II Corinthians Chapter 5 "Benefit
to Mankind [1-17]." This Bible Study is written by Roger
Christopherson, and made available with written
permission by http://www.theseason.org Back in the I Corinthians 15 Paul talked about the fact that we have two bodies, the flesh, and the spiritual or inner body. Now in this second letter to the Corinthians in verse sixteen of the last chapter, he mentions the outward man that shall perish, and the inward man that is renewed daily. The outward man is the flesh part of you that is visible to others. This is why we live by faith and not by sight. Christian faith is in our soul, in the Spiritual part of us, and not in the physical. This faith is in our Father, for we are made in His image, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We look forward to that time when we will no longer be in these flesh bodies, but will abide in our spiritual bodies completely. When each soul is in its Spiritual body, that spiritual body after death, and of the Millennium will never age. That body will not take on the sickness and infirmities that we face in while in the flesh. So Paul, in a sense is letting us know that the dwelling place of your soul now has two houses; the flesh and the heavenly. As a Christian, one of the best times to give comfort to others is during the time of the death of a loved one; in discussing "where the dead are". This chapter is going to document the location of their soul. This chapter is going deeper into what Paul said in I Corinthians 15. It goes along with I Thessalonians 4:13-17, where many people try to explain away their rapture doctrine, so lets look briefly into this passage. I Thessalonians 4:13 "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [dead], that ye sorrow not, even as other which have no hope." I Thessalonians 4:14 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." So with these thoughts in mind lets get into this fifth chapter. II Corinthians 5:1 "We know that if your earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." We know that our flesh body that houses our soul in time is going to died. Upon death of the flesh body our soul moves into its spiritual body which is not like these flesh bodies but eternal. The "tabernacle" was the earliest form of the temple for it was a tent. It served as a temporary house of God until the beautiful structure would be built later. This is why your earthly flesh body is considered a "tabernacle", for God has never intended your soul to dwell in that flesh body but for the short period of time that you are here on earth in this second earth age. We know that our flesh body is very fragile, and when you don't take care of it, it develops all sorts of problems. That inner body where our spirit dwells is eternal and not like the flesh bodies. When the flesh body goes to the grave, the inner body has already departed to be with the Father. For it was God that placed your soul in your embryo at the time of conception. There are no intermissions like some like to believe, but that inner man lives a continuous life from the day that it was created in that first earth age, throughout it's life in this age of the flesh, and right on into eternity with the Father. There is no soul sleep anywhere. Sometimes the flesh body has to sleep to regain its strength, but that is not so with your inner body. Your soul is unending from the time it was created way back in the eons of time. We know that we have this earthen shell that was formed at conception when the sperm entered the egg. It developed through the stages of the embryo, and into the baby that you were at birth. Your soul came from the heavenlies, and entered into your being while in the mother's womb, and you are complete, the inner and the outer person as long as you were in your flesh body. At birth you took your first breath of air, and you didn't just stop there, but you kept growing through your childhood, and on into adulthood. As a child you did the things that a child is expected to do, and you kept learning and maturing as you grew older. With each passing year, more was expected of you, because you grew both physically and mentally. As you ate your fruits, cereals and vegetables as well as all the other things you eat, those elements were processed by your body and became part of your earthen or flesh body. Everything that you eat, even the fish and meats are made up of elements of this earth. A lot of people take things that are not organic to substitute for organic foods, and then they wonder why their bodies are always hay-wire. Remember that we have earth bodies. Your inner man [soul] is as large as it is ever going to be. We are now talking about the spirit body that is dwelling within your earthen body. The very word "tabernacle" should give you an indication that we are not going to be using these bodies but for a short period of time. Paul then is telling us to compare that to a house or body that is built not by man, but by God. This is why the spiritual body, the person within your flesh body is more real than the body that you can see on the outside. This is also why Paul talked a lot about "the inner man" that must be renewed day by day, in the sixteenth verse of the last chapter. The real you is not the flesh and blood body, but that which is eternal. When you compare your seventy years in the flesh body with the eons of time of eternity that the inner man lives, it simply can't be compared. Though we have changed chapters, the subject of the fourth chapter has gone right on in the fifth chapter. That same inner man is your inner self, if you chose to follow God's plan through the Savior. So Paul is saying your soul or inner man was created in the heavenlies, and planted in a tent of human flesh for a instant in time, and when the flesh dies, the inner man [woman] will