UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - Part 9 - Final

JUSTIFICATION

This teaching on salvation is much more longer than this. I had highlighted up to 21 lessons before, but because of time and space, I chose nine of it and I am sure many who read them will be blessed by them all. You can share your testimonies later, there have been testimonies already.

Now to the issue of Justification, let us make it clear that everyone who has received salvation is FULLY JUSTIFIED!

It is important to also note that we the gentiles were not given the law in the first place, so we need not be judged by the law. The Jews were once under the law and now have been delivered from the curse of the law as well as the burden of the law. But the whole world has been sold under sin, whether jew or gentile. 

The blood of Jesus Christ has been shed for the remission of sins.

You and I have been justified.

We have been declared not guilty by the Father!

Jesus Christ took our place in redemption
He was made our sin
He went to the Hell we were supposed to go
He was punished in our place
He was judged in our place

All this because of our justification!
We have all been justified by faith in these things.
Our justification is not in our works!
We were not involved in the redemption work
God started it and finished it!

Someone asked, after I have been saved, if I commit fornication will I need to be saved again?
Answer is NO!
It is impossible!
You cannot be saved twice!
The death of Jesus was once, his resurrection was once. Therefore the sacrifice for sins was offered JUST ONCE!
So you can only be saved ONCE!
Yes, just ONCE!

There is no more sacrifice for sins,and hence you cannot be saved twice!
You may say, but sir...what then will happen to me if fornicate after my born again experience?

Answer: NOTHING will happen to you. You HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED freely BY HIS GRACE!
The sacrifice of sins is for PAST,PRESENT and FUTURE sins. Yes! You were not born when Jesus was sacrificed for your sins. Your past sins before you become saved were future sins as at the time Jesus died, so his death paid for all sins thousands of years into the future.

So your future sins have also been paid for.

The lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world!

There is no more sin as far as God is concerned. He has ended the reign of sin.

You have been JUSTIFIED!
You may say how?
Your salvation is ETERNAL!

Since GOD is an EVERLASTING FATHER, you and I cannot be TEMPORARY sons, we are EVERLASTING SONS!

We can never be disowned!

This is FULL JUSTIFICATION revealed throughout the word of God.

You may ask, what exactly is the basis for our Justification?

See it now...

Before you got saved...

You = Sinner
Jesus Christ = Righteous

When you BELIEVE the gospel of your redemption
Your Sins were exchanged with the Righteousness of Jesus Christ!

That's what we call the SUBSTITUTIONARY Work of Redemption!

Your dead spirit was substituted for the life of God in Christ Jesus.
You became Holy!
You became Righteous!
You became all what Jesus Christ is.

In return, Jesus Christ became all what you were.

Then he received your judgment!

You can no longer go to hell if you are saved!

You have been saved forever to be in the kingdom of God

NOTE: I have not encouraged sin, and I have not encouraged fornicators. I have only emphasized on the WHOLE TRUTH OF JUSTIFICATION!

THAT JUSTIFICATION is annoying to the LAW MINDED CHRISTIANS does not make the word of God a lie!

Keep basking in God's love!

Amen.

THE END!

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 8

CONFESS, REPENT OR BELIEVE?

This is another critical issue we need to look at closely. Since we have established that salvation can only be received but faith in Christ Jesus from lessons 3 and 4, what about other things attached to receiving salvation like REPENTANCE and CONFESSION? 

REPENTANCE

The word repentance means TO CHANGE one’s mind

Repentance does not mean that you should smash yourself on the floor and begin to cry about your sins

Repentance does not include any form of restitution

Repentance simply means changing your mid and believing the gospel.

The original word used for repentance in the word of God is metanous and that’s it meaning, meta means Change, nous is the mind. It is the English dictionary that has a different meaning for the word, which many have adopted in the church today. The original word used in the scriptures simply means changing of the mind about something.

Have you seen the scripture in the book of Exodus talking about GOD repenting?

So if the word was used for God, then surely it is not related to sin or restitution or whatever we have called it today.

