We are being Designated Sons of God by being Conformed to the Image of Christ

If we connect Rom. 1:3-4 with Rom. 8:29 we realize that, just as Christ was designated the Son of God out of the resurrection from the dead by the Spirit of holiness, so we today are in the process of being designated sons of God by being conformed to the image of Christ, God’s firstborn Son. Amen! Praise the Lord!

This week, we have been enjoying the matter of the seed of David (Christ in the flesh) becoming the Son of God.

God promised us a Savior, Jesus Christ, who came out of the seed of David and was designated the Son in power.

Paul saw that Psa. 2:7 prophesied concerning this and in Acts 13:33, he said that God raised Jesus from the dead to be His firstborn Son, fulfilling His promise to His people. Praise the Lord!

When Christ was raised from the dead, on the day of His resurrection, He was begotten by God to be the firstborn Son of God among many brothers.

He was already the Son of God from eternity past, for He was and always will be the only begotten Son of God.

But in His incarnation, He put on the human nature, and in this human part He was not yet the Son of God.

So He had to go through the process of death and resurrection, and in resurrection, He brought His humanity into His divinity, being begotten by God as the Son of God in a new way.

Praise the Lord, now Christ is the Son of God in a new way, that is, in His humanity!

We need to know Christ in His resurrection designated as the Son of God in power with His human nature!

As we know Him as such a One, as we enjoy Him as such a One, we partake of all that He is, and we also are in the process of being designated sons of God through His resurrection life by being conformed to His image.

It is amazing to realize that God not only became man through incarnation by putting on the flesh, but even more, He became the Son of God in His humanity in His resurrection!

By His resurrection, Christ sanctified and uplifted His human nature, His humanity. In His resurrection, Christ was designated the Son of God with His human nature.

Now a Man is in the glory, and this Man is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man. He became man, and then He brought man into God.

The only begotten Son of God became the firstborn Son of God in resurrection.

And we as the many believers in Christ are being conformed to His image today, for we also were begotten by God in the resurrection of Christ to be the many sons of God. Hallelujah!

We are being Designated Sons of God having the Divine Life and Nature and Living in Spirit

The New Testament reveals how Christ as the first God-man, went through a process to become a man, and then He became a life-giving Spirit in His resurrection.

Furthermore, in His resurrection Christ was begotten by God to be the firstborn Son of God, and we were also begotten of God to be the many sons of God.

We were regenerated by God in the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3). We now have both the human life and the divine life, and we have both the human nature and the divine nature.

God doesn’t want to discard or remove our humanity; rather, He wants us to keep having humanity, but our fallen humanity is being renewed, transformed, and glorified.

Our humanity cannot remain natural; it needs to be transformed in resurrection and by the resurrection life.

How can we human beings have divinity? How can we have the divine life and nature? It is by being regenerated in our spirit by the Spirit of Christ.

When we were born again, when we opened to the Lord as we heard the gospel, we were regenerated by Him with His divine life and nature.

Just as Christ, through incarnation, had both humanity and divinity, so we today after we are regenerated, have both humanity and divinity.

Through His resurrection and through coming into us as the Spirit, Christ brought the divine life and nature of God into us.

Now we believers in Christ are born of the Spirit and we have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). Praise the Lord!

We can boldly come to the Lord and enjoy Him as our life and person, and we can partake of His divine nature today.

He was made like us so that we may be made like Him.

Through His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ as the Son of God became the firstborn Son, and we became in His resurrection the many brothers of Christ, the many sons of God, who are being conformed to His image. Hallelujah!

We are now in the process of being designated sons of God.

Christ took the lead to go through this process and be designated the Son of God in His humanity in resurrection, and we today are going through this process of being designated sons of God.

This process starts with our receiving the divine life and nature, and it continues with us living according to the spirit and in the mingled spirit.

Rom. 1:3-4 says that Christ came as the seed of David “according to the flesh” and was designated the Son of God “according to the Spirit.”

In Rom. 8:4, we see that we can walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh.

We need to know that we have divine life and nature, and we need to live and walk according to the spirit.

When we turn to our spirit, contact the Lord as the Spirit in our spirit, and walk according to the spirit, we are sons of God.

Christ as the firstborn Son of God is the prototype, and we as the many brothers are the many reproductions of Christ, the many brothers of Christ, those being designated sons of God.

We are being mass-produced from the prototype – we are conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God, by living and walking according to the mingled spirit. Hallelujah!

May we exercise our spirit, live in our spirit, and walk according to the spirit today so that we may live the divine life, express the divine life, and manifest the divine nature day by day to be designated sons of God.

Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us with Your life in Your resurrection for us to be sons of God! Hallelujah, we all have been regenerated with God’s life to be children of God having the divine life and the divine nature! Amen, Lord, just as You have two natures, so we have two natures! Just as You are divine and human, so we are human and divine! Hallelujah, we are the same as Christ in our spirit, and we are being designated sons of God! Amen, Lord, we want to remain in this process of being designated sons of God in full. We want to exercise our spirit, live in our spirit, and walk according to the spirit so that we may be sons of God. Lead us into glory, dear Lord, as we exercise to be one spirit with You today! Amen, Lord, make us the same as You are, the designated sons of God to express the Triune God corporately! Keep us living by Your life and expressing Your nature by being in our spirit, living in our spirit, and walking according to the spirit!

