HEAVEN'S DESCENDERS

(Part 7)

#141.02

I COME TO DO THY WILL, O GOD

"Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God" (Heb 10:7). "...Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb 9:26).

What do you suppose God's will was for Jesus when He was sent descending from heaven as a lowly son of man? Was it to show how He could walk on water, still storms, heal the sick, raise the dead, prophesy, and all the other miraculous things He did? Those things were most certainly part of God's will for Him; for Jesus said that He always did those things that pleased His Father (John 8:29). Those wonderful filled days were tremendous testimonies of His Kingdom. We believe, however, there was a more pointed and supreme purpose for Jesus divesting Himself of a greater glory and descending into the earth.

He said, "Now My heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour" (John 12:27, NIV). "He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done" (Mat 26:42). And, "...TO THIS END WAS I BORN, and FOR THIS CAUSE CAME I INTO THE WORLD..." (John 18:37).

It is interesting to note how the Lamsa translation renders Matthew 27:46, which reads, "And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a sound voice and said, My God, My God, for this I was spared?" And the footnote to this says, "This was My destiny!"

These words were emblazoned with triumphant glory only a short time after Moses and Elijah had "...appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31). If there had been any questions in His mind of what His destiny was prior to the mount of transfiguration, they were answered then. And the obedient Son went straight way to Jerusalem to fulfill the will of His Father.

God's will for Jesus was not only to manifest in part His Kingdom, and as an example of what was to come; but the capstone of His will was for Jesus to die. Not only do we see that God's will for Jesus was for Him to shed His blood for the atonement of creation; but by this shedding He would forever establish something for the rest of creation: "Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second" (Heb 10:9).

One of the seconds, of course, is the New Covenant. The first covenant was made by the shedding of the blood of bulls, goats, and calves. The second (everlasting) covenant was made by the shedding of Jesus' blood.

The first covenant had to do with types and shadows for the first Adam, while the second covenant has to do with realities of the Last Adam. He said, "...I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore" (Rev 1:17).

We might note that He said, "I am the first and the last." He did not say he was the first and the last. If He had been (past tense) the first and the last, this could indicate that after the cross there was no more Adam at all, whether the first or the last. They both would be mere historical facts. Paul dispelled any such thoughts, however, when he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians:

"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor 15:44-47).

Do you see the clarity of this picture? Mainly that Jesus became the Last Adam by putting on the spiritual body and being raised from the dead. He then was made a quickening spirit. Jesus was not a quickening spirit prior to His resurrection and ascension. The fact is, we see no evidence of Him being a quickening spirit until Pentecost. He was certainly born of the quickening Spirit of God. It was that living Spirit which sustained Him; but He was not yet the quickening spirit, for He had not yet been given. "But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:39).

Jesus had a natural body; but He was raised up with a spiritual body. It was this which was the Last Adam, the risen one. He was made a quickening spirit, thereby becoming the Last Adam.

Jesus partook of the first man's form. He was no different from other men of that era. He had a head and body, two arms and legs, His beard grew, He ate, drank and slept, and He wept. It was the form of the first that He took with Him to the cross. That was where He spoiled principalities and powers by putting off His mortal body, and victoriously made an open show of them (Col 2:15).

THE BRAZEN SERPENT

The first man was judged and put to death. Jesus fulfilled the symbol Moses made of the brazen serpent in the wilderness. And let us be reminded that all who were bitten by the fiery serpents were healed when they looked upon that brazen symbol. This spoke of the one who had the power of death, and it declared plainly that he was judged, and the judgment was death. Jesus fulfilled the symbol by taking that body of the first man upon the cross where it was put to death.

In the same way it was with Israel in the wilderness, those in the wilderness of the world today can look upon the death of Jesus' natural body and know that the old man is dead. "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be ⁽¹⁾destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom 6:6).

