Chapter 19
Chapter 19

The Object of Incarnation
Redemption

   The object of Incarnation was that man might be given the right to become a child of God (John 1:12). Man could only become a child of God by receiving the nature of God. Therefore, Christ came that man might receive eternal life (John 10:10).
   Man could receive eternal life only after he had been legally redeemed from Satan’s authority (Colossians 1:13-14).
   Therefore, the next step in our study after the Incarnation is Redemption, which was really the object of the Incarnation. We have seen the qualifications of man’s redeemer demanded an Incarnate One. Now we shall study how the Incarnate one legally redeemed man from the authority of Satan and made it possible for him to receive the nature of God.
   Man’s redemption is legal. It swings around the law of identification. Identification is two-fold. It includes man’s identification with Adam, and his identification with Christ. The entire plan of Redemption revolves around this two-fold identification of man with Adam and with Christ.

Paul’s Revelation

   God gave to Paul the revelation of the finished work of Redemption and the present ministry of Christ. Paul speaks of the fact that this revelation was given to him, in the following scripture: Romans 16:25-26. He calls it "my Gospel." It is a revelation of Jesus Christ, not from man, but from God. Galatians 1:6-17 tells where Paul received his revelation. It was a revelation that had been kept silent, but now has been made known. He reveals that his understanding in the mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3:1-12) had not been known to other generations and it was due to the fact that he received it by revelation. Within this revelation which Paul received, as the basic foundation, was the revelation of man’s identification with Adam (Romans 5:12-18) and with Christ (Romans 4:25, 2 Corinthians 5:21). When a child of God grasps clearly this two-fold identification, the foundation is then laid for the renewing of his mind.
   Before we study this revelation of identification, we shall study why it was necessary for a revelation of Redemption to have been given after Christ had risen, and ascended to the Father.

The Necessity of Paul’s Revelation

   We saw in the first lesson of this course that there exist two kinds of knowledge. One kind of knowledge is the knowledge of the natural man. It is derived by means of the five senses of the physical body. John said in 1 John 1:1-2  "That which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the Word of Life." Man saw with his physical eyes Christ and His deeds. The life of the Son of God that man saw was lived out before him. He heard with his ears the words that He spoke, and he could touch him with his hands. The knowledge that man possessed of Christ during His earth life was gained purely by his physical senses. This physical revelation of Christ was not alone sufficient for man’s faith in Christ as the Son of God, or his understanding of Redemption in Him.
   Matthew 16:15-17, Peter made his declaration that Christ was the Son of God. Then Christ made a strange statement. He said, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." That which Peter had seen, that which he had heard, that which he had handled concerning the life of Christ, by means of the five senses of his nervous system (which lay embedded within his flesh) had not given this knowledge.
   It had come as a special revelation from the Father. However, it was only a temporary revelation. For when Peter saw with his sense sight the death of Christ, and perhaps handled His lifeless body, all hope fled from his heart.

The Death and Resurrection of Christ as His Disciples Saw It.

   The disciples knew the meaning of the crucifixion of Christ, His burial, and His resurrection only through their physical senses.
   They saw the beating of Christ, they saw the nails driven into His hands and feet. They heard His words: "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me?" They saw and handled His body in the process of embalming it, as it was laid away for burial.
   They saw the stone rolled away from the tomb and the empty grave clothes. They saw and heard the resurrected body of Christ; they handled the resurrected body of Christ. They saw Him ascend into Heaven.
   This physical knowledge gave them no insight into the meaning and the spiritual significance of Christ’s death and resurrection. In the crucifixion of Christ, they saw only His physical suffering. They knew nothing of the spiritual suffering of Christ, as His spirit was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). They knew not where Christ’s spirit was, nor what He was doing, during the time that His physical body lay in the tomb.
   They knew nothing of the conquering of Satan by Christ in His resurrection. They knew nothing of the ascension of Christ with His own blood, into the Holy of Holies, in the heavenlies. They knew nothing of the ministry of Christ at the Father’s right hand after He had left them.

A Revelation Needed

   It was necessary that the Holy Spirit reveal the complete Redemption that was wrought in the Spirit of Christ, in His death, burial and resurrection.
   1 Corinthians 2:6-16 speaks of this revelation, this wisdom as it is called in verses 9 and 10: the "things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard... is revealed to us by His Spirit."
   This revelation that was needed could not be given until after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to guide them into all truth. Now that we have seen the necessity of a revelation of Redemption, we shall study identification, the heart of the revelation of Redemption.

