We have the Right to Bear God’s Likeness and to be God-man Kind, God’s Species

As believers in Christ, we are God-men, born of God with His life and nature, and we have the divine right to participate in God’s likeness to bear His likeness, and we have the right to participate in God’s species, for we are God-man kind. Hallelujah!

Many times we believers behave in a certain way and are not so open to the Lord for His work in us because we don’t know our rights.

We need to know our rights as God-men in Christ. We are in the kingdom of God, and as citizens of God’s kingdom, we have some particular excellent divine rights.

Many people today want to flee their country to go to countries that give them better human rights, for they feel that they can’t live under the current regime.

We believers in Christ have the highest rights, for it is our divine right to participate in God’s divinity in many aspects. Hallelujah!

God is the greatest of all; He is not only Almighty, all-knowing, and all-inclusive but also great.

He gave us the freedom of choice, and He respects our choice.

Even as believers in Christ, we have the right to partake of the tree of life after we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb; however, it is up to us if we practice this.

We need to know our divine rights and we need to exercise our right to be washed and cleansed in the blood of Christ so that we may partake of the tree of life. Hallelujah!

It is so refreshing and encouraging to know what is our rights.

Actually, if we believers in Christ really see our divine rights, we will be beside ourselves with joy.

We will realize that God with everything that He is and has done is for us to enjoy and partake of for our enjoyment and experience, and we will be those who participate in God’s divinity with all its rich and wonderful aspects.

We have sublime, lofty, and wondrous rights, and we can exercise our divine right to enjoy and experience what God is and what He has done.

We have been rescued and saved from the fall of man, and we are restored before God through our faith in Christ.

Now we can go on to just enjoy the Lord! We are not here under some sort of a law, obeying God’s law and doing our best to please God; we are in the kingdom of God as children of God, and we have the divine right to participate in God’s divinity.

If we think about it, if we just prayerfully consider our ten wonderful divine rights to participate in the aspects of God’s divinity, we will go crazy!

We will ask the Lord,

Oh Father God, who are we that You gave us such rights? We were born in sin, but through faith, we can return to You to enjoy these sublime and lofty divine rights to participate in God’s divinity! And even if we fail, we can come back to You and apply the precious blood of Christ to be cleansed and washed, and we can partake of Your divinity! Oh Father, how amazing this is! Thank You for sending Christ to fulfill all the requirements of Your holiness, righteousness, and glory! Thank You for the vicarious death of Christ on the cross. Thank You for giving us the right to participate in God’s divinity! Hallelujah! We are nothing, even worse than nothing, but You gave us the divine right to participate in many of the aspects of God’s divinity!

As God-men, we have the Right to Bear God’s Likeness and be the Same as He is when we See Him

Praise the Lord, we are children of God, and we have the right to bear God’s likeness! Wow!

1 John 3:2 clearly says that it has not yet been manifested what we will be, but we know that, if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is. Hallelujah!

It is our right as God-men to participate in God’s divinity and bear God’s likeness.

We participate in God’s life and nature, His mind and image, His being and His sonship, and in His glory and in His manifestation.

Even more, we will bear God’s likeness.

In order for us to bear God’s likeness, we need to grow in life unto maturity.

When we reach maturity of life, we will be like Him.

We don’t know what we will be like, for it has not yet been manifested, but we know that, when we see Him, we will be like Him. Hallelujah!

We believers in Christ have a great future with a more splendid blessing.

On one hand, it is such a great blessing that we can partake of God’s life and nature, and we enjoy being one with God to express His glory and partake of the sonship.

On the other hand, we have the right to bear God’s likeness, and this is a greater blessing and enjoyment.

Christ is in us as the hope of glory, and the more we enjoy Him, grow in Him, and are transformed by Him, even our likeness will be like His likeness.

Christ is being formed in us little by little (Gal. 4:19) to the extent that we will bear His likeness when we see Him as He is.

When Christ is manifested, when He returns and is manifested, we will see Him, and we will be like Him. Hallelujah!

