New Creation Man
It seems today that these statements are often quoted and we rejoice in the concept, but in honesty we are finding the reality lacking in the experience of so many. I am asking a simple question here which is, “Have we missed something along the way, or is there more truth to be discovered in God’s perfect plan to bring all mankind to bow the knee to Christ, and for all mankind to confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God?” The answer is yes, we have missed something and there is more truth to be discovered in God’s perfect plan.
For 2000 years religion has presented a Gospel that considers that the earth has no place in the will and purposes of God, so our vision has been redirected from the earth to a place called heaven which is considered to be above the stars somewhere, where we go after we die if we have repented, and there to live with God forever. It would seem to me that this concept is based upon the assumption that there is no real function for the people of God on the earth.
So, believing that they have eternal life, they wait for death to take them so they can go to heaven. The focus now is upon going to heaven after a person dies rather than on the task of becoming an expression of the Christ on this earth. The Gospel as it is generally preached has done nothing to represent a true concept either of who God is, or His purpose for man on this earth. Generally speaking, the concept is that the world has no purpose in the plan of God, so we must look in another direction for any answer for the future. This denies the original Gospel that Jesus Christ began to preach in the beginning of His ministry on this earth.
Man today has been born on this earth using the seed of the woman. This seed carries all the traits of our humanity and our mortality; it has changed our consciousness, making it impossible to live and function as Christ Jesus who is our true identity by creation. Religion has declared an answer to this dilemma, telling us that if we will do certain things such as, “Give our heart to Jesus, and believe that Christ died on the cross to forgive our sins, and ask Him to come and dwell in us, then we will be ‘born again’ and go to heaven after we die.” Millions through the years in this world have believed in this theory and so have followed its pattern and claimed to be ‘saved’, or a Christian, and a part of the Church. The result is that it is often very difficult to distinguish between those who claim to be Christians and the people in the world who have very little interest in “the things of God,” but who often live better lives than do the Christians.
As a result, the great mass of people in the world today who have no interest in Christianity believe that Christianity has no reality attached to it at all. This apparent failure to declare the true nature of our heavenly Father according to creation in Genesis 1:26 is the reason why Christianity has had no effect upon our society. I believe this is the reason why crime continues to rise each year. Our youth are in so many cases out of control, and even children aged four and five years are causing their parents to fear for their life as their children rebel and refuse to submit. In many areas it is unsafe for a woman to walk down the street alone after dark. One could be forgiven for thinking that God has made a mistake or Christianity has been a failure. But the problem does not rest with God who so loved the world, but with man, who has failed to recognize God as the Father of all mankind according to creation. As a result we believe our origin is as a baby, born from the womb of our mother.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:17 & 23)
"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 9:35)
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Matthew 6:9)
"And this Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14)
The Key to the Gospel that Jesus came to preach was the King - Jesus Christ Himself. He told the people that the King had arrived and was present with them. The Prophet Isaiah revealed the birth of the King in Isaiah 9:6 and linked Him with the Kingdom of God.
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward , even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
But today, very few Christians even know that Jesus Christ is a King and that His Kingdom is to be built on this earth, over which he will rule forever. The prophet Isaiah declared the birth of the King, which we know occurred at Bethlehem about 2000 years ago. But the same prophet declared also that before the King came there would be a herald announcing His coming, who we now know was John the Baptist. This was the message of the herald to prepare the way for the entry of the King: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 40:3-5)
No monarch even today will visit a country without much preparation, which was true for every visit we have had from the Queen of England to Australia. Security had to be adequate, accommodations had to be suitable, food had to be prepared according to the palace menu etc. How much more should we prepare for the coming of the King Jesus Christ. His accommodation has to be taken care of as His dwelling place is in every man. But what will the King find as he inspects the pathway on which you have been travelling? The prophet Isaiah says, Every valley or low place shall be exalted [or lifted up] and the high places brought low. (Isaiah 40:4)
So our life has to remain on a level without the ups and downs which most of us have in our experience. Then he speaks of the crooked or devious aspects of our life being made straight and the rough being made plain.
So we all need an overhaul of our life and commitment to Christ before the King begins his inspection. Remember our body is the temple of God so it is important that we keep it as a suitable place in which Christ the King can dwell and function. So when the King is satisfied, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed in these bodies of ours. The prophet says, The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 40:5)
It means that these bodies of ours will have the same characteristics as Jesus Christ had, which the three disciples saw on the top of the mountain, when He was transfigured before their eyes. The Word declares, His clothing shone with the brightness of the noon day sun, and as white as the snow and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. (Matthew 17:2). The Church, generally speaking, has nothing to say about the Kingdom of God and its role on the earth today. Jesus directed the disciples in the beginning to go out and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and heal the sick.
How many preachers are doing what Jesus told his disciples to do, or who are directing God’s people to do the same? Religion has changed the focus of the believer from the authority of the King Jesus Christ and his Kingdom, to going to a place they call heaven after they die.
The Gospel that is preached today is not the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus delivered to the world. So the world is in chaos, crime is out of control and murder is almost a daily occurrence. But there is very little interest in the King being enthroned upon whose shoulders His government rests.
Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His Kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. (Isaiah 9:7)
In the Kingdom of God there are no sick people and no one dies, so it is easy to see that there has been very little teaching on the Kingdom of God. The teaching that does exist has simply relegated the Kingdom to a time when it will be established after the earth has been destroyed, according to current teaching. If the King’s dwelling place is in man today, surely His authority as King should be recognized by those who claim to be Christians - who should be living to please Father.
Our out of control youth are, in many cases, the result of parents who have no spiritual authority guiding them from within. As many as three out of five marriages are ending in divorce, so the character of God - which is love - has little place in the hearts of so many, showing that the authority of the King Jesus Christ is hardly recognized today. In many cases, the behaviour of youth in Christian families is almost as bad as those who have no time for God. Sickness among Christians is no less than in the world at large. All these things I believe are because the only Jesus most Christians know is the one remembered on the cross, but His title as Lord and King is unknown. God’s people worship Him as the Babe in Bethlehem or the Saviour on the cross - but not as King of Kings and ruler of the universe.
In Romans 12:1-2 Paul wrote to the saints in Rome, reminding them that to be a ‘Christ One’, it is expected that we “present our bodies to God.” Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies (as) a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual worship. And be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Christ was the one who formed our body in our mother’s womb. It belongs to Him, but He is graciously asking us to willingly present our bodies to Him. In making our body available to Him, it must be in the same manner in which the people of Israel offered their animals to the priest, as a sacrifice unto the Lord. Once the priest took charge of the animal, it no longer belonged to whomever presented it, but it was bound for the altar as a sacrifice unto God. So as far as the person who gave it to the priest is concerned, it is dead.
What the Apostle Paul is asking here is that we abandon any claim to our body that we may have had for it, and make it a living sacrifice unto God, for now it belongs to Christ. There is one difference between the sacrifice in Israel’s day and the presenting of our body today unto the Lord - and that is our body is to become a living sacrifice. But for Israel, every sacrifice was dead at the point of sacrifice.
