When the Earth Is Promoted With You Above The Highest Heaven

Leave a reply

We Christians have a common way of thinking and speaking about where we hope to live forever after this life:  We want to “go to heaven.”  We use the word “heaven” because that is where God’s throne is now.  Saying we want to go to heaven when we die is accurate, if it refers to our temporary location after we die.  But according to Revelation 21-22, God’s throne won’t be located in heaven forever.  Neither, therefore, will the members of the new humanity in Christ.  Here’s why:

The “heaven” where God now dwells is actually the highest of several “heavens”–environments created by God for spirits he created who are called angels.  “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven…And I know that this man was caught up to Paradise.”  (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14) It is called “the highest heaven” because that is where God now has his throne–where his full presence is encountered.  As the Creator of angels, humans and their environments, wherever God chooses to have his throne and to dwell is “the highest” place because he is the highest ranking being.  He alone is uncreated and eternal.  All other persons–angels and humans–were created by him.  Thus, as the Creator of everything he is the King of all worlds and of all persons populating those worlds.  As King, he decides where his throne will be located.  Before God created humans and our universe (Genesis 1-2), his throne was located in the highest heaven previously created for angels. It is still there now, but according to the Bible, it won’t always be there.

When God created human beings and their environment  (earth and its surrounding universe), he created humans “a little lower than the angels.”  (Psalm 8:5) God’s throne remained in the highest heaven created for angels. “This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” (Isaiah 66:1a). But the location of God’s throne will change in the future:  Revelation 22: 3 states that after the final judgment of all human beings (Revelation 20:11-15), God will establish “a new heavens and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1, Isaiah 65:17) and will relocate his throne from “heaven” to the New Jerusalem, capital city of the new earth.  (See Jeremiah 3:17 for an Old Testament prophecy of this.) In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John was shown God’s throne in the future New Jerusalem “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city and his servants will serve him.”  (Revelation 22:1-3)  This means that he future new earth will be the highest ranking location, replacing heaven, in all universes created by God, because the new earth will be God’s new home!

As I wrote elsewhere on this blog (in Your Greatest Promotion” in The New Humanity section),  because God the Son became permanently merged with humanity through his incarnation on this earth, and then ascended back to the throne of God as both God and man, Christ’s followers (the new humanity in Christ) are now ranked higher than the angels because they are under the headship of Jesus, who is ranked higher than the angels because he is God the Son through whom all things in heaven and on earth were created (John 1:3, Colossians 1:15-17)!  In our life after death, the New Testament people of God will live forever wherever God the Son, Jesus Christ lives due to being the new humanity under his headship—as he prayed, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:24) This means that our final destination won’t be the current highest heaven, where God’s throne is now with the good angels.  We will be there with Jesus temporarily, as spirits without bodies.  But when Jesus comes again triumphantly to earth and reigns here for a thousand years, we will be resurrected in new bodies and will reign on this earth with him (Revelation 19:11-20:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).  Being back on this earth will itself only be temporary, also, until the final judgment of all human beings (Revelation 20:11-15)  Then God will establish a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1, Isaiah 65:17).  His throne will move to the New Jerusalem, making the new earth the highest ranking place in all God’s created worlds for people and angels–above even the highest heaven occupied by angels.  That’s because wherever God’s throne is, that is the highest place in all the universes he created! Anybody want to “go to the top!”?   This new earth will in the end be the top, where the triune God and the new humanity in Christ will call their home forever!

The members of the new humanity in Christ, who populate the new earth, will enjoy many fabulous blessings from our promotion, with the new earth, to living in the highest ranking place in all God’s created worlds–the new, permanent location of his throne. Consider these four blessings:

1.  We will be much closer to God’s full presence than we are now on this earth:  “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3)  I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”  (Revelation 21:22) “…His servants will serve him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads.  (Revelation 22:3-4)

2.  Because we are so much closer to God’s full presence on this new earth, when we visit the new capital city (The New Jerusalem) his glory will be the light of the city:  “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp…On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.”  (Revelation 21:22-25)  “They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.  (Revelation 22: 5a)

3.  We will not have the destructive presence of evil and sin that our current earth has had since Adam sinned in Genesis 3:  “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) “The sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.”  (Isaiah 65:19)  “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.“ (2 Peter 3:13) The new earth will have animals, as our current earth does, but the “survival of the fittest” dynamic will be gone because evil is gone, and all animals, like all members of the humanity in Christ, will get along harmoniously:  “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.”  (Isaiah 65:25)

I believe this promised absence of evil and corruption is what the Apostle Paul refers to in Romans 8:19-23 when he writes that our current creation longs for release from its bondage to decay: “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that he creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”  Implication:  When God establishes the new heavens and the new earth (Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:1), the entire second creation (Genesis 1-2) will be promoted above the environments (the heavens) created by God for angels, joining the highest form of life in this second creation–humans who, because they are in Christ through faith in him, will be promoted above the angels into the level of fellowship of the Trinity.  This will not merely restore this creation to the purity it had before Adam sinned and introduced corruption to all of this creation, just as those who are in Christ will not merely be restored to the sinless purity Adam and Eve had before they sinned:   All of this creation, including humans who are in Christ, will be promoted above the angels and their heavenly environments, to the place of highest rank in all God’s universes–where God’s throne and full presence is located–the New Jerusalem on the new earth!

