“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son”
Greetings once again friends! I hope you had a truly reflective and meaningful time commemorating the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior. I would like to continue with the post I shared with you. You have heard me use this phrase: “Immanuel humanity.” What does it mean? Let me explain.
“Take and eat; this is my body… Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” – Sharing His “Immanuel Humanity” (Matt.26:26-28) (Carl Heinrich Bloch, Wiki Commons)
The death of Jesus upon His cross and His resurrection ushered in a new beginning for mankind unlike any other seen or experienced in human history. The birth, perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension to Jesus’ High Priestly office spells one important aspect of human life we often overlook. As mankind’s High Priest in heaven today, Jesus sits at His Father’s right hand clothed in His glorified bodily humanity. Performing His High Priestly role, Jesus is constantly mediating for humans and believers with the aim that they may exist in His new redeemed humanity in perpetuity before the Father. (Heb.4:14-16; Rom.8:29; Gal.2:20) What we see is God imputing the life and the finished work of Christ and by His mediation save and bring mankind to salvation.
There are only two forms of humans that has ever existed and walked upon this earth. Both originate from the Creator God. In the sense of being part of the entire human race we are all God’s children. (Act.17:28) First, Adam was created from the dust of the earth perfect and sinless until his fall at the hands of the devil. (Gen.3:1-24) Thus, mankind was consigned to a life of spiritual imprisonment under the rebellious sin-condition of the devil. Humanity was cutoff from access to the Holy Spirit (Tree of Life) because of sin. (Gen.3:24)
Consequently, from fallen Adam all of humanity proceed and are descended. This is our old fallen and corrupt humanity – we will call him the “Adamic humanity.” Then there is the second new humanity Jesus brought from God the Father. God used the prophet Isaiah to announce this beautiful truth to man, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:22-23, KJV). We will call the new humanity of Jesus, the “Immanuel humanity.”
What is the fundamental difference between the two? There is the primary difference of origin. The first Adam was created from the earth, and God gave him the breath of life and Adam became a mortal human. The second Adam, Jesus, is the eternal Logos, the Word of God who originate from God’s holy Trinitarian Being. (1 Cor.15:47; Gen.2:7; John 1:1-2) Jesus is referred to as the “Son of Man” in Scripture. It is Jesus’ Messianic title that means He was God and fully a human being, who sprung from the one Triune Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (John 1:1; 14:16-17; Eph.4:4-6; 1 Pet.1:2)
So, Jesus was the second human creation after Adam, but being fully man and fully God, or “Immanuel” meaning “God with us.” (Isa7:14; Matt.1:23; 1 Cor.15:45) All humanity descended from the first Adam, and now God calls upon us to adopt the gift of His Son’s ‘Immanuel (God with us) humanity’ through whom eternal life is bestowed. (John 3:16-17) Therefore, the title “Immanuel” denotes the difference between Jesus’ new redeemed humanity and Adam’s fallen corrupt and sin-conditioned humanity.
Through Jesus’ mother, Mary, God assimilated Himself in mankind through His Son, and conversely Christ now joins humans to God, and ultimately for eternity when He glorified His (and our) humanity in His resurrection. By assimilating Himself with humans, Jesus subjected Himself to all the pulls of our corrupt sinful nature and through His new Immanuel humanity redeemed man by living the sinless life.
In so doing, He opened the door to the new redeemed human being that mankind can now receive that’s joined to the divine nature of God. (Heb.2:17; 4:15) It was God’s way of showing His Love and reconciling fallen humans back to Himself in Jesus. (John 3:16; 2 Cor.5:18-19) The name Immanuel means “God with us.” Or, God joined Himself with man, and equally unified man to God through Jesus’ new redeemed humanity. He is the true “Son of Man,” a human dedicated to being joined to God in every way, shape, and form. This is the foundation and essence of the new redeemed humanity we have in Jesus.
The Bible calls Jesus the second Adam, “The first man Adam became a living being. But the last Adam, that is Christ – is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45, NLT). Paul speaks of our new humanity in this fashion, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new (redeemed) life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, italics mine, NLT).
Throughout Jesus’ life we see more differences between the two human forms and why God gave us His Son’s new humanity to adopt. The first Adam succumbed to the devil which precipitated mankind’s incarceration under the sin-condition; hence, Jesus while contending with His Jewish adversaries, identified the father of the fallen “Adamic humanity,” He said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires” (John 8:44). The second Adam, who proceed from God the Father, defeated Satan in the temptations in the Judean wilderness and ultimately upon His cross, thereby liberating mankind from the rebellious sin-condition.
