In order to understand the Christ’s relation to the individual mortal, we must briefly describe the nature of the Father, and His relation to the Christ.

The Relation of the Father to the Christ

The Father, as the First Source and Center of all creation, is absolute perfection in every way. In Him is all there is and all there can ever be. He does not need to experience anything in order to know it. He is existential – meaning that every thing that could ever be known already exists in Him. This absolute nature makes it difficult, if not impossible, for mortal man to have direct dealing with him.

In our prior article, we learned that one way the Father interacts with his mortal creations is by granting a spirit fragment of himself to reside in our minds. Another way the Father interacts with us is by means of his Son. We are told:

“For the thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
– Isaiah 55:8-9

This separation is too great for man to span. So help was provided:

“For “who has come to know the mind of Jehovah, that he may instruct him?” But we do have the mind of Christ.”
– 1 Corinthians 2:16

Yes, the Christ is another means through which the Father expresses himself to his creations:

“However, Jesus cried out and said: “He that puts faith in me puts faith, not in me [only], but in him [also] that sent me; and he that beholds me beholds [also] him that sent me. I have come as a light into the world, in order that everyone putting faith in me may not remain in the darkness. But if anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I came, not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that disregards me and does not receive my sayings has one to judge him. The word that I have spoken is what will judge him in the last day; because I have not spoken out of my own impulse, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to tell and what to speak. Also, I know that his commandment means everlasting life. Therefore the things I speak, just as the Father has told me [them], so I speak [them].”
– John 12:44-50

In fact, one of the main purposes for Christ’s coming is to reveal God to mankind as, not just a great potentate, but as a loving Father:

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one fully knows the Son but the Father, neither does anyone fully know the Father but the Son and anyone to whom the Son is willing to reveal him.”
– Matthew 11:27

The Activities of the Christ as Sovereign

The Christ’ role is described in the book of Colossians:

“He [God] delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist, and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things; because [God] saw good for all fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile again to himself all [other] things by making peace through the blood [he shed] on the torture stake, no matter whether they are the things upon the earth or the things in the heavens.”
– Colossians 1:13-20

So, in our universe, the Christ was the first creation and he, in turn, created everything else in our universe, both the visible and the invisible. God appointed the Christ to this position. And while this position was powerful and made him the sovereign of his universe, he was only a vicegerent – an appointed sovereign. He did not reign in his own right – he had not earned his sovereignty. Though he had the legal right to exercise his sovereignty in all matters, we learn in the book of Jude that the Christ (also known by the title Michael) refused to exercise that authority as to matters of judgment:

“But when Michael the archangel had a difference with the Devil and was disputing about Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a judgment against him in abusive terms, but said: “May Jehovah rebuke you.”
– Jude 1:9

Instead, he patiently and humbly waited until he had earned the right by completing the work the Father gave him to do. We understand that work to be living as one of his order of creatures in order to be qualified to rule over them. He appeared on earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth:

“Seeing, therefore, that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold onto [our] confessing of [him]. For we have as high priest, not one who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all respects like ourselves, but without sin. Let us, therefore, approach with freeness of speech to the throne of undeserved kindness, that we may obtain mercy and find undeserved kindness for help at the right time.”
– Hebrews 4:14-16

And after he faithfully completed that mission, he was elevated to the position of a true sovereign in his own right – a name that is above every other name:

“Keep this mental attitude in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. No, but he emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men. More than that, when he found himself in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake. For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
– Philippians 2:5-11

The Activities of the Christ on Behalf of Mankind

In the person of Jesus, the Christ demonstrated how a son of man could reach the pinnacle of humanity and enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens, over which the Christ reigned, and become adopted and grafted into God’s spiritual family. Before Christ’s appearance on earth, man had only the hope of living a few years on a troubled planet under stressful conditions until he died and returned to dust. Some came to believe that if they had done enough good works in their life, God might remember them in a future resurrection to live again on the earth. They were a fleshly people who filtered life through the lens of the limited human experience.