4.  Because of being “in Christ” who is the head of the new humanity that populates the new earth, we will reign on this new earth with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit forever: “And they will reign for ever and ever.”  (Revelation 22:5b)  “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.”  (Revelation 3:21)

I don’t know about you, but I eagerly long for my future locations (2 temporary, 1 forever)  after this life.  When I die, I look forward to: 1. First “going to heaven” as a spirit and being with Jesus there until 2. he returns to this earth and I reign here with him here in my resurrected body for a thousand years!  3. I also eagerly look forward to my final, forever location on the new earth!   Are you as excited as I am about “going to the new earth” forever someday?

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more (Isaiah 65:17-19)  “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13) “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” (John 17:13)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your New Self–God’s Presence In His New Temple

Leave a reply

As I wrote in my article, “Jesus: Creator, Member and Head of A New Human Race” in the New Creation section of this blog, it is my view that Jesus Christ, the God-man, was the start of a new, third creation.  Angels and the first humanity under the headship of Adam, with their environments, were his first two creations.  In this third creation, God the Son merged his deity with the humanity he had created in the second creation.  The foundation for this merger was laid when the members of the triune God said to each other before creating human beings, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” (Genesis1:26)  In my opinion, this likeness with deity, that was built by God into the second creation’s humanity-under-the-headship-of-Adam, enabled God the Son to eventually start the third creation by becoming permanently embodied as a human being while remaining God.

When our world’s Creator merged with the highest form of life he had created during his second creation–humanity under the headship of Adam–he broke new ground:  Until then God had remained separate from his second creation.  Called “the incarnation” by theologians, this permanment merger of God the Son with a human body changed the definition of what God’s temple on earth is.  In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the Holy of Holies—a room first in the mobile Tabernacle, then in the permanent Temple building in Jerusalem.  In the New Testament, Jesus himself was God’s Temple on earth—God’s presence was now located in a human body.  He referred to his body, not to the temple building in Jerusalem, when he said, “Destroy this temple, and I was raise it up again in three days.”  (John 2:19)  The Jews didn’t understand that Jesus was calling himself the temple of God:  “They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.” (John 2:20-21)  By taking up permanent residence in a human body, God the Son not only established a new, second humanity with himself  as its first member and head, but also laid the groundwork for him to later dwell with God the Holy Spirit in the second creation bodies of his followers, making each of them a third creation temple of God.

For Jesus to indwell in the bodies of his followers, however, he had to first remove sin that had caused God to erect barriers between himself and sinful human beings in the Old Testament. The first barrier was erected against after Adam and Eve sinned:  “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

When God later established Israel as his people, he erected barriers against their direct access to his presence, lest they die. It first happened at Mount Sinai, when the people were warned they would die if they tried to approach God on the mountain  (Exodus 19:10-13, 23-24).  When Israel settled in the land of Canaan about 40 years later, God dwelt with them first in the temporary Tabernacle and later of the permanent temple in Jerusalem. Only the High Priest was allowed direct access to God, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement after he offered a sacrifice for his own sins:  “The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover…Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.” (Leviticus 16:2,6)  Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, did later die for violating strict rules about how God’s priests were to approach him (Leviticus 10:1-2).

Sin, the cause of these barriers that God had erected between himself and human beings, was removed by Jesus through his death on the cross as a sin offering for all people:  “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29)   As the God/man–deity permanently indwelling a human body–Jesus thus eliminated the gulf separating God from first humanity people under the headship of Adam, opening the way for God to indwell the bodies of his followers:  “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”(Colossians 1:19-22)  This removal of the former gulf of separation between God and sinful human beings was immediately illustrated when Jesus died, by the miraculous removal of the key barrier that separated humans from God’s presence in the Jerusalem Temple: “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51)  Thanks to Jesus’s death, all members of the new humanity in Christ are are now invited and encouraged to approach God’s throne in heaven without restriction:  “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16)

Our Double Blessing:  Not only did Jesus make it possible for his followers to have direct access to God’s throne in heaven, he also made it possible for the triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) to set up residence for themselves in the hearts of each member of the new humanity in Christ.  God the Son, our Creator, had broken ground by becoming permanently embodied as a human.  Now God would be able to dwell in the bodies of all second creation people under the headship of Adam who by faith in Jesus received the forgiveness for their sins he had died to make available to them.  Sure enough, just ten days after Jesus’ ascension, on the Day of Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit descended upon and into 120 “charter members” of the Church (the Body of Christ) as they met together. This empowering experience launched the new humanity in Christ into powerful public ministry as Jesus had promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The coming of God the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost replaced the physical presence of God the Son in our world.  “It is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you.”  (John 16:7).  Shortly before, Jesus had told his disciples that this Counselor, the Holy Spirit, would indwell them as would God the Father and Jesus himself:  “If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:15-20, 23).