Jesus’ victory generates a condition of righteousness through His new humanity in the believer. (Matt.4:1-11; Gen.3:6, 11) One lives in spiritual darkness, but the second walks in God’s light. (Matt.4:16) Jesus went about doing all manner of good and performed many miracles to alleviate the people’s suffering. (Act.10:38) One produces sin and death, and the other gives life and immortality. (John 11:25; 14:6; Rom.6:23) Through Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” He lived a perfect life on earth, and offered Himself as the only worthy sacrifice upon Calvary for all human sins and transgressions. God raised Him and He lives today as mankind’s High Priest mediating for humans in God’s presence in the heavenly temple.
The purpose of the second redeemed humanity of Jesus is to substitute for the fallen first humanity of Adam so humanity may enter God’s holy presence. Paul makes this clear, “Do not think about how to gratify the natural desires of the flesh, (“Adamic humanity”), but instead clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (“Immanuel humanity”) (Rom.13:14, my emphasis added). Jesus, the “Immanuel human,” was given to mankind as a gift from God the Father. (John 3:16) The “Adamic humanity” was consigned to a life under the sin-condition where Satan and his demonic spirits continue to imprison man. The “Immanuel humanity” of Jesus frees humans from incarceration of the enemy’s sin-condition and brings the righteousness of God.
Paul said it this way, “You have taken off your old self (“Adamic humanity”) with its practices and have put on the new self, (“Immanuel humanity”) which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col.3:9-10, my emphasis, also Gen.1:26-27). Taking on Jesus’ new Immanuel humanity is the essence of the New Covenant, listen, “I will put a new Spirit (“Immanuel human”) within you; and I will take the stony heart (“Adamic human”) out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezek.11:19-20; Heb.8:10)
Jesus’ Exist In His Perfect “Immanuel Humanity” and Died for Our Redemption (Gebhard Fugel, Wiki Commons)
We are all Adam’s children by birth and born into Adam’s “Adamic humanity” in a world dominated and ruled by the devil and sin. However, Jesus’ new “Immanuel humanity” is offered and received on a personal and individual basis by an act of faith. That’s to say, God gives man the freedom to choose between the two human forms, just as He gave Adam and Eve to choose between two trees and the fruits (deeds) each tree would produced. It gives new birth to the true person who lives internally in the human body and controls all its activities. It also tells us that faith plays a significant and powerful role in a person’s choice: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:16-17; also, 2 Cor.5:7; Eph.1:13, 6:16; Gal.3:26; John 1:12; 3:16)
Paul then says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Rom.5:1-2). In other words, living faith enables us to enter into what God is doing in us through His Son’s new “Immanuel humanity,” instead of trying to live through the fallen and corrupt self in our “Adamic humanity.” We have to believe what God said about adopting our new “Immanuel humanity” in Christ before we can become complete in Him. (Rom.4:3; Col.2:10)
God counsels us as He did with Adam and Eve, to use our freedom wisely, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may Love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life” (“Immanuel humanity”) (Deut.30:15,19, emphasis mine).
God is Love, and the flipside of Love is freedom. (1 John 4:8; Gal.5:1) Faith helps us to choose between Love and fear, freedom and bondage. It helps us choose the good from the bad, the real from the sham, the positive from the negative. The Bible tells us, “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor.5:7).
God is spirit and can’t be seen, touched, or felt. The only way to see and understand God is by revelation through faith. (Rom.10:17) The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (though indiscernable by our five senses) and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb.11:6, emphasis added). Things are not always what they appear to be as the mysteries of quantum mechanics teaches us. And Paul says “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor.4:18).
The reason Christians are called “believers” is because they live by believing in the unseen rather than placing their confidence upon what’s visible and seen. Jesus said that people can have eyes and yet not see, and they can have ears but not hear, for the real answers to their questions and concerns are spiritual (unseen) by nature. (Mar.8:18)
So, it is not a blind and empty human faith as some assume, but a living all-powerful faith supplied by the Spirit who gives us the power of a believing mind, and a discerning heart about the truth. (John 16:13) Freedom is not a sight thing, but an unseen faith thing where we are unalterably tied to God’s purpose for us. It is indeed a powerful thing to observe a person exercise the living faith capable of manifesting God’s blessing, purpose, and grace.
