To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 12:16:32 -0500
Subject: HF019 - God's New Humanity in Christ
Hebraics,
In this Bible study I hope to provoke you to consider what the Biblical term
'Christian' means, and, what it does not mean. I'm not speaking of the
etymological aspects of the term but its prophetic meaning. The term 'Christian'
has to do with a new humanity that has been created in Christ Jesus. This new
humanity was spoken of by the prophets.
The Bible study is HF109 - God's New Humanity in Christ. As a beginning point
let's hear Ephesians 2:8-10, where Paul says,
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. FOR
WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS for good
works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
(Throughout the study 'caps' will be used for emphasis only.)
Note carefully the term, "We are His workmanship." This expression comes
from the prophets. The Biblical term Christian relates to the workmanship of
God. In spite of some ill fame that the term Christian has produced through the
centuries, Peter yet instructs us to never be ashamed of this name. (1Pet4:16)
The prophets spoke of the work of God's hand in two senses. One had to do
with the original creation. The other spoke of a new creation. This new creation
would deeply affect the human family, in that the work of God's hand would be to
bring forth God's children in the earth. These new children would be rooted in
the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as the sand of the seashore
and as the stars in the heavens. The same promise passed to Isaac and to Jacob.
Yet the Patriarchs never saw these children in their lifetime. But it was written
that they would one day see them. There has never been a group of people on the
earth who is able to fulfill this promise aside from the Christians.
God spoke through Isaiah, saying, "Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed
Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob; Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall
his face now turn pale; but when he sees his children, THE WORK OF MY HANDS, in
his midst, they will sanctify My name, indeed they will sanctify the Holy One of
Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel." (Isa29:22,23)
The Lord again speaks through Isaiah; "Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel,
and his Maker, ' Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you
shall commit to Me THE WORK OF MY HANDS." (Isa45:11)
It is so important for believers to understand that the work of the cross was
not to produce a new religion in the earth. The cross has to do with God's
heavenly children. The one thing that held Jesus to the cross was the promise
of heavenly children.
Listen to these Scriptures: "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector
of faith, WHO FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM, endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb12:2)
What was the joy set before Jesus? Hear again; "For both He who sanctifies
[Christ] and those who are sanctified [the children] are all from one Father, for
which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." And again, "Behold, I and
the children whom God has given Me." (Heb2:11,13 respectively) The joy of the
cross was the Abrahamic promise fulfilled. (Of course the promise reaches back
into eternity. We are eternal children.)
Some Christians are ill acquainted with what the new creation is really about.
This is why they get stuck in religion. And this is why we have the 'New Hope
Certain Church,' and the 'Newer Hope Certain Church,' and the 'Newest Hope
Certain Church.' We have done well in turning Christianity into a myriad of
religions. Its sort of like, "My religion is better than your religion."
I really don't mean to be negative, but it seems many believers have never
matured beyond the stage of being religious minded. How desperately we need to
understand the deeper meanings of the cross.
Let's bring it to where we live. Most of us have seen pictures of the earth
taken from the space shuttle. The earth is beautiful to behold. We see a perfect
orb of blue encompassed with swirling clouds. Yet on the earth itself we see a
different picture. We see the drug scenes, violence in schools, wars and
devastation, famine in various places, and wasting diseases. What can we do about
all the ugly. Not really that much. But we do need to see the bigger picture.
The program of the Church is redemptive. When people are redeemed and thereby
brought into the family of God, that effects some changes. But the ugly will
continue, and, according to the Scriptures, it will grow worse as the day of the
Lord approaches. And yet in the midst of the ugly, you have God's heavenly
children. We are heavenly children living in earthly bodies.
While the vast majority of people on the earth will never have the opportunity to
see things from the view point of the shuttle, God does allow His children to
have a clearer vision from a heavenly perspective. This is where the writings of
the Apostle Paul come in. And this is where our heavenly life, that is, the Holy
Spirit comes to bear. We are instructed to set our affection on things above.
It is the Holy Spirit who makes real the heavenly things.
As for proper perspective, Paul said, "[God] raised us up with [Christ], and
seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages
to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in
Christ Jesus." (Eph2:6,7) The Lord very much wants His children to be heavenly
minded. And, no, I don't think you can be so heavenly minded that you are no
earthly good. I don't know who invented that phrase, but it doesn't fit redemption.
And so we need to confront this issue of misunderstanding Christianity. The Bible
opens with, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Is there
something else implied in this statement? Yes. The new creation, or, the completed
creation was God's plan from the beginning. And so we have in the opening verse of
the Bible the redemption story. The apostle brings this to our attention; "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
All through the Scriptures, the prophets pointed to God's redemptive work. Jacob
spoke of Him as "Shiloh." Moses called Him "The Prophet." Isaiah called Him "The
Branch." Zechariah told the people to 'look for the wounds.' Jeremiah said that
God was going to give us a new heart. It goes on and on.
The message was that God's redemption would complete itself in a new creation.
The new creation would be the work of God's hands. No man would have a part it it.
Our works of righteousness would never enter the picture. This completed redemption
was settled long before there was the first man on earth.
But what of the term 'Christian'? Where does this term fit in? Was it a derogatory
expression used to mock the believers at Antioch? Some would have you think that.
