During
the Easter festivities, it was amazing to see more people than usual in church;
I mean, folks turned out in their best attires to celebrate the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, most of these individuals only come
to church occasionally, which in itself is not a bad thing, but the sad truth
is, they do not really understand what Jesus Christ came to do; they do not
understand the meaning and essence of salvation. According to (Hosea 4: 6),
God states, “my
people perish for a lack of knowledge”; not a lack of salvation, you
can have salvation and still perish; not for a lack of faithfulness, some
faithful believers still live a beggarly and defeated life in Christ.
Therefore, it is essential for every Christian to understand what Christ came
to accomplish. Whenever we go out for evangelism, to share the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, most people we encounter seem to believe that being born again is a
form of religion; some say they are Catholics, some say Protestants, while
others Anglican. However, being born again is not a religion, neither is it an
expression or something you do; it is something you become. Salvation or being
born again it is a totally brand new life, you become a new creature (Second Corinthians
5:17); it is passing from death to
life. Furthermore, it is an impartation of eternal life into your spirit (John 3:16); it is a transformation, a metamorphosis of the human
life from the natural to the supernatural; you become a partaker of the divine
nature that is in Christ Jesus (Second Peter 1:3). Immediately
one is born again, Jesus Christ literally gives them all things that pertain to
life and godliness (Second Peter 1:4); nevertheless,
you can only access these promises through the knowledge of God, which is His
Word.
To
fully appreciate and understand salvation, let us analyze the conversation
between Jesus Christ and Nicodemus. “Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler (a leader, an authority) among the Jews. Who came to Jesus
at night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know and are certain that You have come
from God [as] a Teacher; for no one can do these signs (these wonderworks,
these miracles-- and produce the proofs) that You do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a
person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be
acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God” (John 3:1-3) AMP.
Notice three things from the conversation, first: the term “Born Again” is not
from any church or religious organization but from Jesus Christ himself; thus,
being born again is a necessity for every individual that calls himself a
Christian. Secondly, notice Nicodemus was more focused on what Jesus was doing,
which in a sense is not bad, Jesus was doing many miracles; nonetheless, it
should not have been his focus. Lastly, notice Jesus chose to ignore the
question and address the real issue, that of salvation. Nicodemus was more
focused on what Jesus was doing, rather than salvation itself, and this is what
most Christians do, they are more focused on what Christ can do for them rather
than, on what He has already done. Notice how Jesus responds “except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” he laid more emphasis on what
you become, rather than what he can do. It is an amazing revelation, Jesus is
simply saying becoming born again is the principal thing, what, He can do is
secondary. Christ said, “I am [Myself] the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes
in (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on) Me, although he may die, yet he shall
live” (John 11:25) AMP; He gives you eternal life with his
resurrection and enables you to reign in this life as a king and priest (Revelation 1:6).
Furthermore, (Romans
5:17) states “For if because of one man's trespass (lapse,
offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who
receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of
righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in
life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)”.
(Romans 5:17), is an interesting scripture, it clearly shows what
Christ has already done: He has enabled us through his grace to reign in this
life as kings; He has empowered us to reign over our circumstances and to have
access to all things that pertain to life and godliness. In addition, (First John 4:17)
AMP states “In this [union and communion with Him] love is
brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have
confidence for the Day of Judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him],
because as He is, so are we in this world”. In addition, (First John 5:4) KJV
states “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”. You are supposed
to be conformed to the image of Christ in this world: He has made you heirs of
the promise and has empowered you to become sons of God (First John 1:12); He has given you the
ability to overcome the world (First John 5:4).
Nonetheless,
(Romans 5:17) shows what we were, before we came into Christ; due
to the disobedience of Adam, death came into the world and reigned until the
coming of Moses (The law); God told Adam, if you eat of the fruit of the tree
of good and evil, you shall surely die (Genesis 2:17). Therefore,
the disobedience of Adam brought death into the world, what is interesting;
death came in two forms; physical death and spiritual death. Physical death is
the death of your body; spiritual death is the separation of God and man, the
separation of man’s spirit from God’s Spirit. To appreciate this concept, we
must understand human beings are tripartite or triune beings, made up of the
body, soul, and spirit. (First Thessalonians 5:23) KJV, states “and the very
God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” A human being is primarily a spirit being that
possesses a soul and lives in a body. (First Thessalonians 5:23), clearly brings out
this point, from (Genesis
1:26) God created man in His own
image and likeness; not the body rather the spirit and soul. Christ while
talking to the woman at the well in Samaria, said, “God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those
who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)”. (John 4:24) AMP,
furthermore, (Judges
10:16) KJV states “And they put away
the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved
for the misery of Israel”. Therefore, God is a Spirit being and He
possesses a soul: in the same way, human beings are spirits that have souls and
live in bodies; the body was given for our spirits to function on earth.
When
Adam sinned, several things happened; first, he lost his dominion and authority
over the earth, God said in (Genesis 1:26) AMP. “ Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make
mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority
over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all
of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth.”
Second, he lost his provision, before Adam fell, God was his provider, but his
disobedience brought a curse on the earth and relegated him to a life of sorrow
and toil, where he had to struggle just to make a living. The second point is
supported by (Genesis
3:17) AMP, it states. “And to Adam He
said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and
have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of
it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you
eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life.” And (Genesis 3:19) AMP which
states, “In the
sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out
of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.”
