Ephesians 3:9-10 "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, (the secrets that had been revealed to this Apostle) which from the beginning of the world (ages) has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10. To the intent (it is not an accident. Everything has its purpose) that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church (the spiritual Body of Christ) the manifold wisdom of God," Just what does that word manifold mean? If we have a manifold on your engine, what is it? All the different ducts out of which our exhaust flows. Manifold – many! Not just one. If we have an eight cylinder engine, we are going to have eight. If sixteen cylinder, we will have sixteen. Alright, this is manifold! It’s just so numerous. We take it all in by faith rather than to contemplating or rationalizing it. Now, one more verse before we go back to Hebrews. All of this is:
Ephesians 3:11 "According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our LORD:" Who purposed it? God did! Who set the whole thing in motion? God did! Another verse comes to mind, wasn’t going to use it, but it is appropriate. Acts chapter 2, jump in at verse 23. Oh, what a verse! Again, we don’t think we can contemplate it all, it is just beyond us! Acts chapter 2 verse 23, this is Peter preaching to the Nation of Israel. He says it in verse 22 – Ye men of Israel!
Acts 2:23 "Him, (speaking of Jesus of Nazareth) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" Think of that a minute. When we taught in Acts, we used the word counsel as it was spelled "council." But it is counsel. You know the difference.
The council is the group and the counsel is what comes out of that group. So we are still alright! We didn’t feel guilty! We still feel it is appropriate, because you see the council would have been the triune God, Elohim, way back in eternity past. They came together and in that council of the three, the end counsel was that they would create the universe. They would put a little planet down at the tip of the Milky Way and on that little planet they would put two people and they would set the whole ball of wax in motion. Now we know that the milky way was formed when Satan's host was cast out of Heaven and struck the glassy sea or emerald sea which broke a part but thats for another time and another lesson.
That’s what came out of that original determining council of God. Isn’t it amazing. How He left men and nations with total freedom. They sign treaties and they build armies, and Navies and Air Forces and all of that. Total freedom! And, yet here we are 10,000 plus years after all of that began and it is right on God’s timetable! How did He do it? We can’t explain it! But, we believe it!
He hasn’t made puppets out of anybody. But, here the world is after 6,000 plus years, just exactly where this book says it would be. And all determined by that original council of God. Mind boggling, isn’t it? Yes it is! It is unsearchable!! Back to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14.
Hebrews 2:14a "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same;..." He became flesh. A human. As the second Adam much of what Jesus did was in the way that the first Adam being a divine being an angel could have lived by dependency on God but changed God's program. By an act of free will and that is why it requires an act of free will to now enter the second blessing after entering the first. When we receive the Holy Spirit as our trainer and teacher in the way to Truth. Remember that He was the First in a long line who would find the key and unlock the secret of Gods Grace. We’ve stressed that so often. He was totally God. He could still the wind and the waves of Galilee. He could raise a dead Lazarus. Yet, He was totally human. He got hungry! He got tired! He wept! Why? Because the human part of Him sorrowed just like Mary and Martha did. He was totally human but still of the divine nature and character, just as Adam was before he sinned. He became the son of man as spoken of in Ezekiel.
What Hebrews is showing, is that the God Who created everything is also the God Who took on human flesh and became the man from Glory. That is why Paul writes to Timothy that we have One Mediator between God and men, Who? The man, Christ Jesus! The MAN, Christ Jesus. The man in Glory. So now He also took part of flesh and blood:
Hebrews 2:14b "...that through death He might destroy him (Satan) that had the power of death, that is, the devil:" We previously mentioned the fact that the only way we can get new life is to confront it with death! Death is the only thing that can precipitate new life. All through the plant world. In fact it was Light that separated the darkness and chaos of this world order before creation began Genesis chapter 1 verses 1-3. There is a mystery coupled with this Light and John in Chapter 1 ties it to Christ Jesus as being the same Light which the world can't comprehend because without this Light there is no life of any kind.
Well, we see it is the same way with Christ. There was only one way that He could remove sin and death from the human experience. What was it? He had to die. He HAD to die. He had to overcome sin and death with death. Life is in the blood. So what had to happen? He had to shed it. He had to shed mans blood. Here is a mystery, Adam the spiritual angle man (made of flesh and bone but with the very nature of God in him) did not have blood as we know it in him, (he had the very glory of God flowing in him) as a spirit does not have blood. For proof look at Christ's manifestations after His resurrection. What did He tell the disciples? (Luke 24:36-39) And so it is His shed blood then that became the very linchpin tied to the door of the cross our alter for our plan of redemption and our soon coming salvation. When this mortal body will be changed into the immortal incorruptible body, we'll shed the blood and our body will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.
This is also the mystery of the new birth from above, birth into Christ by virtue of the Light causing New Life in order to be regenerated (of the seed hidden deep within mans soul) again in this body of sin and death. Then we grow from glory to glory into the likeness or image of God in Christ again as at the beginning.
Now we have one more verse we use quite often. Back up a few pages to Philippians chapter 2, starting at verse 5. Oh, this says it so explicitly. Paul writes.
No comments:
Post a Comment