not have five or six lives. We have labeled, for the purpose
of teaching, that verse, that statement, what I am now saying, "The
Christ Life". That is the reason we have in our brochure, "Studies
in the Christ-life", that life which is Christ. We do not have five
or six lives; and we have come to that. We have come to where we
have a church life. We go to church. We go to church on Sunday. We
go to church on Wednesday, or Thursday, or seven nights a week. It
does not make any difference, because the whole mentality is wrong.
Then, we have a church life, and we have a home life, and then we
have a secular life, then we have a job life, then we have a
vacation life. All of these lives we have. We are trying to figure
out which one comes first. Well, usually whichever one we want
comes first when it really comes down to it, no matter how we have
it written out in the leaf of our Bible. Oh, to come to the
realization that there is just one life, and that is the Christ
Life; and that takes preeminence, whether we are gathered together,
or driving down the road, or on our job, or in our kitchen washing
the dishes, or in the backyard. I have but one life to manifest
there and that is the Christ Life. 

                  WE ARE TO MANIFEST THE SON WE ARE

So then, we are the Church. We do not go to church. We are the
Church. The Church assembles. The Church gathers. Yes, necessarily
so; but it is not going to church. It is just the Church
assembling, and it is the Church coming together. But, it is also
the Church driving down the highway, and it is also the Church out
here on the job, and it is also the Church in the supermarket, and
it is also the Church in the home. Now, in the assembling together,
the Church becomes the greater manifestation of Him; but, when you
walk out of this building, you walk out as the Church. You walk out
as His Body. You do not go to Body. You are His Body. You walk out
as His Body and you walk out in the fullness of His Life. When that
mentality gets in us, and I am not talking about our brain, but in
our very soul, our meetings take on a different reason. Our
meetings take on a different purpose. Our times of coming together
take on a wonderful depth that they have never had before; because
we are gathered together to manifest the Christ that we are. We are
gathered to share the Christ that we are. We are gathered to
minister the Christ that we are, the Christ Who is our Life. We
gather to manifest the Son that we are. Who is that? That is the
One Who He is, but you are in Him and He is in you and you cannot
make that separation and be Scriptural in doing it. We must
understand, because we have come by way of the Cross, that "it is
no longer I.." We are not preaching "I"'s and "me"'s, but HIM.
"Understanding this," Paul says, "we preach not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake", as those who have no life but Christ, and as those who live
understanding they are nobody but His Body. 

My heart longs for that understanding to come into His Body, and
that understanding will set aside petty bickerings, petty
differences, petty, petty, pettiness. The Church is full of child
play and pettiness. If you think that grieves your heart, if you
think that grieves my heart, there is a heart that is bigger than
mine that is grieved. There is the  Omniscient One, the Spirit of
the Most High God, that is grieving throughout the whole Body of
Christ. Every now and then, one of God's prophets will get hold of
that and you have read it here, and it still goes on today, "My
God, fall upon your face. Fall between the porch." And we all
wonder, "What did I do? What is he so mad about?" He just plugs
into the Spirit of God that sees the condition and no Son coming
forth, and begins to grieve and to weep, and begins to cry out.
That is the way it is. You can see it through the prophets. You can
go through the prophets and see that. That is the reason they
stoned all of them. 

                   ENTERING INTO THE FULLNESS

The bright side of that is, that if a people will do that, He will
come forth in their midst and will walk in His fullness, because
the work is finished. It is not waiting for us to do it. It is
waiting for us to enter into it. Canaan was sitting over there
waiting for the Israelites to possess it by faith, to possess it by
belief, sitting there just waiting. They did not have to create it.
They did not have to make it. They did not have to find it. There
it was. God brought them there. "Now possess it. Now walk in it.
Now see it." And, they refused to do it. The writer of Hebrews
tells us in Hebrews 3 and 4 exactly why. They could not enter in
because of their unbelief, therefore, they provoked God and He
said, "You will not enter in to My rest, therefore there remaineth
a rest." Someone is going to enter into it, and I would like to be
a part of those. Someone is going to enter into that rest. Someone
is going to walk into the fullness of that rest, and declare it in
the earth to the glory of God the Father, and to the glory of the
angels, and to the glory of all those who have gone on waiting
their perfection. Someone is going to possess the thing in faith.
Personally, and perhaps very singularly, I do not see a reason for
living outside of doing that. I do not see a reason for breathing
another breath, going another day. I would just as soon be buried
here where I am now. If that is not set before me, if I cannot
enter into that rest, I do not see any reason for anything else.
That is the way it is in my heart. The thing is set before me and
I press toward that which Christ Jesus hath done, hath finished,
and hath set before us. 

Sometimes we get aggravated with Moses, or we get down on Moses.
Moses wanted to see the glory of God; and he could not, because
that glory had not yet come. He was at the wrong mountain. He was
at the mountain of the Law, the mountain of the letter, the
mountain made of dirt, the mount called Sinai. But there is a
greater mountain that is gathered together in the heavens, and you
are come to Mount Zion, and the glory of God is not veiled, and the
glory of God is not hidden, and you are not kept behind the fence
at the bottom of the mountain, and you and I have no excuse;
because the work is finished. It is set before us, and we are
without excuse if we do not walk in the fullness of it. How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation? You cannot give that to
"Johnny come sinner" down here and say it is talking about praying
through. No! You read your Bible. It is talking about entering in
to the greatness, that which God hath done in Christ. It is set
there before us. If we just had the heart of Moses we would enter
in. His whole life was, "Let me see Your Glory. Let me see Your
Face." He was honest with God. So honest was he with God that he
was brought back to the Mount of Transfiguration and beheld the
Glory, which is to be revealed in us, if we count not the
sufferings of this time worthy to be compared with that glory which
shall be revealed in us. It is just walking in the fullness of that
which He is. That is what we are talking about. With a heart that
is hungry to know Him. So, there is much more. 

                  AS THAT FINISHED SON HIMSELF

"Much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Here is the finished
work. Here we are forgiven. Here we are restored. Here we are
reconciled. But, here is the realization and the living of it;
because Christ is made unto us forgiveness. You have to get hold of
this. He is made unto us restoration. He is made unto us
reconciliation. Here the work is finished. Here the work is walked
in, lived in, realized, as that finished Son himself. Because, who
essentially is forgiven? He is. Who essentially is restored? He
was. Who essentially is reconciled? He is. But all that He is made
unto us, because that is the whole purpose of it, that God could
bring forth many after the image and likeness and kind of One.
Jesus did not have to go through all of this. He was already here
in the beginning. He already had His place. He already was in
Glory. He already is equal. He already is there. He did not have to
go through any of this to become the Son, to become the Glory, to
become the Word. He went through all of this for you and I. He went
through all of this to bring forth many in His fullness. All I am
trying to tell you is that He did more than get rid of some
sinning. All I am trying to tell you is that there is more to
salvation than just a religious thing of trying to play Christian.
He did more than that. 

All that He did, He did for you and I, but look at the fullness of
what He did. God did not set there in the beginning and say, "You
know what it is that I want?" "What is it that You want, Father?"
"Well, I want a bunch of back-slidden, hard-hearted, carnal minded
people, so I can fool with them. Let us create Us some." That is
not what it is all about. The whole plan is for you and I, but it
is to the praise of His Glory and the expression of His will. It is
to bring forth many into the Son, into His likeness, and image and
fullness, that He has the greater expression of Himself, the
increase of Himself in One Son. That is what this whole work is all
about. Not just creating man so he can sin, and then be saved and
sin, and stumble along on the earth. That does not even make good
sense. No, it is all fulfilled in Christ. 

