Beholding The Son: The Awakening of Your Divine Identity

There is a holy awakening taking place in the body of Christ, a returning to something so central, so foundational, that once it is seen, everything else begins to align. We are rediscovering that transformation does not begin with striving, effort, or self-improvement, it begins with vision. It begins with what we behold. For so long, much of what we understood as salvation was centered around what we were saved from, but the Spirit is now unveiling what we were saved into, union with the Father through the Son, a shared life, a divine participation. And in this union, we begin to see that the key to transformation is not trying harder, but seeing clearer.

“We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

This is the pattern of the kingdom, this is the rhythm of the Spirit, beholding is becoming.

And when we behold Jesus, we are not merely looking at a distant Savior, we are looking at the perfect revelation of what humanity was always meant to be. He is not only the Son of God, He is the true image of man as God intended from the beginning. He is the second Adam, the restored pattern, the living witness of life in union with the Father. What we see in Jesus walking through Judea and Jerusalem is not just divinity on display, it is humanity fully alive in God. It is what Adam was designed to live in before the fall, uninterrupted communion, unbroken confidence, complete dependence, and perfect trust.

“As He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17)

Not as He was, but as He is, now.

“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:6)

“As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” (1 Corinthians 15:49)

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” (Colossians 2:6)

“He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also.” (John 14:12)

This is the invitation, that what we behold in Him is not something we admire from a distance, it is something we are being transformed into, His likeness becoming our present reality, His life becoming our expression here and now. “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…” (Romans 8:29)

We must say this plainly, Jesus did not come only to be admired, He came to be followed as the pattern of a Son. Much of what we have been taught has created an unnecessary gulf between Him and us, as though His life was unattainable because He was God and we are not. But the gospel reveals something far more radical, He lived as the Son in perfect union with the Father to show us what sonship actually looks like.

“If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

And then He brings us into that same reality,

“In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:20)

He is not only revealing God to us, He is revealing us to us. Even in His humility, taking on flesh and living in dependence, “taking the form of a servant… becoming obedient” (Philippians 2:7–8), He is showing the way of sonship, a life fully yielded, fully trusting, fully one with the Father. This is why He could say, “The works that I do you will do also.” (John 14:12), not as an unreachable standard, but as an invitation into shared life. He is the firstborn among many brothers, the pioneer who goes before, not to separate Himself from us, but to bring us with Him into the same fellowship, the same confidence, and the same living relationship with the Father.

When Jesus walked the earth, healing the sick, restoring the broken, delivering the oppressed, and speaking with authority, it was not because He was operating independently as God, it was because He lived in perfect union with the Father. His confidence was not in Himself, it was in the One who sent Him. His faith was not something He was striving to produce, it was the natural expression of His oneness with the Father. He could say without hesitation,

“The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do…” (John 5:19)

and again,

“I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” (John 8:28)

This was not limitation, this was liberty. This was the freedom of a life fully yielded, fully trusting, fully aligned. And because of that union, authority flowed naturally. Healing was not an effort, it was an overflow. Power was not something He reached for, it was something that moved through Him because of His unbroken fellowship with the Father.

This is why Scripture calls Him “the author and finisher of faith” (Hebrews 12:2). When you look at this in the Greek, it becomes even more powerful. The word “author” is archēgos, meaning the originator, the pioneer, the one who goes first and establishes the path. And the word “finisher” is teleiōtēs, meaning the completer, the one who brings something to its intended maturity and perfection. And the word “faith” there is pisteōs, not emphasizing something personal or individual, but the reality of faith itself, the God-kind of faith, the faith that originates in God and is perfectly expressed in Christ. This is not merely saying He helps our faith, it is revealing that He is the source, the pattern, and the full expression of what true faith actually is.

