1 Corinthians 2:7-10. ….but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
1 Peter 2:4-5. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13. And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ; Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Recovery Version.
1 Corinthians 14:26-33. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18. ….but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

As the times of the Gentiles draw inexorably towards their close, the Lord is revealing many secrets to His own which have remained hidden until now; ‘the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory’. He is unveiling more and more concerning the things ‘that God has prepared for those who love Him’….through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

Central within the purpose and plan of the Godhead is that there is to be a bride for Christ. Although it may seem incomprehensible to us, who perhaps cannot imagine that the Godhead could lack or need anything, a desire was created in Jesus for a counterpart, one who will complete Him. His counterpart will one day forever be the wife of the Lamb who shall fulfil and satisfy that desire. In God’s plan, formed in eternity past, Jesus’ bride, His wife, would be comprised of members of God’s highest created being, man. Fundamental to His unfolding plan God created Adam, in the image of Jesus, referred to in Luke 3:38 as ‘the son of God.

Adam and his wife Eve sinned and, in so doing, became orphaned from God. Yet God’s promise at that time made certain that a Redeemer would come from the seed of the woman who would bruise Satan’s head and would destroy all that had resulted from the devil’s evil endeavours. From this redeemed and restored race of beings God is, by His Holy Spirit, preparing a counterpart for Jesus. This wondrous work of the Holy Spirit will be displayed in two stages. The first stage will be a hidden presentation of ‘His wife’ to her Bridegroom at the marriage supper of the Lamb, Revelation 19. The second stage will be a fully open presentation, when ‘the bride, the wife of the Lamb’ will descend out of heaven as the holy city, new Jerusalem, to be the centrepiece of the new heavens and the new earth and the eternal dwelling place of God. Revelation 21.Read More

Since these great events will certainly come about, a most important question needs to be asked. By what means is God bringing this great purpose to fulfillment? The short answer is that He has throughout past history, and He is today, performing this great work in individuals and in companies of His own through the blessed person of the Holy Spirit who performs His work exactly in accordance with God’s will and God’s ways. God’s will is what He purposes shall be. God’s ways are the perfect expression of His divine character. The Scriptures reveal God’s will and God’s ways and the part to be played by mankind in the fulfillment of His eternal purpose and plan. The more we allow ourselves to be conformed to God’s will and God’s ways, the purer will be our expression of His divine character and the greater our contribution to the forwarding of His kingdom here on earth.

The process of transformation of fallen human beings into the image of God can only be accomplished in those whose surrendered lives permit the Holy Spirit to carry out His work unhindered by self-effort or disobedience. Obedience to the will of God is what bears testimony to the life of Jesus within us. As we perform and express through us the will of God on this earth we will constantly have something to share with others in the power of the anointing Spirit. ‘When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation’.

The Lord Jesus desires that all who seek Him will regularly assemble unto Him that they may share in mutual enjoyment of Him and learn of Him. In such settings the Scriptures tell us that God’s work of transformation will take place. ‘But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Meeting in absolute dependence upon the Lord is a glorious and life giving experience. Those who are blessed to meet in this way have eyes for no one but Jesus. The word assures us that in such circumstances all present are being thereby transformed into His image.

In terms of being built together the word tells us ‘And coming to Him as to a living stone….you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. The Spirit’s work has two parts; the work within the individual and the building together of the individuals to be the perfected body of Christ that will one day be His bride.

In practicality how are these works of the Spirit performed? Ephesians 4:11-13 is an excellent place to start. ‘And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ’. Evidence of this having taken place is found in the assembly in Antioch. Acts 13 recounts that there were prophets who were also teachers in Antioch. ‘Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul’. On this occasion Barnabas and Saul were sent forth by the Holy Spirit as apostles and evangelists, to which the record of their future ministry testifies.

The gifts that the five mentioned were to the church in Antioch had come about by the work within them of the Holy Spirit. It was from among the members of the local assembly that God created them to be greater gifts that their function might be ‘For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ’. The spiritual state of the members of this assembly of believers was such that, together with these gifted ones, all could endorse the directive of the Holy Spirit to send the two forth for the work to which He had called them. ‘…. when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away’.

That the church in Antioch was experiencing transformation and building together of its many members is not only evidenced by this spirit of absolute unanimity but in the description given about them on the return of Paul and Barnabas, following completion of their ministry journey. ‘From there they sailed to Antioch , from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished. When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent a long time with the disciples’.  Acts 14:26-28. The company of believers with whom Paul and Barnabas spent a long time are described as disciples. How valuable a time this must have been for this, by now large company of believers.

All true believers have forever been connected through Christ to God, by faith. Yet those who have made the utter commitment of all to Jesus and have passed through the narrow gate that Jesus spoke about, will also be expressing Him consistently in their lives. They will be in the process of transformation and also being built together. Above all it will be evident that they are clothed in the invisible mantel of ‘a  fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

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