Anyone who sees that the old man is dead will be healed from the serpents bite. They will live; but they do not live merely because the old man is dead. Life is not had by extracting death from a body. Life is never begotten by killing. People live because of living, and that living comes from the New Man who is alive. This Man is a life-giving Spirit, and it is by the life of the Spirit that men live. They are justified by His blood, reconciled by His death; but it is by His life that they are saved and made alive (Rom 5:10).

Praise God that our journey is not in faith alone; for we must go farther than faith. Beyond faith is the reality of life, and this is due to the Last Adam dragging all men into Himself (John 12:32). He is first a mediator, a man, a true priest who had been touched by man's pain and temptations, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, THE MAN Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5). Afterwards, He is man's reality in God; for all who are one with the man, Jesus, are one with God (John 14:19-20). It is in Him that all will know God from the least to the greatest (Heb 8:11).

Due to the work of the cross, there will never be another Adam to come after Him. He was and is the Last. In the same way everyone born of the first Adam, and who were members of that first Adam, the same everyone will someday be born of Christ and become a member of the Last Adam - Christ Jesus, the Son of the Living God! For as in the first Adam all die, likewise, in Christ, the last Adam, all shall be made alive (1 Cor 15:22).

WAS JESUS A SACRIFICE?

There was a time when it seemed to me that the written word in Hebrews 10 was saying that God did not desire the sacrifice of Jesus: "In burnt offerings and sacrifices (Grk omits) for sin thou hast had no pleasure" (Heb 10:6), and "...Sacrifice (plural in the Grk) and offering (likewise plural) and burnt offerings and offering (plural) for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law" (Heb 10:8). 

You see, without realizing it, I viewed the sacrifice of Jesus as being that which God had displeasure, and this was not the case. I had failed to see the context of the verses, and especially the Spirit of  the word.   The sacrifices (plural) He found no pleasure in the animal sacrifices which were done by the law.   They were ineffectual.  They could not sanctify nor cleanse people of sin. Jesus removed the first sacrifices and established the second (Heb 10:9), and according to Isaiah God had pleasure in it: "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand"  (Isa 53:10).  It is amazing how bright the simple truth shines when the veils of our minds are removed.

In times past, I also had fleeting moments when I wondered if Jesus could have been the first in the sense of being the same "first Adam," who stood in the Garden and ate the forbidden fruit. But how could this be, my friends? If Jesus had been that Adam, He would need a savior for Himself. He would need someone without sin to die and make atonement for His sin. Of necessity, another son of God would have had to come; for if Jesus had been the Adam of the Garden, He could not have been an acceptable sacrifice, which had to be void of blemish. We know, however, that He was accepted; for, as Peter wrote: "...With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Pet 1:19).

Now a question. When do we suppose this spotless Lamb was slain? We read in Revelation about "...the Lamb slain from the ⁽²⁾foundation of the world" (Rev 13:8). Hmm... Wasn't He slain as a sacrifice in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago? Yes, He indeed was. "...Now once in the end of the world⁽³⁾ hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb 9:26). What did He do? He appeared! And for what purpose did He appear? It was for the purpose of putting away sin, and this was done by the sacrifice of Himself! And when did He do this? At an end of one of the ages!

It may seem that there is a contradiction between the two verses, but there is none. If we recall, God had finished the heavens and the earth, and all the hosts of them before anything was in the earth. This was before it had rained and before there was a man to till the ground (Gen 2:1-5). It was all finished before a sprig of grass ever grew, and this was not just in the mind of God. Everything was created, and like people in a play waiting in the wings for their cue to enter the stage, the events of each day were laid out before they donned their physical presence.

After it was finished, the formation of all those things followed. Each created day had their sides bulging with heavenly things and monumental events, and then in turn they came into manifestation. Each one in its destined time came forth from the wings of the morning, especially the manifestation of the slain Lamb. Peter wrote: "But with THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but WAS MANIFEST IN THESE LAST TIMES FOR YOU" (1 Peter 1:19-20).

You see, the Lamb, the Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, was foreordained (or foreknown, Grk) before the foundation of the world. To foreknow someone is to know them, not just to know something about them. Jesus was known by God His Father, as well as everything He did before He was in the earth. BUT HE WAS MANIFESTED IN THESE LAST TIMES AS A SPOTLESS SACRIFICE.

The Lamb was, indeed, slain before the founding of the world, before the visible orderly arrangement descended and was laid down. It was all finished before one drop of Jesus' priceless blood was shed in the earth. He was made a sacrifice in the heavens before the foundation of the cosmos, and when that day was fully come, it blossomed like into manifestation. The sacrifice was provided long before the descending of the ages; but when the time came for it to be seen, nothing in heaven or hell could delay its dawning.

One might assume that the sacrifice in the ethereal realm of the heavens, before anything was in the earth, was sufficient, but it wasn't. You see, everything created in the six days before it was in the earth has little value until it descends. For instance, we were all here in the spiritual day of our creation when we were made in that sixth day. There were no expressions and little value until we descended physically into the earth. It was therein that we began our physical walk and became a part of the visible world. And likewise, with Jesus being the slain Lamb. Until He descended, took the form of Adam, and poured out His life, there was no atoning value in His blood. For a physical man to be covered, there had to be a physical sacrifice.

Jesus descended and took the form and passions of the first Adam, yet without sin. It was in earth's form that He could feel the pain and sorrow of the man. It was in that body that He could identify with those for whom He would die. Jesus descended from the unseen heavens to be a sacrifice, to be raised triumphantly, and to establish forever the last Covenant and last Adam who would live and manifest that glory throughout all the annuls of eternity.

You see, without a man there is no appearing. Without a body there is no shedding of blood, and without blood there is no remission of sins. "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Heb 9:22 NIV). And "For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Mat 26:28).

We should note the word, remission. It comes from the Greek, aphesis, which means freedom, pardon. The King James Bible translates it more often as deliverance, secondly forgiveness, then liberty, and lastly remission. Aphesis comes from the root word aphiemi, which means to send forth.

It is becoming more clear what remission of sins is all about. Namely, the sprinkling of Jesus' blood delivers us from sin. It sends it completely out of our lives. We are set totally free from its bondage. Aphiemi (to send forth) is the word used in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Some people don't like the idea of a bleeding sacrifice on their behalf, regardless of what it does for them. I suppose it's because they don't want to feel obligated. Our dear late friend, Walter Arvizu, told us of a man who said that he didn't want anyone dying for him. And I guess that is just about the way it is for a lot of other people. They like the idea of owning God's glory; but they don't want to feel obligated to Him or His Son who died for them.

Such feelings, however, do not negate the truth. In order for a man's sin to be sent forth, there has to be a man's blood poured out, and that blood was the priceless blood of Jesus. Although the sacrifice was made before the founding of the world, it had to descend and be manifested before it could be of any redeeming value.

All the days and wonder-filled events we see were created a long time ago. They were ordered before the beginning of the world, and they are now descending from the heavens and being made known to us. They are being revealed openly to our awakening eyes, and we are being drawn into the dawn of that which was established by our Holy Lord.

Again, "Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second." (Heb 10:9). He took away the first covenant and established the second, and the only way such a covenant could be taken away was to replace it with a better sacrifice: "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel" (Heb 12:24).

The better blood of Jesus spoke, sounded, declared, shouted, trumpeted to the hosts of the whole universe. It sent the message that the whole of everything was sprinkled with justification, redemption, sanctification, and life. He took away the first Adam and the inadequate first covenant, and established the second. The establishing of the New Covenant and the Last Adam was done by overcoming death, and this was seen in His resurrection from death's dark depths and compassing grip.

Sacrifices were for the purpose of sanctifying people, something judgment alone never did. "...We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 10:10). The slain Lamb atones and sanctifies, while the serpent is judged and put to death. We see both in the crucifixion of Jesus. He was that Lamb without spot or blemish, yet he was clothed with the garments of the first Adam. The semblance of that which injected the venom of death into all men hung as a judged, dead, serpent for every eye to see. He was the fulfillment of the brazen serpent⁽⁴⁾ Moses lifted up in the wilderness.