then return instantly to the Heavenly Father that gave it. Documentation for knowing that the soul entered the embryo at the time of conception is in the birth of Jesus. At the time of Jesus' conception in the womb of his mother Mary, Mary ran to her cousin Elisabeth, who had conceived six months prior, and when Mary entered into the room John leaped in his mothers womb, while in the presence of the Jesus. Luke 1:35 "And the angel answered and said unto her, "The Holy Ghost [Spirit] shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy Thing Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." " Luke 1:36 "And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren." Luke 1:37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:38 "And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." and the angel of the Lord departed from her." Luke 1:39 "And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda;" Luke 1:40 "And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth." Luke 1:41 "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost [Spirit]:" The babe that leaped in Elisabeth's womb was John the baptist, the one that was the forerunner of Christ. These are two unborn souls we are talking about, that were housed in their flesh bodies, even though these bodies have not seen the light of day yet. Luke 1:42 "And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." " Jesus Christ, Immanuel, the Son of God was already in the womb of Mary, and the child John who was six months conceived in the womb of Elisabeth could feel the presence of the Christ child. II Corinthians 5:2 "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:" Notice that Paul is not talking about a tent or tabernacle, something temporary here, but a house, something permanent. It didn't say our house which is in heaven, but "our house which is from heaven." In other words, our earthen house or flesh body did not come from heaven, but the inner man, the soul body is the house which is from heaven. Flesh and blood cannot enter into heaven, the kingdom of God. The inner man was created in the heavens by our heavenly Father, without hands and for His pleasure, and then sent to enter into your physical body at conception. II Corinthians 5:3 "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." We know from Revelation 19:8 what our spiritual body is dressed with; "And to her [the wife and bride of Christ] was granted that she would be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." The righteous act of the saints make up the clothes that you wear throughout eternity. So if we as members of the bride of Christ do not want to be found naked when we stand before our Creator, it is what we do, and the righteousness that we have that goes before us that clothes our inner bodies. Without any righteous acts and good deeds while dwelling in these flesh bodies, your inner man, or spiritual body will stand naked for all to see. This is not something that by bring from heaven at birth, but it is something that you do while living in this age of the flesh of the plan of God. This age of the flesh ends with the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet,. as we read in our studies in I Corinthians 15:50-54. II Corinthians 5:4 "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." We that are now living in this tent of flesh called our human body, do groan with the burdens that we face in our everyday lives. In other words, while we are living in our flesh body, we do not worry about being clothed in this flesh body, as much as we are concerned with our clothing for our spiritual body. "Mortal" means liable to die, and this old tent of flesh and blood that we call our human body will pass on in due time. "..might be swallowed up of life", means that when we accept Christ there is no death to our lives. Death becomes swallowed up in eternal life. II Corinthians 5:5 "Now He That hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, Who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." It is God that prepared for Himself a people, and you are His child. This word "earnest" is a legal term, which means to guarantee something. God formed all men and women, and you can see everyone living in their flesh body visible. However, God gives you and guarantees to you that you will have a spiritual body also, even though you can't see it that inner man, it is there and you are real. Even unbelievers have the inner body, but when you accept Christ, you have an addition to your inner man, for God places His Holy Spirit within you. This guarantee is something that you can count on, it is true. II Corinthians 5:6 "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:" This is physically speaking, that when you are living within your flesh body, you are not present with the Lord in heaven. This is not speaking spiritually, for when you are in Christ, He is in you. But physically your body is on earth and our Heavenly Father is in heaven. To understand this, we have to understand the three offices of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is in us and with us now in this age of the flesh. The Son of God, Jesus Christ will be coming back at the seventh trumpet to establish His Millennium thousand year kingdom, and He will be on earth in person living with us at this time. Though we are on earth, the age of this flesh and blood bodies will not be here, but we will all be living in our inner man bodies, the spiritual bodies that will be clothed in our righteous acts. Then after the Millennium age and after judgment day, the full Godhead will be here on earth and we will be living in a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth will be passed away. It will be a rejuvenated earth. There is no way that you can be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ while you are in the flesh body. I Corinthians 15:50; "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." When Jesus returns to earth all flesh is done away with, and all, good and bad alike are changed into their inner man bodies. Those spiritual bodies are the ones that we will live in through the Millennium age. Even now, while Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, you can not stand in the presence of the Father while in the flesh body. Why? Flesh is filth of the dust of the earth. II Corinthians 5:7 "(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)" Though I cannot see a spiritual body, unless at the point of death God so intends us to do so when it returns to the Father, the faith that we have is not by what we see but the hope that is within our inner man. We don't have to see it to know it, because we have His Word and His guarantee that our inner man has life eternal. It is by faith that we know that when this tabernacle of the flesh body dies, our spiritual inside being will instantly return to the Father that sent it. It is not flesh and blood, but it is eternal, because we believe upon His Word. We take it sight unseen, and know by faith, by the very guarantee on God's holy Word. II Corinthians 5:8 "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Paul is saying here that we are not afraid to face death, because when we pass from this flesh body we then will be, or are instantly present with the Lord. However those that think that they can present themselves mentally unstable and take their own life, they are committing murder of one of His children. God placed you on this earth for a purpose, and even though your inner man is residing in your particular body and under conditions you may not like, it is still God's, and He still has a purpose for your life. When you snuff out that physical body, you are not killing a soul, but removing something that God intends to use for His purpose. In other words, it is not going to be that pleasant for you appearing before the Father, as a murderer, even though it is the murder your own body. So Paul is saying that I am confident and know for a fact that when I am absent from this body, I will stand instantly before the Father that created me. II Corinthians 5:9 "Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him." We work and do the things that we do so that when we stand in the presence of God, we will be accepted by Him. It is important that you understand this. You must work for Him while in this flesh body, for it is work done now that establishes what your inheritance will be throughout eternity. Though heaven is a far better place, if you are not accepted when you get there, you will be at the judgment seat of Christ, and God will determine on which side of the gulf you will go. There is a division in paradise, the place where the inner bodies go when then the flesh body dies. Jesus told us in the parable in Luke 16:26; "And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.' " Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham with God, while the rich man that gave no thought for God in this life, was on the other side of the gulf. Yes all souls will return to the Father, however for those that gave no consideration of God's ways while living in their flesh and blood bodies, will not have the same considerations of their soul body when they have returned to the Father. There are two sides and a great gulf between them in God's heavenly kingdom. This is why Paul said, "Wherefore we labor", this is why we labor in our work of preaching the gospel. For you and I it is the planting of the seeds of truths of God's Word, and the helping of those that need help. Its being there when others need you, and helping out with a joyful heart. The eye mirrors the soul, and it gives a lift to the one that needs it. Your reward for planting the seed is the same as the evangelist receives. What is important is that you are faithful in the gifts that God has given to you. What a wonderful time that it shall be when we are acceptable to our Father and hear Him say, "Well done My faithful servant." The choice is yours whether you become acceptable or not to the Father. II Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." If there was ever a doubt in your mind as to who would appear before the judgment seat of Christ, it is answered here. Every last soul, that has ever lived and was created will appear at the judgment seat of Christ. The good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful are all going to appear at the judgment seat of Christ, and every soul that lived in a physical body will give an account of themselves for the things that they have done while living in their flesh body. It doesn't mean just those that believe, or those that disbelieve, it means everyone. Then each soul will be judged by what you have done while in your flesh body. If you are a believer, and have repented of your sins in Jesus name, and have tried to live the life and follow the ways that Jesus set for us then God will bless you with a good life. However if you are not a believer, and thought you could get away with the sinful ways of living your life, you will be judged on those merits also. Remember that God can read your mind and know your thoughts as you are thinking them. There are no alibis at the judgment seat of Christ. Just like God's laws are absolute, so are the reasons that you do what you do in your flesh body. Shades of bad are bad, and the shades of the truth that are allowed in these human court are just not acceptable. It is absolute, good or bad, and what is important then is what you did while you were in your flesh body, the tabernacle or tent that our soul is housed in. Both sinners and saints are going to appear at this eternal court and give an account of every word and deed that they have said and committed in their life time. Do you see how important that it is to confess your sins to the Father in Jesus name, for those sins that have been repented of in earnest to the Father, and placed under the blood of Christ are blotted out of the eternal records. Confessed sins is off the books and out of the sight of God and as far as God is concerned, they just didn't happen. This is not talking about the great white throne judgment that is written of in Revelation 20:11-15, but the judgement that happens at the point of death, when your soul returns to the Father that sent it, and standing there on the right hand of the Father is our advocate Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one that presents your case to the Father, and believe me, you want Jesus on your side at this time. Jesus made it very clear that there is a gulf in the paradise, and that those who would not accept His gift of eternal life would go to the other side of that gulf. It is not a burning hell at this time, but the pressure of knowing that God did not accept that one is a burning hell of torment to that soul. A soul enters that other side, separated from God knowing full well that his deeds were bad and unrepented of. So watch out for those that would teach that the souls of the good folks are in heaven, and those that were bad are out there in the hole in the ground waiting to be burned in Hell fire. It is not written in God's Word anywhere. There are a few places where people mistranslate, but Paul assure us, "we must all appear at the judgment seat of Christ" when we died. This is the judgment that decides just where you will be during the Millennium age, and that is an entirely different subject. However, no matter what side of that gulf that you are on in heaven [after death, you will be conscious. You will be mentally aware and awake of everything that is going on. Again this is taught by Jesus Christ Himself and from His mouth in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. You will be there and you can count on it, and that is why repentance of your sins becomes so important. That is why those all your sins must be washed in the blood of Jesus the Christ, and it is such a wonderful thing. The blood of Christ through your repentance makes you acceptable to the Father, and places you on the same side as Lazarus, Abraham, Jesus and all those that have died in their flesh bodies that have repented their sins also in Jesus name. II Corinthians 5:11 "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." My friend, it is going to be the most frightening thing in the entire universe to have Jesus not accept you, and to be rejected by the Father, branded as His reject. "Persuade" in the Greek is "believe ones self", and Paul is telling us that we cause men to believe the reality that each of us will be made to stand in the presence of God. To "manifest" is to be put and made known in each person's mind that they personally will be in the very presence of God. When each person hears these words of truth, it becomes reality in their conscience or thought process, then he or she will not have to see to believe. Today your "faith" will not be by sight but by the guarantee of our Heavenly Father, that before He ever placed you within your mother's womb, that you would return back to Him. "Let that be made manifest", means "let this be made an actuality within your own mind. II Corinthians 5:12 "For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart." "Commend" as used here means to "brag" about ourselves. Paul is just going to be very blunt about this; we cannot brag about ourselves for what we have taught you. However when you listen to those super-preachers that bring you some other story, other than what I have told you, this truth as to "where the dead are" should be fixed in your mind. That which is unseen to you is your knowledge as to your acceptance of those things which you simply cannot see with your own eyes. However the fact that you know it to be true because it is guaranteed from God Himself. Paul is looking forward to the judgment seat of Christ, and stating that those that look like preachers and act like preachers, though they present themselves to be preachers, what they say is false. If their words are not backed up by God's Word, those words are not of God. Remember what was going on in Corinth at the time of Paul's writing, the church was split into four divisions. There were preachers of four different denominations there all giving out bad information. It is no different today as it was in Paul time. Whenever you have people gathered together to study God's Word, you are going to have those that sneak in unawares, trying to peddle their traditions, and sidetrack you from truths of God's Word. This is why it is important to study God's Word for yourself, and allow the Holy Spirit to place the truth in your mind, as you dig out the truths and prove them for yourself. When you discard the traditions of men, and allow the simplicity of God's Word and the touch of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct you, He will change you. II Corinthians 5:13 "For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." Even though the world might think us as being mad or insane when we don't follow their ways, it is for God's sake that we bring this cause to you. That cause is the stating that "there is life after death". When life within our physical bodies is over, we all shall stand at the judgment seat of Christ. We are going to give an account to Christ for everything that we say and do. The Holy Spirit is the one that reveals this fact to us, and lifts that veil as to what happens when we are at Christ's judgment seat. Rather than, "it is to God", it should read, "it is for God" that every one should know of this