                         YOUR SOUL DEMANDS TRUTH
 
I am just telling you that you are a part of a thing that only the
Spirit can reveal in you, but it will be the joy of your life. Why?
Because have a soul in you that is not satisfied with less than it
was created for. Your earth body lusts for this and that, and you
can satisfy all of that in this way with religion and all of that.
But, there is deep in you a soul that was breathed there of God for
communion with Him and it is not satisfied short of that. Why must
we hear these things? Because you soul is  not satisfied short of
this. Why must we go into truth? Because your soul demands truth
and is created for truth. This thing you call body is growing old
and decaying and going back to dust; but that soul that is breathed
of God demands the truth. That soul that is breathed of God hungers
and cries out for truth. Let us be frank. That soul does not really
care how much money I have in the bank. That soul does not really
care how big or how little my house is. That soul does not care how
little I have in the bank. That soul does not really care. I am not
speaking foolishly and ignorantly. I am just telling you that there
is something beyond what we see, and all these things do not really
satisfy that soul, because he is not really concerned with what
color you are, where you live, what your job is, or how important
you are to the economy. He is not really concerned with that. 

I am not speaking foolishly. I am not saying that God does not
supply the needs of this body; but I am telling you that there is
a soul involved here that the Father purposed from the very
beginning to bring into union with Himself through Jesus Christ,
giving you another body altogether anyway, so do not worry about
it. A body that will manifest the fullness of His Glory as soon as
the soul comes into union with Him. That is the necessity for this
Gospel and this Truth. There is no other truth. There are a lot of
other preachers, but there is no other truth. There are a lot of
other ministries, but there is no other truth. I am not telling you
that I am the only one who has truth, but I am telling you I have
the only Truth. There is no other truth, and the soul is hungry to
know Him. That is why we must preach this. That is why we must grow
up in this. 

                     IT IS THE REVEALING OF HIM

So, reconciliation, we find, is paid for here at the Cross; but it
has to be realized here in Christ, just like forgiveness, just like
restoration. Everything that is paid for here has to be realized
(by the Spirit), revealed here in Christ. But, it is not the
revealing of forgiveness. It is not the revealing of
reconciliation. It is not the revealing of restoration. It is not
the revealing of love, joy, peace and happiness. It is not the
revealing of these things He is. It is the revealing of Him. Anyone
who can read the Bible sees reconciliation, forgiveness,
restoration, peace, happiness. So, we start preaching those things
and trying to figure out what they are, and how to get them, and
how to do them. All of those things are the finished work of One.
Those things are the nature, and the character and the life of One,
and they will only be worked out in you and I as that One is
revealed; because they are not separate from Him. You do not have
Jesus, and then have peace. He is made peace unto you. You cannot
figure out restoration or forgiveness aside from Him. That is what
we have done. We preach forgiveness, but not forgiveness as a
forgiven Son. Not forgiveness as we have looked at it a little bit
this week. We preach forgiveness as dealing with little things that
we have done against each other, and trying to get over being mad
about that. We have developed sermons on "Ten Ways Not to be Mad at
Your Brother", "Seven Steps to Loving Your Neighbor". This type of
thing. We develop them trying to teach something. What have we
done? We have divided His very nature, His very character from
Himself, as if we could learn that without the revealing of Him.
You cannot do it. All I am trying to say here is, He is the
forgiven Son; and the Father reveals Him in you to the extent of
His forgiveness. He is the restored One. The Father reveals Him in
you that you may be partakers of His Glory. It is not the learning
of these things as things. It is the learning of the Son, having
the Son revealed in you and these realities of His life worked out
in your Spirit in the revealing of the One Son Himself. 

So, essentially, it is not the preaching of reconciliation. The
Church has been split more ways by preaching reconciliation than it
has by preaching speaking in tongues; because we have made it a
subject, we have made it a work. We have made it everything but the
nature and the character and the fullness of the Son in Whom we
dwell. I want you to see reconciliation as it truly is. It is a
finished work of the Son. It is revealed in me as the Son is
revealed in me, and in the coming of the living of His Life. 