In my opinion:  Phase 1 of the new, third creation began with God the Son indwelling a human body from his conception by the God the Holy Spirit in the womb of his mother Mary, changing the definition of God’s temple on earth from a building in Jerusalem to Jesus himself.  Thanks to Jesus’ death removing the barriers erected by the holiness of God against sinful humanity,  Phase 2 of the new, third creation began on the Day of Pentecost when God the Holy Spirit replaced the physical presence of Jesus in our world, and established yet another change in definition of God’s temple on earth: with Jesus gone, the temple of God was redefined again as each member of the new humanity in Christ, in whose hearts (the new Holy of Holies) God’s presence would now dwell.  From one location on earth (only in Jesus), God’s presence in human bodies through the indwelling Holy Spirit expanded exponentially when God the Holy Spirit replaced Jesus on the Day of Pentecost:  First adding about 3,000 human bodies to the first 120 charter members in Israel on the Day of Pentecost, now, two thousand years later God indwells more than a billion members of the new humanity in Christ around the world!

The presence of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit continues to be available to his people today in the two ways it manifested on the Day of Pentecost:  outside followers of Christ, and inside them.  The Holy Spirit came “upon” Christ’s followers on the Day of Pentecost, and also into them.  (Upon:  “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. (Acts 2:3)  Into:  “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  (Acts 2:4)

Regarding God’s presence coming on his people on the outside of themselves, I see a parallel in what winning football teams do to their coach as an important game is ending in victory:  They dump a large container of water over the head of their head coach.  They are celebrating victory after their work is done.  The Holy Spirit does the opposite:  He “comes on” his followers in an “impartation” or “anointing”, immersing them in his presence and power, before they begin their work, to empower them to be able to achieve victory ( 1 Corinthians 12:7). In chapter four of my autobiographical story on this blog, I tell a story of how I experienced such an impartation in 1978 three months before I began coaching Bible Quizzing, as a new youth pastor.  This impartation led to a national championship one year later for my high school Bible Quiz team.

Another way God’s presence is available on the outside of Jesus’ followers was stated by Jesus:  “Where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.”  (Matthew 18:20)   Think of the implications of that statement for husbands and wives who share faith in Christ, for children they are raising for Christ, for home groups and for congregations:  Groups of two or more of God’s people have God’s presence with them to empower, guide, teach, and protect them!

It is God’s presence on the inside of every member of the new humanity in Christ that is called the new self in the New Testament: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24. See also Colossians 3:5-11)  The New Testament has different ways of talking about this new self, starting with the temple of God’s presence: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God?”  (1 Corinthians 6:19)  God in you is your new self—a new inner being, the sinless human nature of Jesus Christ, who is himself dwelling in you!  “Righteous Father…I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:25-26)  The Apostle Paul wrote that “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints” is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:26-27)

To summarize:  The Old Testament temple was a building in Jerusalem which had an inner room known as the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God was located.  The New Testament temple began as Jesus–his human body being the new temple that housed his deity.  When he returned to the right hand of God the Father (Acts 1:9), he sent God the Holy Spirit to take his place in our world–by indwelling the heart of every follower of Jesus in what the New Testament calls “the new self.”   This new self does not exist in people who are not members of the new humanity in Christ.  They only have an “old self”—the sinful human nature of the first humanity under the sinful headship of its first member, Adam. Followers of Christ currently have both an old self in Adam and a new self in Christ.  Among the new self’s benefits are empowerment with 1. The presence of God as you walk with him daily (John 15:4-5), 2. The sinless, holy character of Christ during your gradual, progressive transformation into conformity with the character of Christ through the fruit of the Holy Spirit within and through you (Romans 8:29, Galatians 5:22-23), and 3. Spiritual gifts for serving the Lord according to his assignments for your life (1Corinthians 12:7).

What a wonderful benefit is this new inner self that is given to members of the new humanity Christ—God living in you, a temple of God!

Jesus: Creator, Member and Head of A New Human Race

Leave a reply

“His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace., and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”  (Ephesians 2:15-16, NIV) “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.”  (Galatians 6:15, NIV) “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”  (2 Corinthians 5:16-17, NIV)

The Bible contains stories of people, nations and cultures that existed in our world from the ancient past: from several thousand years before Christ through the first century after Christ.  These stories are told against a backdrop of three creations by God that are in conflict due to rebellion in the first two creations against the authority of God their Creator:

  1. Angels and their environments (levels of heaven: 2 Corinthians 12:2) that were created before our universe was created.
  2. The first race of humans under the headship of its first member, Adam, and this universe that God created as our environment. (Genesis 1-2)
  3. A second race of humans under the headship of its first member, the God-man Jesus, and the future environment (“new heavens and the new earth.”) he is now preparing for his followers who are members of this new humanity.  (“His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.”  Ephesians 2:15. See also Isaiah 65:17, Revelation21:1, John 14:3 (“I go to prepare a place for you.”) regarding the future new heavens and new earth he is now preparing.)