We have believed that the life of our body is no longer eternal, but mortal, even though the original life that was breathed into the nostrils of Adam was eternal, so something has happened to bring about the change. The First Man God created in Genesis 1:26 - in obedience to what Father told Him to do in Genesis 1:28 - brought forth Adam. We read the account in Genesis 2:7, how the Lord God brought forth a manifestation of Himself. The only difference was that this man Adam was given a body that was designed to be the Temple of God with Christ as the High Priest. The body was necessary in order to give visibility to the Christ through which He could function and express Himself to the world.
Man was not created as something separate from God, for the first man was created in the likeness and the image of God. He was energized by the same life force that is resident in God. In Genesis 2 we are introduced to the Lord God or Jehovah Elohim, who is in reality the man with God dwelling in him. Both God and the man have been united in the one body, allowing God to be manifest to the entire world.
The concept of most Christians is that God is up in the sky in a secluded place called heaven, and if we do what religion tells us we must do, we will see God after we die. But that is the serpent speaking, trying to keep us from developing a relationship with God during our life on this earth. The scriptures declare in 2 Corinthians 5:19, To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
The word ‘Christian’ for many people is just a word connected to our spiritual vocabulary, but its meaning and intent has been lost through the religious teaching being taught today. A ‘Christian’ is ‘a Christ One’, or someone whose body has been dedicated to the Christ, so that it becomes the body of Christ, through which He can express Himself to the world. The word Christ is not found in the Old Testament, because He had not been revealed as the Son of Man until His birth at Bethlehem, born of a woman. He was “Son of God” created in Genesis 1:26, but after His birth at Bethlehem, he is now also Son of Man, the first-fruit of the Divine Seed from which all of mankind has come, “created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:10).
The “book” of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1) Jesus Christ is listed in the generations of mankind on the earth, but is also divinely connected with the spiritual realm of God. ‘Jesus Christ’ is a compound name consisting of Jesus and also Christ. The name ‘Jesus’ came from the generation of Abraham of the tribe of Judah as “Yehowshu`a,”, pronounced Joshua or Jehoshua, which is a Hebrew word meaning "Jehovah is salvation." The scriptures also speak of Jesus Christ as the Son of David. This is connected to the fact that David was “a man after God’s own heart,” and also that he became the King that brought Israel into victory on every front, during his reign. God promised David that there would always be a “King” to sit on his throne.
David became a mighty man in Israel because he restored the Ark of the Covenant to Israel in Jerusalem after it had been neglected for 20 or more years. Finally he built the Tabernacle of David which was a simple tent in which the Ark of the Covenant was visible for all to see. The setting was designed so Israel could sit facing the Ark of the Covenant worshipping God, and their worship was recorded, which became the beautiful Psalms we have in our Bible today. But that was not all, for the Lord said regarding David’s Tabernacle,
“After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things. So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.” (Acts 15: 16-17)
David’s Tabernacle actually represents the true believer whose body represents the tent in whom Christ dwells as the Ark of the Covenant. Christ is made visible to the whole world, unlike the Temple of God in Jerusalem where God was hidden behind a veil - even from Israel. But God has promised that there is coming a day when He will raise up again the Tabernacle of David, which will begin a new era on the earth, when the people will again see the glory of the Lord in a people on this earth.
This will be repeated as the Spirit of the Lord sweeps across this world and the scales drop from the eyes of the people. Then the world will see Him as He really is. The sick will be healed and the blind made to see and the lame shall walk just as they did 2000 years ago. That day will reveal Christ in every nation, doing exactly the same as Jesus did - healing the sick and making the blind to see, and the lame to walk etc. This world has not been abandoned by God as many believe, for His will and His purposes have never changed. He has declared that a time is coming when every knee shall bow to the Christ, being manifested in and through a people and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, (the owner) to the glory of God.
We are living in a day when there is a calling out of a people who will have been ‘transformed,’ by the renewing of their mind, just as Paul told the saints in Rome. This transformation depends on activating the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. We have all tried to manifest and function as the Christ - without success - by using the carnal mind of the woman that was deceived by the serpent. Now Paul revealed the reason for our failure; he also supplied the answer when he said,
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be grasped at to be equal with God. But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a bondservant, becoming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5)
There is no one on this earth that can be a manifestation of Jesus Christ until they allow the mind of Christ to replace the carnal mind which we inherited from the woman in the Garden of Eden. Most Christians have struggled to express Christ in their lives while functioning under the authority of the deceived mind. Therefore our efforts have been fruitless. The first difference Paul reveals to us is that the Christ-mind sees us as equal with God, created in His likeness and His image, while the carnal mind says we are sinners but forgiven through Christ at Calvary.
The great multitude of people who claim to be Christians today on this earth have never known such a transformation. The best experience we have known is “conversion,” based upon our agreement with certain issues that the Bible indicates is the truth. It is similar to choosing which group to back in a political election based upon checking out what each group stands for. It would seem that for many being a Christian is based upon the same criteria. The reason why so many received Christ is because He offered, according to religion, to take them to heaven after they die, and the alternative was not nearly as attractive. I am serious about this because what most Christians talk about is going to heaven to be with God.
However, this has never caused the world to come to Christ because there was very little in the life of His people that attracted them.
Many Christians can no longer relate to anyone who do not agree with them and their religious concepts. Religion has divided the people in every nation, causing them to lack in the one thing that represents God, and that is love. Many rejoice in the religious doctrines of eternal punishment, which present God as being angry and cruel, destroying millions who fail to repent. This transformation must take place before God’s people are able to bring forth a believable expression of the true God that would impress the world. The need for this transformation has never been greater than it is today. Let us therefore consider what Paul has to say concerning these things. In Romans 12:2 he explains the process that will result in this transformation. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The life and behaviour of all mankind is generally patterned upon the general consensus of the people in the world. We all want to feel that we are fitting in to the world in which we live, for to be different tends to cut us off from what is acceptable to the majority. Today, young people pattern their lives on the sports heroes and film stars, many of whom live lives that go from disaster to disaster. As a result, there is little difference between those who declare they are Christians, for their lives ‘conform’ generally to the majority in our world today. This means that their testimony can bear little fruit in drawing people to Christ.
However many Christians today believe that if they do not conform to the general population they will not be able to influence their friends and neighbors for Christ. Paul states clearly, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Jesus Christ 2000 years ago certainly did not conform to the world in which He lived; yet everywhere He went the crowds gathered. There was something about that man that caused the crowds to follow Him, except when He was on his way to Calvary to lay down His life for all mankind.
The basis of the Gospel Jesus came to preach to the world is, the King has come, and He is building His kingdom on the earth. And Jesus Christ is the King who will rule and reign in the hearts and lives of His people.
