2Corinthians 5:17-18 (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. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself (brought us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
In this new creation, we've been born of God and His Word, just as surely as Jesus was when God raised Him from the dead. Hebrews 1:5-6 (Amplified) says, "For to which of the angels did (God) ever say, You are My Son, Today I have begotten You (established You in an official Sonship relation, with Kingly dignity) And again, I will be to Him a Father and He will be to Me a Son? Moreover, when brings the First Born Son again into the habitable world, He says, Let all the angels of God worship Him."
Hebrews 2:9-10 (Amplified) says, "But we are able to see Jesus, Who was ranked lower than the angels for a little while,crowned with glory and honored because of His having suffered death, in order that by the grace (unmerited favor) of God (to us sinners) He might experience death for every individual person. For it was an act worthy (of God) and fitting (to the divine nature) that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect (should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest) through suffering."
Notice the Word says, "Again into the habitable world," along with "God says, You are My Son, Today I have begotten You (established You in an office Sonship relation, with Kingly dignity)." When did God ever need to say (like in Hebrews 1:5) "And Again, I will be to Him a Father, and He will be to Me a Son?"
When Jesus was raised from the dead, He was "reestablished" into Sonship with the Father, that He might be the "First Born among many brethren." In Romans 8:29 (Amplified), we see that "Jesus (Who is the Word and the Son of God) was in the beginning with God, before anything was made." The Angel Gabriel came to Mary in Luke 1:35 (Amplified) proclaiming the virgin birth, saying, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (like a shining cloud) and so the Holy (pure, sinless) thing (Offspirng) which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God."
Now, we can understand Hebrews 1:5, when God says, "Again I will be to Him a Father and He will be to Me a Son." This was said after Jesus was raised from the dead and was was separated from the Father, because of our sin. Jesus was born again, as a new creation and restored back into God's Presence, where He brought us with Him as the First Born of many brethren."
Jesus died in the sinners' place and was separated from His Father, because of our sins. We see this in Hebrews 5:7 (Amplified) which says, "In the days of His flesh (Jesus) offered up definite special petitions (for that which He not only wanted, but needed) and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was (always) able to save Him (out) from death, and He was heard because of His reverence toward God (His Godly fear, His piety, in that He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright Presence of the Father)."
That's why God said, "Again I will be to Him a Father, and he will be to Me a Son." When Jesus was separated from the Father with our sin, He became separated from Himself (like we were) and was raised again as "the First Born from the dead." Colossians 1:18 (Amplified) says, "He also is the Head of (His) body, the Church seeing He is the Beginning, the First Born among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the Chief Place (stand first and be preeminent)."
Many of us struggle to understand the meaning of "First Born among the dead." Some today, ask if this means spiritual death. If He was to be the First Born from the dead, then it must be Spiritual death, otherwise He isn't the First Born. Jesus raised several people from the dead (including Lazarus, the widow's son), during His earthly ministry. We even find that in the old covenant, people were raised from the dead.
These people were raised physically from the dead. Jesus was the First Born and the Seed from spiritual death (separation from the Father), because we were "dead in trespass and sin." If this doesn't mean spiritual death, then He isn't the First Born from the dead. That's why Paul calls us "the new creation." We were created from the Seed of an entirely new Being, Who is the First Born of many brethren.
For too many years, we've seen ourselves as merely forgiven sinners and haven't seen ourselves as new creation son and daughters of God. God didn't only forgive our sins, but paid fro the penalty of it, which was separation from Life, which comes from God Himself. Once Jesus was raised from the dead and was declared to be "again the Son of God," our sin is not only forgiven (when we received Him as our Lord and Savior), but is paid for and done.
In the new creation, we are sons and daughters in God's family. God didn't make covenant with me, He made covenant with Jesus. I was "ingrafted" into a covenant that cannot be broken, when I received Jesus. If God made covenant with man (like He did with Adam), then it wouldn't stand the test. God made covenant with flesh and blood man, but the Word says that, "the flesh was weak and sinful" and "could not live up to its end of the covenant." Now though, because He has made covenant with Jesus (and not us), if we sin, then the covenant isn't annulled and void. Jesus is the "Surety and Guarantor of this new creation family covenant. Hebrews 7:22 (Amplified) says, "In keeping with (the oath's greater strength and force). Jesus has become the Guarantee of a better (stronger) agreement (a more excellent and more advantageous covenant)." We've lived under the teachings of the Law, for so long, that we focus on our failure to uphold the covenant, the way we feel we should. I don't mean that we should live without applying ourselves to righteousness, but we must understand that we're not the ones who uphold our new creation covenant..Jesus is.
He is our righteousness, not you in your righteousness. If we are "the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus," like 2Corinthians 5:21 says, and if it's His righteousness by which I stand, then I can't improve on His righteousness. If I fail, then He does not. If I falter, then He does not. If I quit, then He does not and He is the One in Whom God made covenant with, not me. Even in my own shortcomings, my family relationship with God is still intact, because Jesus if the Guarantor, not me. Hebrews 1:14 (Amplified) tells us, "In as much then as we have a Great High Priest Who has (already) ascended and passed through the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession (of faith in Him)." Our faith is in Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment