"For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
- Ephesians 2:10
One of the most amazing truths found in redemption is that we are called "holy brethren." In the Greek, this expression is referred to as HAGIOS ADELPHOS. The word "hagios" actually means a separation from sin and a setting apart unto God. It is translated holy, but it is also the word expressly used for saint or holy ones. It is akin to the word "hagiazo," which is interpreted to sanctify. All throughout the New Testament, we find references to this word "hagios" as it pertains to the church. We are God's holy temple (1 Cor. 3:17). We are a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9). We are called a holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5). Jesus is going to present us to himself as a holy bride (Eph. 5:27). From this perspective, holiness is not so much what we must attain to as it is something we must build from.
I like something G.B. Stevens once said in describing this word "hagios." He said, "It is evident that hagios and its kindred words express something more and higher than "hieros" sacred, as outwardly associated with God...something more than "semnos" worthy and honorable...something more than "hagnos" pure and free from defilement. Hagios is more comprehensive. It is characteristically Godlikeness."
Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus and said: "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24). The very nature that we have been made as believers is one and the same as God himself. John writes: "Ye are of God little children..." (1 John 4:4). That means you have come out from him. He is now your Father and we are his children.
The second part to this great truth is the word ADELPHOS. Adelphos is made up of two words: alpha and delphus. Alpha is the first letter to the Greek alphabet, but it is also a word often used to refer to the beginning. Jesus is called Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Delphus is a reference to the womb. Here is what's so powerful. To be called "holy brethren" means we were born from the same womb at the same time as Christ when he was quickened and made alive in the Spirit. That is why we are called the "Church of the Firstborn." Paul describes it this way: "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Heb. 2:11). You and I are as much a part of God, in nature, as Jesus! Everything that is "of him" is now living in us!
No wonder John could be so bold as to say, "Because as he is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). It is by knowing this fact that sets us on the path to discover our destiny. If you were to wake up tomorrow morning and find that you were born of a royal family whose wealth surpassed the wealth of many nations, do you think that would change your perspective on life? As a believer, you have been born into the wealth of heaven. You are an heir of God and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:17). What more could one ask for!
Your destiny lies in being a part of the royal lineage of God. Do you know that all the host of heaven, even the angels that hover over the throne of God, are out-ranked and out-positioned by even the most seemingly insignificant member of the body of Christ! There are no created beings that hold a higher position than the redeemed. The fact that you are the redeemed of the Lord means you have been elevated to such a degree that "nothing" stands between you and God. In the truest sense of the word "you are the next of kin to the Godhead!"
Since we hold such a "high and holy" calling, we need to make walking in this our highest aim and privilege. We need to see ourselves as part of the "holy brotherhood of God" - bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, united to Christ is such a viable way that we carry his nature inside us.
Whatever you do, don't fall into the trap that so many of God's people have fallen into by belittling this sacred work. You are specially made, wonderfully made! Your days of insignificance need to come to an end. You are more than who you think you are...you have more in you than you think you have...and it is your destiny to function in the highest degree of influence, out-classing every other living creature in heaven, in earth, and beneath the earth!*