fact. For when we know of this judgment time, it must have an effect on what we do in this life. The whole reason to teach of this inner man being present with the Lord when it departs from the outer man or the flesh body, is that it is true. It may sound like insanity at first to the unbeliever, but it is our guarantee from God. II Corinthians 5:14 "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead:" The love of Christ "constraineth" ["sunecho" in the Greek] us, which means "causes us to be a prisoner" to the cause of Christ. In other words, if Christ died for all, then when we accept that fact, in Christ there is no death for us. In time death will come to these flesh bodies by what ever the cause, but in Christ there is only life. Jesus Christ died on the cross that you and I may have that life. When you are in that love of Christ, then God gives you peace of mind that allows you to be happy and content with those thing that go on around you. For you know that the things that are happening are all part of God's Word. II Corinthians 5:15 "And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him Which died for them, and rose again." This then is the key point to the whole chapter. Jesus died and rose from the dead, and He did not stay in the tomb. Just as Jesus overcame death, so also you and I will not stay in our tomb, for upon death each of our souls return to the Father that sent our souls at the time of conception. There is no soul sleep out there in the cemetery, or anywhere, for upon death, all souls rises to be with Christ. That is the hope of our salvation, and the purpose of your living in these flesh bodies, for once we have completed our work here that God intended for us to do, He brings us back to Himself. Even before Jesus died, this fact was shown to three of Jesus' special disciples. Matthew 17:2 "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart," Matthew 17:2 "And was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." Matthew 17:3 "And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him." Not only was Christ transformed into that inner man [soul] body, but for the sake of the Scriptures just given, Moses and Elijah were present also. Jesus let us know that He had the power of the Heavenly Father. In fact even in His name "Emmanuel", being fully translated means "God with us". This name was given by God to Jesus before Jesus was even conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Matthew 1:22 "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying," Matthew 1:23 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, "God with us." " Isn't that great, the fact that God would allow these three special witnesses to look upon the Jesus and the prophets Moses and Elias [Elijah] to see what our new spiritual transformed bodies would be like after we depart from the flesh. Our Heavenly Father has the power over death, and when we are in Him, He is in us and we also have the power over death for our soul [our inner man]. So what Paul is saying is that when Christ died, He died for us that through His death we can have the same eternal life. Don't apply these statements in reference to the flesh, for they apply only to our inner man, the soul that lives within the flesh body. II Corinthians 5:16 "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." At the time of Paul wrote this letter, there were many that had lived and walked with Jesus while he was living and walking in His flesh body. They would say, I walked with Jesus and I heard Him personally and even ate dinner with Him. They treat Jesus as if He was a man that had died and was gone off to the heavenlies, and it was all over. The fact is though, Christ had died, He did not stay in the tomb, but He rose and ascended into heaven. Christ lives today, and He lives within each of us when we believe and have faith in Him. He is still with us and He will be with us at every meal that we eat and moment that we live. His Spirit lives within us to given us peace of mind and eternal life. However the meals that we have with Him now is for spiritual food that come from the Word of God. It is by His Spirit that allows our minds to hear the truth and to know that it is true. II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." There is a qualification to becoming a new creature or creation, and that is "if any man be in Christ". So the key here is to "be in Christ". How are you to become "in Christ"? You are in Christ when you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten of the Heavenly Father, born of a virgin, and through His death on the cross, the price for your sins were paid for in full. Then in believing this, you repent to the Father God, in His Son "Jesus name", and accept the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross for the full payment of your sins. If you keep hanging on to those sins once they have been repented, and allow Satan and others of Satan to throw them back into your face, then it becomes mockery of everything that Jesus Christ did on the cross, and in rising from the dead. Worrying about old sins that have been repented of is a mockery of God and His entire plan. Upon repentance in Jesus name, Christ makes you a fresh person, clean from all your sins of the past in your inner man, and He forgives and blots out all those sins that have been repented of. Those sins that held a the death sentence on your soul have been taken away, and you are a new individual. It is not right for any church body to judge and hold repented sins against anybody after they have been repented of and forgiveness has been granted by Christ. Christianity then is a message that revives you and reconciles you back to God, and changes your life with every repentance. Yes, even after you are saved, you will commit sins, but when you commit those sins