Christ, The King

In John 8:31-32, Jesus declared, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'. Throughout his ministry, Jesus of Nazareth, as the Son of Man, faithfully revealed and proclaimed the reign of the incarnate Christ, God's presence, image, grace, truth and love, in the spiritual core of all humankind [Genesis 1:26-27, John 1:18-19]. It is appropriate that Jesus concluded his End Time Mount Olivet Discourses about kingdom living with his parable of the sheep and the goats [Matthew 25:31-46].

In the East, during Jesus of Nazareth's earthly ministry, nearly all Bedouin flocks consisted of both sheep and goats. The sheep supplied wool for clothing and the goats supplied hair for tents, bags and ropes. Both provided milk, butter and cheese, the chief food.

Sheep and goats graze together on the mountains and in the hills, but had different thought and behavior patterns. Goats are wild, stubborn, independent and troublesome. They often climbed the steep inaccessible places and kept the shepherds busy watching and bringing them back into the fold. Sheep on the other hand are gentle, walk slowly and graze quietly. When the shepherd’s call sheep hear his voice and obey.

In today’s parable, Jesus uses the shepherd’s practice of separating the sheep from the goats to illustrate mankind's innate ability, through the indwelling Christ and the Holy Spirit, to choose righteous ideas, emotions and behavior. With God's help we can choose the regenerate instead of the unregenerate human mind, the spiritually awake ideas of truth over the spiritually blind, error states of consciousness in the soul, heart and mind. Believers can choose the mind of the Spirit and reject the error, destruction and death of the mind of the flesh, in the body of Christ.

In this parable, Jesus portrays the dramatic change in the way of thinking and living, of Christ-centered spiritually awake believers in all the world religions. They choose the mindsets of Jesus Christ [Romans 8:1-2]. They seek, discern and share the eternal truth of mankind's eternal heritage of divine son ship through the indwelling Christ, which Jesus knew [Genesis 1:26-27, Luke 17:20-21]. With God's help, like the sheep, they embrace true Christ-centered spiritual-based ideas, emotions and actions.

On the other hand, like goats, spiritually blind believers continue to live according to the flesh. They set their minds on spiritually blind ideas, emotions and the works of carnal, mortal and worldly mindedness. They remain hostile to the things of God. They do not submit to God's law [Romans 8:5-8]. They refuse to follow Jesus Christ in seeing the urgent need to separate the sheep, things of God from the goats, things of men, in their hearts, minds and lives [Matthew 16:21-24, 25:31-33].

The kingdom of Christ is in the spiritual core of all people. It has been prepared by God, before the beginning of creation [Matthew 25:34]. God's reign in human lives is experienced through the indwelling Christ [Matthew 25:34, Luke 17:20-21]. Paul the apostle called this profound truth of the Reign of Christ, the mystery which has been hidden down through the ages and generations; “Christ in you the hope of glory” [Colossians 1:26-27]. Like Jesus Christ and Paul, the mystical prophets in all the world religions have sought to demonstrate and share this mystery with their people. They bring the indwelling Christ to others and bring others to Christ.

The sobering certainty we gather from this parable is that we must each ultimately choose between the things of God and the things of men. The universal indwelling Christ, in the spiritual core of each person, is the final judge. Christ as indwelling Lord discerns and separates the sheep [spiritually awake, good, obedient, profitable and peaceful thoughts], from the goats [spiritually blind, stubborn, selfish, useless thoughts] within the individual heart, mind and life of each person.

When we seek and invite the indwelling Christ into our own souls, hearts and minds as Lord, Savior and Master, we will experience the reign and spiritual coming of Christ in all His glory. We will enter the last judgment and the final separation of truth from error will take place in the soul, heart and mind of each believer [Matthew 25:31-33, John 1:3-5, 2Corinthians 4:5-7]. Many Christ-centered, spiritually awake believers, in all the world religions are now emerging. Many of these individuals may also choose to belong to no religion.

Abba Father has given all obedient souls into the sovereign care of the indwelling Christ and the Holy Spirit, through our spiritual cores. No one can pluck them out of Christ and our Father's hands. Are you willing to seek and serve Christ in all persons and love your neighbor as yourself [Matthew 25:40]? Will you choose to inherit and dwell in the eternal spiritual kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation of the world [Matthew 25:34]?

Angel presence of the week: ‘Obedience’

Prayer of the Week: 'Establishing peace of mind' 

Modified from ‘How to Change Your Life’ by Dr. Ernest Holmes