1 John 4:17 (NIV)
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."
This Scripture reveals to us that Believers in this world are just like Jesus is right now, seated at the right hand of the Father. In the realm
of the natural, this does not seem to be true, especially when we consider the frailties staring us in the face. The Word of God holds true, regardless
of what we see with our natural eyes, however. In God’s eyes the believer is exactly like Jesus now!
Before we can truly appreciate the status of New Testament believers, we need to understand that Jesus in his present state at the right hand of the Father
is different from Jesus hanging on the cross, or the Jesus walking the streets of Jerusalem, or the Jesus in pit of hell. Also the present day Jesus is a
whole lot different from Jesus in Bethlehem in a manger.
The status of Jesus right now is the resurrected Lord seated at the right hand of the Father, who has been given a name above every other name and is far above
principalities and powers. He also currently holds the keys of death and hades. Now the Bible says, the saint of God walking the dusty streets of this sin-ridden
planet is just like this resurrected Lord! (Ephesians 1:20, 2:6, Revelation 1:18).
But how can this be? The simple reason this is so, is that the believer is not seen as a separate entity from Jesus because each of us constitutes a part of the large
colossus called the Body of Christ. And just like a man’s natural body is seated anywhere the head is seated, all the saints of God are currently seated with Jesus the
head at the right hand of the Father, far above all principalities and powers.
Okay, so why do we need to see ourselves this way? In the process of seeing ourselves this way, we are better positioned to actually live out this classy status of Jesus
in the earth now. This is a principle of faith which was practiced by Jacob with the flocks in house of Laban. The more the flocks gazed at a certain image Jacob put in front
of them, the more they reproduced after the image that they saw. It is little wonder then that the Bible says we are being transformed into His image, as we behold the likeness of his glory
(Genesis 30:37-43, 2 Corinthians 3:18). Looking at the likeness of Jesus right now will position us to reflect the image of the resurrected Lord. The believer is better equipped to change
any shame of his as he beholds the resurrected Lord. We have got to behold the glory!
To further appreciate our status with Jesus right now, we need to compare and contrast the resurrected Jesus with the unresurrected Jesus. The table below gives us a clue into some of the
outstanding qualities of the resurrected Lord and, by extension, ours as well.
| S/N |
Jesus After Resurrection |
Jesus Prior to Resurrection |
| 1 |
Can no longer be tempted with sin (Rm 6:11, James 1:13) |
Was tempted during His walk on earth in every way, but yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15) |
| 2 |
Does not have sickness and poverty in His body, since death no longer has authority over Him,
and we know that the nature of death is responsible for sickness and poverty (Romans 6:9) |
On the cross took upon Himself all the sickness and poverty of the earth (1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 8:9)/td>
|
| 3 |
Has been given a name above every other name, and we get to use His name because He handed over His authority to
us, after being raised from the dead (Philippians 2:9-11, Matthew 28:18-20) |
Had limited authority because Satan still had the keys of death and hades (Revelation 1:18). Jesus confirmed this
when He refused to argue with the devil in the wilderness of temptation, when the imp bluffed out that authority over
the earth was handed over to Him (Luke 4:5-8). |
| 4 |
Qualifies to intercede for the church as a faithful high priest (Hebrews 7:25) and we have access through His blood to
obtain grace and mercy in our time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16). |
Was limited in his ability to intercede for man, because He was trapped in the physical body (Hebrews 2:14). |
The saint of God should see himself operating in the status of the resurrected Jesus right now and subsequently believe this
to see these manifestations in his life. Also, we encourage the believer to search through the New Testament, especially the
epistles, to identify Scriptures that reveal the status of Jesus at the moment. Such Scriptures reveal who we are in Christ Jesus
and what we have in Christ Jesus.
At this time of our study, all we require you to do as a new entrant is to see yourself through God’s eyes. The power to enforce the
reality of what you see in your life in the earth is being generated by young men and fathers. You are just like Jesus is right now
seated at the right hand of the Father on high.