Today we are beholding the Lord face to face and, little by little, we are also reflecting Him (2 Cor. 3:18).

As we behold Him and are infused with Him, we’re inwardly transformed in an organic way to be conformed to His image.

From time to time, as we enjoy the Lord and behold Him face to face, we also reflect Him.

But one day we will fully reflect Him, for we will bear His likeness when we see Him as he is. Praise the Lord!

We should never think that we don’t have a future. Some Christians think that we have no future.

On one hand, it is true, we have no future here on earth, for we’re not here to build up a future for ourselves.

But our future is in the Lord and with the Lord, and our future and destiny is glorious! We have a great future with splendid blessings.

Our future is so splendid that the Bible even says that it has not yet been manifested what we will be.

What we will be is a divine mystery, which means it is something great, beyond our imagination.

This doesn’t mean that we should try to imagine what we will be or speculate regarding what glory we will have.

This is not for us to know.

What we will be a divine mystery, but it is something great and wonderful.

We will not only participate in God’s life and nature but also bear His likeness (Eph. 4:18; 2 Pet. 1:4; 1 John 3:2).

We are looking forward to that day, when He comes, and we will bear His likeness.

The whole universe is wondering what will happen, and everyone will be very surprised to see the manifestation of the sons of God.

That day God will be fully satisfied, for the man He created in the garden of Eden will fully bear the image of God and will bear God’s likeness. Amazing!

This will be the New Jerusalem, the consummation of all that God is doing and has been doing in man. Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, thank You for the divine right for us to bear God’s likeness! Amen, Lord, we believe that, when Christ returns and we see Him, we will be like Him, for we will see Him even as He is! Praise the Lord, when Christ is manifested, the Triune God is manifested, and when we see Him, we will be like Him! Wow, Lord, thank You for such a glorious and great future with such splendid blessings! We do not dare to imagine that we will be like God, but we believe the word of God promising us that we will bear God’s likeness! Hallelujah, we will not only participate in God’s life and nature but also bear His likeness! Amen, Lord, grow in us and transform us to conform us to Your image. We want to behold You and reflect You little by little, day by day. Increase the measure of the stature of Christ in us until we fully become like You, bearing the likeness of God!

We believers in Christ have the Divine Right to be God-man Kind, God’s Species

We as believers in Christ have the divine right to be God-man kind, part of God’s species.

This is the highest peak of the divine revelation. The Bible reveals not only that God created all things, including man, and that He has a purpose, which purpose includes man.

The Bible reveals the highest peak of the divine revelation, which is that God became a man to make man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead.

God became man through incarnation, and man becomes God through regeneration, renewing, sanctification, transformation, building up, shepherding, and glorification.

We as believers in Christ are God-men, men born of God with His life and nature, and we have the divine right to be Godkind – God-man king, God’s species.

John 1:12 clearly tells us that whoever receives the Lord Jesus, that is, believes into Him, is given the authority to be a child of God; and in case we doubt this, v. 13 tells us that we are born of God by faith in Christ. This is amazing!

All genuine Christians have been regenerated by God to be Godkind, part of the God-man kind, God’s species.

And the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:14, 16).

Outwardly, the Bible tells us that we are part of God’s species when we believe into the Lord Jesus Christ.

Inwardly, the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. Hallelujah!

God became man to enter into the human species; through incarnation, the infinite God became a finite man, and God entered into man, into man’s species, to make Himself one with man (John 1:1, 12-14).

Man becomes God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead to enter into the realm of God’s divine species (2 Pet. 1:4).

On His side, God became a man and entered into man’s species; on our side, we are now going through a process to be fully deified and become the same as Christ in every possible way.

In order for man to enter into the divine realm, which is the realm of the divine species, man needs to be born of God to have the divine life and the divine nature (John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5-6, 15; 2 Pet. 1:4).

When we believe into the Lord Jesus, we are born of God; we are born of Him with His life and nature.

We are regenerated by God to be part of His species and become God-man kind.

We cannot deny that we are men, and we cannot deny that we have God in us; we are God-men.

