PART 3: JESUS THE LIFE-GIVING MEDIATOR

Written by On Monday, 07 October 2013 14:37

PART 3: JESUS THE LIFE-GIVING MEDIATOR

AUTHORED BY: SIMON NDOO


John 14:6 “I am …the life; No man comes unto the Father but by Me”.

1 Cor. 15:45 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.”

Romans 5:15-19 “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

“Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

In the last Part 1 and 2 series, we looked at Jesus Christ as the second or last Adam, the Mediator between God and Man, coming to reverse the sin and death the first Adam brought to all men. We considered Jesus as the exclusive way, that is the exclusive method by which the original birth and original sin were reversed by the new birth and new life; and Jesus the exclusive truth, that is, Him being the only person who was qualified to regenerate new life in mankind.

We shall now look at Jesus the exclusive life-giver, or the life-giving Mediator, and see how He contrasts with the first Adam, through whom sin and death spread to all men.

The first man was made in the likeness and the image of God (Gen. 1:26); his life came from the very breath of God (Gen. 2:7); having thus been created and endowed with pure, divine life, God commissioned him to pass on the same (divine and pure) life to his descendants through birth (Gen. 1:28). But Adam failed to deliver on this commission: he sinned by rebellion against God’s command. He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which had the effect of transmuting his good nature into a sinful and depraved nature, bringing to all men physical death (the separation of the soul and spirit from the body) and spiritual death (the separation both the body, soul and spirit from God).

After the fall into sin, Adam could not transmit life in its pure state; he could not give birth to a people with the original pure spiritual life in which he was created; rather he begat people whose consciousness was in disconnect with God (depraved), whose souls were not free, whose natures were subject to the dominion of Satan; whose spirits were dead and dominated by the flesh; so that from one man a rebellious race of humanity spread to the whole world.

The coming and function of Jesus the Messiah and Mediator, the second Adam, was to serve as a “life-giving spirit”, to reverse the death occasioned by the first Adam, to give life where death abounded.

The process of the first creation of Man is significant, for it features God as the only source of life. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen. 2:7. By receiving this life, Adam became the federal head to those who will receive life through him by birth. The hope and the destiny of humanity thus hanged on his shoulders. But Adam failed in this function. In order for the second Adam to reverse the damage of the first Adam, He had to serve the selfsame function of a Federal Head, so that He may give life to all men that will be regenerated or reborn by and through Him, and that way redeem them from the curse of sin and death. In serving this function, Jesus became more than just a Man (the kinsman redeemer), but God-Man, so that He may be God the source of life, and Adam (Man), the propagator of this life to His people.

To this end we find in the Scripture very interesting instances in which Jesus performs the function of a life-giver: (1) “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive you the Holy Spirit” Jn. 20:22. (2) “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up his spirit (or breathed His last)” Mark 15:37) – In these two occasions we see Him breathing out His life, very much similar to Gen. 2:7. In His life, Christ breathed out Holy Spirit into His disciples; in which we may be led to conclude that after He died and rose again, He also breathed out the Holy Spirit to all believers of all ages. In His death, Jesus breathed out His spirit (mark the small letter ‘s’).

Christ’s breathing the Holy Spirit and His spirit was significant to regeneration of souls. The Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Trinity of Godhead) proceeding from Father and the Son, plays a very vital role in our regeneration (Jn. 3:5). The spirit Jesus gave representing His divine life as such, serves as the element (divine nature or seed) in which we are regenerated after (2 Pet. 1:4; 1 Jn. 3:9).

The way of salvation is therefore through new birth; the truth of salvation is by Christ, and the life of salvation is by Christ, so that Christ is all in all, so that no other way is permissible, no other truth is available, and no other life is possible, except by and through Christ. The old eccentric prophet declared in resignation, “Salvation is of the LORD” Jonah 2:9. No other person, human or angelic, could perform the life-giving, creational and regeneration function that would produce pure and perfect people as does Jesus. Redemption through impartation of life by regeneration (new birth) is the work of the Life-Giver, God the Creator, which function Jesus fits perfectly, and in effect locks out any possibility of any human or angel being capable of mediating the redemption of Man by God.

Unto whoever believes in Jesus Christ, he is born again and has everlasting life (Jn. 3:16). There is hope to the lost humanity, in that we can now be reconciled to the Father through His Son. Why should you be lost when the way of true religion, yea, more than religion, but the way, style and design of life as it should be is made so clear and logical? For if there is truth in the creation we see, and in the life forms that exist, then there must be truth in the new creation and the life that comes into men’s souls through Christ.

Unto the objectors to the truth that the hope of mankind hangs on Christ Jesus as the life-giver, here is an argument for your consideration:

For those who would join Pontius Pilate by asking, “What is truth?” Jn. 18:38. Well, there is only one proof of truth, which is the LIFE. Your parents gave life to you (impure as it is), and by this they stand as your only and exclusive parents, a function and status which no other person can claim. The only true parents are the persons who bequeathed you life.

Inasmuch as you exist in this life though the first birth by your biological parents, so will you exist in the life to come through the second birth by the Spirit of Christ. Once that simple truth and logic settles in your mind, you will realize that Christ is the only person who satisfies all the questions of life in regard to the truth and the direction of human destiny.

Regardless of your background and religion, you will realize that it is a life source that will secure your life after death, and that life cannot originate from yourself, from your biological parents, from your religious overseers, or from the angels, or from anything or person created. That life, you’ll realize, must come from God who only is the source of life, and must be conveyed to you through a new birth. To many people such God is unknown and is being worshipped in altars of conscience with inscriptions “TO THE UNKOWN GOD” (Acts. 17:23-31). Such God we preach and make known unto you, proclaiming Him to be Jehovah and Jesus Christ whose power created all things visible and invisible, in the heavenly and galactic realms (Col. 1:16).

The truth for the future survival of mankind is in the God who is the source of life, and if you believe in such God, Jesus bids you thus, “You believe in God, believe also in Me” Jn.14:1, for He is the God you are thinking about and yearning for. If you honestly consider your fallen, sinful, miserable and spiritually dead condition and yearn for life, Jesus is the God-Man who can provide hope and life eternal your heart pants for. For where there is life there is the truth and the way. In Him are these three elements compounded together, “I am the way, the truth and the life; No man comes unto the Father, but by Me”.

Believe in Him now, whatever your background in race, religion, and you will by faith pass from death to life (Jn. 5:24), and you will have eternal life, for this promise forever stands, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but has everlasting life” Jn. 3:16.


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