As He Is, So Are We -- in the Gospels

I do not believe that what I am sharing in this post is a blasphemy.

I have been taught, and I readily receive , the truth that we should not be looking for ourselves in the Bible.

The self-centered reading which leads men and women in the Body of Christ to seek out examples for "how to deal with" certain situations only creates more problems than fewer.

One flagrant example would be the account in Genesis 22. In no wise should we think that we are doing ourselves or God any favors by sacrificing our children on an altar.

Why? Because it's barbaric, criminal, cruel, just plain evil?

Yes, but most importantly:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)

Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac is the type of shadow of What God would do for us with His Son:

"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." (Genesis 22: 2)

"Only son" -- Abraham had two sons, even though Ishmael had been cast out with her bondmaid mother Hagar. The "only son" refers then to Jesus, and Isaac was a type of the Son of God.

The Scriptures testify of Jesus, not ourselves, not little tidbits or tips on how to live life, but rather of Life Himself:

"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)

and

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)

So, without a doubt, when we read the Scriptures, we see Jesus.

Yet Jesus Himself also declared:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (John 14: 12)

Jesus went to His Father, and thus released to us the promise of His Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 33)

As Jesus is, so are we in this world (1 John 4: 17), and just as Jesus went about healing and doing good (Acts 10: 38) filled with the Spirit (Luke 4: 1)

We are now filled with His Spirit (Colossians 2: 10), and thus we are His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5: 20) part of His Body (1 Corinthians 6: 15; Ephesians 3: 6).

I submit, also, that when we see Jesus in the Gospels, we can know and believe that the Holy Spirit can operate us in the same way.

Paul declared that he lived by the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2: 20), and so do we.

So, when I read a passage like Matthew 8, with Jesus sleeping in the boat while the storm was raging and the disciples were frantically trying to keep the boat afloat, I receive the truth that because Christ is in me, I can weather any storms in my own life, too!

When I read the Gospels, I see what Jesus did, how he triumphed over every evil, and I can receive His grace through faith to live as He lived, for He is the one living through me now!