                   THE RENEWING OF THE MIND

Let us look at II Corinthians 3:16, "Nevertheless, when it..."
(speaking of the heart). Paul here says, "What is the problem?" He
says, "Well, the problem is that there is a veil upon the mind,
which veil is done away in Christ, but it remains in our hearts."
"Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord..." When there is a
turning. When there is a seeking. When there is a turning. "...the
veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with
unveiled..." (that is a heart that is turned to the Lord),
"...unveiled face, behold in a glass (a mirror) the glory of the
Lord, are changed into that same image, from glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord." Search as you will throughout the
Scriptures and you will find nowhere that there is a changing or a
transforming or a conforming, except by the renewing of the mind.
Not a training of the brain. A renewing of the mind, the heart, the
soul. The soul which is the mind, the will, the emotions, the
heart, the center, the inner man. There is a changing talked about,
a transforming. It is always connected, you search it out, with the
renewing of the mind. What do you mean "the renewing of the mind"?
The light of His Life filling up the darkness, the mind coming to
the realization of Christ being revealed in you, beholding Him as
within. Chapter 4, verse 6, "For God, Who hath commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." Not "into",
as from outside in, but "in" as from inside out. "...hath shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ". 

Let me explain. Once again, the born-again believer is spirit, and
that spirit is Christ. The believer is soul and he has a body.
Christ takes His Place in the center. There is a fusing of the soul
and the spirit. Man, a living soul, created out of dirt and made a
living soul; but the last Adam, the Second Man, is the life-giving
Spirit. "He is the Lord from Heaven", Paul says. This is a clearer
view. What is he saying? "God, Who commanded the light to shine out
of darkness." What does John say? "In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God, the same was in the
beginning with God. In Him is life..." L-I-F-E. "In Him is life,
and the life was the light." It is not light upon life. The life is
the light. It is not God shining light upon life, as though life
needs it. No, the Life is light. "If we walk in the light as He is
in the light." You see, that is the same John writing now in an
epistle. "We have fellowship together with Him." We have fellowship
together. That means as one. We have fellowship as one. If we walk
in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship as one; and
His Life continually cleanses us. His life, His light continually
cleanses us. 

                    WHEN THE HEART TURNS TO SEE HIM

"Now, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined....(the soul, the heart)...hath shined in our hearts."  When
does He do that? When there is a turning, of looking to Him, when
the eyes of our understanding, when the heart looks to Him. Not
when there is a knowing through the five senses, but when we begin
to look to Him in reality. Paul says, "The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened". Paul says, The veil taken off,
the veil removed, the veil that keeps the glory of God and the Holy
of Holies from shining into the Holy Place, so that it can be
manifested in the court and out in the camp. So, when Jesus died,
symbolically the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom
inside out. But, not symbolically, the real veil of flesh, which is
the JW Luman, and the veil of flesh that I am, was done away. The
finished work of the Cross. Do you see it? It was done away. But,
in the darkened imaginations of my soul, you see, I still see me
having a life of my own. So, the veil, Paul says, remaineth. It is
done away in Christ, but it remaineth. It is an imaginary thing,
because I do have.... In Him I have no life but Christ. But, I am
imagining, because I am hearing the Gospel from without rather than
from within, that I have a life of my own. I am still seeing myself
whatever color this body is, whatever age this body is, whatever
nationality. This is me. I have yet to come to this understanding
that, when He died, He did away with the veil of flesh. The veil of
flesh is me. The veil of flesh is you. He took us into the body of
His Flesh, the Body of His Death, and He did away with the Jew and
the Greek. He did away, bringing forth one New Man. The veil of
flesh is done away. What is symbolically done to the old temple is
in reality done in Christ Jesus. But, here, I still have that same
veil. Though it is done away in Christ, here it is upon my heart,
keeping that Glory which is Christ Himself. Christ in you, the
expectation of Glory. Christ in you, the expected glory of God.
Christ in you, the glory of God. Because I still have this veil,
that Glory is not filling up my soul. The understanding, "He is my
life, He is my life," is not filling up my soul. The understanding
I am one with Him is not filling up my soul. The understanding that
I am forgiven, I am restored, I am reconciled is not taking place.
The glory of God is not an inward reality because I still have a
veil on my heart. I am still trying to see it here, and learn it
here, and hear it here. Imagine, knowing one another in the flesh
and after the flesh. The veil remains. But when the heart turns. 
 