Our second birth, regeneration, caused us to enter into the kingdom of God to become the species of God (John 3:3, 5-6).

That which is born of the human flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit, of God as the Spirit, is spirit.

We are born of God to be God-men, part of the divine species.

This is why we have the right to bear God’s lightness – because we’re part of the divine species, having the right to be Godkind! Wow!

All the children of God are in the realm of the divine species.

In the gospel of John we see many aspects of the believers living in the realm of the divine species (see John 1:16; 15:4a, 9, 11; 4:23-24; 14:2, 20, 23; 17:22-24).

In the realm of the divine species, we receive grace upon grace. We abide in the Lord as branches in the vine, and we also abide in His love.

In the realm of the divine species, the Father loves the Son and He loves us, and we simply abide in His love.

He is our joy, and our joy is made full when we enjoy Him in His word.

In the realm of the divine species, we worship the Father in spirit and in truthfulness, for we realize that God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.

As God-men, we are part of God’s household, the Father’s house, and we know that Christ the Son is in the Father, we are in Christ, and Christ is in us.

We keep the Lord’s word, and the Father comes to us with the Son, making an abode with us. Hallelujah!

In the realm of the divine species, the Father gave the Son the glory, and the Son gives us the glory, that we may be one by being in the Triune God as He is in us. Hallelujah!

Wherever we may be, we need to remember that, as believers in Christ we are God-men with the divine right to participate in God’s divinity (Col. 3:4; Eph. 1:4-5; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Pet. 1:4).

If we feel like we are not qualified or that we have made so many mistakes and are full of failures, we can simply repent, confess, apply the blood of Christ, and our robes are washed; then we have the right to partake of God’s divinity.

Never forget your rights, brothers and sisters! God is pleased when we exercise our divine rights because this makes Him happy, for when we exercise our divine rights, He can accomplish His purpose in us to gain His corporate expression!

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for giving us the divine right to be God-man kind, part of God’s species! Hallelujah, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit! Amen, Lord, thank You for granting us to be born of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah, all believers in Christ are God-men, part of the divine species! Wow, Lord, it is our divine right today to be God-man kind, God’s species. We have entered into the kingdom of God to become the species of God through regeneration, and we can partake of God’s divinity! Thank You, Lord Jesus! May we always remember that we are God-men with the divine right to participate in God’s divinity! Amen, Lord, may we never forget that we are part of the God-man kind, the divine species, and we are becoming the same as Christ in life, nature, expression, and function, but not in the Godhead! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 John, pp. 225-226, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 10, entitled, The God-men’s Divine Right to Participate in God’s Divinity.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The God-men’s Divine Right, a new song via, Hymnal.net
  – Article on, Becoming God, by Ron Kangas, via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – “In Life and Nature but Not in the Godhead”: Witness Lee’s Contribution to a Biblical Understanding of Theosis, article via, an Open Letter.
  – Being born of God to be sons of God, a portion from, Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – “That we might be made God” – article via Affirmation and Critique by, Kerry S. Robichaux.
  – 10 Divine Rights for Every Believer to Participate in, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Changed into His likeness! / He the Spirit is! / If the Spirit governs, / He’ll fulfill my wish. / As a glass, beholding / With uncovered face, / I can see His glory / And reflect His grace. / O that no more covering / May the Lord obscure, / That I may reflect Him / With a heart made pure. (Hymns #399 stanzas 2-4)
  – O hope of glory, our Christ will return! / We will be raptured, with glory transformed; / Glorified with Him, Himself to enjoy, / In His full likeness we then will be formed. (Hymns #966 stanza 1)
  – No longer I alone that live, / But God together lives with me. / Built with the saints in the Triune God, / His universal house we’ll be, / And His organic Body we / For His expression corp’rately. / And His organic Body we / For His expression corp’rately. / Jerusalem, the ultimate, / Of visions the totality; / The Triune God, tripartite man— / A loving pair eternally— / As man yet God they coinhere, / A mutual dwelling place to be; / God’s glory in humanity / Shines forth in splendor radiantly! (Song on, What miracle! What mystery!)