This third creation by God, called the “new creation” in the New Testament, is the focus of this blog.  All human beings since Jesus Christ have been invited by God to experience the fabulous blessings that come with membership in this new, second humanity, which I consider stage two of “the new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15) that started when God the eternal, uncreated Word, (John 1:1,2,14), Second Person of the Triune God (The Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit)–was conceived as a human being through God the Holy Spirit in the womb of a human woman, the virgin Mary:  “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[ the Son of God.” (Luke 1:31-35)

God the eternal, uncreated Word started this new, third creation within himself, not separate from himself, by leaving his position at the right hand of God the Father in heaven and becoming a human being (Ephesians 2:15), permanently uniting himself (“merging” himself) with the final and highest ranking life-form he had previously created in our universe–humanity under the headship of its first member, Adam. (Genesis 1:26-28)  In my opinion, this “merger” was not merely a natural continuation of the Genesis 1-2 creation, but was the start of a new, third creation in Mary’s womb—God the eternal, uncreated Son coming into a new,  permanent unity with the first humanity he had previously created.  By creating a new humanity within himself  (Ephesians 2:15) while remaining God the eternal, uncreated Son, he thus became the first and only human being who is also God.  This God/human combination had never existed before God the Son was conceived as a human being in Mary’s womb. Until then, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had remained separate from their Genesis 1-2 creation, even before human sin enlarged the separation of human beings and our created world from God (Genesis 3, Romans 8:19-25) .  Being God the eternal, uncreated Word through whom the entire Genesis 1-2 universe was created (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16), Jesus Christ is therefore not only the first member of this new human race he created within himself by becoming a human being, but also is forever the highest ranking being in this new, third creation which began when he created himself as the the founding member of this new humanity (Ephesians 2:15), with deity and humanity becoming combined within himself. He thus created himself as the initial third creation human being who is its head (“the Last Adam” according to 1 Corinthians 15:45), just as “The First Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), the first second creation human being named Adam is the head of the second creation human race (1 Corinthians 15:47, Genesis 2:7 Colossians 1:16-17, Romans 5:12-19).

Just as the Second/Old Creation’s Old Covenant has a law–the Law of Moses–so the Third/ New Creation’s New Covenant has a new “law”, the Law of Christ, Jesus Christ being its highest ranking human being. (Romans 8:2, 10:4; 1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2; James 1:25, 2:8,12). This change from the law of Moses to the Law of Christ is illustrated for me by these changes:  1.  From sinful second old creation humans being under a “yoke of slavery,” the Law of Moses (Galatians 5:1-4)  to the sinless new creation humans being under the “yoke of freedom”, the law of Christ (Matthew 11:28-30, Galatians 5:1).  2. From the Old Testament people of God meeting on the 7th Day Sabbath (Saturday) every week to the New Testament people of God meeting on the 1st day of the week, Sunday.  Jesus had risen from the dead on a Sunday, and had later poured out his Spirit, launching the New Testament people of God, on a Sunday–the Day of Pentecost.  This change to Sunday worship, in my opinion, was prefigured by Jesus’ continual conflict with the teachers of the Law of Moses–he was often accused by the Pharisees of breaking a requirement of the Law of Moses that no one work on the Sabbath, the 7th day of every week.  In John 5:17, he defended himself against this charge by saying, “My Father is working, and I myself am working.”  When God had commanded the Jews to rest on the Sabbath , it was because he was no longer working after completing the Genesis 1-2 creation:  “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done.”  (Genesis 2:2-3; see also Exodus20:8-11.)  In my opinion, the conception, birth and earthly life of Jesus before his ascension back to heaven (Mark 16:19, Luke 24;50-53, Acts 1:9) meant God was now “working” during Day 7 of this world’s creation, no longer resting.  It is why the Old Testament Law of Moses–including the command to not work on the Sabbath, which had been required of God’s Old Testament people while God was resting from doing any creating during Day 7 of this second creation–would later be declared obsolete by Paul in his letters and in the book of Hebrews:  “You who are trying to be justified by the law have have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:4) In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul repeatedly says that followers of Christ are no longer subject to the law of Moses. (For example: Romans 7:4, 8:1-3, 9:30-32, 10:1-13; Galatians 5:1-4, 6:15-16, Ephesians 2: 9-22). “By calling this covenant “new,”  he had made the first one obsolete.” (Hebrews 8:13). See also Hebrews 7:18-19, 22 and all of Hebrews 8.  Jesus himself said it in Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24 and  Luke 22:20.

I therefore believe that the earthly life of Jesus Christ was both the final phase of his creation of this world due to him and God the Father now working for the first time during Day 7, rendering obsolete the Old Creation commandment that no work could be done on the Sabbath, while simultaneously being the first phase of his new, third creation.  In my opinion, the earthly life of Jesus Christ created an intersection of Day 7 of “The Old Creation” (Genesis 1-2) with Day 1 (Phase 1) of “The New Creation”. As Jesus said in John 5:17, He and God the Father were doing the work of creation again, starting with a new humanity God the Word created within himself in his incarnation as a human being.

