Exaltation- Children of God

Some time ago I saw an image of a circle or sphere of a kind. I saw this because I was imagining Jesus, and what the end game would be for his sacrifice, how the resulting structure might look at the end of this timeline. I was thinking about how God made us sinless, but over time we sinned. This would mean that our initial purpose was to be sinless, as Jesus was throughout his life. If we remained sinless, what would we be like as adults? I considered that God would not make us to be broken or flawed, but we each would uniquely fit into his plan, a plan that sin delayed, but the choice to sin that God has not removed from us, for an undisclosed purpose.

I have written before of sin as a kind of distance between the path we are on and the path God intends for us. This would mean that without sin we would be back on this path, the distance closed between us and our creator. Jesus has the power to forgive sins on Earth, and so through Jesus we are able to end up back on this path. This ability to forgive sins takes on a sharply clear form when viewed in this way, as it is no longer something that simply makes us feel good, or something that will only help us after this life, but something that makes a measurable impact here on earth.

Matthew 9:6

"'But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.' So he said to the paralyzed man, 'Get up, take your mat and go home.'"

I also wrote that when this gap is reduced or eliminated, agreement with God is much more possible, and the lines for communicating agreement with God are much more clear, and agreement has the ability to shape reality. It seems likely that the gifts of The Holy Spirit are much more likely to occur in this state than in a state of sin, based on biblical record, gifts that are perhaps ultimately founded on agreement. While I have experienced many a "bail out" which would likely be a kind of gift of The Holy Spirit while in a state of sin, these are likely based on future promise rather than current state, and so the distance between us and God that I refer to is more complicated than three dimensional space would allow us to picture. It seems likely that past, present and future actions, as well as mindset, would all play a part in this distance. So even in a single moment if sins are forgiven, one cannot immediately have a request for agreement granted by these means, for often one still dwells in sin, which is another way to say that future sins are already seen along one's path, and as such distance remains even if the distance has been eliminated in the moment. So there is a complexity to one's state when sins are forgiven, but still there is a way sins can be forgiven on earth, and in so doing an increased closeness can be gained.

So I saw God's plan for us as a hypothetical sphere, like a ghostly outline. If each walked God's plan, we would each take up a point on the sphere. As it was though, only Jesus (perhaps also innocent children) was on the sphere's edge. Everyone else alive was inside the sphere, at varying distances toward the center, based on sin. I realized though that the ultimate purpose of this timeline was to get everyone onto that hypothetical sphere, thus forming an actual sphere.

As part of this image I pictured the role of Jesus. Jesus' goal on earth was to provide salvation for all mankind. I realized this was a first critical step in the equation I saw, because otherwise once one fell from the sphere (likely at their first intentional sin, perhaps first unintentional one) there would be no returning to to the sphere, the equation could never work as sin began as a one way trip. Once Jesus had established himself on the sphere, he had the ability to pull others up to it as well. While this was a critical function, it was not the only critical function intended for those on the sphere. 

Matthew 21:42

"Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the Scriptures: "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes"?'"

The cornerstone is the first critical part of the foundation of a house, but it is not a house. Jesus knew he would be the first son in a large family, as the only begotten, but he would not be the only child of God, in the end.

Matthew 5:43-45

“'You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.'"

This is tying the commandment "love your enemy" to the result of being "children of your Father in heaven." My interpretation of this is that the mindset resulting from actually loving your enemy would likely result in possessing no present or future sin, and that the position on the sphere actually corresponded to being a child of God. While this feels like the most difficult thing that can be done in this life, it is also the most important, and will result in the sphere taking shape, and the house being built.

Each brick in the house plays a critical function. As it stands it feels a lot like the cornerstone has been lost in a field of weeds somewhere. It feels like the common belief was that Jesus was so far beyond any other, that to aspire to a similar station would be blasphemous, but at the same time are we not called to be "Christ like?" While this phrase often is said in reference to Jesus' humility and love, it seems to disregard entirely the upside such a life would bring as well. Did Jesus not say:

John 14:12

"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

So why would we deny that we are meant to do great things in our walk with God? As such, this sphere ultimately represents a kind of all inclusive exaltation, where everybody reaches the plan that God initially had in mind for them. This result could only be reached through Jesus, and one does not forget the brother that saved their life (soul), but in the next timeline Jesus is one of many brothers and sisters, by his own words, and each one of us in the family would contribute something to the overall equation which is equally as amazing as what Jesus has done for us here.

As soon as I saw what this sphere looked like, the image of it was overwhelming. What is of equal value to saving one's soul? Even the idea still felt somewhat uncomfortable, but I had to remember that I was no longer envisioning a realm anywhere close to the one I experience today. I have an excellent imagination, but even I could not see what was intended, only the shape, or a shadow, of what was intended, and the reason God had protected and groomed mankind from the beginning of Creation, it has been because we were each critical pieces of the puzzle, and he loves us in the same way he loves Jesus. Ultimately we were meant to fulfill a purpose, each different, each possible through Jesus, but each of the same value. I could hardly imagine one such thing on this same level, let alone as many such things as there are people, as many singularly amazing additions to reality as there are stars in the sky or sand on the shore. This image was truly unfathomable for me, but the path to it was not. I could imagine a second critical function though, one that resonates well with me. This function is that of getting people to believe that this is possible, to listen to the words of Jesus, spoken while he was here interacting with us and saving us, words that promised amazing things. This role is getting people out of a powerless mindset, one that has been since ingrained as the intended mindset, and to see the full promise of what Jesus made possible and explicitly said we would achieve. While Jesus ensured no sheep would be lost, this next step is to ensure that people remember they were fearfully made to do amazing things. 

Imagine a world where you fulfill God's promise for you, and it is more amazing than you could have previously imagined. Imagine that, in this same world, everyone else was doing the same thing, each in their own unique way. Try to imagine what any of those unique ways might actually be, and then you will see the hypothetical sphere that I saw. This promise is not some linear transition from a neutral person to a good person, each living some quiet and unremarkable life. This transition is to being Christ-like in the true sense, being children of God, doing things "more amazing" than what Jesus did, reality as a sandbox and everyone a savant at something. This world is just around the corner. I feel it coming but not as a slow creep that would be an infinite climb to the edge of the sphere, but as catalyst brewing behind the scenes as the world seems to fall apart, a catalyst like yeast that will fill the entire dough once it reaches critical mass.