The last and most important thing, Adam lost the fellowship between his spirit
and the Spirit of God. Before Adam fell, he had fellowship with God; God is a
Spirit and Adam could only communicate to Him through his spirit. To fully
appreciate this point, examine what St. Paul states in (Hebrews 12:9) AMP, “Moreover, we have
had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we yielded [to them] and respected
[them for training us], Shall we not much more cheerfully submit to the Father
of spirits and so [truly] live?” Wow!
Interesting and powerful revelation: God the Father is the Father of spirits
and not of the flesh, the only way to worship Him is with our spirit. In
addition, (Genesis
3:8), AMP states “And they heard the sound of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8), is
an interesting piece of scripture, notice the voice of the Lord was walking in
the cool of the day: this voice is the very voice that created the universe; it
is the very word of God; it is Jesus Christ. St John said “And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human,
incarnate) and tabernacle (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and
we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only
begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and
truth”. (John 1:14) AMP. Therefore, Christ is the manifestation of
the word of God; He is the proof of the living and creative power of the word
of God; He is the culmination of the prophecies of the old testament, which
were a shadow of things to come. Thus, when you have Jesus Christ, you have the
fullness of God in you (Colossians 2:9); you
have more power that all the prophets in the Old Testament, which were a shadow
of thing to come (Hebrews
10:1).
Nonetheless, to
appreciate what Christ came to do, we must analyze the type of people we were
before he gave us life. (Ephesians 2: 1-3) AMP states
“And you [He made
alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins. In which at
one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of
this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following
the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control
of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience
[the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes
of God]. Among these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in
the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual
nature], obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind [our
cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by
nature children of [God's] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest
of mankind.” This position of scripture reveals several truths:
first, it clearly shows that we were spiritually dead in our sins, our nature,
our way of thinking and doing things was darkened; we were in darkness.
Secondly, we were conformed to, fashioned by, and under the sway of the
tendency of this world. Thirdly, we were under the influence of the prince of
this world and the spirit of disobedience worked in us. Finally, we assumed or
adopted the mindset, nature, and way of thinking of this world. Evaluating
these truths further, we were spiritually dead in our sins because sin is a
spiritual thing. (Ezekiel
18:4) AMP states, “Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so
also the soul of the son is Mine; the soul that sins, it shall die”. You are a spirit that possesses a soul: furthermore,
your soul is composed of three elements; your will, your emotions, and your
mind. Therefore, sin starts out in the mind, and once the mind sins, it
manifests in the flesh; consequently, anything man does weather good or bad,
starts out as a thought. Secondly, we were under the influence and sway of the
tendency of this world because we were subject to the authority and influence
of the prince of this world, who was the prince of the air: the devil. (Genesis 1:26), clearly showed God gave Adam complete and total dominion
and authority of the earth, therefore, when Adam chose to obey Lucifer, he
transferred this dominion and authority over to him. St. Paul in (Romans 6: 16)KJV,
asks a very profound question “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness?” Thus,
Adam surrendered his rights and claim over to the devil. The last and most
important thing, once the devil acquired claim over the world, he introduced
his way of thinking and doing things. The last verse of the scripture states,
we lived and conducted our lives in the passions of our flesh; our behaviors
were governed by our corrupt and sensual nature; we obeyed the impulses and
thoughts of our mind. Therefore, our belief system and ways of thinking were
corrupted by the nature and systems of this world. Furthermore, we were by
nature the children of wrath, our nature, our way of thinking and doing things
was that of the devil. The disobedience of Adam brought death and destruction
into the world; it rendered man powerless and subjected him to a life of toil
and sorrow; the spirit death and disobedience reigned on earth. (Romans 5:14) states “Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is
the figure of him that was to come” After Moses, God introduced the
law, which was perfect and superior to death; nonetheless, it was too perfect
for man to be able to keep it. On the other hand, thank God for the grace that
is in Christ Jesus. St. Paul in (First Corinthians 15:22) states,
“For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Additionally,
in (Galatians
1:3-5), he states, “Grace be to you and
peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for
our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to
the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever.”
Amen. Therefore, Christ gave man salvation from destruction, delivered him from
this present evil world, and restored what God envisioned for humankind at the
Garden of Eden. Christ enables us escape this present evil world and empowers
us to reign in life as kings and priests. (Romans 5:17) AMP states
“For if because
of one man's trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much
more surely will those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor)
and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with
Himself] reign as kings life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the
Anointed One).”. Christ was sent for the remission of sins and the
empowerment of the saints through the Holy Spirit which enables them conquer and subdue this
present evil world and its circumstance; and to reign victorious as a king and
a son of God(Galatians
4:7), similar to what Christ did,
when he walked the shores of this earth. A scripture that summarizes what the
resurrection of Christ did is (Second Peter1: 2-4) AMP it
states. “May
grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good,
all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and
moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and
correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His divine power has
bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and
godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and
to His own glory and excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on
us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may
escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in
the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers)
of the divine nature.” This new life is available to everyone that
accepts Christ. Furthermore, one can only access and make these spiritual gifts
(Ephesians 1:3) a reality through the knowledge that is in Christ
Jesus, which is found in His Word. There is no substitute for the word of God;
it is the spirit of God. St. Paul in (First Corinthians 15:45) states,
“Thus it is
written, the first man Adam became a living being (an individual personality);
the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving Spirit [restoring the dead to
life].” We can only know and receive
what Christ has feely given us through His Spirit, which is the word of God.
Jesus said to his disciples while teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum, “it is the spirit
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63) KJV” Furthermore, St. Paul in (First Corinthians 2:12)KJV states, “Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit, which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” Therefore, Get to the word of God; it will bring life
to every area of your life; the word of God is the Spirit of God and the Spirit
of God is a life-giving Spirit.
