Ken Boa Reflections Ministries

Dr. Ken Boa: Now we go on to John chapter 6. It's a long chapter, so we're going to just skim the surface as we are doing here because otherwise, it would go into great detail. You can break it down into Jesus feeding the multitude, then leaving them effectively, and then teaching them. We're going to be looking at verses 1 to 13 first of all. We're going to see in this chapter that this is the feeding of the 5,000, which is the one place where all four Gospels refer to it. This is the one miracle that all four of them refer to in John's Gospel.

There were other things that went on after the healing that we saw in John chapter 5 that took place, including the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, and those kinds of things. But this is such an important event that all four Gospels focus on it. He went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias. Tiberias, the city of Tiberias, would be on the western bank, and it's about 650 feet below sea level there at the Sea of Galilee, but about 2,000 feet on the side mountains on the left.

The Golan Heights, as we now call them today, would be on the eastern side, and that's where this would have taken place. But Tiberias was named by Herod Antipas in the year 26 AD, and he was the son of Herod the Great. It was known as Tiberias just to give you a feel for what that was like. Going back to this, a large crowd follows them because they saw the signs which he was performing on those who were sick. So they're clearly going after him for the wrong reasons.

Just as we see this as a basic theme, because he was performing signs, they were hoping for something. Jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. So we're told that Jesus, lifting up his eyes, seeing a large crowd was coming to them, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread that these may eat?" Actually, there was a previous thing that some of them said in Mark's Gospel, that you should send them away. That's not an option, he said.

Then he tested Philip. "Where are you going to buy bread?" He was testing him; he knew what he was going to do. Philip said, "200 denarii, 200 days' worth of bread, is not sufficient even to get a little bit." This is a miracle of abundance. It's a glorious thing. Elisha did something similar to this when he fed 100 men with some barley loaves, 20 barley loaves, but this is a far greater miracle than that.

One of the disciples said, "There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" It was a poor person's meal, as it were. Some theologians have these dumb statements that just astonish me when they say, "Oh, I see, he took out his lunch and then all the others got the idea and they took out their lunches, and that's how they all were fed." You wonder why are these people even teaching? Where do they come from? If they don't believe it, be honest and have the dignity and honesty to give it up and go and get another job.

But it's amazing how these dim-witted solutions come about. There's much grass in the place, so the men sat down, in number about 5,000, so you had over 10,000 people there. This is a huge crowd of people, and they are on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and they are given this extraordinary experience. He took the loaves, these little barley loaves, and having given thanks, then the little fish, the little pickled little fish, he took this small quantity and, having given thanks, distributed them to those who were seated.

Likewise also the fish, as much as they wanted. It's interesting that he points that out, the idea of giving thanks and giving praise to God. I think it's a very important motif that is part of the Lord's work. So they were seated, and then Jesus is the one who then takes this and this is the solution: you give him what you've got and let him multiply it. That's what it comes down to. Whatever you have, give it to him and you will not be in deficiency but sufficiency.

Even if it seems to be not enough, he will multiply what you offer to him. It's a fundamental biblical principle: give it to him. He distributed it to those who were seated, also the fish. When they were filled, he said to them, "Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing will be lost." So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. I would have loved to have seen this just to see what's going on.

They end up with what the leftovers, after they've all been filled and satisfied. This is not that they were hungry. It wasn't just for each one to have a little bit. This is an image in Ephesians 3 where he does exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. It's a miracle of abundance, a miracle of the kingdom, a miracle of provision, and it's a symbol and a sign and a pointer to the glory of the one who can multiply this.

But it was significant that nothing would be lost, that they would gather them up. We are told 12 baskets from the five barley loaves which were left over. So when the people saw this sign which he had performed, they said, "This is truly the prophet who was to come into the world." The Jews understood that there would be the prophet who would come, the second redeemer, that actually just as Moses brought down manna from the heavens, so the second redeemer would also do that.

There was an anticipation, and it's an intentional picture of how Jesus is doing something that they had seen before with manna in the wilderness. Only this is not just something to give you sustenance; it's a quality of life that he's offering. So he says, "This is truly the prophet who came into the world." He perceived that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, which is the last thing he wants to happen. The powers of this world are not sufficient, and he's not after earthly power.

But actually, he realized that their agenda was a political kind of agenda, and they wanted to put him in a position of that authority. Rather, that's the last thing that he wanted. He was not impressed by the things that people are impressed by. Just notice his values; he's always pursuing what the Father calls him to do. So he gets away, knowing that that would be an awful experience to have, and so he withdraws from them to the mountain by himself alone.

