2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
The new creation being is a creature that has never been seen before on this earth and was created in the very Likeness of the First Born from the dead, Jesus. This First Born from the dead, must be that which was dead in spirit (separated from God by His Own Spirit). Jesus raised several people from the dead during His ministry, joining several Old Testaments prophets. This means then, God didn't mean that just the flesh and blood body died, but that the spiritual death was the "real deal."
On the day Adam sinned, the Lord told him that he would die. We know Adam lived for many years after that in the flesh. The death that came to Adam was spiritual death, that separated him from God WHO IS LIFE. Jesus preached in John 3:16 (Amplified) saying, "The thief came not to steal, to kill and destroy, but I came that you might have life." Every person who was present that day was alive in their flesh, but He spoke of them as being dead.
Many of us do not understand the whole concept of "death," the way God sees it. We were already dead in trespass and sin, because "The wages of sin, is dead." Romans 6:7-10 (Amplified) reveals the death that Jesus died, as well as the death that had already claimed us, by Adam, saying, "For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from (the power of) sin (among men). Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Because we know that Christ (the Anointed One), being once raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. For by the death He died; He died to sin (ending His relation to it) once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God (in unbroken fellowship with Him)."
We are still living in our natural body of flesh, but it's not the body that lives, but the spirit within the body. Like all flesh, this body will still die (like it would have before we were saved), but our new creation spirit man is alive again to and in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit reveals this very thing to us in 2Corinthians 5:4 (Amplified) saying, "For while we are still in this tent (house), we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighted down, depressed, oppressed)-not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further clothed. So that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life (after the resurrection)."
John understood the difference between the dead body of the flesh and the new body, that is "clothed in the glory of God," Paul spoke about in the above scripture. 1John 3:2 (Amplified) says , "Beloved, we are (even here and) now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be (hereafter), but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall (as God's children) resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He (really) is."
The new creation being we've become, is born from spiritual death unto spiritual life, by God's Own Son. This new creation being is living in an earthly body, while we remain on this earth. Once we leave this earth (either by death or Jesus' return), this natural body (the clothing of our spirit while we are here) will be changed into whatever Jesus' body is now in the heavenlies.
In 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) we read that the way we see Jesus now, isn't the way He is, in His glorified body with the Father. Thus, it says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). (No), even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now (we have such knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
This Man, Who became sin with our sin, died the sinner's death, in order that we who were already dead in spirit, could become alive again in our spirit man and be connected to Life, Who is God. Jesus was the first Man to be born-again from death unto life. He is also the First Born from the dead. This new creation (born-again experience) is more than just being forgiven from our sin. It is the price paid for sin, death suffered by Jesus's death, which was His being separated from God, on our behalf.
Our carnal minds cannot conceive how Jesus was (or ever could be) separated from the Father, but this is exactly what He did for us. Jesus was separated in spiritual death (His Own Spirit within Him), just like your spirit within you, was separated. The Holy Spirit raised Him up out of death, just like He raised us up, by faith in our Substitute and Sacrifice Lamb. When we can begin seeing the whole picture by the Holy Spirit, we can begin understanding the new creation people we have become.
Before our being saved and born-again, we were already a spirit being, because we were made in the Image and Likeness of God, Who is a Spirit. Because of Adam's fall, our spirit was separated from God's Spirit and the God Kind of Life was no longer connecting us to Him. By His being separated and raised up again, Jesus rejoined us to God and Life, just like He told His followers saying, "I have come that you may have Life and have it in abundance." Jesus restored the new creation back to the Father and made us a living, speaking, child of God that didn't exist before His resurrection.
This is why we've never gone from being "just forgiven sinners," into being alive. Death was the verdict and death was what we received through Adam. Life was God's Heart and Life was what we received through Jesus. Now, we're not just spirit people, but a new creation, living spirit people. We're able to speak to our Heavenly Father and fellowship with our Heavenly Father. We are able to come into His Presence again, without even the taint or hint of death in our newly created spirit, because He Himself is intertwined in our very own, living spirit.
We must believe that we actually died in our spirit, in order to understand Life in our spirit. This spiritual death was a legal debt that needed be met and fulfilled by Jesus, so that we might live unto God through Him, the First Born from among the dead. Colossians 1:18 (Amplified) tells us that Jesus is, "The Head of His Body, the Church, the First Born from among the dead."
No comments:
Post a Comment