Now repentance which is changing of one’s mind is a simultaneously activity with believing during salvation.

When you repent, you believe at the same time.

They are not two separate events

Repentance and believing goes hand in hand. You repent in your mind, you also believe in your mind.

There is no difference!

Jesus Christ, John the Baptist and Peter used the word more often than anyone in the bible during their preaching because they were almost all the time preaching to STUBBORN Jews who would not believe the son of a carpenter as Jesus Christ. Paul is not conversant with the word at all. on the other hand , they all used the word BELIEVE.

Believing the gospel has repentance attached to it. It is simultaneous and does not involve the confession of sins or feeling guilty for sins.

CONFESSION

According to Romans 10, it says one must CONFESS with the MOUTH and BELIEVE in the HEART

We are OKAY with the word BELIEVE, and of course it further said that - with the heart, a man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth a man confesses unto salvation

So what about those who cannot confess? Like the DUMB?

Remember that Paul specifically mentioned “mouth” for confession and “heart” for believing

Now this is the problem which only contextual meaning and proper division of the word of God can solve.

In lesson 6, we learnt about the tenses of salvation. In it is the solution to this problem.

The salvation mentioned in this passage is not the born again experience. You can only be born again, receive eternal life or receive the righteousness of God by BELIEVING the GOSPEL and BELIEVING ALONE. You cannot receive eternal life by CONFESSION!

You would notice how that this problem of confessing with the mouth for salvation occurred only ONCE in this passage throughout the entire bible. No one ever asked anyone to confess to be saved, not even Paul throughout his missionary days.

So our misinterpretation of this verse is in the meaning of the words "CONFESS" and "SALVATION"

The word confess in the passage goes beyond talking, it means “to make covenant with or to acknowledge” so confessing Jesus is not just speaking, it is an activity that is rooted in the heart. Therefore it is also simultaneous with believing. For you to hear the gospel and believe, you have repented and have confessed Jesus as your savior also. All is rooted from the same heart. So the confession in the passage is not necessarily in words.

But PAUL mentioned MOUTH? Yes. See verse 8, it says the word of faith is there in our MOUTH and OUR HEART, so it is a matter of option. We can have the confession both in the heart and in the mouth.

So a DUMB can be saved, as well as a DEAF if they can hear the gospel and BELIEVE in the heart.

Again, Paul said the confession is made unto salvation….

So what salvation is Paul referring to?

It is the salvation of the soul, the alignment of the believer with the Holy Spirit and the release of what is deposited in the spirit of the believer at salvation.

The salvation that confession with the MOUTH can address is the salvation from the motions of sins in our daily life. That is, if you confess to people around you that you are saved, you would help yourself in overcoming the promptings of the flesh.

Confession establishes faith the more, the more you confess your faith, the more you free yourself from addictions and sinful desires. Confession of who are in Christ Jesus is the key to overcoming any struggle you may encounter in the flesh.

Confession is needed for the salvation of the soul. That is what Paul is saying. He is not saying that you must confess to receive eternal life! No! Eternal life is received only by believing. It is a believer that can now confess their righteousness in Christ Jesus in other to save their soul, which is what the context is saying.

Let’s nail it…

See how Paul said later in the passage…

For whosoever call upon the name of the Lord will be saved, notice that before he said whosoever confesses will be saved

Now we know that "calling" = "confessing"…since he said both of them will bring salvation

In other to be sure that the salvation is not the born again experience... See what he said next about the calling

HOW SHALL THEY CALL ON HIM WHOM THEY HAVE NOT BELIEVED? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

You see? so they must
1. Hear
2. Believe
3. Call

So the confession unto salvation that Paul is talking about is something that must be done after BELIEVING. So it is an after-born-again thing. It is the salvation of the soul. It is the act of trusting God for the outworking power of the Holy Spirit in attending to the weaknesses, addictions and challenges of the flesh

ETERNAL LIFE can only be received by BELIEVING the FINISHED WORKS of the Cross.

REPENTANCE and CONFESSION are necessary, you can practice them but none of it is a BASIC REQUIREMENT for ETERNAL LIFE..

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 7

YOU CANNOT MAKE HEAVEN

One of the problems we have in the body of Christ is our laziness to carefully study the word of God for ourselves. We have been accustomed into believing everything we hear from any man of God and any spiritual leader who have assumed a teacher of the word. Most times, these people are honest with their teachings, but it is important that a believer sits down and check these things whether they were so, just like the Berean church did in the book of Acts.

Now, let us make it clear that YOU CANNOT MAKE HEAVEN

NO ONE CAN!

Not your pastor!

Not your arch bishop!

Not your general overseer!

Not anybody!

No one!

Everyone who claims that they can make heaven is joking. They will end up in frustration.

NO MAN CAN ACHIEVE SALVATION.

We have established it and I will repeat over and over again that salvation cannot be ACHIEVED BY ANY MAN!

You can only receive what Jesus Christ has ACHIEVED for humanity!

Heaven is not far, for anyone who believes!

Believing the gospel is what makes you a citizen of the kingdom of God

Not forsaking your sins!

You cannot forsake your sins by yourself! The Holy Spirit will help you to do that as you fellowship with him daily. This is what we have established in the previous lesson as the salvation of the soul which takes place every day!

You cannot be holy by your dressing or conduct! NO ONE CAN! All your holiness at the end of the day will not match God’s requirement!

God’s requirement is not your HOLINESS! But Christ’s HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS available at salvation for anyone who believes in him!

Don’t be fooled by what you read in Hebrews 12:14, it is not talking about making heaven, it is talking about the world seeing God through you. It is talking about your lifestyle as a Christian. Not about making heaven. I wish there was space to expound more on this verse.

NO ONE CAN MAKE HEAVEN!

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life!

No one can get to the father but by him, i.e by BELIEVING IN HIS FINISHED WORKS!

Not by religiously living a holy life by obeying the rules of the law

The bible said by the law shall no man be justified!

You will fail every day, if you want to build your holiness by obeying the law! Everyone who has tried this has failed!

Everyone who BELIEVE the finished works of the cross have been translated into the kingdom of God. No more translation by your works!

For by GRACE you have been SAVED…Past tense! Not of works!

Stop struggling to make Heaven. You cannot make it! Believe in the finished works!

WHOSOEVER BELIEVES WILL NOT PERISH

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 6

THE TENSES OF SALVATION

Throughout the entire bible especially in the epistles, there are three different ways by which salvation is communicated. A proper understanding of these three tenses is vital in understanding the whole essence of salvation and living without any more doubts about the finished works of the cross.
Jesus had defeated SIN, DEATH and SATAN

SIN is DEAD!
DEATH has been ABOLISHED!
SATAN has been DEFEATED!

There should be no doubts!

Every doubt you may have about the work of salvation must be in the proper understanding of the tenses of salvation.

Poor understanding is the basis for the erroneous preaching of many things attached to salvation.

What are the tenses of salvation?
1. That we WERE saved
2. We ARE BEING saved
3. And that we SHALL BE saved

Three ways the scriptures have addressed salvation all through from Matthew to Revelation. Failure to understand that we were saved more than two thousand years ago, we are being saved everyday and that we shall be saved one day is what has produced denominations today all around the world. People have as a result failed to agree on critical issues like ETERNAL SALVATION, SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS, and HOLY LIFE among others

.

This has caused a lot of controversy which we shall make simple before the end of this teaching series.
Now, recall that our Man is spirit, soul and body.

The Spirit was what received salvation upon BELIEVING on the FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS
The soul is what is getting saved day by day
The body is what will be saved

The salvation of man was paid for in full no doubt. But the reception will come in stages. This is because the damaged done by the transgression of the first man was in stages.

The spirit man is the post important part of man, we have established this many times since the beginning of this teaching. The spirit man is what received the eternal life of God and the righteousness of God. The spirit man has been saved and sealed with the Holy Spirit the day you believe the gospel. 

The spirit man has been made exactly like God (born of God) and it is the spirit of man that God is interesting mostly in. Therefore, it does not mean that if our soul and body is not saved, we are still separated from God. No! it only means that we cannot fully function like him.

The soul is the intermediary between the spirit and body, but the major steering of man since the fall. 

Every sinful thought is from the heart/mind of man, which is located in the soul. In fact, the mind of man is the central part of the soul, everything you do thus comes from the directives of the soul. So the soul needs to be saved i.e aligned with the saved spirit. That is why every believer is not expected to go and sleep after they receive salvation. The salvation they receive is fully present in their spirit and they have been born of God no doubt but the fullness of God they have is needed to manifest through their soul outwards. This is what Paul called the renewal of the mind in Romans 12. The Holy Spirit will help the believer to do that. That is the basic work of the Holy Spirit; to open the eyes of the believer to see who they are in the spirit and to release what has been deposited in their spirit to their body through the soul. Nothing can be seen outwards except it passes through the soul. The soul of man is the problem of man. 

Remember we established that it was when man became a living soul that he disobeyed God. The soul of man is what produces the thoughts that are contrary to the way of God.

The body of man on the other hand will be changed. This is the evolution of the immortality of the spirit man within. This is the last thing that will happen after the spirit salvation, and the soul salvation. This is the end of our faith as Peter puts it. The immortal body will be made available for us all and we shall finally put off this body of death.

We have been saved!

We are been saved inwardly everyday as we behold the word of God and yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit. This is not to be confused for works. There is no works needed for salvation on our part. This is called the outworking of the Holy Spirit.
One day, we shall put on the immortal body, which is the end of our salvation.

So verses like “Work out your salvation with trembling and fear” which has caused more headache for some believers is not about being born again but about the saving of the soul by the outworking power of the Holy Ghost. Go, read the book of Philippians well to see what Paul meant with carefulness not deviating from the context, you will understand that this is not about you struggling to make heaven.

A proper study of the context of any passage that has the word “salvation” or “saved” will help us to understand what kind of salvation the author is referring to.

Context is very important

Don’t just conclude anyhow

These three tenses are all scattered all over the entire bible.
Save yourself from Ignorance, rightly divide them!

God Bless!

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 5

THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION

The gospel means the good news. That is the literal meaning of the word “gospel”. We use it for salvation because salvation is the good news humanity has been waiting for. Since the world have been waiting for the messiah, to redeem them back to God and to save them from the kingdom of Satan. There must necessarily be an awareness to inform the world about what has happened. Hence the proclamation of the gospel.

So if the gospel is the good news that humanity has been waiting for, then it would be a good news that concerns all humanity. That is why the preaching of any other gospel is not the gospel of salvation.

The preaching of hell and every other preaching cannot save the sinner.

So what is the good news all about…and why is it common to humanity?

We are trying to say is that, the good news that is for the whole world must be general good news about a general problem. Definitely it is the good news about FORGIVENESS OF SINS. The need that was met is that mankind has been bought back, and reconciled back to the family of God. This is what everyone longed to hear at that time. The Jews would love this, since they've been stumbling as a result of the laws given, to them and the gentiles would also love this because they were sinners by nature and regarded as the enemies of God. So the good news of redemption is the news that the world needed.

So the gospel is simply about the FORGIVENESS OF SINS

That Jesus Christ was made our sin,  that we might become the righteousness of God

It is not a BAD NEWS, so it shouldn't scare anyone

The gospel message is a good news of peace, not of fear.

So HELL is not involved at all. Those who teach or preach Hell as good news need to know this.

Checking through the scriptures, we see how that the apostles never preach anything except the finished works of Christ. To the Jews, Peter and the other apostles always remind the Israelite of how the promise of the messiah had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ and that he was crucified according to the scriptures for the acceptance into the kingdom of God. For the gentiles, Paul expounded much more on the righteousness which is by faith in Christ Jesus. His preaching have always been about the resurrection of Christ and its implications on us.