He slips away from them because all they want is another handout, bread and circuses. *Panem et circenses*, as was done in Rome about 90 days a year that they provided at the public expense bread and circuses to entertain the Romans to keep them from being uprising. So they just satisfy them in that way. That's what people want. It's our natural disposition, isn't it, to look for the physical, the material, the visible, more than the spiritual? Let's be honest about that. This is why so many people build a portfolio on earth and are not rich toward God.

It's just the nature of it. What is true wealth? It always comes down to what do I treasure most, what is most needful. So it's a mindset of our perception of what God wants me to do. So going back to our text here, as we are seeing, so he feeds the multitudes, but then in verses 15 to 21, he leaves the multitudes. He then goes up to the mountain. When evening came, the disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum.

It had already become dark and Jesus had not yet come to them, so they were heading west from that area. They didn't know where Jesus was; he slipped away. The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat. They were frightened. Remember I did this thing on the Jesus floating seminary, and in every one of those encounters with the boat, they learned something new about Jesus and who he was.

They saw him walking on the sea, drawing near to the boat, and they were frightening as one might well be. Who is this one? So this incredible image, he has to say, "It is I. Do not be afraid." So they were willing to receive him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. So he brings them safely to their destination in that respect there. So there's a marvelous picture of that. It's like Psalm 107 when it describes how he brings them out and brings them to a safe place and protects them.

The sea rose up, so it's a powerful image then. The next day, the crowd that stood on the other side, they saw that there was no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not entered with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples had gone away alone. There were other small boats that came from Tiberias across the lake where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So they were looking for another handout, another material gift.

When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, it tells us that they themselves got into the small boats and they came over to Capernaum seeking Jesus. So they're heading over from this area here to Capernaum. So they're heading over from this area here to Capernaum. Jesus was over here, they come over here, but some of them came up from there. So all of that was taking place here on this thing and they're going to end up in Capernaum at the synagogue, and that's where this discourse is going to take place.

So we go back to our text here. So he leaves the multitude and then he teaches the multitude in verses 22 to 71. So the next day, he gets ready to teach them. They go to Capernaum, they found him on the other side of the sea. "When did you get here?" And Jesus's answer is, "Truly, truly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled." May I mention about the signs because this is important for us to see that these are indeed the miracle.

Two more of the seven signs in John are in this chapter. So the first of the signs was the water to the wine in chapter 2. The second sign was the healing of the nobleman's son in chapter 4. Then the third one was the healing of the paralytic. Then here we have the feeding of the multitude where he satisfies spiritual hunger because that's really what it's about. The material points beyond itself to the spiritual every time.

John, as you know, in every case, he's referring to the spiritual. They're interpreting it on the wrong level, on the material level. It's a constant motif. Then the walking on the water where he transforms fear to faith. So we have done now five of these signs. He says to them, "You seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give to you. On him, the Father God has set his seal."

Don't work for something that just is going to be sustenance. I'm giving you a new quality of life. I'm giving you something that once you have this, it's something that's eternal life. "What shall we do?" they asked this question, "that we may work the works of God?" This is a very good question and Jesus's answer is most profound. What does he say? "This is the work of God: that you believe in him whom he sent." That's an incredibly important verse.

The work of God is not that you are saved by your efforts, but by trusting, transferring your trust from yourself to him. And this again, that he came to his own and his own did not receive him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, that is to those who believe in his name. To remember then John *pisteuo*, which means to believe or is a transfer of trust from the intellectual. It's not intellectual; it's a personal volitional reception where you're turning to him and receiving a gift.

It's not just acknowledging it's there, but more than that. So it's a gift that he says. But this is the answer: that you want to do a work, you believe, transfer your trust to him. Otherwise, we think we're trying to do it ourselves. It's like a woman who was at a textile factory and she was instructed how to use a very complicated loom. After she was trained in doing that, she was particularly told by the foreman, "If anything goes wrong, even the one little tangle, don't try to fix it yourself. Call me."

She leaves and things go very well until about an hour later, there's a little bit of a thing that takes place. Instead of calling him, she says, "Well, I can fix that." What happens is actually that causes another problem, which causes another problem, and for about an hour, she's trying to sort this out. The last thing she wants to see is him. Then he comes up to her and he says, "What are you doing here?" She says, "I'm doing the best I can."

He says, "No, you're not doing the best you can. The best thing you could have done was to call on me." You see, that's the analogy. So the best, it's not your works. It is to call on him. I'm the only one who can untangle the mess of your life. So he said this is the work: that you believe, transfer your trust. And again, we talked about how people can have the right beliefs and the right understanding. Even the demons believe and shudder, but at the same time, it's not intellectual; it's a personal reception, it's a transfer of trust to receive this gift.

