Lesson One – The Cross
We have seen previously that we as human beings have inherited the sin initiated in the Garden of Eden, “just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned,” (Rom. 5:12) and that we are fleshly. Our spirit is dead, that is that our creator has no influence in the decisions and our life in general – we are dead to God. Thus, our soul is in full management of our entire being. We are lost but there is hope.
From the moment sin entered the human race God had a plan to redeem him back to a relationship with Him. The first message that gives us any clue of this is where the evil act took place:
_________
“So the Lord God said to the serpent:
‘Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.’ ” (Gen. 3:14-15) (emphasis mine)
_________
The above passage is believed to be the first prophetic statement about Christ, and what He would accomplish. In our creator’s design, and the principles that govern life, rebellion (sin) must be judged and atoned for. Christ would bruise the head of Satan. Atonement can only be accomplished through the spilling of blood, and only the blood of the innocent. “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Heb:9-22) Throughout centuries the people of God sought forgiveness and their sins were atoned for by animal sacrifice, the ceremonial observances given to Moses for the Hebrew people. “Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.” (Lev. 1:4)
The “seed” mentioned in the above passage refers to the One who would come and deal with sin absolutely. Very much different from animal sacrifice, a human sacrifice; the spilling of His blood would be a final and absolute atonement for all of mankind. It would be a superior sacrifice; It would make of no affect the ceremonial sacrifices of the Mosaic law as these were only a copy of heavenly things. “Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” (Heb. 9:23)
_________
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Heb: 9:11-15)
_________
This is the good news – the Gospel. Christ paid the supreme sacrifice that would make a way for all of Adam’s seed (descendants) to come back into a relationship with their creator. While we are sinners and still fleshly, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). God’s reaction to the sinfulness of all men is to take upon Himself the task of salvation. His way is “send His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” His Son is without sin and therefore it is He alone who is qualified to save us – we can not save ourselves, even through our own death – as the sacrifice has to be innocent.
Christ took on a human body and links Himself to mankind in His incarnation “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” He is the Word” that “became flesh” (John 1:14). Even when He comes in the flesh, God’s Son does not become “sinful flesh.” He only comes in the “likeness of sinful flesh.” Man’s sin and fleshly nature was condemned and domed for perdition and punishment but the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, takes the likeness of sinful flesh and joins Himself so perfectly with the fleshly that they have been punished for their sin in His suffering and death on the cross. He need not suffer because He is without sin, yet He does suffer because He has the likeness of sinful flesh. The Lord now includes all sinners in His suffering. This is now our position, as descendants of Adam we were sinful flesh – but for those who believe and accept Christ’s sacrifice as a substitution for their own death, they are declared righteous, and “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,” (1 Pet. 1:23)
The wall of separation between God and man has been set aside by the cross of Christ. Those who accept Christ in submission and obedience now have full access to their creator, this is a spiritual miracle ordained by the Creator Himself.
We saw in the previous lesson that the “old man” represents the sum total of everything inherited from Adam. In the next lesson we are going to draw on Watchman Nee’s wisdom and see how the Jesus’s sacrifice affected our whole being – and, as people in submission to Christ, we have become new creatures in Christ. (1 Cor 5:17).
Leave a Reply