When we read the historical account of the Hebrews and their concepts of God, we see that their understanding of Him was progressive. Their view gradually improved from viewing Him as a vengeful and jealous God to the loving God of all and the Father of a nation. It was at this point that the Father determined that man was ready for the “revealing of the sons of God” whereby the Christ would reveal God as their individual Father (not just the Father of a nation), and would demonstrate the ‘way’ to become ‘adopted as sons and children of God.’

“Consequently I reckon that the sufferings of the present season do not amount to anything in comparison with the glory that is going to be revealed in us. For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will but through him that subjected it, on the basis of hope that the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that all creation keeps on groaning together and being in pain together until now. Not only that, but we ourselves also who have the firstfruits, namely, the spirit, yes, we ourselves groan within ourselves, while we are earnestly waiting for adoption as sons, the release from our bodies by ransom.”
– Romans 8:18-23

This revealing of the sons showed them that they no longer had to groan in pain under the cruel yoke of the fleshly, earthly life. But that they would be adopted in to the Kingdom of the Heavens and become spirit sons of the Father where they would be released from the fleshly bodies and given new, incorruptible ones. (1 Corinthians 15:52) In that state, they would enjoy untold realities and heretofore incomprehensible experiences:

“But just as it is written: “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither have there been conceived in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”
– 1 Corinthians 2:9

This does not mean that the fulfillment of God’s promises would leave the earth uninhabited. No. We are told:

“For this is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He the [true] God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited: “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.”
– Isaiah 45:18

“The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”
– Psalms 37:29

The provision for man to be born and live on earth would continue. It is the means of creating potential human sons of God. While spirit personalities are directly created and eventuated in the heavens, only on earth are new human sons of God procreated and born.

“. . . for in the resurrection neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven.”
– Matthew 22:30

We might liken our earthly existence to the embryotic stage, and the release from our bodies as our true birth. Or we might liken ourselves to caterpillars who must go through the cocooning struggle before we can be born as butterflies. The example of Jesus shows us the way to successfully ‘cocoon’ so that we will be able to fly!

So in Christ Jesus, we have two exemplars: the powerful, loving, Son of God – the now sovereign of our universe – and the humble, loving, exemplar of our faith, our older brother Jesus, the Son of Man, who showed us how to love one another.

The Father and the Christ did not leave us to our own devices to figure out how to achieve sonship. The Christ, manifest in Jesus, was born as a helpless babe who had to grow to manhood as any other mortal of the realm; lived as a perfected man and teacher of heavenly ideals; and died as a faithful man, invincible in the face of an ignominious death.

Jesus promised that after his resurrection, he would send the Spirit of Truth that would continue to teach us about all things:

“I have many things yet to say to you, but you are not able to bear them at present. However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things coming. That one will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and will declare it to you. All the things that the Father has are mine. That is why I said he receives from what is mine and declares [it] to you.”
– John 16:12-15

And in his last discourse to his apostles he gave them instructions to carry out until they receive their adoption in the heavens:

“And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”
– Matthew 28:18-20

So we have now three ways in which the Father communes with us:

1. Through His Son, the Christ, who was the exact representation of God’s very being:

“God, who long ago spoke on many occasions and in many ways to our forefathers by means of the prophets, has at the end of these days spoken to us by means of a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the systems of things. He is the reflection of [his] glory and the exact representation of his very being, and he sustains all things by the word of his power; and after he had made a purification for our sins he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in lofty places. So he has become better than the angels, to the extent that he has inherited a name more excellent than theirs.”
– Hebrews 1:1-4

2. Through the Son’s spirit of truth who will teach us about all things:

“I have many things yet to say to you, but you are not able to bear them at present. However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things coming. That one will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and will declare it to you. All the things that the Father has are mine. That is why I said he receives from what is mine and declares [it] to you.”
–John 16:12-15

3. And through the Father’s own divine fragment whereby the Father knows the very hairs of our head:

“Do you not know that you people are God’s temple, and that the spirit of God dwells in you?”
– 1 Corinthians 3:16

“What! Do you not know that the body of you people is [the] temple of the holy spirit within you, which you have from God?”
– 1 Corinthians 6:19

In our next article, we will discuss The Divine Spirit Fragment of the Father.