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Three Couplets of Gospel Truth A conversation with a couple of "evangelists" from Brookly (The Watchtower Society) was a reminder of how much religion is based on works, and how natural it is for people to relate salvation to something they can do to make points with God. According to most religions, salvation is something one earns. This is definitely an example of one's house upon sand. Unfortunately, many Christians who, in theory, subscribe to the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, reveal by their conversation or by questions they ask that their understanding of the basis of salvation is a little fuzzy (too much subjectivity, and not enough objective consideration of the exclusive, finished work of the Lord Jesus himself). It is hard, even for some believers, to escape the natural logic that a certain standard of performance is required to earn salvation by faith. T his is not exactly building on the rock; more like sandstone. Let’s discuss what I am going to call the three couplets of Gospel T ruth. What Is a Couplet?According to the dictionary, a couplet is two rhyming lines of poetry in the same meter; or, a pair of similar things. For our purpose, a couplet is a pair of facts so related that one without the other is relatively meaningless. The first couplet: Death and Resurrection“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” According to the Scriptures: This phrase, as used in this verse, could be misunderstood. There is a difference between, “according to the Scriptures Christ died,” and “ Christ died according to the Scriptures.” The first simply asserts that the Scriptures inform us that Chris t died; the latter tells us that in dying he fulfilled something forecast in the Scriptures. His Death The whole Bible is the revelation of God’s plan of redemption. It begins with creation, including that of man; then describes Adam's plunge into sin and death; and before the end of the third short chapter informs us that “the seed of the woman” would crush the serpent’s head, and in so doing he himself would be bruised. Though not always obvious to the first time reader, that is the first prophecy of the coming Savior, and of his atoning death. Reading on, we discover who Jesus was, his lineage, and his place of birth. We learn also the carefully chronicled details of his death. Isaiah 53 tells us why he died. Zechariah 12 and 13 tell us how he died. Psalm 22 gives details of his death, even to the words he would utter on the cross. And Jesus, in his death, fulfilled every detail of those prophecies. There is no doubt that this Jesus is the Messiah, and that his death was no accident. Even though he died at the hands of wicked men, he was delivered by the determinate council and foreknowledge of God. He died exactly according to the Scriptures. Paul notes also, in I Corinthians 15: 4, that Jesus was buried––a detail we may be inclined to take for granted. But the Holy Spirit, who inspired Paul to write, deemed it important. One fifth of the world’s people claim Islam as their religion, which also teaches about Jesus. To Muslims he is a prophet. However, because, according to the teaching of Mohammed, no man can die for another man’s sins, Jesus did not die on the cross. He was rescued by his friends and nurtured back to strength. His disciples, subsequently, invented the story of Jesus' resurrection to give credibility to their claim that he was the Son of God. God then took him to heaven from whence he will come again to take vengeance upon Christians who have blasphemed Allah by making Jesus his Son. This, Muslims consider blasphemy. Paul , however, emphasizes the death and the burial of the Lord Jesus as essential to the gospel message. If Jesus did not die the sin penalty has not been paid. And if indeed he was not buried, perhaps he did not die. But Jesus himself declared that he would die and be buried for three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. His Resurrection There are those who speak of spiritual resurrection, as though there were such a thing. In fact resurrection means the returning to life of that which died. The physical body died, therefore resurrection refers to the physical body. In the Scriptures Job prophesied the resurrection of his redeemer. In Psalm 49: 15, as in Psalm 16: 9,10, David wrote of God not leaving Christ in the grave. In Acts 2: 29-32 the Apostle Paul confirms that David’s prophecies refer to the Lord Jesus and not to himself. In Isaiah 53: 10-12, after describing Jesus’ death, Isaiah tells us, "...he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied...he shall divide the spoil with the strong...” This is a reference to Jesus living again in victory after his death. Lest to some, these Old T estament prophecies seem oblique, Jesus himself clarified them prior to his death. “Destroy this temple,” he said, “and in three days I will raise it up...but he spake of the temple of his body.” Our first couplet, then, is the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The death of Chris t without his resurrection is not theGospel, (in a moment we shall see why) and resurrection without death is an impossibility. The Second couplet: The First man, The Second man“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” The First and Last Man Adam“...the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” How important is it that we recognize the deity of the Lord Jesus? Extremely so. The Scriptures identify him as The Word by whom all things were created. It is by his authority that all things exist, and by which his redemptive plan was initiated. How important is it that we recognize his 100% humanity? Equally important. In the outworking of God’s plan, it is upon the humanity of Jesus that our salvation rests. There was a reason why the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. As God he could not die for us because he is immortal. As the Savior of Adam’s race he must of necessity identify with Adam––indeed he must partake of Adam’s very nature. Jesus was born into the earth to be the last (terminal) Adam. He was born of a woman, in the likeness of sinful flesh, in a mortal, natural body, to be tempted as we are tempted. He came as the same kind of man that Adam had been created to be. Indeed, he came to join Adam’s race and endure Adam’s temptations. When it was over, he stood as an Adam without sin. All of Adam’s descen dan ts stood bracketed between the first Adam who was the beginning of the race, and the last Adam who was the end of it. Jesus, in his identity as the terminal member of Adam’s race, took upon himself all the sin of every generation and pleaded guilty before God. With that gross curse upon him he gave his hands and feet to the nails, and his head to the thorns, and yielded his soul to the stern judgment of God. Like a lightning rod in a thunderstorm, he absorbed the full force of God’s judgment against Adam’s race and died. The quarrel with Adam was over. The last Adam was dead. That’s