It is impossible to be conformed to this world and also be transformed at the same time. To be transformed means to change into another form. The Apostle Paul expressed this change in the life of Jesus by saying: Who being in the form of God (Spirit) thought it not a thing to grasp at to be equal with God, but He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. (Philippians 2:6-7)
It is hard for us to grasp the truth that Jesus Christ was created out of God in Genesis 1:26 in the likeness and the image of God, and given dominion over all the works of God’s hands, but here He is the same man on the earth in the form of a servant. This same one is the King who is even now ruling and reigning as Lord over all, is unseen by mortal man on this earth, and everything is in line with the fulfilling of His will and purpose. He declared, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts and neither are your ways my ways. As far as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Many people today consider that God does not exist. In their understanding, if there was a God, we would not have the crime and wars on the earth that we have. Man is just reaping what he has sown on the earth. It is not God that causes the crime and wickedness that takes place on the earth today. When Jesus Christ came into this world, He was born of a woman just the same as our birth, but He could do what we have not been able to do. He spoke out of a knowledge that was unknown to mankind, and He could relate to all of mankind with a purpose of restoring all who had suffered through mortality, affecting our bodies. It is obvious that the Apostle Paul understood these things because in Romans 12:1-2 he makes it clear that the transformation takes place not as a result of some physical change in our body, but by the renewing of the mind.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
When Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, immediately he discovered that he was naked. However I do not believe that anything had changed since he was introduced to the woman in Genesis 2:22, except something changed in Adam’s consciousness. That nakedness that he observed was not physical, but became evident as his spiritual consciousness faded and a new consciousness took its place. Even Adam’s concept of God changed because now he was afraid of God. When we begin to understand spiritual consciousness, then it changes our perception of everything.
Paul continues in Romans 8:2, For the Law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
Jesus was born of a woman and came into this world in a body the same as ours, but He condemned sin in the flesh by His sinless life, proving that we do not have to sin. It is not will power that we need to please God; we need to understand that Jesus Christ functioned with a spiritual consciousness of the Father being one with Him.
How many of us today believe that we are one with the Father? If we do not believe that, then Christ cannot be our true identity. Only when we have the same consciousness will we be able to live the Christ life, just as He had. He was not different to what we are, For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
Again, we are confronted with this spiritual consciousness which is the key to unlock His sinless life. This is the life He has given to us today. While we believe that we are sinners we will keep on sinning, but if our identity is Christ, then sin cannot be an issue for He demonstrated His sinless life for all to see.
The word “consciousness” is not found in the Bible, but the word “believe” has basically the same meaning, for it simply means “That which you are aware of.” The Apostle John made this statement, If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son (1 John 5:9-10)
The apostle Paul reveals the antidote to the poison of the serpent revealing to us the true mind that He gave us in creation which we still have. He declares we were created in Christ Jesus, therefore our mind must be the same as the mind of Christ.
So Paul tells us, Let this Mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:1-10)
Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep (die) but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. (Isaiah 25:8)
This is for a day that is yet to come for most, when we the ‘Called-out Ones’ embrace our Christ consciousness and the world sees again the sick being made well, and the blind receiving their sight, and the deaf hearing, and the lame walking, and age no longer diminishing our health or strength. Today we see small tokens of these things but not enough to cause society to turn to God.
THE CROSS
We sing about the Old Rugged Cross, and often tears appear as we contemplate the suffering that is associated with death by crucifixion. History reveals that a man could exist on a cross for up to three days before death would finally end the ordeal. But Jesus was dead within three hours, so it was neither the cross that killed him nor the soldiers, for He said, “No man takes my life from me for I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.” It is important that we understand the real purpose of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Religion tells us that it was the Father punishing His son who took our place on the cross because of our sin so we could be forgiven.
This is a lie that has covered the real issues that lay behind the crucifixion of Christ. First of all the Apostle Paul makes it clear, That God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
The question of sin is not included in Paul’s statement, so it was not God exacting judgment on His son so God could forgive us, as religion has taught us, for He was not crediting our trespasses to our account. In fact, He was exchanging His perfect righteousness for our unrighteousness. That is exactly what the word reconciliation means. Unto us has been committed the whole effect of this reconciliation, so we can now express in our lives that sin no longer has control over us, just as it had no control over Jesus Christ.
Do you realize that the man on the cross represents every single man who has been born on the earth? So the truth is that all mankind was reconciled to God two thousand years ago, including all those born on this earth and also all those who will yet be born. It is our responsibility to let all mankind know that God has already exchanged His righteousness for our unrighteousness, setting all mankind on the earth free to live and walk as Christ on this earth.
With this Gospel there would be no need for prisons; crime would no longer exist, and there would be no more wars. But the greatest opposition to the truth today is religion, with its false presentation of God to the world. We are seeing in this our day the rise of a religion that actively promotes wars and the killing of all those who would dare to oppose its wicked concepts.
However in the purposes of God, there must have been even a greater reason for the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Since Adam and the woman ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the eternal nature of the life in man has been limited, and mortality was thrust upon all mankind from that time. Mankind has continued not as a manifestation of Christ living without sin - being free from sickness, pain and suffering and death - but just the same as life before the Cross. This must cause us today to wonder, either the cross did not achieve all God intended, or for some reason mankind cannot make redemption function in our lives today. I have become convinced that we have believed what God intended to become our reality would automatically become our reality without any effort on our part. What we have missed is that the change that took place in Adam became his reality because his consciousness changed as the mind of Christ that had controlled his life was replaced by the mind of the woman that was deceived by the serpent. And with that change, his consciousness was re- programmed.
I believe that we have continued to function under the serpent mind with the consciousness to suit and so nothing has changed for us. But having said that, let me also add that concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I can see there is a greater purpose in the redemptive will of God that seems to have remained hidden. I believe in my heart it was His will and purpose that through the death, burial and resurrection He would call forth a people who would be a new creation, having no connection to life before the cross. Both our mortality and our corruption were cut off forever when Jesus Christ said, “It is finished.” The people that walked out of the tomb in that man on the third day had never been born, and were not mortal. These are the only people who could shout,
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. O Death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law (which ended when Christ appeared). But thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul obviously had revelation of this truth for he says, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death IS swallowed up in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:53-54)
This victory was made known thousands of years ago by the prophet Isaiah who said, “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." (Isaiah 25:8-9)
We must take off our shoes here, for we are walking on holy ground. The Cross of Jesus Christ at Calvary has been misinterpreted and misunderstood by the religious world ever since the event took place. God has been presented as a heartless tyrant demanding the death of His son before he could forgive the sins of mankind. This has nothing to do with truth. Most Christians have never really understood what was in the heart of God concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross. But I feel it is now time to hear the voice of God, and allow Him to take us beyond the physical aspect of the cross itself, with all of its ignominy and shame, into the heart of God, to reveal the greatest victory mankind could ever know.