Jesus told the blind man He healed,”It shall be done to you according to your faith” (Matt.9:29). This does not speak of our weak human faith, but the living faith of Jesus expressed in the Spirit’s power. (Gal.2:20, KJV) Yes, living the life of our “Immanuel humanity” will literally take a leap of faith.
Jesus explained how our “Immanuel humanity” replaces the fallen “Adamic humanity,” He said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). It is not a physical birth, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, it is a spiritual birth into Jesus’ glorified humanity. (John 3:4) As Paul said, “the last Adam, that is Christ, is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45, NLT). The human body is merely a shell, a casing held together by cells, connective tissues, nerves, organs, bones and the blood flowing in its veins give it physical life. (Lev.17:11) In fact, the body is always rejuvenating through cell regeneration via epigenetics.*
Be that as it may, Jesus said, “Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life” (John 6:63, God’s Word T.) How so? Because His words feeds the real person who is spiritual and lives in the human heart and mind and manipulates the body’s deeds.
A human being is either the old “Adamic human” manipulated by the fallen self, or, the redeemed glorified “Immanuel human” motivated by Jesus in the Spirit’s helping power. It is the living faith of the spiritual man which takes the believer into the miraculous reality of Jesus’ glorified humanity in heaven. Paul said, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus’ (glorified new humanity)” (Eph.2:6, my emphasis).
Jesus explains our “Immanuel humanity” further, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). By saying, “Remain in Me and I in you,” Jesus affirms His “Immanuel humanity” in us. There is another vital aspect of our humanity that takes place when we are “born again” – the “Adamic humanity” is no more and ceases to exist. The ritual of baptism was to established this reality in humanity. (Rom.6:3-7)
These two human forms existing in their opposing philosophies cannot live side by side. Paul asks, “What fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Cor.6:14). Have you ever noticed whenever light enters a pitch-black room darkness flees before it? Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Either light takes the place of darkness or vice versa.
So, what happens to our “Adamic humanity?” Paul again answers, “My old self (“Adamic humanity”) has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (“Immanuel humanity”)” (Gal.2:20, NLT, my emphasis). Jesus did not come to save us in our old fallen, corrupt, depraved “Adamic humanity” that was sired by the devil. The prophet Jeremiah said our “Adamic humanity” is “beyond cure.” (Jer.17:9) He came to nail it on His cross, and give us a new birth into the new redeemed man of His perfect “Immanuel humanity.”
There is no way known to man by which he is given the means to once and for all rid of man’s corrupt humanity that’s been the harbinger of all the human suffering, pain, and misery, other than by the cross of Jesus. Without the cross, we are doomed to relive our maligned and grievous history which bears the footprints of our depraved deeds and way of life.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal.2:20) (Francisco de Zurbaran, Wiki Commons Media)
As we stop to reflect on Jesus’ death and resurrection, often we forget the personal meaning and application of His cross. The cross teaches us the more important truth of the crucifixion of our ‘false self’ (“Adamic humanity”) with Christ on His cross, so He may reign in our lives through His glorified “Immanuel humanity,” and stop the carnage of man’s inhumanity to man, and bring peace, Love, and genuine emancipation to mankind. The cross is not so much about reflecting on the past as it is about what it means and is doing to our lives in the present. (You may read more at my Post titled: “The Cross of Jesus”: http://bulamanriver.net/9688
Jesus was unequivocal about what His “Immanuel humanity” will mean to your life and mine, He warned, “If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples” (John 15:6-8). What Jesus says is we cannot live the authentic Spirit-led Christian life by remaining in the corrupt “Adamic humanity.” I sincerely hope we understand the difference between the two.
Any human attempt to live the Christian life under the fallen “Adamic humanity,” which many have tried and still do, will only lead us to the path of self-righteousness and legalism – not the divine goodness, grace, and Love of God. Our hearts deceive us into supposing we trust in God when we do not. We still trust in our “self” and that is living in the spirit of the “Adamic humanity.”
Jesus said, “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire” (Matt.7:18-19, NLT). That’s to say, the only way out for fallen humans is through a rebirth, not by trying to overhaul and mend the evil nature which can never be mended or made whole again. (John 3:6-8; Jer.17:9)
We can read the book of Job to delve deeper into this topic. Job was super good humanly speaking that even Satan could not fault him. Why was that? Because it was the sin of self-righteousness, and the enemy could not see it in Job because if he did he would have been pointing the finger at himself. That was the devil’s sin of rebellion and self-righteousness from the start. (Isa.14:12-15) In fact, he was blind to it, for to have eyes to see it in Job would be tantamount to admitting the error of his ways and thereby repent, but he has not relented from opposing God and will not change.