The earthly life of Christ before his ascension back to heaven brought together opposite creation processes: Thematically, the process of creation in Genesis 1-2 was like the building of a pyramid:  It progressively grew from broadest at the bottom (Day 1, the creation of light), becoming narrower from Day 2 through Day 6 when the creation of Adam and Eve was its final and highest point. Day 7, the future, highest pinnacle of this thematic pyramid, had no creation by God for thousands of years until Jesus Christ, God the eternal Word through whom this world was created during Days 1-6 (John 1:1-3), during Day 7 of this creation became the sharpest and highest peak on the pyramid-like creation of Days 1-6 through creating within himself a new humanity (Ephesians 2:15)–his incarnation as the first and only God/man. As the eternal divine Word through whom our universe was created in Days 1-6, he is highest in authority over it, making him the highest peak of this thematic pyramid through his incarnation in Day 7 (See what Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 about his highest authority on earth now.)  After Jesus ascended back to the right hand of God the Father (Acts 1:9), this New Creation has continued to develop in a reverse thematic process from the Old Creation, which went from broad (Day 1) to narrow (Day 6). This new, third creation started with its own highest, narrow peak (God the Son taking on human flesh) and, became broader in what I consider Phase 2–the adoption of billions of believers in Christ, over nearly 2,000 years, into this new humanity through their faith in Christ starting with Jesus’ original disciples (except for Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus) and about 3,000 additional converts on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).  At the same time, from his position back at the right hand of God the Father after his post-resurrection ascension, Jesus has been “preparing a place for us” (John 14:2), an even broader phase of this new, third creation to be revealed after the Second Coming of Christ to this earth: our future environment–the future new heaven and new earth.  (Isaiah 65:17. Revelation 21:1).

To summarize the opposite processes of the old, second creation by Christ with the new, third creation in Christ–Christ creating within himself a new humanity, making himself the first member and head of it (Ephesians 2:15): the Old Creation happened “bottom-up” (Gen. 1-2) and the New Creation is happening “Top-down.” Phase 1 of the New Creation (the life, death and resurrection of Jesus before his ascension) was the beginning of God’s work since Day 7 of this Old Creation when his work had ended:  Christ simultaneously became the peak of both creations–finalizing  what he had previously created bottom-up in Days 1-6 of this old creation (Gen.1-2) through his own eventual incarnation while simultaneously becoming the pinnacle of this new, third creation which he is now developing top-down in preparation of the future new heaven and new earth his new creation people will inhabit forever without death (Revelation 21:4).

Seeing the God/man Jesus as the Day 7 pinnacle–highest in authority of his Day 1-6 creation of our current world–helps me to understand the physical and spiritual powers he exercised during his earthly ministry before his death on the cross: As the Creator of our world (John 1:3:  “All things were created through him.”) who had become the first member and head of a new humanity he created within himself (Ephesians 2:15), he exercised authority over Old Creation “mother nature”–rebuking and thus calming life-threatening wind and storms (Matthew 8:23-27), walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33, fulfilling the Job 9:8 prophecy about him), feeding thousands of people by miraculously multiplying a few loaves of bread and a few fish (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 8:1-9), healing every diseased person brought to him, including blind people, (Matthew 4:23-24; Mark 1:29-32, 40-42, 8:22-25); and even resurrecting dead people (Mark 5:35-43, Luke 7:11-17; John 11:1-44). Jesus also exercised authority over evil angels (one third of all angels whom he had previously created in the First Creation as good angels before creating our world in Genesis 1-2. (Colossians 1:16-17:  “For by him all things were created:  things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”).  These evil angels (demons) had followed Satan in rebelling against God and were therefore cast out of heaven down to the earth where they tormented some people by “possessing” them until Jesus cast these evil angels out of people.  (Ezekiel 28:14-17, Revelation 12:3-9, Matthew 4:24, 8:16, 28-34, 17:14-18)

Conclusion:  For the Creator of our world to leave heaven and be born as a human being in order to create a new, enhanced human race within himself (Ephesians 2:15) was an incredible act of love, as was his death on the cross to pay for our sins.  His sinless, new creation life built a bridge across the huge gap–caused by human sin–separating sinful people in the first humanity under the headship of Adam from the holy God (Isaiah 59:2-3, Ephesians 2:16).  All who put their faith in Christ as their Savior and Lord not only receive God’s forgiveness for their sins because of his death for the sins of the world (Isaiah 53:4-6, 10-12; John 1:29; Mark 10:45, Ephesians 1:7, 1 John 2:2), they also are born again by being adopted into membership of this new human race under the headship of its founder and first member, Jesus Christ (John 1: 12-13, Ephesians 1:5). Thanks to the sinless life of Jesus before his death, this new human race is in harmony with God the Father, which provides fabulous benefits for its members–as you will read below in my introduction to my second and third articles on this blog.

These incredible acts of love by God the Son (leaving his throne in heaven to become a human being and then dying for the sins of all other human beings) is illustrated in the Apostle Paul’s directive to the Philippian believers in Christ–that as followers of Christ they should love others as Christ loved them:  “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider  others more important than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient to death–even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:3-8)  My hope is that deeper understanding into the mystery of the new creation incarnation of Christ, the purpose of this blog, will not only increase your joy in the Lord by increasing his joy in you, but will also increase your sacrificial love for people:  “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  (John 15:11-13)

Introduction to my other New Creation Articles on this blog:

