Who or What Is Christ?

On at least two occasions, Peter identified Jesus as Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:13; John 6:69). And Jesus Himself prayed that we would know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (v 3).

We tend to use the words Jesus and Christ interchangeably. And we refer to the time before the birth of Jesus as before Christ (B.C.) when, in truth, there is no time before Christ. Jesus Himself said that He was before Abraham (John 8:58), and Paul lets us know that the spiritual Rock that followed the children of Israel out of Egypt was Christ (1Corinthians 10:4).

Because man had lost sight of his true identity, thinking that he had his origin in sperm and egg rather than in God, God Himself descended into this world, taking upon Himself the FORM of Jesus, a man born of a woman, and in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3) —the only way He could make Himself visible to man, who had become veiled to his true nature.

Galatians 4:4-6  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

So we see CAUSE (God) becoming EFFECT (Son of man) so that man could look upon and handle his own true identity.

1John 1:1  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.

That Word of Life was and is the Christ, the Son of the living God, not Jesus the carpenter.

But that Word

John 1:14  … was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

And that Word made flesh is the recognition of man’s oneness with God and is what we call Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. This is precisely what Jesus was praying for in John 17, that we would know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (v 3) and that we would know our oneness with God and Jesus Christ (vv 11, 21-23). (See One with God.)

We know that God is One (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29; Galatians 3:20) —not three. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one and the same; they are all CAUSE or In the beginning God (Genesis 1:1). That is why Jesus (who recognized that His true identity was the Christ, that Christ was His life) could say, I and my Father are one (John 10:30). He knew that man was God in expression and that He had come into this world to show man his true origin and heritage —that every man is a member of this body, of which Christ is the head.

1Corinthians 12:12-14,27  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Peter was among the first to come into this recognition of man’s true identity when he saw Jesus, the son of man and knew Him to be Christ, the Son of the living God. On the Mount of Transfiguration, he was among the three who got to see not only Jesus, but also Moses and Elijah, in their true identity, not born of flesh but of Spirit (John 3:5-6) —and also sons of the living God. You might argue that this was their resurrected bodies; but, remember, Jesus had not yet been crucified. What the disciples were looking upon was man in his true identity, in his body not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2Corinthians 5:1). Jesus was demonstrating that we have that body now, while we are in this world but that it is not visible to the human senses. That’s why He had to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3).

John of course also had the revelation that now we are the sons of God (1John 3:2), and Paul admonishes to let the mind of Christ be in us (Philippians 2:5-7) so that we, too, can come into this same recognition of our origin in God and our oneness with Him. When we do, then the Word is made flesh in us as it was in Jesus. Coming into this recognition is to be born again or born from above. It is submitting to the original creation and entering God’s kingdom. We must return (be born from above again) to Father’s house (God’s kingdom), where we were in the beginning (the original creation).

John 3:3-7 (MESSAGE) Jesus said, You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to —to God’s kingdom. Jesus said, You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation —the wind hovering over the water creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life— it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be born from above —out of this world, so to speak.

There were countless dedicated, God-loving people (including those written about in the Bible) before the coming of God into this world in the form of Jesus Christ; but none of them had this revelation. None of them were born again into the kingdom of heaven from whence they came. Many thought they were going there when their time on this earth was finished; but they didn’t know either their origin or their heritage as a son of God.

That’s why Jesus said:

Matthew 11:11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

It is only in Christ that the veil is removed. Paul puts it this way:

2Corinthians 3:14-18  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail 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 open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

When that veil is removed so that I can look in a mirror and see the glory of the Lord in my own face (recognize that I am the son of the living God in my true identity), then the Spirit of the Lord (the Christ in me) begins the process of making the Word become flesh in me. Christ is glorified in me (John 17:10) because Jesus Christ gave me (or enabled me to recognize that I already have) the same glory that was given Him by the Father that I might be (recognize that I already am) one with the Father just as He was (v 22).

I wish to call attention to the following words of Jesus Christ:

John 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And also:

John 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

The Christ of God (Luke 9:20) which was Christ in Jesus had to become again invisible to man (go away) so that He could send the Comforter (come again) or become Christ in you (Colossians 1:27) —so that where I am (in the kingdom of heaven), there ye may be also. Then Christ again becomes visible in you and in me; for the Word is again made flesh so that it can be seen and handled.

And we always thought that the second coming was Jesus coming out of the sky! But that is a subject for another contemplation (see Rapture (Part 1) and Rapture (Part 2).

Suffice it to say that Christ is God living His life through man. He has always lived His life through man (or attempted to), for man is God in expression. Christ is our life (Colossians 3:4). But until He Himself descended into this world in the form of Jesus and lived His Life through that man, all mankind was veiled from this truth which Jesus bore witness to. By taking that mistaken identity of a life apart from God to the death of the cross (Romans 6:6-7  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.), Jesus Christ made it possible for every man to enter (or should I say re-enter —be born again into) the kingdom of heaven (from whence he came) here and now.