The prophet Isaiah is the one who had the revelation thousands of years ago, but we have failed to grasp the truth until our spiritual eyes had been opened to see it.
The prophet Isaiah says “He will swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:8).” In other words, this only has to take place once. In the Garden of Eden, death was introduced through Adam eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God had said not to touch. Adam was told that death would result if they ate that fruit, which would change the world. The life of that First Man Christ Jesus was eternal, being the life of God Himself, who was told in Genesis 1:28,
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”
He was obedient and did what His Father told him. We can follow this process in Genesis 2:7, when the Lord God brought forth by the Spirit a manifestation of Himself. He first formed a body for this man Adam from the dust of the earth, and then breathed into his nostrils the same breath of eternal life which He had received from His Father in Genesis 1:26.
The life Adam received was eternal which was the very life of Christ Himself. As we follow the scriptures, we find that after the woman appeared, she was deceived by the serpent who told her they would not die; so she took the fruit God said not to eat, believing the word of the serpent.
After eating of the fruit herself she gave it to Adam who understood - because he was Christ - that what the woman had done would disrupt the will and purpose of God for all mankind. Adam could look down the corridors of time and see that God had planned redemption for all mankind which could reverse the effect of the woman’s failure. However, he also knew that he would have to eat the fruit with her to become one with the woman so that redemption could be accomplished. Otherwise, the seed of the woman which would include all of humanity would be eternally lost. Adam, being Christ, knew that to cancel death for all mankind He Himself would have to forfeit His own life - which he did, taking all of mankind with him into death. But death itself was about to be destroyed because the life of the Son of God was eternal and death could not hold Him. But at the same time, we can see right from the beginning an amazing victory was planned and “Death would be swallowed up forever.” (Isaiah 25:8)
However, for the last 2000 years from Calvary up to now, sickness, disease, pain, suffering and death itself have continued unabated, consuming the church people as well as the world.
Then the picture changes as the ages roll by and Jesus Christ has now been born of a virgin on the earth by the Spirit. We find Him now in the Garden of Gethsemane with the disciples. He leaves them resting and goes a little further for, unknown to the disciples, He is doing business with His Heavenly Father. He is praying, “Father, if it be possible, take this cup from me; nevertheless not my will but your will be done.” There was no one else who could qualify to drink that “cup” and therefore He agreed to fulfill the will of His Father. We now know what His Father was asking Him to do. He was saying to His son Jesus Christ, if you will become one with mankind and take them with you to the cross and into death, you will destroy the power of death forever.
The Son agreed to the will of the Father, and from that moment things began to happen. A man came into sight with a group of soldiers behind him. This man’s name was Judas who had made a deal with the authorities to identify Jesus so Jesus could be quickly arrested. Judas walked up to Jesus and kissed Him, and immediately the soldiers arrested Jesus and marched Him off like a common criminal. Jesus did not struggle, and they took Him to the High Priest’s house where they interrogated Him. But He answered them not a word, for He was a King. He was eventually handed over to Pilate to be judged and sentenced. But Pilate said, I find no fault in him. But the people insisted that Barabbas - a robber - be released to them, and let Jesus be crucified.
It was obvious that He made no attempt to break free from the Roman guard, nor did He seek clemency from Pilate, for He was a man on a mission to die on that cross, for that was the will of the Father. A crowd with many women amongst them followed as He walked to the hill called Calvary, but they could not understand why He did not just walk out of the hands of His captors. It was not long before the three men were nailed each to his cross, with Jesus between the two thieves. Many criminals were crucified in those days, so it was not an unusual sight - except this was not a criminal that was being crucified, but the Son of God.
On the Cross he poured out His blood that fell to the ground, but the blood that flowed from His veins on the cross was mortal blood, for He had taken the place of all of mankind, and had become as one of us. He died to destroy the power of death for every man for He was to demonstrate how powerless death really was. In Him was all of mankind as He hung on that cross, shedding every drop of blood. This is an important issue that carries a very important truth. Religion has mistaken His blood that was shed on the cross by suggesting it was holy and having great power as one of the favorite Hymns declares: “Would you be free from your burden of sin, there is power in the blood, wonder working power in the blood.”
I sang that song with great gusto many times in my younger years, but did not have the spiritual understanding that has been revealed in recent times. Jesus Christ became what we are when He went to the cross, which means He must have become mortal even as we are. Only then could He destroy the power of death itself - not just for Himself - but for all of mankind who have been born on this earth. We all were in Him on that cross, together with those who were yet to be born in the ages to come. The prophet Isaiah declared that death would be swallowed up forever. So there would be no need for a repeat of Calvary for the future generations.
It is important to understand about the blood and why Calvary was necessary. In Leviticus 17:11 it says, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
In Israel’s history, it was the animal’s blood (life) that made atonement for man’s failures - not the body of the animal. So Jesus Christ took our blood which contained our mortal life and poured it out completely on the cross, for it was mortal blood. His death was our death. His death ended life in the blood for us, so that when Jesus Christ arose on that resurrection morning we would be raised in Him with the breath of God as in creation.
Redemption involved receiving eternal life - the same life that we received in creation but lost it when Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It seems strange to me that anyone on the earth should make a claim that they have eternal life but they are still subject to death. Have you ever seen an ‘immortal’? I cannot say that I have seen one. However, I have received understanding concerning Calvary, together with the burial and the resurrection, that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, which is no longer connected to our previous mortal life.
The first issue to understand is, “What is the process by which we can claim to be in Christ?” Religion is quick to present its view on that subject, telling us we must “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This means that we believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, so He could forgive us, if we believed this was the reason for His death. Other criteria are added according to the doctrine we believe. So, millions in the world over the years since the Cross have applied that requirement and so “believe” that they are saved and have eternal life. The scripture that is quoted is from John 3:16,
That whosoever believes in Him ‘Jesus Christ,’ has everlasting life.
But the irony of this teaching is that everybody still is subject to death. Something is not right here, but not having any other answer we just believe it is true. Jesus told Nicodemus that the key to this wonderful truth is only to be found by discovering our true origin. Jesus said, “Except a man is born from above,” nothing pertaining to the Spirit world can be seen, nor can it be discovered. (John 3:3, paraphrased)
Mankind remains ignorant of spiritual truth until he discovers that his birthing was out of God, which was a long time before we were ever born on this earth. All mankind, we are told, was created out of God in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10). This took place in Genesis 1:26 when God spoke His son Christ Jesus into existence saying, “Let us make man,” but in that first man was all of mankind, for God never created another man. In view of this, the truth is that all mankind was in Christ Jesus in creation, for all were in God originally.
Another aspect of truth is that God is spirit, and not a man as we understand mankind. Yet, all mankind came out of God. So this means that man originally must have also been spirit, which is the truth. Today, man is still spirit, but the difference is that now we live in a body, making us visible in this material world. But man is still spirit for we all were created out of God.
