Sometimes when I imagine what the gospel sounds like to someone who’s never heard it before, I guess it would sound a little like a comic book, like science fiction. Accepting that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into time from outside of time, Eternity, and saved the human race sounds like a science fiction movie. An awesome one, at that. But do we realise it is the original and authentic, historically true and eternal reality from which all science fiction stories (and love stories) have been derived?

But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them because spiritually they are discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14, Berean Literal Bible)

It seems throughout the history of story-making, the old Devil has weaved an almost perfect plan by blinding us with creative and entertaining science-fiction stories that make the reality of Jesus Christ and what He has done appear somewhat comical and ridiculous to natural minds. To those minds that do not have the Spirit of God in them, what Christians believe can be likened to believing in Thor, Superman, Batman and so on.

In the 80’s  90’s there was an Aussie band called Divinyls who had a hit song called Science Fiction. Here are some of the lyrics;

I thought that love was science fiction.

Until I saw you today

Now that love is my addiction.

I’ve thrown all my books away.

When I was young, I was so naive.

I didn’t believe no, I didn’t believe.

I didn’t believe

I never thought that we’d last this long…….

When I was young, I was, so naive.

I didn’t believe no, I didn’t believe.

I didn’t believe

I’ve been waiting for a man from space.

To come to earth to meet the human race……….

In a way, a man from outer space did come to earth to meet the human race, didn’t He? We can look at that song’s corny words and see something of Christ in it, can’t we? Of course, He didn’t come from outer space; he came into time from outside of time, from Eternity.

Please bear with me now as I express a little bit of poetic license of my own to build on my point;

In a land far, far away….. imagine a time when human beings exist but are filled with somebody else’s life instead of their own. Their own actual life died years ago.  One person had reached right into every individual and took their life out of them and killed it and replaced it with His own life. And this one person’s life is the very same inside every human – they’re all living the same person’s life from then on.

This One person let individual’s personalities and uniqueness remain because He wanted as many variants as possible to express His own life, and He loved their individual personalities and individuality. So each person remained an individual but lived the one life they shared with every other human being, expressing that one shared life in many different ways. Each would think as He thought, each would do as He would do, and each would express His characteristics differently according to their own personality and uniqueness. So, in essence, all of humanity had become one man but with many expressions through the individuals, with the appearance of male and female, black and white, young and old, etc.

Why did this one person do this? Because He created them in the first place to live by His life, knowing that His own life was the One True Life and nothing could compare with its glory and power. But by their own naïve choice and independent nature, all their lives had been hijacked by a darkness from which He knew there was no return. He saw they were all heading down a spiral of death and destruction from which there was no way out. He loved them so much that He couldn’t bear to see them disintegrate, and the only way He could save them was to give them His life in place of their own, as He always intended. The only way He could do this was to become one of them and die for them, so His life could become spirit and live in them. That way, He knew they would have abundant Life to live by forever and ever because His Life was an Eternal Life, which overcame death.

So there’s a lot more to the story than that, I know. But in essence, did you know the true and normal Christian life is Christ’s life being lived out in us? Did you realise this is what happened when Jesus was crucified? Did you realise He took our old lives as fallen human beings and killed them, crucifying them with Him on the cross? And that when He was resurrected, He became a life-giving spirit, placing His very own Life inside of us for us to live by from there on in? This all took place outside of time in Eternity and inside of time at Calvary. And it takes place on an individual level inside of time, whenever one of us human beings comes to believe in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and make Him Lord of our life.

It is rare indeed for anyone to die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!… (Romans 5:7-9)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20)

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13)

Although I imagine a fantastic science-fiction movie could be made to represent this story, this amazing love God gave us through Jesus Christ is not science-fiction at all. It is reality!

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

Now, we who are in Christ, through faith in Him as the Son of God, by the grace given us to believe, live by the life of another. What does this mean for us? It means so much that I could never cover it all my life, let alone in one post!

However, simply in some practical terms, it means His dream has become our dream. His purpose and vision have become our purpose and vision. His desires have become our desires. We have become one with Him and one with His Father, so Christ has become our All. 

It means we can draw from His life on all occasions. We can draw from Him as our strength and energy when we are tired. When we are afraid, we can take Him as our courage and comfort. When uncertain, we can draw from Him for His confidence and guidance. When we are hungry, we can take Him as our food! When we are tempted, we can draw from His well of Life as our way out. We can draw from His faith to believe when we feel weak in faith. When we are tested, we can draw from His life to stand and persevere in hardship. When we think we cannot go on, we can draw from Him as our endurance. In other words, Christ is All. 

We are never left to our wisdom, devices, and resources. We no longer have to rely on ourselves or the world to meet our needs in any way. We don’t have to work hard to be a better person, improve ourselves, or achieve great things for Him or anyone else. We don’t have to come up with the answers on how to live this life or how to help others. We have another life within us: all the resources of Heaven. In other words, Christ is All. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms…(Ephesians 1:3)

Our wisdom, devices and resources are useless. Since we, like Paul, have been crucified with Christ, nothing of us can attain anything of any value in this life. In other words, Christ is All. 

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.… (Galatians 6:14)

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

Perhaps we, just like that song by the Divinyls, can now declare that once we were naïve and didn’t believe that the gospel was true. Maybe we thought it was only science fiction?

He went on to say, 

“This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” (John 6:65)

But now, since we have been born of the Spirit and no longer living by the capacity of our natural man who cannot comprehend the Spirit, we see that this blinding love of God through Christ Jesus is real. We have now thrown all our ‘books’ away (speaking of our human reasoning, philosophies and human wisdom) that feed our natural mind that has no Life of Christ in it, and the Spirit of God now leads us as the Father has enabled us.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God.(Romans 8:14).

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it. ….the True light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. ……..The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1)

And that’s love, not science fiction.