He is not just giving us faith, He is showing us faith. He is the living demonstration of what it looks like for a man to live in complete trust, complete dependence, and perfect union with the Father. And so we do not look within ourselves trying to generate faith, we look at Him. We behold His trust, His confidence, His rest in the Father, and as we behold, we begin to receive. We begin to walk in that same faith, not by imitation, but by participation. What we see in Him becomes formed in us. This is the mystery, that beholding Him is how we become like Him. Not through striving, not through pressure, but through vision that transforms. This brings us back to identity, because you cannot become what you do not first see, and you cannot see clearly until the veil is removed.

Even this past weekend at church, I was speaking with a brother, encouraging him in his identity in Christ, and he said to me, “Don’t forget Chris, we’re just sinners, and we just have to keep working.” And I stopped him, not to correct him harshly, but to lovingly challenge the lens he was seeing through. Because what you behold determines what you become. If you continue to behold yourself as a sinner working to improve, you will live bound to that identity. But if you behold Christ as your life, as your righteousness, as your union with the Father, then that very reality begins to form within you. This is why the gospel does not call us to fix our eyes on ourselves, but to fix our eyes on Him. As we behold Him, we begin to awaken to who we truly are, and in that awakening, transformation flows naturally. 

Religion often keeps the focus on self, on performance, on measuring progress, but the gospel lifts our eyes. It calls us to behold Him with an unveiled face. And as we do, something begins to happen deep within us. We begin to realize that we are not separate from Him, we are joined to Him.

“He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17)

This is where identity is no longer something we are trying to build, it is something we are awakening to. We begin to see that Christ is not just our example, He is our life. And as that reality settles into our hearts, transformation becomes inevitable.  Plant an apple tree and apples, well, are inevitable.

Jesus Himself began to reveal this shift to His disciples, moving them from dependence on Him externally to participation with Him internally. He said, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name… in that day you will ask the Father in My name…” (John 16:24–26). What was He doing? He was opening the door to direct access, to the same relationship He Himself walked in. No longer would they stand at a distance, coming through Him as an external mediator, they would now abide in Him and He in them, and together they would live in the Father. This is the mystery of union, this is the divine reality we have been brought into, the fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

“I in them, and You in Me… that they may be made perfect in one.” (John 17:23)

And this is where everything comes together. Beholding is not just about transformation for transformation’s sake, it is about restoration to original design. From the beginning, man was created to bear the image of God, to walk in union, to live from His life, to express His nature into the earth. Again I reiterate, ON EARTH.  Your will be done on EARTH as it is in heaven. What was lost in Adam has been restored in Christ, and now through beholding, it is being revealed in us. As we behold His love, we become expressions of that love. As we behold His authority, we begin to walk in that authority. As we behold His union, we begin to live from that same union. And over time, as this vision becomes reality in us, we begin to say with increasing clarity and confidence, if you have seen me, you have seen Jesus, and in seeing Jesus, you have seen the Father. Not as a statement of pride, but as the natural fruit of a life that has been transformed by beholding.

Yet within much of Western Christianity, a familiar refrain still echoes: “Jesus is Jesus, and we are not Him, we’re just poor sinners, so don’t look at me, I’m still wicked.” It sounds humble, but it subtly distances us from the very likeness He came to restore, keeping believers identified with what has been crucified instead of the life that has been raised. And as long as that lens remains, growth is capped, because you will never rise above the image you believe about yourself.

Creation itself is waiting for this. “The earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:19). Not waiting for more effort, not waiting for more religion, but waiting for a people who have seen Him and become like Him. A people who no longer live from separation, but from union. A people who carry within them the life of Christ and release that life into the world around them. This is how the new creation expands, not through striving, but through manifestation. Not through pressure, but through presence.

This is the invitation before us, to behold Him. To fix our eyes on Jesus, not occasionally, but continually. To see Him as the pattern, the author, the finisher, the living example of what life in union with the Father looks like. And as we behold, to trust that the Spirit is doing what only He can do, transforming us into that same image. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27). This is the promise, and this is the path, what you behold, you will become.