Bill Vanderbush

The incarnation is the time and place in all of eternity where God and man meet, and find union in Christ. Jesus reveals God as Father, and unveils the truth of not only who God is, but the truth of who we are as his sons and daughters. So the revelation of God as Father unveils our identity. If you don't see God as Father, you'll never truly know your identity. So now, when we come to God, do we come in the law-based ideology of approaching God, in the style of the Levitical priesthood of the Old Covenant? I think a lot of people do, but the invitation is for us to know God through the mediation of our great high priest, who is Jesus Christ, according to a completely different order than the Old Covenant.

In the Christic Covenant God's relationship with humanity shifts from law-based performance to grace-based intimacy. This covenant emphasizes that our identity and worth are not earned but freely given through faith in Jesus Christ. We are not striving to be noticed or accepted by God. Instead, we live in reconciled rest in the reality that God already sees us fully, knows us intimately, loves us unconditionally, and has chosen us purposefully. This study explores these four aspects through the Scriptures and shows how being seen, known, loved, and chosen flow from God's grace, not our merit.

In Christ, we're not distant admirers but intimate participants. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Our faithlessness doesn't sever this bond because He cannot deny Himself, and if you're in Christ, you're part of that unbreakable Self. This is grace unbound. It transforms doubt into assurance, brokenness into wholeness. No matter the chaos around or within, His faithfulness sustains, His presence envelops, and His grace redeems.

Don't settle for a wonderless faith. The new covenant invites you into complete, perpetual awe, gazing at a father who is wildly for you. So dive in, rest deep, and watch wonders unfold from His finished work.

Meditate on this word, vicarious. It's a living proxy, a stand-in whose actions ripple eternally. Adam embodied humanity vicariously, not by vote or consent, but by divine design. His choice resulted in a "free gift" of sin imputed to us all, unasked, unearned (Romans 5:12-19). Did anyone poll you? Invite you to inherit Adam's sin? No. yet here we stand, heirs to the fall. But oh, the counterpoint! Jesus Christ, our true Vicar, steps into the chaos as humanity's Champion. In Him, the Trinity's redemptive council unfolds. The Father sends the Son (John 3:16), the Son lays down His life (Philippians 2:8), the Spirit seals the victory (Ephesians 1:13-14).

There are a lot of people who know Jesus as Savior and Lord, and perhaps know the concept of God and Father, but the practice that they have put on display is something other than the likeness of the image. The image that they have may be a concept that was given to them by a man-made religious system that does really what I'm doing here today, and that is to tell you about who God is. Lessons about God can only inform us, but revelations by His Holy Spirit transform us and change us from the inside out. The Bible doesn't say be conformed to the world, it says don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There's a transformation, a metamorphosis that God wants to take us into, and it happens when our thought processes change.

Jesus Christ came to confront our perspectives with truth, not through a thundering voice from the heavens but as God in the flesh, living among us. He didn’t rely solely on miracles to validate His message; often, He told those He healed to keep silent about it. Why? Because He valued communication through words, inviting people into discourse. As John 1 declares, He is the Word made flesh, stepping into our story to confront us with the truth of Himself. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, NASB). Not a way, but the only way to the Father. When we anchor our lives in Him, we find wisdom that confounds, challenging us to either hold fast to what we believe or embrace a new and living way.

A throwback to the Reckless Grace Podcast from 2017-18. "It was a dark and stormy night. No, really, really it was. It was the year 1990. There was a blackout on the island of Oahu, and Traci and I had just come from a church service where something had happened that we still laugh about to this day. During the worship service that morning, a woman stood to her feet and began speaking with the words that universally signaled to Christians that God is talking, so you'd better pay attention. In a commanding tone, and in King James English, she began, Thus saith the Lord. And then she proceeded to admonish and exhort the church with words that suggested that God had been keeping us under surveillance, and he had seen enough to warrant a verbal intervention, and now it was time to drop the hammer."

In typology, the way Old Testament figures shadow New Covenant realities, Mordecai isn’t just a historical guy figure. He’s a picture of deeper truths. Some see him as a type of Christ, others as the Holy Spirit, or even the mature believer. I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to see all three, woven together, because the New Covenant is Trinitarian. Father plans, Son accomplishes, Spirit applies.

Spiritual codependency isn’t some quirky personality glitch. It's a soul-sucking vampire that drains the joy right out of your faith in Jesus. But Jesus revealed that God is a good Father who is neither abusive, insecure, moody, or schizophrenic. To break a negative mindset about God and to rest in the finished work of the Cross is to flop down at the party table and heave a sigh of relief, trusting that Jesus is more than enough to sustain, save, carry, and hold you, me, and the whole wobbly universe together.

It doesn't matter if you know or think you're included, if you don't know what you're included in. If you think you're just included in a club, a business, a timeshare, a brand, an ideology, or a particular branch of Christianity, then you're missing the point. This is about being bled into union with Christ. It's not about you making God your father. It's about coming to an understanding of what he has done on the cross and surrendering to allow his love and his father's heart redefine your whole identity.

The apostles adopted this term for themselves as followers of Christ. They weren't forced or controlled. They chose it because Jesus had redeemed them and reconciled them by His faith and grace. Being a bondservant of Christ means alignment with the heart of God. Your will aligns with His, your life is free from the slavemaster of sin, and your devotion is driven by gratitude and love.

Redeeming the Harlot and the Prophet by Bill Vanderbush

The cross didn't just happen because of sin. It happened to fully cover all freewill offerings, peace offerings, thank offerings, gifts, and fulfillment of vows we will ever need to offer. It encompasses all our worship and efforts, serving as the singular moment that once and for all addresses every sense of obligation to please God.

Chata’ (sin in Hebrew) primarily means “to miss the mark,” but in contexts like Proverbs 19:2, Hosea 4:7, and Proverbs 8:36, it carries undertones of losing one’s way, glory, or soul, which can be interpreted as losing identity or forgetting who we are as God’s image-bearers. In a New Covenant perspective, chata’ reflects a failure to live in the truth of our union with Christ, but His redemptive work restores our identity, ensuring we are no longer defined by our sin but by the grace of Jesus Christ.