By Deolu Akinyemi
What’s happening about this Christ? Why are we searching the scriptures looking for Christ? Is it because we want to learn history? Or is there more action happening around Christ than the world cares to know? Hebrews 13:13, Colossians 3:2 (MSG) – Look up and stay alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from His perspective.
Christ is not history, He’s the same yesterday, today and forever, he dwells in eternal timelines. His existence predates the sun and the moon, so God is not counting time like us. He lives in a state where everything has happened, everything is happening and everything will happen. There is a very crucial reason why we study Him in scriptures, it’s because except we find Him, we cannot find ourselves in Him. His word is a mirror that transforms, and the only picture that adjusts us, is Christ.
Let the reader also understand that by Christ, we do not mean Jesus alone. The full manifestation of the perfect man and son of man is Christ the Head and Christ the Body. You need to understand something interesting about the Bible – I may need a lot of posts to flesh this out, but it’s pretty easy to grasp. I will use simple metaphors.
- Metaphor 1 – A Building: The Old Testament is like an architectural plan, its details describe in accurate detail what God does. What God does is visible in Christ, so you can say that the architectural construct of the Old Testament is really about Christ. If you focus on a room, you may miss the forest for the trees. The Big picture is Christ (John 5:39). The 3D model that helps you make sense of this architectural design is Christ. Christ is the visible 3D model that makes you make sense of the Old Testament. He’s the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, he’s the corner stone on who all the design elements are visibly written, He is the piece that makes everything make sense. Jesus is not the final building all by himself, but he’s the 3D model, and like artisans of old – the cornerstone. The full house that God is building is Christ and His seed. In this building He is the foundation, and we all who are one in Him are living stones fitted together into the House of God. What He’s constructing with us, is a replica of which currently is in heaven.
- Metaphor 2 – A Body: God does nothing without a plan. He shares this plan with His friends, the prophets. Remember, friend is who you become after you understand your masters plan – John 15:15. All their encounters and revelations point to Christ, not just Jesus, but His Head and Body. The Old Jews did not recognize Jesus for many reasons – some, that all was not fully fulfilled in Him – they saw the Lamb, but not the Shepherd, neither the lion. They saw the signs, but they did not see the rule. Jesus is the Head; all that nourishes the body and makes the body develop comes from Him. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in heaven; we are connected to Him, and are with Him. He is represented here on earth, by His body. The day we are nourished to full stature, and are submitted totally to His Lordship, all His enemies will be crushed under His feet.
We look for Christ, because He is the truth. All other perspectives are lies eternally. We look for Christ because He is God’s master plan for how his Body and true Church will be constructed. We look for Christ because He is what God does. We don’t know Jesus after the flesh, not anymore. To us Church is not an organization – but an organism headed by a living being and membered by living beings. The fullness of that stature is the perfect man that Paul so fondly describes – the one all the ministry gifts are meant to be working at developing. Church is meant to be factory where matured sons are produced; it’s currently operating as a warehouse where different taskmasters are occupying until the true Body is formed. The spirit of God is drawing men from around the world, “come out from among them, and be separate unto me” – 2 Corinthians 6:17, Jeremiah 52:45, Rev 18:14.