Article 2:  Your Greatest Promotion: Phase 2 of the New Creation, in my opinion, began when Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven (Acts 1:9.)  Ten days after his ascension, God the Holy Spirit was poured out in the public launching of the New Creation people of God on the Day of Pentecost. From that day on, if anyone puts their faith in Christ, they are a new creation because they are adopted into Christ–the first member and head of this new creation human race (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:15).  All humans except Jesus (because he was born of a virgin–did not have a human father) are under the inferior headship of the first human race’s first member, sinful Adam (Romans 5:12-19, 1 Corinthians 15:22). The fabulous benefit of this New Creation merger of God the Son with the highest form of life in his Genesis 1-2 Old Creation–humanity–is that all those who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, by faith, are adopted by God (Ephesians 1:5) into this new, enhanced human race under the superior headship of its first member, sinless Jesus.  In “Your Greatest Promotion,” I share how Jesus, the beginning of the New (third) Creation, due to being the first member and head of this new human race, offers the greatest possible promotion to all first humanity people who are under the lower-ranking headship of Adam:  a second birth (their own new creation) into this second, enhanced, higher humanity under the headship of God the Son, Jesus.  I believe this is the meaning of Jesus’ use of “born again” when talking to the Jewish Pharisee Nicodemus:  “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3) Those who are spiritually born again as new creations into the humanity of Christ-the-New-Creation, who are “in Christ” through faith in Christ, share in the superior rank of God the Son (Creator of everything including the angels), and therefore have been promoted above the angels and above the first humanity in Adam, thereby enjoying two fabulous benefits not given to the Old Testament people of God due to sin that separated the first human race from God. This Greatest Human Promotion involves the first fabulous blessing:  Continual access to the presence and loving fellowship of the Trinity (God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in the highest place in the highest heaven–where God’s throne is now located. (“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16)  Article 4 (see below) addresses the second fabulous blessing of this promotion.

Article 3: To learn how you can become a “new creation in Christ”, in order to gain the fabulous blessings I write about in the other four articles on this blog, see my article, “How to Become A Member Of The Enhanced New Humanity In Christ” in section three of this blog, “Join the New Humanity.”

Article 4: “Your New Self–God’s Presence In His New Temple” The second fabulous blessing enjoyed by followers of Christ that was not given to the Old Testament people of God is becoming the new temple of God–having God the Son, Jesus, live inside them through the indwelling third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” ) Another New Testament term for the new human race in Christ, the Body of Christ, is about Jesus living inside his followers.  This name for the new humanity in Christ opens up another aspect of the mystery of Christ, according to the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:24-27:   “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  When we use the term “the new humanity” the focus is on each believer living “in Christ.”  But when we use the parallel New Testament term, “the body of Christ,” the focus changes to the mystery of each of us having Christ living in us through the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.  My fourth article on this blog, “Your New Self–God’s Presence In His New Temple“ explores this angle on the mystery of Christ being in us and us being in Christ.

Article 5: “When the earth is promoted with you above the highest heaven”: According to the Apostle Paul, what we call “Mother Nature”–the universe that God the Father, Son Jesus and Holy Spirit created (Genesis 1:26) as the environment for the first human race under the headship of its first member, Adam (Genesis 1-2)–will in the end be promoted with the new, second human race under the headship of its first member, Jesus, into the “new heavens and the new earth” prophecied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 65:17) and the New Testament (Revelation 21:1):  Romans 8:18-21:“ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”  This article 5 the New Testament teaching about this exciting future for “Mother Nature” (cursed due to Adam’s sin: Genesis 3:17-19, Romans 8:20, Revelation 22:3), when God’s throne will relocate from the highest environment of God’s first creation (angels) to the new capital city of the future new earth–the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2-3, 22:3).  In this article I contend from Scripture that the relocation of God’s throne to the new earth means that the new humanity in Christ and their environment, the new earth, will become the highest place in all God’s created universes–one more fabulous benefit for those who are new creations “in Christ.”

I welcome your feedback to “My Story: How I Know From Experience That God Is Real” and to these five articles on the New Creation in Christ.  You can comment on this blog or write me at pastorpaulbarnes@gmail.com.

 

 


                                                                                                                            

How to Become A Member Of The Enhanced New Humanity In Christ

Leave a reply

My article in the New Humanity section of this blog, “Your Greatest Promotion,” presents the Bible’s teaching on what God has done through Jesus Christ to make it possible for people to ascend to a higher and better life beyond this world—life after death in an all-good world that has no evil, through joining the enhanced new humanity under the superior headship of Jesus Christ, its first member.

Major religions agree that we now live in a world where good and evil are mixed together, and that we should aspire to ascend to a future world after this life, where evil is no longer present.  Major religions don’t agree on what the process is by which a person ascends to this all-good future world.  Some religions teach that humans must, by their own efforts during a succession of reincarnated lives on this earth, gradually become good enough to earn entrance to that future all-good world.  Following similar predictions in Isaiah 65:17-25, the New Testament teaches that human ascension into the all-good future world (“heaven”) happens immediately after death for all those who, during this life, have been “born again” into a second, enhanced humanity that will populate this future all-good world.  This new humanity was established by its first member and head, Jesus Christ, God the Son, when he left heaven and became a human being about 2,023 years ago in Israel.