Jesus said, “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matt.7:5) After Job’s discourse with his friends, neighbors, and finally God Himself, he was brought to the point of seeing who he truly was in his “Adamic humanity,” and recognizing the true God for the first time, he lamented, “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job.42:5-6).
How does Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” live in us on a day-by-day basis? Jesus answers, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me” (Luk.9:23). The incarnation process of the “Immanuel humanity” in humans is a life of denying the false self (“Adamic humanity”) by crucifying its way of life daily to the cross of Jesus. (Rom.8:36-37)
Then in its place the “Immanuel humanity” must be made to live the life of the believing Christian on a day-by-day basis. (Gal.4:19; Matt.6:34) As we heard from Paul, “Put on the new self, (“Immanuel humanity”) which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col.3:9-10, my emphasis).
We are compelled to live in this state of constant awareness of the unceasing liberation of our being because this world is ruled by the devil and besieges us with his deceptive and wicked way of life and activities. (2 Tim.1:7) We live in this continual state of spiritual warfare to keep our freedoms, and the Spirit is more powerful and gives us the weapons and ability necessary to live a victorious life in Jesus’ redeemed humanity. (Eph.6:10-18) Jesus encourage us, “Take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We take heart in Jesus because we replicate His victory as we vicariously stand in His glorious “Immanuel humanity.” (Col.2:6; Eph.4:15; John 15:5)
“Immanuel Humanity” (God with Us) Dying for Man in His Tri-personal Being (James Tissot, Wiki Commons)
It has to be understood that living the victorious life in our “Immanuel humanity” is not humanly possible simply because it has to take an external Entity in the person of Jesus entering your life and mine and will walk through and in us. (2 Cor.13:5; Rom.8:10; Col.1:27) Paul explains who Jesus truly is, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority” (Co.2:9-10)
This is who we speak of when we mention the “Immanuel humanity” for it reveals the other side of Jesus’ humanity – He is God in the flesh! We are made complete by being given a new birth into Jesus’ redeemed and now glorified humanity. We are incomplete if we fail to receive His “Immanuel humanity.” It is a life of living faith.
Man will say he continues to sin even after conversion, how can Jesus’ perfect “Immanuel humanity” live and breath in us as believing yet sinning humans? Yes, we are inundated by the onslaught of sin in this satanic world, but here we see the unfolding divine mystery. Recall, Jesus is mankind’s High Priest in heaven sitting at the Father’s right hand in His glorified human form. (Heb.4:14-16; 7:3, 25; Rom.8:34)
Jesus’ role as High Priest is to continually mediate on behalf of His people in all their spiritual shortcomings and inadequate human responses and forever present us perfect before our heavenly Father, so He may forever caress His human children in divine completeness (Love). This was the mystery that the prophets of old had desired to know about in the truth of the Messiah’s finished work. (Matt.13:16-17)
This is what’s happening: Satan is constantly prosecuting man (you and I) before God day-in and day-out. He is called “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accusers them before God day and night” (Rev.12:10; Job 1:6-10). The last thing Satan wants to see is humans becoming God’s immortal children, and showering His Love upon them and vice versa for all eternity. But the eternal mediation of our High Priest through His sinless life and perfect sacrifice on Calvary’s cross is more than adequate and cancels all guilt and declares us holy before our heavenly Father. Believers are no longer living under the enemy’s sin-condition,’ but under the shadow of the Spirit’s sanctifying ‘Love condition’ in Christ. (Rom.5:5; John 16:14)
Paul said it perfectly, “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them…so God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor.5:19, 21). What a beautiful wondrous mystery which only God our Father could have made reality and share His Love with His human children. “You, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit” (Rom.8:9).
God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice for the human sin-condition as the absolute and final atonement for human corruption and evil for all times. We cannot add to what God has put to bed once for all time through and in His Son. And He affirms this by giving us the gift of Himself in His Holy Spirit who seals us until the day of our redemption into immortality at Christ’s second coming. (Eph.1:13)
Hence, Paul tells us, “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom.8:34). Yes, all of Satan’s prosecutorial words are utterly ineffective before Jesus, who Himself is our final Word before the Father. This is why you and I are always standing under the shadow of Jesus glorified “Immanuel humanity,” personified in us by the Spirit, who brings us before Him, our High Priest, who forever reconciles us to God the Father.