That the death and resurrection of Christ is the gospel

And that whosoever BELIEVES these, is saved

Not just saved alone, but has received ETERNAL LIFE and the IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

Salvation is RECEIVED not ACHIEVED

You receive it by FAITH in what Jesus Christ has done for you

Everyone who BELIEVES the gospel of Salvation becomes born again into the family of God.

The gospel is not a threat

The gospel is not about hell

The gospel is not about rapture

The gospel is not about prosperity

The gospel is not about converting your religion

The gospel is about the REDEMPTION OF HUMANITY and the RECEPTION OF ETERNAL LIFE.

Believe!!!

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 4

RECEIVING SALVATION

There are two major things we need to receive which was made ready at redemption. The sacrifice of the lamb was enough to bestow these assets of God unto men. The deposition was made at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was made SIN. This is the SIN of the world. He was the only being to walk the earth without being ruled by SIN. Remember that sin had been ruling humanity and had enslaved them to perform its will. Jesus Christ was the only one who did not sinned. He was completely righteous.

Now you see why it is not what you do that is sin, Jesus Christ never sinned means he was not related with the nature of sin. There was no link between him and Adam. He was born of the Spirit. He said to Nicodemus “he that is born of the spirit is spirit…” he was born not of the seed that is sinful. This made him to be out of bound to Sin. Sin could not dominate him. He was holy, and perfectly righteous. It is a thing of the spirit, not the physical. Paul said “he knew no sin”…that is he has not partaken in the knowledge of good and evil. His source was not Adam, he was born by the Holy Spirit. This is vital because, what must redeem us all must not be like us. He must be someone different and worthy of the sacrifice. It would make no sense if someone who is sold under sin was offered to redeem mankind, which would just be a foolish thing. God’s plan was perfect; he destroyed sin with a lamb without blemish and spot.

When man fell from his position in Genesis, he lost two things.

1.       Life

2.       Righteousness

By life, we mean the life of God. Recall how we have comprehensively explained in the first lesson that man was connected to the Godhead and was living with the same life of God. That the spirit of man evolved from God. You see what happen to the Virgin Mary? That was exactly what happened to man at the garden of Creation. The spirit man proceed from God became human. John says “the word was made flesh”. That was the name of the Spirit that was entered into Mary, he is called the Word. He became Jesus the Christ. What man lost in the garden which Paul calls the “glory of God” is the very life of God and his righteousness. Recall who took dominion from man? Satan…he gave it to Sin…who took away our righteousness and Sin gave it to Death…who took away our life.

It is only when we get back this LIFE OF GOD and this RIGHTEOUSNESS that we become born again into the family of God. We become linked back to the Godhead. We become the just like God made us in the beginning. Since this is a spiritual affair, it is important that we understand this and that it will not immediately show on our body what we have received. The body has been sold to sin for long, it will take some time before what was deposited in the Spirit man begins to show forth in the body, but must first overcome the soul – who has been the steering since the fall.

Remember how we said the spirit of died means in-activeness, therefore the life of God that was received at salvation resurrected the Spirit man and was raised up into the heavens at the right hand of God.

The life made ready at redemption is called THE ETERNAL LIFE

The righteousness made ready at redemption is called THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

Both can ONLY be received by FAITH!

By just believing in the works of redemption, you receive the gifts: ETERNAL LIFE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

These two gifts are made available in your spirit

They are not visible

That is why it cannot be acquired by visible works

ETERNAL LIFE is a free gift you receive upon salvation by just believing in the FINISHED WORKS of Jesus Christ

RIGHTEOUSNESS by the law cannot save; you can only be saved by the righteousness of god. The same righteousness that saved Jesus Christ was given to you at the day he died as SIN. You can only receive it by believing.

It is important to note that the whole world is entitled to these two GIFTS

But WHOSOEVER BELIEVES will not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE

WHOSOEVER BELIEVES NOT is condemned already!