Identification with Adam

   Romans 5:20-21 gives us a clear picture of identification. Genesis 3 gives to us Adam’s sin of High Treason, but for 4000 years, revelation had been silent upon this subject. Now Paul reveals that the human race was identified with Adam in the transgression. "Therefore as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, so death passed unto all men" (Romans 5:12). The death that entered Adam passed upon all men.
   We notice here that it is not only physical death, but spiritual death, the nature of Satan (Romans 5:14-17). This death reigned over those who had not committed High Treason, for by the one, or through identification with him, the many had died (Romans 5:18). Through identification with Adam the judgment came upon all men.
   Adam’s judgment became the judgment of every man (Romans 5:19). Through identification with Adam all men were made sinners. "Sin reigned in death" (Romans 5:21).
   So, Paul reveals that down through the ages and to the present day, sin had reigned in the realm of death where Satan is Lord; because of the fact that the human race was identified with the first man, Adam.
   There are two sides to Redemption, the legal and the vital. The legal is what God did for us in Christ; the vital is what God does in us, in Christ. So also, there is a legal side and a vital side to the fall of man. The legal is what Satan did for us in him, and the vital is what Satan does in us when by nature we become children of wrath.
   Vitally, we were not in the garden with Adam, but legally his death, his bondage, his judgment, and all that spiritual death made him, became ours.
   If the Lordship of Satan over the human family was due to the identification with Adam in his crime of disobedience and High Treason, it is legally possible for the works of Satan to be destroyed by the identification of the human race with the Son of God, the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45).

Christ’s Identification with Man’s Humanity

   We shall now study the steps whereby the Son of God and humanity became identified in the legal side in man’s Redemption. The first step was Christ’s identification with our humanity. This took place in His incarnation (John 1:14, Hebrews 2:14), "Since then children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same."
   As we saw in our lesson, He walked as the first man should have walked doing the will of the Father-God.
   This was not a complete identification with man. For He had not identified Himself with the nature of man. If Christ had partaken of the nature that reigned in the spirit of man at His incarnation, He would have been spiritually dead during His earthly ministry. He could not have pleased the Father by doing His will nor have revealed Him to man. Therefore, His identification with the spirit nature of man was during His crucifixion when the time had come for Him to fulfill the purpose for which He had come into the world.
   Isaiah gives to us a picture of this identification of Christ with our nature of spiritual death in Isaiah 53:4-6. The direct translation of the Hebrew into the English is as follows:

"Whereas we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed because of our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

    The revelation that Paul received in 2 Corinthians 5:21 is that God actually made Him (Jesus) to become sin for us. He not only bore our sins, but the sin nature itself laid upon Him, until He became all that spiritual death had made man.
   In the mind of God it is not Christ who hangs on the Cross, but it is the human race. So, each one of us may say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20).
   In the garden we were not with Adam vitally, but we were there legally. In the same manner we were not on the Cross vitally, but we were there legally by way of Jesus. The identification of the human family with Christ was just as complete as was its identification with Adam.
   Now that the identification of Christ with humanity was complete the steps of Redemption began.
   The first step was to pay man’s penalty. The judgment that was man’s fell upon Jesus and He was forsaken of God.
   Isaiah 53:8 says "By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And His generation who did reason? For He was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due." The judgment, the stroke, was due man, but if fell instead upon Him, because humanity and Jesus had become one. He died under our judgment and we died with Him. Psalm 88 gives us the picture of a righteous man in Hell upon whom all the wrath of God laid hard. The wrath of God lay hard upon Jesus because Jesus was one with us in identification.
   Acts 2:24-28 shows us the suffering of Christ in Hell. Verse 27: "But God raised Him up, having loosed the pangs of death." Psalm 16:10 quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, tells us: "That His soul was not left in Hell." The Greek word "pangs" means intense suffering, showing that when Christ was raised, His spirit was released from intense suffering that He bore as our sin-substitute. Christ suffered until God could justify the human race.
   1 Timothy 3:16 reveals that Christ was justified in Spirit. He, in identification had become so utterly one with us that He himself needed to be justified when man’s penalty was paid.
   The next step in Redemption was that He who had been made sin be begotten of God. Hebrews 1 in speaking of the resurrection of Christ, says that our heavenly Father said unto Him, "Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee."
   Acts 13:33 says "That God hath fulfilled the same in our children in that He raised up Jesus: as also it is written in the second Psalm, "Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee."
   Jesus Christ, when man’s penalty had been paid, had to be born of God and pass from death into life just as man, because He had become identified with our spiritual death. After Christ had become justified in the Spirit, and born of God, He conquered Satan as a man. It is evident that Satan tried to hold Christ within His authority. Satan did hold Christ until God could declare man righteous. Romans 6:9 "Death had no dominion over Him." Romans 4:25 "Who was delivered up for our offenses and raised on account of being declared righteous" and as 1 Timothy 3:16 reveals, He was made righteous. Then, He was begotten of God, and in the power of His deity, He met Satan and triumphed over him as a man.
   Colossians 2:15 Having put off from Himself principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. He displayed them as His conquests. Christ was the first man to free Himself from Satan’s grasp and triumph over him. When He arose as a man, Satan’s forces were put under His feet (Ephesians 1:20-23).
   Before Jesus’ resurrection, he was referred in scriptures as the "only begotten of the Father." But after the resurrection, never again is He referred to as such. He is referred to as "the firstborn." Jesus is the "firstborn of many", the "firstborn from the dead," and the "first begotten from the dead." Hebrews says to "the church of the firstborn." Again Acts 13:33 "This day I have begotten thee." What day? "This day." Talking about the resurrection of Jesus, not the physical birth of the child Jesus from the virgin Mary. "This day (resurrection day) I (Father-God) have given birth to you." Read Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15, 18; Hebrew 12:23; Revelation 1:5.

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