Page 57 - Christ in You - The Hope of Glory

Death of Initiative

he first chapter of this book declared the value of taking a wider view of the work of God,
Tfor as we observe the end Yahweh has in mind for His sons we can better comprehend
those things which are to be our present experience. Yahweh is looking for sons to whom
He can impart His own omnipotent power and authority. In order to entrust the powers of
the age to come to sons, these sons must be fully formed in Yahweh’s own image. To fall
short in any measure in attaining to the character of God would result in incalculable harm
to the creation.
Consider the message of the following passage from the gospels:

Luke 9:52-56
And they went, and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make arrangements for
Him. And they did not receive Him, because He was journeying with His face toward
Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do
You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But
He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit
you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save
them.”

Suppose Yahweh had granted James and John the power and authority to do whatever
came into their heart BEFORE they learned the nature of the Spirit of Christ. These “sons
of thunder” would have left smoking ruins all around in their misguided zeal for their Lord.
Yahweh will bequeath an even greater power to His sons in the age to come, and therefore
it is an absolute necessity that they come into a strict conformity to the Spirit of Christ.
The sons of God must learn a deep humility. They must not consider that any thought
or ambition arising from the soul of man is of value. Walking humbly before God requires
that a man move only at the command of God, doing nothing that arises out from self. It is
an acknowledgment that only Yahweh is the source of righteous judgment and all goodness.
Man can only act in righteousness and goodness when he has perfectly comprehended the
mind and will of the Father.

Isaiah 11:3-4
He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what
His ears hear; but with righteousness He will judge...

Righteous judgment is not arrived at by a rational examination of the facts. Even if we
have a moral code to guide us and we apply all diligence to understand all the facts of a
matter, our rational mind will not lead us to righteous judgment. The prophet Isaiah
testified that the coming Messiah would not judge after the manner of men. The Son of God
would not evaluate situations as He received input through His natural senses and then
weighed the matter in His soul. The Messiah would judge with righteousness.
The majority in Christendom today overwhelmingly form their judgments according
to the report of their senses as they weigh the facts in their soul. Many know of no other way
to judge a matter. Little do they realize that they are operating out of the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, and they have not begun to judge things in righteousness.
How often have unrighteous actions been upheld by Christian men, and righteous actions