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 3

THE WORK OF REDEMPTION

Bravo! Jesus Christ has saved the world from Sin, Death and Satan.

You see how we call it? The FINISHED WORK OF REDEMPTION or we say THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS.

Note that it is a work. Jesus Christ has done the work than man was supposed to do. He has not just done the work; he has also finished all the work necessary for the salvation of man.

The work of redemption is what Jesus Christ did thousands of years ago, to save humanity from damnation and from the power of Satan.

Remember how that humanity was under the dominion of Sin. Humanity could not help themselves.  Sin reigned from the first man Adam to Moses. Then God decided to introduce the law to his people in order for them to know how wretched they were and how important it is for them to be saved. 

Before the time of Moses, there was no law. Everyone was doing what was right in their sight. God also did not impute sin, that is, God did not hold anyone guilty at that time. This is because where there is no law, there is no sin. There was nothing God could use to judge them. There was no standard for righteousness. Everyone that sinned during that period sinned and went away with it. Although the wages of sin had always been death. Even though God did not judge them, they received the consequences for their sins. Their minds also judged them. This is because they had eaten from the tree of good and evil. So man knows what was good and what was evil. God needs not to inform man again of whatever they do, whether it was good or evil. The faculty of man which is the soul man had become the ruler of man after the fall. The spirit man died. By “death” we do not mean extinction, we mean dormancy. The spirit of a man became useless; it could not perform its function anymore. Note that the spirit of man is the faculty of man that was connect to the Godhead, it is the real man made by God. So, after the fall, the Soul man became the steering of man. And since the mind is the central part of the soul, man could only reason according to his senses and do the good they can. However, the goodness of man was foolishness to God. Since Sin was reigning in the body of the man through the soul. Man was helpless.

So Israelites were given the law. Remember how we have established that God chose Israel to become the channel into achieving a family of his. So God saw how humanity had been too sinful and captive under the chains of sin and death. God came to the rescue of humanity, but he had to start with his people – Israel. God gave the Israelites the law through an Angel.

The law was good, it helped the people chosen by God to live right at least better off than before. However, the law became a stumbling block for them again. The law made them to become more enslaved by sin. The more they try to attain the righteousness that was by the law, the more they fall under the whip of sin. Law could not save them as they thought it would. But God knew what he was doing. God is the smartest being, he introduced the law so that his people can know what is good and pleasing in the sight of God and what is not. He introduced the law so that his people can see their shortcomings and admit their sinful nature. He introduced the law so that his people can appreciate the savior when he introduces him. God had to wait for the right time, before he introduced the savior to them. He had the plan of redemption in mind before the world began. It is part his immutable counsel that mankind who will rebel should be saved by the lamb. He didn’t just think of it when Adam fell, or when the law could not save his people from sin. He purposely allow the law to expose their sins the more, so that he could use that opportunity to introduce his plan to the world and to his people and that his plan may expressly display his dimension of love. This plan is the plan of redemption!

Jesus Christ redeemed mankind from sin, death and Satan. By the word redeemed. It shows how we became possessed by this trio after the fall. We became lost. We became slaves to sin. Then he offered himself as the lamb sacrifice to redeem us all. We then became the desired children that God wanted. The work of redemption was done from the time Jesus was arrested, flogged, spatted upon, to the cross….

And then after everything, he said…

IT IS FINISHED!

The works of redemption is finished. Humanity has been redeemed. Humanity has been saved. Humanity has been reconciled back to God. We returned to our original position with the Godhead. 

We became saved by his WORK. Not our works, not our righteousness.

Jesus did not save only the Jews who were God’s chosen people, he saved the world… not just Christians, and Muslims, Hindus Shinto, and the rest have been redeemed back to God.

We now have a problem…

This is the problem of humanity hearing, understanding and believing everything about redemption. 

Humanity is still wallowing shamefully under the chains of religion that cannot save, and have failed to believe that they have been totally saved by the works of one man, Jesus Christ. Jesus paid it all, he redeemed you and me. You have been bought back into the family of God!