how God reads history. The Apostle Paul said it this way, “...we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.” Therefore, if a death certificate had been issued in heaven when Christ died it would have had your name on it, and mine, and, in fact every member of Adam’s race. Jesus, in God’s view, was the last (terminal) Adam. No more dealings with Adam’s raceThere are no more expectations for Adam’s race on God’s part. No remorse, no tears, no altered behavior, no good works on the part of individuals can ever change their state because the whole race has been declared dead. Judgment is settled, sure and final, fully accomplished at Calvary . In Adam all die.T he Second Man“ The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” In I Corinthians 15: 45 we read of the first man Adam, and the last Adam. It is unmistakable that the first man Adam is a reference to Adam himself; the last Adam is a reference to Jesus. The first man Adam was made a living soul. Having a potential to sin and die, he soon fulfilled it and was, as a consequence, unable to pass spiritual life on to his children. T he last Adam (Jesus) was made a life-giving spirit. “Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; afterward that which is spiritual.” So Jesus, in this sequence, must first be, in a physical sense, a natural man in order to taste death for every man. When asked to compare verses 45 and 47, most readers agree that the first man Adam, in verse 45, and the first man in verse 47, are a reference to the same person, namely Adam. They would also agree that the last Adam in verse 45 and the second man in verse 47 are a reference to the same person, namely Jesus. But although the last Adam and the second man are the same person, they are definitely not the same thing. The last Adam bore Adam’s name, was related to Adam’s race, and was born to die according to the Scriptures. The second man does not bear Adam’s name. He is the first begotten from the dead; the beginning of a new creation, the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest, and is alive forever more. Beginning of a New Race“ Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” This is not a reference merely to a changed lifestyle, a new mind-set, or a renovated behavior pattern. It is a reference to the execution of Adam’s fallen race and every member of it. The only escape from Adam’s eternal demise is to be born again into the new creation, the second race of men, regenerated through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. This is a new creation not bearing Adam’s name, but that of its progenitor, Jesus Christ. Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. No longer are we sons of Adam trying our best to behave as sons of God: now, in Chris t, we are sons of God. That is not the result of our behavior. On the contrary, our new behavior is the result of who we have become. As in Adam all die, In Chris t shall al l b e made aliveIn Adam all die. That is the best we could hope for as sons of Adam. It was our heritage. By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. Just as we received that distinction by no merit or effort of our own, but by “virtue” of the first man Adam; so we were made righteous by the obedience of one man, not by any merit of our own. That man, of course, was the Lord Jesus Christ, the second man, whose resurrection life we share. T he T hird Couplet: Reconciliation, SalvationIn the minds of many, reconciliation and salvation are synonyms, but in reality that is not the case. According to Scripture, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Throughout the Old Testament, the priests of Israel made sacrifices for the reconciliation of the nation to God. The people had nothing personally to do with it, but they were reconciled as part of the nation. The apostle John tells us that Jesus is the propitiation (sacrifice that makes reconciliation) for the sins of the whole world; but we know that the whole world is not saved. ReconciliationThe dictionary definition of reconciliation is 1. To bring back to friendship after estrangement 2. To settle or adjust, as a quarrel. That is the meaning of what transpired at Calvary . There, on the cross, Jesus made the conciliatory sacrifice that brought God’s grievance to an end. Justice was fully satisfied; and the offender, from God’s perspective, was dead. Nothing else can be demanded, nothing else can be expected. The quarrel is over. This is precisely the point of the first half of each of our couplets, the dying of the Lord Jesus according to the Scriptures, the putting to death of the last Adam, thereby bringing reconciliation of the sin problem. God has reconciled the world to himself by the death of his Son. Salvation“If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Reconciliation is not salvation. Reconciliation was effected by Jesus’ death while we were still enemies of God. We, along with the whole world, without our consent or understanding, were reconciled to God, not by what we did, or even desired, but by what God himself did by exacting what justice demanded from someone representative of all who were in Adam –the final Adam. By this act, the impenetrable barrier that stood between God and the human race was dissolved. Salvation, then, became possible for as many as would receive the life-giving Spirit of Christ. In that case, though they died in Adam, they would be born again in Christ; and all that are in Christ have eternal life. Delivered from the condemnation of death, which is the eternal lot of all who are in Adam, good and bad, those who are in Christ, by virtue of his righteousness, are declared justified. Performance Is not the uncertainty that some Chris tians feel about their eternal salvation based upon the inconsistency of their performance––their doubt that the quality of their righteousness is adequate? Performance is not a factor that determines our eternal pedigree. Everything in the Gospel speaks of what He has done. There is no suggestion that God is expecting our ability to match his required perfection. That’s precisely why he put us to death as Adam’s children, and raised us up in Christ. There is no reformation here, but a substitution. More than that, he has promised that in the final act of resurrection all who are in Christ will be as he is, even to the point of having a body like his glorious body. Every bit of this work is totally beyond our ability even to contribute to it’s conclusion. So while religious folks are struggling to produce their own righteousness in order to be rewarded with salvation, the true believer is resting and rejoicing in that which Chris t alone has done to reclaim him from the condemnation of Adam’s judgment. With the impartation of the nature of Christ comes the ever increasing manifestation of his character, and the growing evidence of his righteousness, until, at the end we shall be like him.Only by faith is one established on the Rock. Salvation is of the Lord. |
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