                      THE LIGHT SHINES

"Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil that is
done away shall be taken away." Why? Because light dispels
darkness, and truth dispels lies, and life dispels death. Why?
Because the light shines. "God hath shined in our hearts." When
does He do that? He does that when He reveals His Son. When is He
going to reveal His Son? When the heart turns toward Him. When you
desire to see Him more than you desire to see this way. When you
desire to know Him more than you desire to know this way. When you
desire to be a manifestation of Who He is more than you desire to
be a manifestation of this stinking thing you are. When the heart
turns, then the Father will reveal the Son. It is a shame God has
to get most of us in a real serious crisis before we will ever come
to the point of saying that. Everything we ever tried to do
generally has to fall down around our feet, and become a dismal
failure. It need not be that way. Just turn from it, understanding
that is not the Life. It is hard for God to truly and genuinely
bless something that is standing between me and Him; even though I
am laying hands on it and saying, "Bless it" every day. It was
difficult for God to bless Ishmael because Ishmael was standing
between Abraham and the true Isaac; even though he said, "God bless
him". God said, "Get rid of him". Get it out of your heart. Get rid
of it. But, most of us will not do that. We have to wait until God
brings us down to an absolute, total, dismal failure. 
 
Unfortunately, most ministry, most pastors, have to come to an
absolute wipeout before they really have a heart turning toward
Him. As long as it will work here, we just keep trying to make it
work. As long as it looks successful, we just keep pumping
everything into it to keep it looking successful. But, after
awhile, we have pumped all into it we can. It does not have to
necessarily fall down around our ankles in a failure. It can just
get so big that we still see, if we are honest with God, that this
is not it. We have done everything there is to do, and it is still
not it. When Solomon built that glorious temple, and that was in
type a reality thing; but, even at that he built that thing. Have
you ever read his prayer? He stood there when he had built it all
and said, "This is not the house of God. After all we have done,
God cannot dwell in anything made by hands." In all that he did, he
still realized that. When Abraham brought Isaac to the mountain,
and all that Isaac represented, he had to realize, with a knife in
his hand, there is a greater than Isaac. When Solomon had done all
that he did, and obeyed his father, he still had to realize, there
is a greater house than one that I can build. 

I am telling you, we either come to that realization because of our
life for God, or God will just tear it down, and show it to us
brick by brick. He will say, "Well, I will just tear it all down
and show you." One way or the another, in the infiniteness of His
love, He is going to bring us to a turning. He will either make
such an absolute failure of us until any way we look has to be up,
or He makes us so sick of success that it becomes vomit in our
mouth. One way or another, He is going to turn this heart to see
this true Word. Then, and then only, is the veil done away. When?
When God shines in our hearts. Who is the Light of God? Christ, the
Word of God, Christ, the Life of God. In Him is life. He is the
life. That is why I am telling you, He does not give light upon the
Son. The Son Himself is Light. This Life is light. He shines in our
heart. For what purpose? To give the light of the knowledge of the
Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And, when that happens,
this veil of separation between Christ and the soul is done away.
This veil is done away, and the fullness of the soul becomes
Christ. The fullness of life, the fullness of light, the soul is
filled. 

When the veil is done away and the Holiest of Holies, between the
Holiest of Holies and the Holy Place, the Holy Place is filled with
the light of the Holy of Holies. We receive the mind of Christ. In
the face of Jesus Christ, the veil is done away. All of this
because of a work that is finished, waiting to be revealed, a truth
that is established waiting to be revealed, a Son Who is indwelling
waiting to be revealed, a Father that is expecting, waiting to see
the Son, a Spirit that is sent forth with one purpose waiting to be
a teacher of truth. And, the Church is playing religious games. 

