Life in the Spirit

KEY VERSE: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” —Romans 8:28

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Romans 8:12-17, 35-39

JESUS is the forerunner and the example for all those who during the Gospel Age have been called and are endeavoring to walk in his footsteps; these share with him the experiences of life in the Spirit. Jesus said: “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” (Matt. 10:24,25) The prophets foretold of Jesus that he must suffer and die at his first advent and then come into his glory. “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”—Luke 24:25-27

The Apostle Paul, pointing to the life of Jesus and showing how his life was a fulfillment of the Tabernacle sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, said: “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. … Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”—Heb. 10:4-7,9

This text reveals that the animal sacrifices on the typical Day of Atonement did not really take away sins, and that it was the Heavenly Father’s will that Jesus offer himself as the great antitypical sacrifice for sins which would in due time do away with all sins forever. By doing this Jesus eliminated the old typical sacrificial order and established a new arrangement whereby he offered himself once. Then the apostle continues with a statement that includes the footstep followers of Jesus as a part of the real sacrifice for sins which was to be accomplished during the anti-typical Day of Atonement. (In the type Jesus was pictured by the bullock, and the church, or footstep followers of Jesus, by the Lord’s goat.) “By the which will we are sanctified [‘set apart’—Young’s Concordance—see John 17:17,19] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb. 10:10) In other words, the same will that desired that Jesus offer himself as a sacrifice for sins likewise desired that his footstep followers be set apart for this same service, not that they would add to the merit of Christ’s sacrifice but that they would be simply counted in as part of his offering. This was made possible through the sacrifice of Jesus by whose merit they are cleansed and made acceptable.—Rom. 12:1

The life of Jesus is the perfect example of what his footstep followers can expect as they endeavor to follow him, experiencing the things that a life in the Spirit directs. Until Jesus was baptized and Spirit-begotten at the river Jordan, he was highly regarded by his Hebrew brethren. In Luke 2:52 we read, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” He obeyed the Law and was subservient to his parents and was generally highly regarded. But after his mind was enlightened by the Holy Spirit at Jordan, he immediately began to suffer the opposition of sinners. Jesus said, “Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) These experiences were the means used by the Heavenly Father to try and to prove Jesus, and to bring him to full maturity of mind in the Spirit. The Apostle Paul said, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”—Heb. 5:8,9

As the Spirit led Jesus to his life of sacrifice, so also will life in the Spirit lead his footstep followers.

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