That, in essence, is how man is kept right and in God’s presence always, and how we exist in His and our perfect “Immanuel humanity” today. This is the mystery which the men of God of old had wondered concerning God’s mind and His plan of redeeming mankind. And we have the privilege to live out that mystery today under the New Covenant – it is awesome in its magnitude. (Matt.13:16-17) We ought always to stand in wonder of God’s wisdom and praise Him evermore. I hope we can find every reason to rest our hope and joy in His saving grace.
Can a believer sin willfully? How can he when the depraved fallen “Adamic humanity” is dead and no longer lives. The Bible states, “If we died with Christ (on His cross), we believe that we also live with Him (in His resurrection)” (Rom.6:1-2, 5-8, emphasis added) If we sin willfully then plainly we still exist in our fallen humanity. This brings us to the third element in God’s activity in mankind. We have seen the Father’s role of giving us His Son, and the Son’s role of freely giving His own life as atonement for sins. The third is the aspect of God giving Himself to us in the Person of the Spirit, who in turn personifies Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” in believers on a day-to-day basis.
This is the meaning of Paul’s words when he said, “the last Adam, that is Christ, is a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor.15:45, NLT). The Son and the Spirit are both housed in the new “Immanuel humanity” of Christ in you. (John 7:38-39; Act.2:1-4) This brings in the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We cannot carry Jesus’ cross on our own, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. We need the help of His Spirit, hence, He is called, “Helper” or Advocate. (John 15:26, NASB) The Helper (Spirit) personifies Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity” in us to enable us to carry our cross, and be an overcomer in the devil’s world.
Dove, Symbol of the Holy Spirit (Wiki Commons)
Before His crucifixion, Jesus promised to send the Spirit who will personify His “Immanuel humanity” in believing humans. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). And Jesus explained the Spirit’s role, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me. All that belongs to the Father is Mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me’” (John 16:13-15).
Yes, it is Herald (Spirit) who takes us by the hand and lead us to Jesus always because He is homoousiosly** unified with Jesus and the Father in the Trinitarian Life. His role is to honor Jesus, and not draw attention to Himself.
Paul further explains who and what the Spirit does, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price (His Son’s death on the cross). So you must honor God with your body” (1 Cor.6:19-20). The Spirit’s role is to personify the “Immanuel humanity” as He dwells in us. It is a life of surrender, but not in the sense of suppression or domination, but Love. (Rom.5:5) For Love cannot be understood, let alone experienced and allowed to prosper, without glad surrender.
Much like a man and woman who are joined in marriage, their love for each other gives meaning and inspiration to the act of surrendering all to make their union purposeful and resolute. So, here we understand how the believer is made to live the “Triune Life”*** of God through Christ’s “Immanuel humanity” by the act of Loving surrender.
From the above we see a vital truth in the manifestation of Jesus new humanity in us. Our concept of God is relevant to its reality. God is Triune and His salvation is the work of the Father, Jesus in His immortal and glorious humanity, and the Holy Spirit equally. You cannot have one without the other. If one is left out the other two cannot function for they function as One unified Triune Being. They live and behave homoousiosly** as one Tri-Personal God.
I believe Jesus was resolute about His followers stripping themselves of their depraved and fallen “Adamic humanity,” and instead clothe themselves with His “Immanuel humanity,” when at the last meal He shared with His disciples He emphasized the centrality of this new redeemed life by taking bread and wine and charged them, “Take and eat (this bread); this is my body.” Then He took the wine and said, “Drink it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt.26:26-28). A new body and new blood flowing through its veins is none other than our new redeemed humanity we are privileged to have in Christ. As Paul affirms, “No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it… for we are members of His body” (Eph.5:30).
The New Glorified Humanity of Jesus (Wiki Commons)
In closing, there is a final question to ask and answer: what does this new redeemed personhood (humanity) in Jesus means to my life and yours in our mortal existence upon this earth? Jesus answers, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). It is easy to answer this from the perspective of the fallen and depraved “Adamic humanity” and read this passage in isolation. He sees it as open season to ask for whatever satisfies his whims and fancy.