The one issue that has not been discussed is our consciousness. Since the serpent in the Garden of Eden deceived the mind of Eve, mankind has taken on a different consciousness. In simple terms, consciousness is that which you are aware of without thinking. You are conscious of your identity, how you feel, where you are, if you are sick or well, and a thousand other things which all pertain to your consciousness. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and God walked and talked together every day. And whenever God was in the garden, Adam was there with Him. He had a wonderfully happy relationship with God, feeling loved in His presence.
But after Adam had eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, everything changed, for now Adam did not want to meet God in the Garden, as he now believed that he was naked, and now he was afraid of God. Although nothing had changed literally. The truth is that Adam’s consciousness had changed, which changed his whole life completely. By following the woman and eating that fruit, his consciousness changed, and now he found himself outside the Garden. Contrary to the opinion of many, the fact is that Adam never sinned. He was a spiritual reproduction, and so the first earth man appeared on the earth with a body made from the dust, but with that same eternal life being breathed into his nostrils.
Since then, all mankind who have been born on this earth have been now born of a woman and are the product of an egg and a sperm. While in our consciousness we believe that we are mortal, we deny the truth and will remain mortal, subject to sickness, disease, pain and suffering which ends in death. God has made us to have a mind by which our consciousness can be controlled. For scripture states in Proverbs 23:7, As a man thinks in his heart, that is what he is.
To put that into simple English, “As a man reasons or reckons in his soul, the inner being of man - that will determine his reality.” This is the result of man becoming a living soul with his now confused mind controlling his reality. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit the truth of this statement. If a person declares, “I feel sick,” inevitability that becomes their reality, as that is the way the living soul functions. However, the mind that was given to man originally remains, but is inoperative. Paul shows us the way to change everything in our life. He tells us in Philippians 2:5-7, Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
We have need of this transformation, and it involves choosing the mind of Christ, which will bring about the change that Paul speaks about. Then we will not conform to this world, but will be transformed into our original image in which we were created. And then our Life will be eternal. As a man thinks (to calculate or reason) in his heart (referring to the Soul) out of which our choices are made, that is what he is. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)
The blood poured out on the cross was an important aspect of redemption, and that is why every drop of blood was drained from His body on the cross. Even when the soldier plunged his spear into the heart of Jesus, it was the last drop of blood that drained from His body, certifying that He was already dead. The pouring out of every drop of blood was important, for that speaks to us of an end of our mortal life for “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” While that blood is in our veins, we would remain mortal.
These details are so important to us, as one of the reasons for the Cross was to end our mortality, for it is the blood that circulated in our veins carrying oxygen and food to every cell in our body. However, when we pick up a virus or some other disease-causing substance, it is the blood that carries it to all parts of the body. There was no blood mentioned in creation for the life of God is not in the blood, for God is spirit. It was also the life of God that was breathed into the nostrils of Adam in Genesis 2:7. The blood only appeared when death was introduced. So the cross removed ‘life in the blood,’ and the body of Jesus was laid in the tomb minus any blood in His body.
We must keep in mind that the Cross, the Tomb and the Resurrection were designed to bring forth a new creation people, without the contamination of mortality or corruption.
The cross set us free from our mortality by removing the life in the blood. It was the tomb that concealed the transition from death to life. But it was the resurrection that raised up all mankind as a new creation people with no connection to life before the cross.
It is for this reason that Jesus made a statement about blood. He said in John 6:53, "Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
This was a most important statement, but many of His followers left Him after hearing that statement, as they misunderstood what He was saying. He was not speaking about drinking his blood literally, for the body of Jesus was spirit and not flesh and blood as we believe today. He said, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood, abides in Me and I abide in him.”
This is a spiritual concept that we become an integral part of Christ as we eat His flesh and drink His blood. And in a true sense, we become what He is. Jesus made it clear that He was the Bread From Heaven. This is my illustration to explain how that truth operates. Yesterday I ate some chicken, but if you could check on my stomach you would not find any chicken there, because my body has assimilated the chicken and now the chicken is part of me. Jesus told the disciples at the feast of Passover, “This is My Body (which is the Bread From Heaven) that is broken for you, eat you all of it.” To eat His body is to assimilate what He is so we can become the same.
His life was not in His blood, but it was the Spirit that is the life He received from God. If we can understand, our body is not who we are, it is only the house that we dwell in. Our identity is spirit, therefore our life in reality is not in our blood, but in the spirit that dwells in us.
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Just as the branch must be connected to the vine in order to reproduce, we must also become one with Christ who dwells in us if we are to reveal that same Christ to this world. This is not being an imitation of Christ, but in truth becoming a manifestation. These things are not easy to understand without the spirit of God to teach us. However we will proceed in this study to discover more of the wonder of our redemption in Christ.
THE BURIAL
Joseph of Arimathaea had secretly gone to Pilate to get permission to remove the body of Jesus. He and Nicodemus brought a hundred pound weight of aloes and myrrh to embalm the body. Then they carried the body to a new sepulcher wherein a body had never been laid, because it was close by. So we discovered the main reason for Calvary - to bring forth a new creation people whose links with humanity have been broken. They have now become a people with a new beginning from another world, the world of spirit. The “Burial” in the tomb declared the end of life on this earth, which subject to corruption and mortality. It was never the intention of God for this to be a permanent state of being for mankind created in the beginning. The end of the ‘old’ and the beginning of the ‘new’ life involved a threefold event, with the “Burial” forming a kind of ‘parenthesis’ between the two. It is interesting to link these three days with the first three days of Creation in Genesis 1.
On day ‘One’ of creation we read “God created the heaven and the earth.” But we are told that the earth was formless and empty, for it would seem that there was water covering the earth. I believe that the heaven and the earth refer to the two worlds that make up God’s creation. The heaven does not simply refer to a place in which God dwells above the stars, as religion suggests. God is all and in all, therefore we cannot limit Him to some isolated area that we call heaven.
The LORD has established His throne in Heaven, and His Kingdom rules over all. (Psalm 103:19)
Heaven refers to the spirit world in which God dwells and rules and reigns over mankind and the earth. The plan of God was that heaven would rule over the earth, but a disruption occurred in the Garden of Eden as the man God created - Adam - ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, contrary to what God had told him. From that time man, established his own authority. But the Divine wisdom that was intended to protect mankind on the earth has been ignored. This was the challenge Moses gave to Israel,
"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; (Deuteronomy 30:19)
This challenge is no different today as we battle against pain and sickness and finally death, as well as psychological problems, fears and physical issues plus many others. Cancer is a curse which is simply a mutation of cells that can destroy the body. But today we are seeking to understand what Father has provided for us so that we can appropriate the life that is eternal, which was supplied through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has not ignored the cries of His people, but has already demonstrated the divine solution through Jesus Christ. This has been available for 2000 years now but I have not met an ‘Immortal’ on this earth except for Jesus Christ who dwells in me.