Being Designated Sons of God in Resurrection by being Conformed to the Image of Christ

God’s desire from the very beginning is to have many sons who express Him corporately.

He wanted Adam to receive His life and live by His life, but Adam was deceived by Satan and partook of the wrong tree.

So Christ came as the embodiment of the tree of life, and He presented Himself to man as life.

Then, He became a life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and He was begotten of God in resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God.

In His resurrection, Christ was designated by God to be the Son of God in power in His humanity, and He is now the prototype for us all as the many sons of God to be conformed to His image.

Rom. 8:29 tells us that God foreknew us and predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son so that Christ might be the Firstborn among many brothers. Hallelujah!

We are now being designated sons of God in resurrection by being conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God!

This process of being designated sons of God began at our regeneration, when we received the life and nature of God.

Just as a dog receives the life of a dog when it is born and the dog life in that dog shapes the dog to become a dog, so the life we received by regeneration works in us to shape us into the image of Christ.

Day by day, as we grow in life and are being transformed (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), we are shaped in the image of Christ, that is, we are conformed to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God.

Little by little, day by day, we are being conformed to the image of Christ until we are fully designated sons of God.

The life of a dog shapes the dog to be a dog, and the life of a cat shapes a cat to be a cat.

The divine life we have received at the time of our regeneration needs to grow and develop in us until it shapes us into the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God.

Just as the seed of a plant grows and eventually bears fruit or blossoms, so the seed of life in us grows in us and bears fruit in us until we are shaped, conformed, to the image of Christ. Praise the Lord!

We have the life essence of God and the life power in us, and this life power is shaping us into the image of the Son of God.

For now, we still have our own image, expressing ourselves, until one day we will look like Christ, express Christ, and be fully conformed to His image. Amen!

We simply need to cooperate with the Lord’s inner growth and transformation so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ and be designated sons of God in full.

The shaping power of the divine life in our spirit operates in us and conforms us to the image of Christ.

It is not of our effort. It is not of he who wills or he who runs but of God who shows mercy, and His mercy is revealed to us by giving us Christ as life.

He grows in us, He transforms us, and He conforms us to the image of Christ, for Christ has cut the way into glory, and now He is leading many sons into glory (Heb. 2:10-11)! Hallelujah!

This brings us to the matter of deification, for it implies that God’s intention in His economy is to make Himself man so that, in Christ, we, the believers in Christ and children of God may become God in life, in nature, and in constitution (but not in the Godead). Hallelujah!

Such an implication is exceedingly great, and eventually, the Bible consummates with this matter (see Rom. 8:29; 1:3-4; John 1:1-13; 1 John 3:1; Rev. 21:2, 10-11)! Praise the Lord!

When we see God’s intention in His economy to make Himself the same as us and make us the same as He is, we realize that it is His heart’s desire to conform us to the image of Christ so that we may be designated sons of God.

He wants to obtain mature and transformed sons, even sons who are fully conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God.

Both He who sanctifies (Christ Himself) and those who are being sanctified (we believers in Christ) are all of One, for which cause Christ is not ashamed to call us His brothers!

Hallelujah, we are the brothers of Christ and the sons of God, and we are in the process of being designated sons of God to express Him corporately!

For eternity, we will express God, the divine One, in our humanity, and He will shine in us and through us in glory as the New Jerusalem! Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the divine life to grow in us, transform us, and conform us to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are in the process of being designated sons of God, for Christ is leading us into glory! Amen, Lord, we open to You today. Grow in us. May the power of the divine life in us shape us in the image of Christ to make us the same as He is in life and nature! How wonderful it is for us to be sons of God, those who have the divine life and nature and who grow in the divine life unto maturity! Amen, Lord, conform us to Your image more today! Shape us in Your image and make us the same as You are in life, nature, expression, and function! Praise the Lord that we believers in Christ have the life essence and the life power within us! Hallelujah, the divine life power is shaping us into the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God! Wow, God in His economy made Himself man so that we, in Christ, may become God in life, nature, expression, and function, but not in the Godhead! Amen, Lord, keep us in this process of being designated sons of God by conforming us to Your image little by little and day by day!

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 Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Romans, msg 62 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 13, The Seed of David Becoming the Son of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God will bring us into glory, / We will then be glorified; / Fully saturated with Him, / We’ll be wholly sanctified… / Heirs with Christ in our full sonship, / We’ll His heritage possess, / Glorified with Him as brethren, / God’s full glory we’ll express. (Hymns #971 stanzas 5 and 7)
  – God’s intention is to have us / All conformed to His dear Son; / Thus a work of transformation / By the Spirit must be done. / Lord, transform us to Thine image / In emotion, mind, and will; / Saturate us with Thy Spirit, / All our being wholly fill. (Hymns #750 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – By that final transformation, / We’ll be fully sanctified; / God will bring us into glory, / With His Son identified. / All creation is expecting / Sons of God revealed to be, / That they might be freed from bondage / Into glorious liberty. (Hymns #741 stanza 4)