As I said earlier, trying to live the Christian life in the depraved “Adamic humanity” leads to self-glorification (self-righteousness). The worldly are led by the spirit of avarice and materialism. But thankfully we do not live that life any longer, but we are living the “Triune Life”*** in Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” For indeed, Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The very next verse explains what this collaborative Triune Life is: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). So, the two verses explain each other (the scriptures in its original form was not recorded in chapters and verses, so this helps us understand the context)
To “bear much fruit” simply means you are fulfilling your unique divine destiny, first, is the corporate goal of conforming to the image of Jesus’ new humanity through the new birth, and second to play your own unique role in the Father’s work of spreading the Gospel of His Son in a dying world in the Spirit’s move and power. (Rom.8:29; Matt.28:18-20) We understand the first part, but no one can answer the specifics of the second part which relates to your individual calling, not even you. Only the Spirit does, as He reveals Jesus to each of our destinies. (Col.2:3, NLT) This is a life of faith, where your calling can evolve over time, place, and service/duty.
When Jesus said, “ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you,” He was emphatic about our prayers being answered every time as it concerns you personally. We are all different, and we ought not to look at others as yardsticks to measure ourselves, our worth, much less our individual unique destinies. The fallen mindset usually does and tries to “keep up with the Joneses.” If we pray in that fashion, our prayers are selfish and will ‘not’ be answered because it’s a prayer affirming the “Adamic humanity” where fear and lack is its motivation. Lack and fear begets poverty, while divine Love begets joy and abundance.
Jesus vouches for this principle, saying, “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have (lack), even what they have will be taken from them” (Matt.13:12, my emphasis). The only place of abundance is in God’s Love which is fully manifested through Jesus’ new redeemed humanity. We should always be praying the prayer of gratitude, giving thanks to God knowing He will never fail in working out His unique plan for us and bless us in our originality out of His super abundance. (1 Thess.5:18; Eph.5:20)
Each of us is living the matchless life that’s reserved only for us exclusively and nobody else – that is our place of abundance. He promised, “For I know the plans I have for YOU” (not the next person), declares the LORD, “plans to prosper YOU and not to harm YOU, plans to give YOU hope and a future” (Jer.29:11, my emphasis). That promise is personal and individual and has nothing to do with our neighbors, who have their own unique plans which we cannot and are not supposed to usurp by trying to emulate.
All of our individual uniqueness collectively is fashioned into the most beautiful temple “fitly joined together” which only Jesus could build for God’s dwelling. (1 Pet.2:5; Eph.4:16; Rev.21:2-3) That is how we live in harmony with ourselves and others and ultimately with God where we are anchored to the truth of true life itself in Christ. As Paul said to Timothy, “to take hold of life that is truly life” (1 Tim.6:19).
So, since the Spirit lives in you as His earthly temple, He will reveal Jesus’ will for your life, and His will brings glory to the Father. John was clear on this part when he quoted Jesus, saying, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears (from the Father and Son), and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you” (John 16:13-15).
Using our Gifts to Serve God’s Glory and Purpose (By Stefdn, Wiki Commons)
Everything which concerns you in terms of your mortal existence, your unique calling, your family and children, your education, your job, your finances, your home, your societal and geographical location, your church, your friends and associates, your health and healing, your hobbies and activities, and whatever else that has to do with this life, are all answered in the “Immanuel humanity” you now live and make your stand. You don’t have to “get” these things from God, they are automatically yours in the abundance of God’s Love for you, and are yours for the asking. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” says Jesus. (Matt.7:7)
I will end with Paul’s emphatic word concerning Jesus’ new redeemed humanity that now resides and walks in us, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new (redeemed) life has begun!” (2 Cor.5:17, NLT, my emphasis). Living God’s unique purpose for each of us is to know the difference between reading Jesus in history and meeting history through our experiences in the person of Jesus’ new “Immanuel humanity” in our lives.
May you and your family live the miraculous life that only Jesus’ glorified humanity in us can provide. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting.
Blessing:
Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”*** in the personhood of Jesus’ “Immanuel humanity.” Be strong in the Lord’s joy.
Kiang, (Your Servant In Christ)
*Epigenetics: visit this website for meaning, https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/
**Homoousios: in Christianity, the key term of the Christological doctrine formulated at the first ecumenical council, at Nicaea in 325, to affirm that God the Son and God the Father are of the same substance. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
*** Triune Life: means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means a believer who lives the 3-dimensional life with the Triune God (“Immanue humanity”), as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life in himself (“Adamic humanity”). It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took His new redeemed humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of God’s Love through His Spirit in us. (Rom.5:5) The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit (Love) within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036
**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.
All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.
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