However it is my desire to break through the mortality that has plagued humanity since the Garden of Eden. I am of the opinion that this will not be just one person here and maybe one there who will put on immortality, but there will be a time when Father will have a people who will receive the truth and together will put on immortality. The voice I am raising today on this issue is that the death, burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ qualifies all of mankind to put on immortality and incorruption, for we were all in Jesus Christ when He went to the cross.
I can see a connection between the third day of creation and the third day in this life-changing work of redemption in the Cross, the Burial and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. God divided the waters above the heavens, from the waters below and the dry land appeared. God called the dry land earth and the gathering of the waters He called seas. It was the third day when new life appeared on the earth.
And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself, according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:12)
The death of Jesus Christ brought an end to mortality. His resurrection introduced a new life of immortality and incorruption to all of mankind, and this life was manifest in Jesus Christ as He appeared for all to see. However, to appropriate this unlimited redemption, all that is required is to believe that each one of us was incorporated in Jesus Christ - first of all in creation when that first man Christ Jesus was spoken into existence in Genesis 1:26. The Apostle Paul declared in Ephesians 2:10 that we all were created in Christ Jesus at that moment. This means that all of mankind from the beginning has a common origin in Christ Jesus. This makes God to be Father of all.
That is why the Father asked Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane to agree to take all of humanity (who were in Him from creation) into death on the cross. In doing so, His death would end the mortality of all mankind and at the same time destroy death itself, according to the prophecy of Isaiah 25:7-8.
And He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil (of ignorance) that is spread over all nations. and He will swallow up death forever.
And the Lord God will wipe away all tears from all faces, and the rebuke of his people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it.
THE RESURRECTION
The tomb had been sealed with the Roman seal, so the body could not be touched. However in the darkness, the will and purposes of God was being finalized. On the third day early in the morning the stone was rolled away and the tomb was open. This was not to let Jesus out but to reveal an empty tomb so man would believe in the resurrection. Just as the egg is discarded after the baby eagle steps out of it, having fulfilled its services for the shell was no longer necessary. Now all of mankind could say,
“I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen. And I have the keys of Hades (the Grave) and of Death.”
Early that morning, the women came to the tomb with the spices to embalm the body of Jesus. But to their surprise, the stone had been rolled away! As they looked unto the tomb, they found the body of Jesus was no longer there. The disciples would not believe the women, so Peter and John ran to the sepulchre, Peter went right in and John also saw the linen clothes that was around the body of Jesus folded up together. But the head piece that was around His head was folded up but in another place. We are told that when John saw this, he believed that Jesus had risen from the dead even as Jesus promised He would.
So the disciples returned to the rest of the group and told them what they had seen. Mary returned and was weeping as she looked again into the tomb.
And this time she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but did not recognize that it was Jesus. He said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you seeking?"
She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take care of his body. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” And immediately she replied, “RABBONI” which means MASTER, and she reached out to touch Him, but He would not allow her to touch Him, as He had not at that time ascended to the Father. (John20:12-17)
He simply replied with one word, “Mary.” Immediately she knew who that Man was. It was not His face that told Her who He was nor His physical features but it was His voice. Did not Jesus say, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.” At that moment she reached out to touch Him, but He stopped her, because if she had touched Him while He still had a visible body, He would have remained in her memory as just a human being and not the Son of God. If she had touched him then, she would have remembered Him only as a man in the mortal sense, but not as the Christ of God and therefore spirit.
I do believe that many Christians today still hold the man Jesus in human form in their memory, having never seen the Christ of Glory high and lifted up with His train filling His temple - which is our body. Father, reveal Yourself to us today, as You did to Isaiah, until we see You in all Your glory, which glory is to be displayed through Your people to the world.
What does all this actually mean for humanity today? It is a fact that all of humanity was in Christ when He went to the cross, so whatever was accomplished there in His death, burial and resurrection is true for all of humanity today. Our mortality was cancelled by His death, getting rid of the blood wherein dwells our mortal life. We were in Christ when His body was laid in the tomb wrapped in grave clothes. On the third day, after death had done all that it could, a new life that was not subject to death in any form entered the body of Jesus Christ, and therefore all of humanity that was in Christ in creation, now are declared to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. The only one who could take us through such a journey into this new life was Christ Jesus our Lord. When the baby eagle high up in the mountain steps out of the egg, the shell is of no further use; so it is discarded, for the shell has fulfilled its purpose.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. (Galatians 6:15)
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; Because the creation itself also, will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole of creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, who is Christ, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:20-23)
Most Christians have no understanding concerning the redemption of our body. They believe that our redeemed body will only become available after we die, but not in this world. However, that is wrong, for the total redemption of man has yet to take place on this earth and only then will we be able to restore the earth to the glory it had in the beginning. The apostle Paul states, That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)
This declaration must take place on this earth before the ages have all run their course. And as far as I can see, we are a long way off this becoming reality for this world in which we live. But the word of the Lord must be fulfilled in and through a people before we will see this becoming a reality on this earth. Many Christians today are looking for a way out of this world, believing that the end of the world is not far away. Religion has taught them that Jesus will come again in the clouds and take all the “Christians” to heaven and the rest to be left here to suffer the judgments of God. This has nothing to do with the truth, for Paul tells us, As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)
Paul declares that everyone who has been subject to mortality must also enter into immortality, and those who have endured corruption in their body shall also experience incorruption.
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Corinthians 5:1)
The word “dissolved” used here means to separate two things that are presently joined together. The two things mentioned here that are joined together are the body and the soul. Man became a living soul when the carnal - or the deceived - mind took control of the body. Now Paul tells us that if we can separate the soul’s control over the body by accessing the mind of Christ instead of allowing the carnal mind to control us, we will have - not, will get - our eternal body from heaven.
But so many people have not really understood that before we were ever born on this earth we were created in Christ Jesus. Nicodemus did not understand this, so Jesus had to tell him that his knowledge of spiritual things depends on being born from above, which refers to our creation in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10), expressed in Genesis 1:26. God told Jeremiah an interesting fact which also applies to us today, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5)
The last thing Jesus told the disciples before He disappeared was, “Love one and other.” John 15:17
As we progress in grasping the revelation of truth that Father is sharing with His people in these days, our sharing with one another must be done in love without dogmatism, knowing that unless the Spirit of the Lord reveals truth to a person, no one will ever see it. As in a family in the natural, the more mature ones are intended to help the younger ones by encouraging them, and not demanding they have to agree.
Paul, in speaking to the Christians in Galatia, makes it clear that we all began life as children of God, but Father has the expectation that as we mature we will develop into true Sons who dedicate their life to pleasing the Father. I have found that very few Christians today speak to their heavenly Father, but most will only use the term God. If you want to be like your heavenly Father, you must develop a relationship with Him. As a child, I am sure you spoke to your earthly father and was not embarrassed to do so. But if I wanted to speak to him, I called him ‘Dad’, which is the English equivalent of father. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them to say, “Our Father which art in heaven.” I learned many years ago to call him “Father” and that is who He has been to me ever since.