              RECONCILIATION - BASED ON THE CROSS

I am trying to tell you the greatness of this salvation, and it
must be declared. Why must it be declared? Because it is the truth,
and there is not any other truth, and it is the foundation upon
which the Church shall stand as His Body. That is why. What does
all that have to do with reconciliation? About all we are going to
cover is the definition of reconciliation, but I want to show you
what we have been talking about. You can transfer this believer
right up here. There is a work going on here of reconciliation
based upon the finished work of the Cross. Reconciliation as it is
defined in your Bible: "We have now received the reconciliation,"
Paul says. 

There are four Greek definitions to reconciliation. 1-"To change or
to exchange. An absoluteness of change." To change so much so that
it is an exchange. I do not believe, nor do the Scriptures teach,
that salvation is the remaking of the human spirit, but it teaches
that it is a new spirit, a new life, the indwelling Christ; and he
that is joined  unto the Lord is one Spirit. I do not believe,
therefore, that the mind of Christ is an old mind better taught. It
is a renewed mind, from the inside out. It is a mind that is
transformed into the very mind of Christ. That is the work of
reconciling. Basically, the work of reconciliation is you and I
seeing ourselves in such a manner, and in such a way, and in such
a union, in such a completion, that we see ourselves in Christ now,
in the exact same degree and measure as God has viewed that Son
from the beginning; so that, in our hearts and in our mind, all of
this that has transpired to bring this about, is literally and
without exception done away. So that there remains in our heart,
only this Plan of God as it has been accomplished. What I was, all
of that. Now, that is a heart totally reconciled. It is the
receiving of the mind, it is God shining in you. It is God shining
forth in His Son, in His Word. It is the Father revealing the Son
in you from the beginning. It is Him revealing Him in you. 

                 THE SOUL COMING INTO UNDERSTANDING

Look at the terminology. "To reveal in us." "God has shined in our
hearts to reveal the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ." It is a heart that is totally
reconciled. Nothing stands between. It is a mind that is totally
exchanged one for the Other. You say, "Is this possible?" Not only
is this possible. It is paid for, finished and done, waiting to be
accomplished in you. Is it possible that the eternal Christ of the
Living God can dwell in you? Is it possible? Oh yes! You who are
born again. Is it possible that we have His Mind, that the soul
then can actually be changed? Not only possible. It is the
predestinated end of your salvation. Now you see, salvation is more
than learning verses, and religious statements. It is more than the
training of the brain that is out here in the body. No, it is the
soul coming in to the understanding. That soul that was separated
from God now being absolutely, totally and completely reconciled to
God; but, after a measure that it never knew, not even in the
garden, brought into a oneness with Christ Himself. And, it is as
though none of this other ever took place. Paul is saying, "I glory
in nothing save the Cross, whereby the world is crucified to me,
and I am crucified to it." Well, where are you Paul? "I am in
Christ Jesus." Where would you be found? "Oh to be found in Him."
What life will you live? "Oh, for me to live is Christ." That is a
believer learning reconciliation. 

                  THE IMPEDIMENT TAKEN AWAY

2-"To change from one condition to another by removing all enmity,
and by leaving nothing that is an impediment to unity." To change
from one condition to another. Well, you see, the change is taking
place here with the indwelling Christ. We are talking about
changing now, transforming now. The verses that I read you,
"changed into His same image", and reconciled means that. Oh, I
know that the word reconciliation is not used there, but that is
the reason I read those verses. That is the work of reconciliation.
It is accomplished at the Cross. It is worked out here, the change
from one condition to another. So completely, however, is this
change, that it is to remove all enmity, and leave nothing that is
an impediment to unity. You see, all of this that is in the veil.
There is a veil here, the veil of flesh, the veil that is the old
man himself. That veil which is the old man is an impediment to
unity. You put you and I in a room, just the two of us, and leave
us there in that room (and, you do not have to leave us there too
long). Who is the impediment to unity? Remove one of us and you
will see. Lead me out of the room, and there is absolute unity. Do
away with me and there is unity. Bring me back in and immediately,
there is an impediment to unity. 