you do not have to be saved all over again, but you do have to repent them to the Father each time. It becomes a daily thing, just like eating is necessary for the nourishment to your physical body. It brings you back into the family circle of God that allows us to have peace of mind, and God just doesn't want to hear of those things any more. Not even a thought and mention of them. So it is then required of you that you be able to forgive yourself. If you have accepted Christ's blood for your sins covering, He can forgive you upon your repentance. Even for the new Christian, he or she is made an absolutely new person. Many times Christians physical bodies feel the punishment after repentance, because of what they have done prior to becoming a Christian. This cause may be in drugs, alcohol, or any of many other habits when their flesh gains control over them. Even in the case of AIDS acquired by Sodomy or some other means, and you may think that you are as good as dead; However in Christ, you become a new creation, and God gives you the right to a new start. Your heavenly Father that created your soul makes your soul over new, afresh. Old things are passed away, and you are somebody with a new start. However you have to do it in Christ. II Corinthians 5:18 "And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;" Once you are reconciled to Christ, everything that God gives you to make your new life is given for the sake of your ministry to others of Jesus Christ. Notice that there is a qualification to those that are reconciled to God, and that is that they have done their reconciling by Jesus Christ. You are the one that makes the move for the reconciliation, and you do that through your repentance of your sins. This doesn't mean that God is going to reconcile everything in the world to Him, but only those that come to the Father by the way as He prescribed, and that way is by faith, through God's grace and our repentance to the Father in Jesus name. Jesus Christ is our only credentials before the throne of God. II Corinthians 5:19 "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the world of reconciliation." You must believe in the written Word of God [to wit], that God was in Christ. Remember John 10:30; "I and My Father are One." Jesus said in verse nine of that chapter; "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." God is in Jesus because the two are one, and only in and through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ is there reconciling back to God. You come into all the promises that are written in the Word of God, when you are reconciled back to God. II Corinthians 5:20 "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." The Corinthians became ambassadors for Christ when they heard the good news through Paul and those that were with him and believed. You became an ambassador for Christ through the one that taught you, and brought you to the understanding of God's love and His Word. When God creates a new creature in you, He also created a new ambassador for Himself. We fulfill our duties as Christ's ambassadors every day of our life, while we are in this flesh body, and following the path that Jesus Christ has taught us to live. II Corinthians 5:21 "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Jesus became the perfect sacrifice at the throne of God, we read of in Hebrews 10:7-10. Hebrew 10:7 "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God." Every thing that Jesus did while he was here on earth, from His birth to the time of the ascension into heaven, was to fulfill the entire "volume of the book". That book is God's written Word, and Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is the Word that became flesh and dwelt amongst us. Hebrews 10:8 "Above when He said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein;" which are offered by the law;" Nothing within the law gave the freedom and salvation that the blood of Christ gives to us, only it provided to our forefather a schoolmaster and temporary covering until Jesus Christ could pay that price. Hebrews 10:9 "Then said He, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second." Everything that Jesus did and said was to fulfill the Will, or written earnest Word that God gave to the prophets, that we call the Old Testament today. Jesus death on the cross fulfilled that will. When a person writes a Will, it is always written before the fact, to be carried out after His death when he is no longer with you in the flesh. The Old Testament is God's written will, and the New Testament is the fulfilling of that Will after the terms of the Will have been met. Hebrews 10:10 "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all." The "which will" is the completing of what was written of those sacrifices for our sins, and that was completed in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. He paid the price with his blood on the cross, and that price had to be paid for only once. He died once, and when you repent for your sins, you repent once in Jesus name, and not over and over for the same sin. Christ never sinned, and He never became sin while on the cross; but He used His blood to redeem us from our sins. When you go to the store and buy a loaf of bread for three quarters and a dime, you pay it with that change, you don't become that change, but you earn the change to have it to pay for the bread. Christ never became sin, nor did He ever sin, and if someone tells you that He did, look out for them and their dogma. Your sins were placed upon Christ, for He did not commit them, you did. But Jesus Christ paid that price to where anyone can place their sins on Christ, by faith in Him and repenting in Jesus name, then you become an ambassador for God Himself.
Home .~ Plough .~ Seeds .~ Vine .~ Potter .~ Seasons .~ Sonshine .~ Rain .~ Field |