THE NEW CREATION MAN
The word Father is a word of relationship and provides a connection that the word God does not carry. G-O-D is merely a Word and will only mean to you what you want it to mean, so everyone interprets it for themselves. But the term ‘Father’ means to me, “That is my identity and where I came from,” and if I meet another man I automatically know that he is my brother for there is only one Father in the whole universe. Sonship must be earned first of all by maturing in your family relationships with a sense of responsibility to Father.
This is very important, for we are to be an advertisement for our heavenly Father, declaring His love and concern for the whole of mankind.
There are no lost people in this world, for we are all the children of God, having first been created in Christ Jesus, who was the first man God created in Genesis 1:26. Once you know the Christ dwelling in you, who is one with God, (John 10:30) you have discovered who you are and where you came from.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:14)
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)
And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God. (Romans 9:26)
The true sons of God are the children who have matured and have become responsible to their Heavenly Father and who live to please Him. There is an amazing lack of respect for parents in our world today, and this reflects on the irresponsibility of many teenagers becoming involved in crime in the world today.
So the first part of bringing forth the “new creation” people was accomplished, taking them into death, and pouring out all of their blood to release them from “life in the blood.” In doing so, death was robbed of its prey; corruption in its myriad expressions also was rendered impotent. But this was not all, our past with all of its failings lost its right to challenge mankind, all of whom at that point were dead in Christ Jesus. For some, emories that have dogged their footsteps for years, hindering their relationship with Father, are now powerless for all are dead.
Beloved, I want you to grasp this amazing truth that death cancels all our debts, and memories both good and bad, for we are at that moment dead in Christ.
Then that body was placed in the Tomb, which was sealed with a great stone closing the entrance. To make it more secure the stone was sealed with the Roman seal so no one would dare to interfere with the body. Then on the third day the women and then the disciples, saw the open tomb but the Body was not there. The Angels told them not to look for the living among the DEAD, indicating that he had risen early that morning.
But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” How foolish, for the seed that you sow is not made alive until it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain -- perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. (1 Corinthians 15:35-38)
Nature provides us with the perfect picture of the death, burial and resurrection as we consider the seed that we plant in our garden. That seed will never achieve what it was intended to be until it is buried in the ground. In other words, it must lose its identity as a seed in order for it to assume its new identity as the plant from which it came. Let us consider nature’s program as it applies to our body in the tomb. All of mankind was in Christ in creation, and Christ is the Seed of God. Paul declares that God was speaking of Christ, concerning Abraham’s seed, as Abram had no son and heir. God said to him, “Count the stars,” But that is impossible. So God said to Abram, “So shall your seed be - as the stars of heaven.” (Galatians 3:16)
He was speaking of Christ being in every man, and He is the Seed of God and the First-fruits. So now we all are in Christ, who is at that moment dead, lying in a tomb. In the darkness there is a divine activity taking place unseen by human eyes. The Seed of God sees the environment perfect for it to accomplish the purpose for which it was created.
“Except a corn of wheat (seed) fall into the ground and die, it will abide alone, but if it dies it will bring forth a hundred fold.” (John 12:24)
On the morning of the third day the process was complete, and Christ arose and walked out of the tomb, having folded the grave clothes carefully and then laid the cloth from around his head neatly folded by itself.
Jesus Christ walked out of the tomb, but with Him was all of mankind having the seed of God (Christ) in them from creation, even though most never understood they had the seed in themselves. But regardless, they were generated from that seed in all its purity. Beloved, there are no lost people on this earth. It is religion that has divided the people into saved and lost, for they never understood the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Remember what Paul tells us, “God was in Christ reconciling the world, (and not a sacred few) unto Himself.”
Beloved, have you ever considered that if you tell a person he is a sinner enough times, he is going to believe he is a sinner. If you keep telling a child they are bad they will believe that to be true and will function accordingly. However I am convinced that the opposite is just as true. Before the man with the withered arm was healed, did Jesus ask him if he was a Christian? I don’t think so. If being saved was a necessity before God will minister to us, why are so many Christians sick and others are dying?
Those who claim to know God have divided the people all over the world not just into ‘saved’ and ‘lost’, but into church groups who function totally separate from each other, each believing the people in his church group are the only ones God recognizes. The so called Christians in this world believe that they are the only ones that will be saved on the earth. However this false concept has blocked the rest of humanity from entering into the redemption that is in Christ who is presented as the sacrificial Lamb of God for the world. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Did he take away the sin of the world, or is that a lie? We have no reason to exclude anyone. Remember the woman taken in adultery according to the Law, who was caught in the act and Jesus said to her accusers, you may stone her to death, according to your law, but the first man to throw a stone must be without sin. It is hard to understand how someone today on this earth can advocate eternal punishment for those who have not given their heart to Jesus as the Church demands today, while they themselves continue to sin. Christians say they have received Christ into their heart and confessed their sin, so they can now go to heaven when they die and any sin they may commit is automatically forgiven. But Christians keep on sinning. So what is the difference?
The other side of this issue us that from the time Christ appeared on the earth as the King, the law as it was given to Israel through Moses, was annulled. Paul tells us that Christ was the end of the law, and where there is no law there is no sin (Romans 5:13). Christianity today has ignored these things and put everyone back under the law of Moses.
The redemption purchased at Calvary involved Jesus Christ in whom all of mankind was created originally, according to Ephesians 2:10, taking all of mankind with Him to the cross, and into death, where we all died in Him on that cross. Not one was missing - from the ages past to those who as yet have not been born on this earth even to the ages to come. So what was accomplished at the Cross applied to all of mankind. In the resurrection, what was accomplished there also involved all of mankind.
But we must discover what the resurrection means to us personally in our daily walk with God today. Our new life as a new creation has no connection with our previous life. The apostle Paul revealed so much to us about this new life.
Our birth from our mother brought issues into our lives that were hereditary, involving certain problems that have been handed down to us that we have had to deal with. In some cases, we inherited sickness or physical issues with which we had to battle. Other limitations became apparent as we grew up into adult life. For instance, some of us for some reason have a very shy nature and found it hard to mix with people. Others had difficulty with the learning process, and had to work hard to achieve a ‘Pass’ in education.
However I want you to know that when Jesus Christ arose in that tomb on the third day, you my friend reading this book were in Christ that morning. This is the first day of an amazing life that you have never experienced before. There are no hereditary issues to affect your life now for your origin was in Christ. The life you now have in Resurrection is not connected with your birth through your mother. This is life that is eternal - having no beginning and no end - for it is the life of Christ.
Paul reveals some of the issues that many have not understood, so let us now go through the ones he recorded for us.
Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?" (1 Corinthians 15:34)
Paul here is using nature to explain how the seed functions. We plant the seed and we do not have to worry about what will grow for it is all programmed into the seed. Remember that Christ is the Seed of God, and from Christ it can only produce Christ. On the cross we were in Christ, and in the tomb we were all in His body also.