At the Cross, where we were reconciled by His Son that we might be
saved in the fullness of His life, the impediment was taken away.
At the Cross, that which was enmity was taken away, to make in
himself one man, neither male nor female. When this heart turns to
Him, and He begins to be revealed, this veil which is me, the
imagination of my heart, the impediment; because, you see, I am
still trying to see Jesus and me, and that is an impediment to
unity. I am still trying to see black and white, male and female,
and that is an impediment to unity. The old man is still there in
my mind and my heart impeding unity, not only unity between Christ
and myself, but between you and I. But, when the veil is taken
away, the veil is taken away. That which is impeding is done away,
and the knowledge of one life. And it is not I but Christ Who
lives. The impediment is being done away. I say "is being" because
it is a continual work. It is being done away. What is happening?
I am seeing myself as from the beginning, because I am seeing
Christ. I am seeing the Son that He is and has made us. 
 
RECONCILIATION. You will have to admit with me that this is a long
way from just being a sinner understanding some sins are gone. No!
That is a son understanding, "God, You really are my Father."
"Christ, You really are my life. I have no life but You." The veil
coming down. The veil disappearing. 


                           AN ALTERATION
 
3-"To effect an alteration." I thought when I looked that up in the
Greek, "My, that is kind of an understatement", but as I began to
search the word "alteration" out, it means exactly what Jesus said
that it means, and it does not mean exactly what He said it did not
mean. It does not mean altering an old garment by sewing on a piece
of new cloth. It means a new garment altogether. I have already
said it. It does not mean the soul or the mind, or the brain
learning new life, or new principles, or new things to do. It means
the receiving of a new mind. It means the renewing. It means being
clothed upon. It means being swallowed up in life. We groan not
that we would be put off, but that we would be clothed upon, that
this mortal would be swallowed up in immortality. It is an
altering. It is not just an altering of a course. It is a complete
alteration. 

                A CHANGE... BY AN ACTION OF ANOTHER

4-"A change on the part of one party by an action on the part of
another party." It is this party that you and I are, coming to the
realization of the action on the part of this party. It is the
change on the part of one party brought about by an action of
another party. Who administered the reconciliation? He did. He laid
aside. He came. He did it. It is a change on the part of this party
brought about by the action on the part of this party. Take that a
little deeper, because that is the work of the Cross. Now take that
up here where we are truly seeing it. It is the change on the part
of this party brought about by the action on the part of God as He
reveals His Son in us, and causes us to understand the
reconciliatory work of Christ, causes us to understand the One Son
that Christ has made us, so that there is an immediate change. We
immediately cry out, "God, you are my Father." There is a change on
the part of one party brought about by the action on the part of
another, as God reveals His Son in me. As this begins to be worked
out in us and we begin to be ministers of that which is Christ,
ministers of forgiveness, not grudge-holders and haters, ministers
of restoration, not those who would continue to be earthly minded,
but restoring, and ministers of reconciliation, not those who
continue to walk apart and divide. 

                   MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

But to whom is it given to minister reconciliation? It is given to
the reconciled. I am saying it is going to take an action on your
part. You can sit until you grow old and gray, waiting for that
brother to come and say, "I am sorry", or you can go and minister
reconciliation. And, by the action on the part of one party, there
is a change on the part of another. "....has given unto us the
ministry of reconciliation." To whom? To those who are the
reconciled. To those who are walking in the light of His Life is
given this Word of reconciliation. WE ARE A RECONCILED SON. We are
a son who is at one with his Father. We are a reconciled son. It is
given to us this ministry of reconciliation, first one to another,
then to all men. It is given to us, this ministry of
reconciliation, withholding from none the finished work of the
Cross.