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How Are We Like Christ At This Time?

Hi P____,

Thank you for your question. Here is the parable in question:

Mat 21:33  Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
Mat 21:34  And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
Mat 21:35  And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Mat 21:36  Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
Mat 21:37  But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
Mat 21:38  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
Mat 21:39  And they caught him, and cast [him] out of the vineyard, and slew [him].
Mat 21:40  When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
Mat 21:41  They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out [his] vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Mat 21:42  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43  Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Mat 21:45  And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
Mat 21:46  But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
Look at these words: " The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." Of whom are these words spoken?

The whole world would say that this is speaking specifically about Christ, and it certainly is speaking about Christ. But who is 'Christ?" Who does Christ consider to be 'Christ?' When you see the answer to this question, I hope you will see what I meant when I said that the servant and the Son are one and the same. Here is Christ's own perspective on who He is. This is not my perspective except as I am following Christ.

Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink?
Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]?
Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
It is most revealing that the message of this parable is as unknown today as the day it was uttered, 'As you have done it unto one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me, and as you did it not to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it not to me.'

The way I treat you is the way I treat Christ. Contrariwise, the way you treat me is the way you treat Christ. That is what I meant when I said 'The son and the servant are one and the same.' Here is this truth plainly stated in scripture:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
This all leads us to deal with the false doctrines of 'oneness and fullness now.' "As He is, so are we in this world" is a simple statement which reveals that we are all 'in Christ," and as such we will be rejected and despised and persecuted, as He was. Christ's words were rejected when He was in a body of flesh, and His words are still rejected when those words are spoken through these bodies of flesh. That is the secret which is still hidden from this world:
Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Here is verse 24 from the Emphatic Diaglott:

(EDT) Now I rejoice in the sufferings on behalf of you, and I fill up the wants of the afflictions of the Anointed one in the flesh of me on behalf of the body of him, which is the congregation;

The word 'Christ' means 'the anointed,' and the definite article 'the' is found to be with the word 'Christ' over 54 times in the Greek New Testament. I cover this subject of Who Is The Christ? in the talk and the study notes of the Dallas conference of 2007. I hope you will take the time to listen to that talk and to read those study notes. Christ's inheritance is "in the saints."
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Christ's inheritance is in "the Christ, the Anointed." Without this understanding we will never understand the depth of the Truth that "As He is, so are we in this world."

Here is Col 1:24 in Rotherham's Emphsized Version:

(REV) Now, am I rejoicing in the sufferings on your behalf, and am filling up the things that lack of the tribulations of the Christ, in my flesh, in behalf of his body, which is the assembly,

So while it is true that 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brothers, you have done it onto me,' let it never be said that the body is the head. It is not nor will it ever be the head. When everything is said and done, and when the eons have served their purpose, this will still be true:
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
"All in all" is signified by Christ's submission to His Father, but it does not give Christ the power of the throne:
Gen 41:40  Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
There is, was and will always be order in the work of God. Our being one in Christ has to do with being "one body;" it does not eliminate the fact that there are many different members of that "one body." In other words "the head of the body" is not the foot, neither is the foot the head.
Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Being "one in Christ" in no way makes us all of "the same office." Here are the verses on either side of verse 4:
Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
We are all members one of another. In that sense the servant and the Son are the same, but it is in that sense only. We are not "the head of the body," and we are still male and female in what Paul calls "office." There will be neither male no female in the resurrection, and while we are to live as if we are resurrected, so far as our dominion over the desires of the flesh is concerned, "nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."
Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 5:33  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
There is no 'fullness of the spirit' at this time, and "living as those who are resurrected from the dead" complements, and does not negate Ephesians 5:23. That is why it is called a down payment.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
"Earnest" is 'down payment.' No one is ever permitted to take possession of a piece of real estate until that property is out of escrow, "until the redemption of the purchased possession."  'Escrow' is the fact that we are still in bodies of clay. Bodies of "corruptible flesh and blood:"
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
So while the servant and the Son are "one body" and "are the same in this world" as far as "filling up what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ," let it always be understood that in that one body the members "have not the same office."
Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
I hope this helps to clarify what is meant by "as He is so are we in this world."

Your brother in "the Christ,"

Mike