There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, using the seed of man, but it is raised in incorruption in the body of Christ being immortal. It is sown in dishonor, but it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being, but the last Adam - Christ - became a life-giving spirit.”
Here is the divine order: the spiritual is not first, but our natural birthing on the earth, and afterward the spiritual which was in Christ.
The first man Adam was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. (1 Corinthians 15:40-50)
This is a clear statement that if we are still flesh and blood we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you.” (John 6:53)
But He continued saying, “If you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will have eternal life and I will raise you up in the last day.” (John 6:54)
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1Corinthians 15:51-53)
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's; But the earth He has given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16)
Crucifixion is designed to kill a person, but it could not kill Jesus Christ even though that was the intention of the Father that He would die as us on the cross - which He did. It was not the nails that killed Him, nor what the soldiers did to Him, but He laid down His life voluntarily. He surrendered the life He had (which represented our life) on the cross so that we could take up His eternal life. He was the Seed of God. In this we learn something important, if we are to follow the pattern of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we must also be prepared to lay down our mortal life just as Jesus Christ laid down his life - which was really our life.
In the world in which we live, we love our mortal life even though it will end in death. So to follow the pattern set by Christ on the cross we have to choose to “Lay Down” our mortal life, as God is not going to take it away from us. God has nothing to do with death for there is no such thing in the realm of spirit. The “Seed” sees life differently because it knows it will remain a seed, never enjoying the life that is within until it is laid in the soil where it can die to its present form, in order to burst into a new life. For some reason, we would rather remain simply with the Christ Seed of God within, than lay down our mortal life, allowing the seed of immortality to blossom forth into a life with no sickness, pain or suffering, being a manifestation of the Christ that is able to heal the sick and raise the dead and live forever.
The seed understands that as a seed it can have no other function except to die, because what it is in reality is already dead. The seed will remain forever a seed and nothing else until the earth covers it, but in the darkness an amazing transformation takes place. Jesus told the people in Matthew 6:28,
“Consider the Lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.”
The Christian walk involves walking with God and developing a relationship with him. This is so important, because He is our Father who loves His children. On the journey, Abram travelled under the direction of God, he was to discover that everything he could see would be part of his inheritance. This is symbolic for all of us, that if we are following the pathway that Father has set out for us, we also will discover our divine inheritance being revealed. The only difference being that our inheritance is in Christ, so it is spiritual, but for Abraham and Israel it was “The Land of Promise” - which was Canaan in the visible world.
Man is actually the ‘Heavens and the Earth’ from God’s point of view, as there is a part of us that is Spirit and a part of us that is from the earth, which is our body. It is God’s purpose that the heavens should rule over the earth, which pertains to our body as well as the visible earth. To follow the analogy, we are to inherit the earth which includes our body. This is the reason why Jesus Christ went to the cross, but on the third day there was a Resurrection and He walked out of the tomb as God’s New Creation Man, declaring this to be our inheritance in Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in the realm of Spirit for you. (1 Peter 1:3)
Our inheritance is connected to the Resurrection, which provides us with an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and is not diminished by time or age. We need to stop a moment and consider what such an inheritance is ours in Christ. Most Christians believe that heaven is our inheritance, but this is not true.
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's; But the earth He has given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16). We are going to inherit the earth and return it to the glory of the Garden of Eden. The desert will blossom as the rose and there will be streams in the desert. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he be dead, yet he shall live, and whoever lives and believes in Me, shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25)
The resurrection is not an event; it is a Person Jesus Christ, and if He dwells in us and we dwell in Him, then the truth is that we were involved in the resurrection of Christ. For He has tasted death for every man, and death is now a defeated foe. But for some reason many of God’s people have not connected with the resurrection as being an integral part of the redemption, that is in Christ Jesus. We all have been “dead in trespasses and sin,” and although many believe they are forgiven, they remain in the same death state. They have not followed through to see themselves in the tomb - the place of death - and also fail to see the evidence of a new life that has defeated death, as they walk out of the tomb in the risen Christ into a new day. Without the resurrection, the cross does not have much value for us.
If we died in Christ, then we were buried in Christ in the tomb; and if we were buried in Christ, then it is a fact that we were raised together in Christ in resurrection.
Why then do we continue to declare that we are still mortal and flesh and blood? For as a man thinks in his heart, that is what he is. The death of Christ on the cross ended our mortality along with the life we received through our birthing from our mother’s womb using the seed of man. The life we received in resurrection in Christ was the original life we received from God in creation. For us, it is like when we were in Christ in creation we had eternal life from the Father, then we were in Adam when he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, causing us to forget who we really were, in the purposes of God for all mankind.
But the truth was always there - that our true beginning was out of God in creation. Our memory lapse continued until Christ appeared as a man just like us, and only then in His life on the earth did we see who mankind really was. But since that time and after his Death, Burial and Resurrection, the memory of our reality began to dawn upon us. A divine impulse began to awaken within us the reality that our true identity was still alive and well, dwelling in us all the time. Once we responded to that still small inner voice of our true identity our memory began to return, and we discovered the same reality as did the Apostle Paul based upon Galatians 2:20,
I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, but it is no longer the ‘I’ that had amnesia and lost his identity, but the ‘I’ who is Christ that dwells in me and has always been there, but I never knew him. And the life that I now live is no longer the life of a mortal human being, but the life of Christ who always loved me, and never abandoned me. He even took me in Himself to the cross to reconcile me unto God, who I now know is my Father. Then on the third day I found myself walking out of the tomb feeing like a New Creation, as I had never experienced before. While within me, a previous life stepped into my memory in which I was with my Father, watching as He put the stars in place, together with the Sun and the Moon and observing as He created the hills and the mountains. (Galatians 2:20, paraphrased)
And I remembered that I was like a child brought up with my Father, being daily His delight. (Proverbs 8:22-30, paraphrased)
The changes continued as the resurrection caused the ‘old’ to disappear and the ‘new’ took its place as a another mind began to function which was the original mind God gave me in the beginning - the mind of Christ. This brought a change in my consciousness, revealing a new life that I had not experienced before. Certain aspects of my life seemed to disappear and new concepts began to emerge. This had been revealed in the scriptures but I had never seen changes take place like I am seeing now. It seemed like we were planted in Christ in the tomb as a Seed, which is actually true for the Christ of our true identity is the Seed of God. That seed germinated in the tomb and on the third day broke through to reveal itself as a New Life different to all we knew before.
Again Paul reveals to us some of the details of this amazing change. He says, “In the resurrection of the dead, the body is sown in corruption, but it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:40-49)
This is the positive Gospel that Paul ministered in which man is transformed through the Death, Burial and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and not just by the personal efforts of a man who has been taught by the teachings of men.
The key verse is a promise of the Father to everyone of us in 1 Corinthians 15: 49.
“And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly Man Christ Jesus.”
Des Walter
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