And that's important. "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness." So they're saying, "What work do you perform? He gave them bread out of heaven to eat." "Truly, truly I say to you, it's not Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven; it's my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of life is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So I'm now talking about a quality that's more than this manna.

Remember what manna meant? Manna means "What is it?" They didn't know what it was, but it had like coriander seeds and it was apparently a perfect food because it sustained them so beautifully in that. But after a while, you get a little tired of that. Ultimately, he provided for them miraculously all that they needed for that period of time. But now this is a deeper, more profound provision. Not for your physical needs, but for your spiritual needs, because at the end of the day, that's what's most important.

This is the bread of God that comes down. It gives life to the world. It's not just physical sustenance, it's spiritual life. Long for what God wants for you, not for what you're trying to get and using God and focusing on his gifts rather than the giver. So he said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger. He who believes in me will never thirst." Remember he gave the water of life and now the bread of life.

And so here we have this picture of the "I Am" statements. This is the first of the seven "I Am" statements in the Gospel of John. He'll call himself the Light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life, and the true vine. These are powerful statements that we can see in John's Gospel. Continuing on, we see this extraordinary claim that he is the bread of life. "I have said to you that you've seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out."

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." Everything I do is because I'm doing my Father's will. What Jesus did, he's inviting us to do. Remember I said we he never asks us to do something that he hasn't already done before. So he trusted the Father and walked in the power of the Spirit and invites us to do the same. "So I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me."

This is why: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is. It's not my will, but your will be done." This is the mindset, and it's a transfer. It's a matter of growing in trust to let loose of our attempts to make things right and to turn to him as our source of provision. "This is the will of him who sent me: that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life."

So who beholds him, who sees him and believes, transfers their trust, who receives him, has eternal life. Remember, that's not just endless existence, but a new quality of life. It's the life of Christ, the life that has no beginning and no end. That *zoe*. "I myself will raise him up on the last day because you're a spiritual being." Right now, remember we are spiritually raised up with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus already. In your deepest self, you are seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

You've been raised up with him. But in your soul, you're not then at that place. You also have your mind, your will, your emotions, your desires, and so forth, your aspirations. And that in this world, although you're perfect in your spirit, your soul is being brought into conformity as we trust in Christ into more and more conformity. So our task in this soul-forming world is to become more and more in our practice who we already are in our position.

This is who you are, but you're also a become-er. So become who you really are. Allow God to define you and then walk in his Spirit. Remember, trust the Father, abide in the Son, and walk by the Spirit. As you do that, he brings you into this process of transformation so that in this brief few decades that he's got, his plan is for us to become more and more conformed to the image of his Son.

Ultimately, when we see him at the judgment seat, that will be completed and perfected. All that dross will be burned away and all that is which is good hay, gold, silver, and precious things, that'll be purged, purified, and perfected so that that's going to what's what's going to remain. And so there then it'll be not just spirit, but also soul. Perfect conformity to the image of Christ. But that's not yet enough. We're embodied beings, unlike the angels.

So ultimately his plan is for us to be resurrected and be transformed into the body of his glory, his resurrected body. So that's an incredible thought. Spirit right now, soul in the process, and the body in the future will be perfectly brought into conformity with the image of his Son. He's got big plans for you. That's a radical transformation. "So having eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day," and Jesus made that clear in John's chapter 5.

Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about him and said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." And they were saying, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he say you have come down out of heaven?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day."

"It is written in the prophets: they shall be all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who's from God; he has seen the Father." Then he says, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has present possession eternal life." He who believes, not works. "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died."

"This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I give for the life of the world is my flesh." Now, this is an incredible series of statements that go on here, and I want you to notice this. In my book *God, I Don't Understand*, we are creating a 50th edition anniversary edition.

It came out in June of 1975. Can you believe that? I'm an old man. So we are finishing it up now and it'll be printed next month. It deals with all these mysteries of scripture and so forth. One of the mysteries it deals with is the divine sovereignty, human responsibility mystery. The solution is not to solve the problem, but to embrace the tension and to affirm both sides because acknowledging that these things in scripture transcend the ceiling of our comprehension.

You should expect it if it's a word from God, something nobody could have made up or did. But on the one side, you have Earth's viewpoint, and Earth's viewpoint you can see, "Whosoever may come, will may come." But then on the other side, as you go into the gate of Heaven, but then when you look back inside, "Chosen from the foundation of the world," Heaven's viewpoint, and both are so.