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 2

THE TWO EXPERIMENTS OF GOD’S NATURE

So when we say man fell, we mean man was demoted from his original position in the Godhead. It does not mean that man fall in love in with or fall for love and ate the forbidden fruit. We mean man’s place in the heavenlies was vacant. This is exactly the reason why believers are said to be sitted in the heavenlies upon salvation.

Now see the hierarchy before the fall of man in Genesis

1.      God

2.      Man

3.      Angels

4.      Satan

5.      Demons

After the fall…

1.      God

2.      Angels

3.      Satan

4.      Demons

5.      Man

So you see that the fall of man is a hierarchy thing.

In Genesis 1, God was in control of the world

In Genesis 2, Man was given the control by God

In Genesis 3, Satan took the control through beguiling Eve

In Genesis 4, Sin got the control through Adam to Cain who killed his brother

In Genesis 5, Death started reigning. Adam first to die, then others.

Now, God’s desire to have a family was only altered, it was not cancelled. God already knew that Man would fall; he demonstrated this by two things:

1.    He slaughtered a lamb to cover the nakedness of the fallen Man in replacement of leaves. This demonstrates prophetically the Salvation through the death of the lamb (JESUS) replacing religion (LEAVES). Religion is good. Just that it is a temporary means of covering the shame of man which the work of the cross has permanently taken away.

2.    He guided the way to the tree of life, in order for man not to permanently remain with the nature of sin.  Man need not to complicate the issue of the fallen glory, so God chased man away. Man would have sealed the sinful nature forever by eating the fruit of the tree of life.

So God retained his plan…You remember the prophecy of the crushing of the serpent’s head? This was about the defeat of Satan. Now God chose a people of his own, through which he will establish his family. He chose Israel through Abraham. Through Israel he chose, Jesus of Nazareth. When he was anointed by the Holy Spirit, he became Jesus Christ. Christ means the anointed one. That was exactly what Peter meant in Acts 10:38. So Jesus Christ died to save the world from the consequences of Sin, Death and Satan. His primary mission was to return Man back to his original position in the hierarchy of the Godhead but he needed to first take away the obstacles, which he has done successfully. The death of Jesus was not because of Heaven, neither was it because people are going to hell. Abraham, Elijah, Moses…and others, even Rah-ab a prostitute who were not perfect were already favorites and accepted by God and never went to hell. So salvation was not an escape from hell. It is a reversal of the dominion of the earth from Death, to Sin, to Satan and then returning it to man. These have all been done beginning with Death. Jesus Christ has restored the Kingdom of God-Man.

That’s why he preached during his time… that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This we shall deeply examine later. However, some people are still waiting for that kingdom of heaven he spoke about. No! The kingdom was established at his resurrection. He conquered the former rulers of this world, sin, death and Satan and established the kingdom with the newly created Spirit man.

The experiment of Holiness was what he performed with the angels, during their time. When their head, Lucifer THOUGHT TO SIN against God and was destroyed. That is, God wanted his creation to know how holy he is and that he is no respecter of persons. As close as Lucifer was, he was destroyed. That’s why angels worship him every time shouting Holy, Holy; holy…they know that dimension of God more than we do.

The experiment of Love was what God performed with Man. Despite the fact that man handed dominion to the enemy of God (Satan), God still saved man all by himself. Man was not involved the salvation work at all. God did it all by himself. This is love! Similarly, we know this dimension more than the angels do.

So Man was returned back to his position after Jesus’ victory of redemption…

1.      God

2.      Man

3.      Angels

4.      Satan

5.      Demons

We have been raised far above powers and principalities, sitted in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION - PART 1

This is a teaching I did on SALVATION between Feb 1 - Feb 3, 2019 on Facebook.