Before his arrest, Jesus told his disciples that he would soon return to God his Father in heaven, and from there he would prepare the future all-good world until he returns to this world for his living followers:  “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)

The New Testament teaches that only one thing can keep anyone from ascending to this all-good world when they die in this world:  not being a member of the new humanity under the headship of its first member, Jesus Christ.  Revelation 21:27 says that what we call the future “heaven” for human beings will be populated only by members of this new, enhanced human race:  “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

An obvious question presents itself to people who want to immediately ascend to heaven after death, as taught in the Bible: “What must I do now to become a member of this new human race before I die?”   

The Bible’s answer is this: You just need enough faith to ask God for the favor requested from Jesus by “the thief on the cross”—one of two criminals who were crucified next to Jesus.  One criminal was verbally abusing Jesus as the three were dying.  The second criminal challenged the first criminal:  “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are being punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:39-41)  The second criminal then said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)  Jesus responded, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  (Luke 23:43)

The only good work done by the second criminal, that resulted in Jesus’ promise that he would immediately ascend to heaven when he died, was his faith that 1.  Jesus was who he claimed to be (King of this world that he created) and 2. Jesus was trustworthy when he said that he would return to his kingdom after his death.  This second criminal may have been present when Jesus was asked, early in his public ministry, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” (John 6:28)  Jesus had answered, “The work of God is this:  to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)  This restated what Jesus had earlier said in the best-known verse of the Bible, John 3:16:  God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Thus, birth into the new, enhanced humanity under the sinless headship of Jesus, happens through faith in Jesus Christ. Human ascension from this world of evil to the best-possible future world, according to the Bible, is a gift that you must choose to receive by faith.  It is not a reward for becoming good enough to deserve it through your own good works: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)  This gift from God is like an invitation to exchange your worn out and dented used car for the gift of a new, luxury car that will last forever and will never wear out or be damaged.  According the Bible, receiving this gift–membership in the new humanity in Christ that will populate heaven–is as easy as ABC:

Admit you are a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness—that you have not lived a perfect life of obedience under God’s authority as your Creator, as the Bible teaches: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23)

Believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior from the punishment you deserve for your sins, thus making God’s forgiveness available to you for your sins.  According to the Bible, love caused Jesus, God the Son, to leave heaven and become a human being (while remaining God) in the womb of his mother Mary, in order to become the first member of a new human race, to then live a human life of perfect obedience to God his Father.  His perfect human life included dying on the cross–taking upon himself the punishment deserved by all members of the first human race who are sinners under the sinful headship of Adam:  “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)  “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  (John 1:29) 

Commit your life to Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life, doing a U-turn (a 180-degree turn called “repent” in the Bible) from being the boss of your own life, thus acknowledging the Bible’s teaching that as your Creator God, Jesus has authority over your life: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Jesus in Luke 13:3) “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (the Apostle Paul in Romans 10:9)

You can ask God for this favor–the gift of God’s forgiveness and membership in the new humanity “in Christ”–right now, with this prayer: “God, I admit I am a sinner in need of your forgiveness.  Thank you that Jesus left heaven, took on human flesh, lived a sinless life, and died to pay the punishment for my sins.  I put my faith in him as my Savior from the punishment I deserve for my sins, and I commit that from now on as a member of the new humanity under his headship, he will be the Lord of my life.  Jesus, I will live for you here from now on until I am with you in heaven!”

If you sincerely prayed that prayer, you have received the greatest promotion you will ever receive, through faith in Jesus Christ—birth into the new humanity under the headship of Jesus Christ the Son of God, which will populate heaven!  If you aren’t ready to put your faith in Jesus Christ yet, I am available to assist you in processing your concerns.  Just let me know how to reach you, through your feedback to this article on this blog.

 

Your Greatest Promotion

Leave a reply

“For he himself is our peace, who had made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.  His purpose was to create in himself one new man (humanity) out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them (Jews and Gentiles) to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”  (Ephesians 2:14-16 NIV)

The content of this article came to me unexpectedly in what felt like a revelation during my morning devotions in mid-August, 1999, as I meditated on Ephesians 2:15, which I had recently memorized:  “His purpose was to create in himself one new man (humanity) out of the two, thus making peace.”  The surprising insight I received, and the events leading up to it, are reported in chapter 14 of my attached, autobiographical story of how I have experienced that God is real over the past 50 years.

Have you ever received a promotion at work?  I recall my excitement in 1976 when, halfway through my seminary education, I was promoted from being a volunteer ministry leader in my church to being a full-time associate pastor.  If you’ve been promoted at work, you know how exciting and gratifying it can be.