In 37 to 40, and 44 and 47 and 65, take a look at these because it's an incredible journey. In 37 to 40, you can see it going back and forth. It's really remarkable. Verse 37: "All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out." So that's the divine sovereignty: the Father gives to them. But then there's human responsibility: the one who comes to me. "I've come down, not this is the will of God, all that he has given me I lose nothing. I raise it up. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes."

So there's both the divine sovereignty and human responsibility. In verse 44, he says, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." So that's again an emphasis on the divine sovereignty. But everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. He who believes has eternal life. So it goes back and forth. You have to affirm both sides in this material. And that's really what's going on here. So it's a both-and process.

When he ends up in Capernaum then, and he's having this discourse, the Jews began to argue with one another. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourself." Once again, you're going to have the same problem you had before. He's speaking on a spiritual level; they're thinking on a literal level. Happened before in John chapter 2 where you have the temple, destroy this temple and he was talking about his body.

In John 3, talking about spiritual birth, not going back into your mother's womb and Nicodemus was taking it literally. In talking with the woman at the well in John 4 about physical water; that's where she's looking at it. He's talking about spiritual water. It happens again and again. So it's another motif here. This is not saying that this is the literal, but it's to receive him, to receive his life. "This is the new covenant in my blood."

So it's something that one receives as a gift. He says, "I will raise him up, for my flesh is true food, my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever."

So he's not talking about some kind of a transfiguration or some kind of a transformation that you have at the Eucharist. This is not a Eucharistic context at all, has nothing to do with that. Has to do with the idea of transferring your trust. But it's a hard word, and Jesus thins out the crowd when they begin to get too big. What does he do? He sharpens the edge of his teaching and says something that's still very difficult for them to grasp. "What does this mean?"

So this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said, "Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life. But there're some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe.

"For this reason, I said to you, no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father." Yet another statement about God's purposes there. So this was a hard word. He sharpened the edge of his teaching and reduced the size of the multitudes because as the Gospels go on, it moves from the crowds to the few, the disciples. And he prepares them for that. So he reduces. It's a kind of a crowd control that he does here because effectively what you have here are three levels.

First of all, there's the curious who follow after him because they want signs. And then some are convinced it's more than just that he is somebody and somebody important. But it's still not enough because only those who are committed. I submit to you that the disciples didn't have a better understanding of this than did these people, but they had a different level: they were so committed to him that they said, "I have nowhere else I can go."

And so this is this one of these great statements that we see at the end in John 6 when Peter says, "As a result of this, you don't want to go away also." Peter said to him, "Where are we going to go? We burnt our bridges behind us. You have words of eternal life. We have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God." So that's one of Peter's better moments. But he recognizes we have nowhere else to go.

There're going to be times in your life where sometimes that's the only day it can keep you there. In the pain of life, it might be at certain moments you can't summon up love as a motivator or gratitude or hope of reward or something like that. But you can say this: even when everything's gone, I have nowhere else to go. You have words of eternal life. I've bet everything on your character and your promises and I'm going to cling to you.

It's often during the times of pain that God then ministers to us. So often in those times when all we have left is him, it is enough. Can we look back on that and we begin to realize he's giving a history. Through your pain and through your sorrows and through adversity, and where he seems to be remote and there're times when he seems to be distant, times of dryness and aridity, those are times actually that God can use in his sovereign and severe mercies to draw you to where you realize you have nothing else but him.

So he takes everything away but you have him. If you have him though, you have everything. These are words of eternal life and that he is the Holy One of God. So this is what we're looking at then: we're looking at a picture of one who gave us his grace, his goodness, and his glory, and he is enough. I want to focus on a text of scripture for you to chew on now, and it's going to be verse 37. All that the Father gives me, I'm going to hold it leave this up here and I want you to discuss this little text.

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day." This is significant; this relates to you and me. "This is the will of the Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life and I myself will raise him up on the last day."

I want you to think about this. I want to think about the fact that you are going to be raised up on the last day. You're going to stand before Jesus. You're going to be glorified. And in your spirit which already, but then in your soul in this world, the second birth canal you're going to go through and it's going to be raised and then ultimately you're going to be raised from the dead so that you will enjoy resurrected life with Christ in a resurrected cosmos.

The implications are utterly profound and nothing can defeat or diminish the power of those words. Let's focus on that. We were talking in our group about this aspiration for home, a longing for heaven. And I talked about something that we've done here together last year when we were talking about the cultivating an appetite for home. I would invite you to go and revisit that video, cultivating an appetite for home on kenboa.org.