GOD WANTED A FAMILY

The sovereign Lord of the universe at a time at his own pleasure and will wanted a family whom he could relate with. In the school, we teach that a family is a group of people who are related by blood or by marriage. At one time or the other we start longing to have a family of our own. This is true for the kind of family that God wanted except that God is not a human, so he doesn’t have blood neither does he marry. God is a spirit. The word “spirit’ does not mean God is a wind or some kind of ghost. The nature of God cannot be fully captured by man, so one of the words we have deemed fit for Him, is Spirit. Since we know that a spirit is invisible to the human eyes, and God is invisible, so we could best describe him that way. So there is no way he could have a blood.

So God who is a spirit craves for a family of spirits whom he could call his offspring. That they might all become one in the Godhead.

Hebrews 2:10 puts it this way…

…it was fitting that God, FOR WHOM and through whom everything exists…

God created the angels first, we know how that the angels were created as spirits, but God seem to have another formula and picture in mind aside a spirit whose image and likeness is different from His. So God brought the idea of creating man. Man was made in the Image and Likeness of God. Man was made to be like God himself. Man was God’s offspring created to relate with him and that they may be one. So man came out of God. Man was produced by evolving out of the Godhead.

Now watch this…

Man was first in God’s mind before he created him. Before time began, man was in the mind and plan of God. By “mind” don’t assume that man was just a THOUGHT in the mind of God. The mind of God is indescribable. You remember he told Jeremiah that he knew him and has ordained him before he was formed in his mother’s womb. This is exactly how God’s mind looks like. It looks like a summary plane of life. God is alpha and omega. He is Omnipotent – all knowing, so his mind is not our own kind of mind. You get it?

Now back to Genesis..

So God said “Let us make man….” When he was creating other things, he didn’t say ‘let us’ and this verse looks like they have been talking about man before. “And God said, let us make man…” so if I would report the situation, I would say “And God said, the man we talked about, let us make him in our own Image and Likeness”…

That was how man was created immediately and God created man in his very image.  Note how the bible clearly state that God created man in Genesis 1 and later another man was formed in Genesis 2. The man in Genesis 1 was created; the man in Genesis 2 was formed! What happened was that the created man in Genesis 1 was a Spirit just like God wanted. You would see how that God had already blessed them (not him) and told them to multiply and replenish the earth. The account in genesis clearly says he created them: Male and female. So the created man was male and female, not male. Adam was first male and female. That’s why in Genesis 2, after God had formed man, he breathed into his nostrils…

You see, Moses does not have the Holy Spirit and also does not have the Mind of Christ as we believers do today, so the only way he could capture what was released from God was to call it the BREATH OF LIFE. Actually it was the Spirit man that was created in Genesis 1 and already existed in God that was released into a body. You see how he also called the body, he called it DUST. But if you check, you will agree that your body is not dust neither is it clay. Those were the best words suitable at that time. So God released the CREATED SPIRIT of man into the FORMED BODY of man and the bible says there was a reaction….

Spirit Man + Body Man = Soul Man …..

That’s where the problem began…Although God had to do this because the spirit man needed to interact with the World he just created (however, there is a greater reason according to his eternal counsel). So now see what God did after that…remember that the spirit man was male and female? So God took the part that was female from the spirit man (again there was nothing to capture that, so it was called a rib) actually it wasn’t a rib, as in the bone in your body right now. It was much more than that. It was the female section of Adam that God took to make a woman. Notice how that God didn’t breathe into the nostrils of the woman again, before she came alive. God need not to that because the rib was the spirit woman and now we have a man and a woman.

God’s desire with his family is to share a common kingdom over his entire creature. God had created already angels. Now God created the world, full of different kind of creatures and wanted man to rule over them. That’s exactly how he puts it in Genesis 1:28 when he created them…

“And God blessed them, and God said to them. Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth”

Finally, God successfully made something that will function just like him. God took charge of the heavens as God and asked man to take charge of the earth as God. Man was made God on earth. That was why God brought every creature later to man to name them. Only a creator has the power to give a name to a creature. So God demonstrates how that he has given the earth to Man. He finally had a family and was in constant communion with Adam and Eve until the fall…