Every day I thank God for sending his Son Jesus to be born in human flesh, because it led to the greatest promotion I have ever received! Here’s how:

Before Jesus Christ, there was only one human race in this world.  Thanks to God’s eternal Son being born in human flesh, there are now two human races in the world.  The first humanity is under the headship of its first member, Adam (Genesis 1, 2:7) whose name means “human.”  The second human race, existing since God the Son was conceived as a human being in the womb of his virgin mother Mary, is also under the headship of its first member:  Jesus. As head of this second human race, Jesus is superior to Adam, the head of the first human race, for these reasons:

  1. Unlike Adam, Jesus never sinned.  Adam (like Jesus) started his life without sin, but (unlike Jesus) became sinful by disobeying God when tempted by Satan (Genesis 3:1-6).  Like Adam, Jesus was born without a sin nature (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Unlike Adam, Jesus obeyed God his Father throughout his life, including when tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11).  Jesus is therefore superior as the sinless head of the second humanity, while Adam is the sinful head of the first humanity. Because Adam sinned, as the first member and head of his race, the result ever since has been that every subsequent human being, except Jesus Christ, has been born with a sinful human nature. (Romans 5:15-19)
  2. Adam was fashioned by God the Son from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7) that he, Jesus, had previously created (Genesis 1:9-10).  Regarding Jesus (God the Son) being the Creator of this world, including Adam, the Apostle John wrote, “All things were created by him.” (John 1:3) The Apostle Paul said of Jesus,“By him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17)   Jesus, Adam’s Creator, is a superior head to Adam because Adam was dust-become-human by Jesus, while Jesus is God the Son-become-human.
  3. Jesus is a superior head to Adam because as God the Son-become-human, Jesus’ rank is higher than Adam’s rank as dust-become-human. God the Son took upon himself the humanity that he himself had long ago created to be “a little lower than the angels.” (Psalm 8:5, Heb. 2:7) In the original “chain of command” of hierarchical authority in God’s created universes for angels and humans, the order of ranking from highest down was A. Highest:  The triune God (God the Father; God the Son; God the Holy Spirit) in highest authority.  B. Next highest: The angels—created by God before  humans were created.  C. Below the angels:  Human beings under the headship of Adam.  After his death and resurrection, Jesus–now forever both God and man–ascended from being below the angels on this earth back to the right hand of God the Father in his resurrected body–where he was before he became a human, and where he is again since his ascension (Acts 1:9).   Back at the right hand of God the Father, in the highest ranking position, Jesus is therefore superior as the head of the new humanity:   “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor.” (Heb. 2:9)  When Adam died, on the other hand, his body returned to the dust from which Jesus had fashioned it.

HOW YOU BENEFIT: Because the head of this new  humanity (called “The Last Adam” and “The Second Man” in 1 Corinthians 15:45 and 47) is God the Son, who shares the highest rank of the Trinity—with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit–the result is a wonderful benefit for all who, through faith in Jesus, are “in Christ” (which is to say, are members in this new, enhanced humanity under his superior headship).  As members of the new humanity in Christ, they have been promoted to the highest rank in Christ, because sinless Jesus ranks above the angels and above the first humanity under the headship of Adam.  Jesus is now “seated far above all rule, power and authority in heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:21)  

Thanks to the Son of God taking on human flesh, the line of authority in God’s hierarchy has an addition at the top:  Highest in rank are God the Father, God the Son (God-man Jesus) and the enhanced humanity who are “in Christ” (under his headship) by faith, and God the Holy Spirit; next in rank below the triune God and the new humanity in Christ are the good and evil angels, and still below the angels in rank is the first humanity under the headship of Adam.  Jesus stated this in Matthew 11:11 when he compared the lowest ranking member of this new humanity under his headship to the greatest member of the old humanity, born the natural way through a woman (versus “born again” through the Holy Spirit into the new humanity in Christ) under the headship of the first Adam:  “I tell you the truth.  Among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.”  In the future world now being prepared by Jesus for his followers (John 14:3), called “the new heavens and the new earth” by Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21:1, the new enhanced humans under the headship of Christ will exercise authority in Christ that is higher than angels:  “Do you not know that we will judge angels?”  (1 Corinthians 6:2)

This is the greatest promotion any human being under the headship of Adam can ever receive!  It is what Jesus prayed to his Father for before his arrest:  “I pray…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one; I in them and you in me.  Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”  (John 17:20-24) 

The Benefit to us now:  Under the sinless, higher ranking headship of Jesus Christ, God’s New Testament people–the new humanity in Christ–enjoy the privilege of a much closer relationship with God as we live in this fallen world, through direct access to God that the Old Testament people of God did not have except through a consecrated priest. Old Testament: “Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it.  Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.”  (Exodus 19:12). “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish.  Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”  (Exodus 19:21-22). New Testament:  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28). “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16)

This blog is dedicated to exploring the many wonderful benefits resulting from God the Son becoming a human being and thus starting a new human race under his headship—benefits in this life and in the future new creation world Jesus is now preparing for his followers. Future articles on this blog will give further consideration to these fabulous current and future blessings that belong to followers of Jesus Christ as new creation members of the enhanced new humanity who have a new self in which the triune God dwells–while at the same time in this life continuing to be old creation (Genesis 1-2) members of the sinful old humanity under the headship of Adam who also have an old self called the sin nature.   Living a victorious Christian life now requires empowered and informed battle against our three enemies: the devil,  our sinful world, and our sinful nature (1 John 2:15-17, 3:7-9) .  I hope you are blessed through this blog as you explore the meaning and blessings of God’s new creation, new humanity and new self which empower God’s people to win the battles with our three enemies!

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  (Colossians 3:1-4)

If you are not yet a new creation in Christ, and would like to become a member in this enhanced new humanity in Christ, the section of this blog called “To Join the New Humanity in Christ” has an article that will inform you how to do so.