It's a great way. In fact, I did this with Karen a few months ago where we saw the video and we stopped at each point. After I talk about getting rid of the world, what would that look like? What will it be like when there's no death? And then the positive things about what's a resurrected body going to be like and all your senses will be radically enhanced? Trying to use my imagination, a holy sanctified imagination for home and increasing my appetite accordingly because that's where you're going to be.

What's it going to be like? What will life be like? Not a bad idea to think about it because your body's going to be brought into conformity with the resurrected body of Christ. It's a good idea to think about what you're going to be like forever. And what each of us will be like, and it's a rich thought. Again, one of my thought experiments is the idea of imagining that everybody you encounter always wants your best will.

Always wants what's best for you at all times. That's a lovely thought, isn't it? No two people will be alike, but they will each uniquely reflect and display the glory of God in a way that no one else ever can or ever will. Everyone will have a unique spirit signature. So my desire is for us to long for the things that God has for us. I was talking about this idea about the four life-changing prayers of Paul.

One of those prayers in the one in Ephesians talks about the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, the greatness of his power. Then in Colossians, talks about the idea of his qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. So I want you to be thinking more: what are you inheriting? What are you looking for? What are you longing for? It's unfortunate that when they updated this thing, it makes it go back to the beginning of the chapter every time.

That's why I have to scroll down every time. With over 70 verses, that takes a bit of work, you see. But that's a bit of a frustration. This wonderful text: "I will myself raise him up on the last day." What was came to your mind?

Guest (Male): Ken, I talked about the resurrected life. Take a look at a single piece. It's made up of strings, three strings, but when they're put together, they're strong.

Dr. Ken Boa: Yes, and that's what our resurrected life is going to be like. Jesus paid no attention there at all. That's a lovely thought, and how you can have three in one. So there's a continuity there, there's a richness and each one amplifies the other. Those are metaphors, images that we can use. But I think that harmony, and you know, all of us want that. God's wired us for that. We want shalom. What is shalom? Peace, reconciliation, connection, a wholeness, an integration.

And we need that because we're fragmented now, but we need to be brought back into the shalom of God. In having peace with God, then we have peace with ourselves and peace with others. Therefore having been reconciled to God, having justified by faith, we have peace with God. We have peace in shalom. That's why "grace and peace" are Paul's greetings often. It requires the grace of God to bring about the shalom of God.

Any insight about this business? Because this whole thing of longing for what he wants for us, that desire, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. This whole idea of giving thanks to God, giving thanks to the Father, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Longing for that is going to be something. When you don't have it, I think it's a grace of God that you ask for: give me a greater appetite for you.

The prayer for a greater appetite or greater aspiration is itself an evidence of the grace of God. To pray that you may know him. That's why these four life-changing prayers, I urge you to really review them from time to time to make them part of your mind's eye and your thought because they're inviting us to have an appetite for what God wants for us. The more we are there aligned with him, that's what makes a big difference. It's so miserable today our society, our global society, is getting more and more angry.

You'll see constant anger. When you get into a place like this, how much peace you have here. The peace of God manifests itself in our relationships with one another. The vertical relationship enhances the horizontal. That's just the nature of it. This is why I keep going back to that trilogy of images in conformed to his image: trust the Father, loving God completely, loving others compassionately. It starts with him and then it affects me and then it affects others.

What begins with the love of God ends with the love of neighbor. But what empowers us is to be secure enough to serve. This is a powerful thing, that the will of him who sent me, his desire is that we would have that new quality of life, a quality of life that has no beginning and no end. That to me is the resurrected life of Christ. One last thing we did in our group: we were talking about these three senses of salvation.

You have already been saved from the penalty of sin. It's a lovely thought. In the present tense, you are being saved from the power of sin. And in the future, you will be saved even from its presence. That's a lovely thought. I look forward to the time when I can't think sin. This is your position, which is your penalty, but you're progressively becoming more and more who you really are in your heavenly places, and ultimately the future means that you will not even be in the presence of sin.

The basis for the penalty of sin is the cross of Christ. The basis for your progressive sanctification is that you have been crucified with Christ. And so ultimately, where your position, who you are, and your practice, being and becoming, you're one and the same. God's got a glorious future for us. Then it's going to be further up and further in. Eye hasn't seen or has ear heard all that God's got for us, but you're not going to be disappointed.

I use my mind's eye to try to imagine heaven more, having an appetite, a greater appetite for home. I can promise you this: even though I only have a caterpillar imagination, I'm going to become a butterfly and it's going to be better than we can guess. It's not going to be worse. That's a great joy. It gives us stability and hope in this broken world.