But no, it was written in the prophets that God's people would be given a new name.
I believe the name was bestowed on the believers in Antioch by a prophetic utterance.
It is so amazing at what you can learn through the prophets. God speaks through
Isaiah, and says, "For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake
I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her
salvation like a torch that is burning." Here is see the Pentecost of God in 33ad.
The torch was lit. The righteousness of God went forth as a torch burning. It went
into all the lands, and it continues to burn today.
He goes on to say, "The nations will see your righteousness [the righteousness of
Christ in His people], and all kings your glory [Jesus shares God's glory with us];
and you [God's covenant children] WILL BE CALLED by a new name which the mouth of
the Lord will designate." (Isa62:1,2)
The term, "mouth of the Lord" is a Hebraism for the prophetic utterance, or for
a divine oracle. Here it says God's people will be given a new name by a prophetic
oracle. But it doesn't stop there. God speaks even more clearly in Isaiah chapter 65,
where He shows a clear distinction between those who received Jesus as the Messiah,
and those who set themselves against Christ.
Listen carefully - "I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for
Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here am I,
here am I,' to a nation which did not call on My name. [Gentiles." Verse1]
The Lord then directs attention to the historical elements of a divided Judaism. The
sword of division struck. The righteous portion of Israel would enter into the
redemption program of God. The rejecters will walk a path of devastation.
"Behold, My servants [new covenant community] will shout joyfully with a glad heart,
but you [rejecters of Christ] will cry out with a heavy heart. And you [the rejecters]
will wail with a broken spirit. You will leave your name for a curse to My chosen
ones, and the Lord God will slay you. But My servants [new covenant community] WILL
BE CALLED BY ANOTHER NAME." (Verses 14,15)
The issue of the heavy heart was to a people no longer in covenant relationship with
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus drew attention to this, when He said, "Many
will come from the east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into
the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt8:11,12)
Sons of the kingdom is a reference to those who should have accepted Christ as Redeemer.
The outer darkness speaks of 'no covenant protection,' and the history to follow.
(Thank God that portion of history is about to close, and the family will have its
completion when our Jewish brothers recognize the wounds.)
Twice in Isaiah, God says His servants will be "called by another name." Keep in mind
that this expression speaks of a divine oracle or a prophetic utterance. Now listen to
Acts 11:16, "...For an entire year they met with the Church and taught considerable
disciples; and the disciples were first CALLED Christians in Antioch."
The early Church had several designations to begin with, but the term Christian became
the proper name for the new covenant children of God. Christ was the firstborn from
the dead. True Christians are born out of death and take upon themselves the name
Christian. Christian means 'belonging to Christ,' 'followers of Christ,' 'like Christ,'
and even 'the anointed ones.'
It is interesting how this term reaches back to Abraham and the prophets. Note that new
covenant believers are actually called 'the children of Abraham.' We, like Abraham,
are pilgrims. What does God say in the Old Testament? He says, "Do not touch My anointed
ones, and do My prophets no harm." (Psa105:15) This expression reaches across history,
and includes all the Abrahamic family up to the very last child of to be born of God.
When Jesus describes the new covenant children of God, He explains them as a prophetic
people. He said, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost
being will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those
who believed in Him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified." (John 7:37,38)
The new covenant children of God were all to be anointed with the Spirit of
Christ. This anointing would reveal itself as 'life' flowing from their lips. The
children of sin would have death flowing from their lips.
Did Moses know about the creation to come? Most assuredly. His dream was to see these
children of God. Moses knew full well that the people he then worked with were not the
new creation people. He spoke of this in his song of redemption. In Revelations this
song is called the song of Moses and the Lamb.
Part of the song of Moses says, "THE ROCK! HIS WORK IS PERFECT, for all His ways are
just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He." The
Rock is Christ.
Moses goes on to describe the unrighteous generation; "They have acted corruptly
toward Him. They are not His children, because of their defect; but are a perverse
and crooked generation." (Deut32:4,5) This is likely a prophecy that reaches to the
time of Christ. But the defect issue has to do with the unregenerated person. All
sinners carry a spiritual defect. This defect can only be removed by the blood of
the Lamb in an act of regeneration.
Why do Moses words sound so familiar? Peter quoted from them on the day of Pentecost,
when he preached Jesus as the Christ of God. He told the peoples, "Be saved from this
perverse generation!'" (Acts 2:40)
The redemptive program is not an issue of anti-semitiism. Hardly. The early Church
was exclusively Jewish at the beginning. The perverse generation would apply to all
who made themselves the enemy of Christ. By extension this applies ot anyone, Jew or
Gentile. But in a prophetic sense it spoke of those the nation who turned from Christ.
So, we now have on this planet two kinds of humanity. You have the Adam-ites, and you
have the Christ-ites. The latter group is known as Christian. The former group needs
to hear the good news sent from heaven, that they, too, may become Christ-ites.
Think about it. Is there anything more important in life than sharing the heavenly
message with the Adam-ites? Next question. Do you have a need for self-examination?
Paul said we are to examine ourselves to make certain we are in Christ. (2Co13:5)
Open for discussion. Is this Bible study of any value to you?
Shalom in Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org