With Jesus and the cross, no longer would the serpent's venomous strike of death be effectual. When looked upon, the old man's stroke of death is removed. This looking, of course, is not a casual glance, but believing or embracing it with the substance of faith (John 3:14-15). Healing comes when one's eyes are opened to see the effectual work of the cross that put to death the old man; but not only that, along with it comes the atoning sanctification that only the slain Lamb can bring. What a marvelous feat Jesus did that dark day. In one righteous act His blood covered the universe, while judging sin once for everyone and for all time.

We should know that Jesus didn't descend from heaven just to kill an old man. He descended to be a sacrifice and to overcome death. This was so we all could be a part of the established New Covenant and Last Man.

What an awful end Jesus suffered; but what a wonderful beginning was raised from it. He despised the shame; but knowing it was His Father's will, and seeing the end, He endured it all.

Jesus certainly partook of the first man's flesh; but if He was that man of sin in Eden's past, as some have speculated, then the following words could not have been said of Him: "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). You see, the first man with a body of flesh had sin, while the Last one clothed with the same flesh did not.

Jesus took the earthy form of the first Adam so He could be a worthy high priest, a priest who could be touched by man's infirmities. He could then intercede for humanity, not just because He sees us as pathetic creatures and is moved with compassion, but because he was clothed by the same garment of flesh. Moreover, the form He took was not taken in Eden, but in Bethlehem. His effectual, atoning sacrifice was not a mystical one in the spirit somewhere in the heavens past; but it was with flesh and blood, and pain, and shame before the eyes of the whole created universe.

Also, if Jesus was that ancient man of sin, and if He was to be the atoning sacrifice, it wouldn't have worked. For you see, He would have been blemished. Moreover, I do not find it written anywhere in holy writ that a man can die for himself in order to atone for his own sin. It does say that if a man sins he will die. And in dying he needs One without sin to lift him out of death and free him from that sentence of death. The reason the blood of Jesus had any effect on creation was that he was guiltless.

Only if one is guilty can death hold him. Anyone who dies and is without sin cannot remain dead. Death has no legal claim on the guiltless. That is why Jesus could rise from the dead, and that is why we can do the same. We are guiltless! We are without sin. He who is born of God cannot sin. We are born of God. We are in Him, and we live forevermore. Praise God! And praise God again that He descended from heaven's bliss, that He came out from God (John 16:27), hung upon a tree, and sacrificed Himself for you and me; but not only for us few, but for the whole world!

While writing today, it was brought to my attention that our longtime friend, Preston Eby, recently wrote along these lines, which bears noting: "Jesus constantly referred to Himself as 'the Son of man.' Most Christians read right over that, thinking it means Son of God, though it says He is a man. This does not mean that He was born of Adam, the fleshly man, nor even that Mary in some mysterious way contributed to His genetic makeup. In solemn truth we may search the Bible through, and we will not find that the 'second man' was in any way derived from the 'first man.' Jesus was not conceived by the union of divine sperm with Mary's human egg. Mary's life was Adam's life, and if Mary contributed anything at all to Jesus' life He would then have been from the fallen Adam and would have Himself been of the first man Adam. He would, therefore, have needed a Saviour instead of being the Saviour! Nothing is more certain than this -- Adam cannot redeem Adam! The fallen cannot perfect himself to redeem and restore himself. The very thought is an absurdity. I have heard men say that when Jesus says, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last,' He means that He Himself was both the first man Adam who sinned and the last man Adam who redeemed. I do not hesitate to tell you that this is not only an improbability -- it is an impossibility!

"The first man is of the earth, earthy, the record states; the second man is the Lord from heaven! The first man fell by sin, marred his image, lost his dominion, forfeited his inheritance, becoming a poor, miserable, degraded creature, ignorant and godless, the impotent plaything of circumstances, and weak and helpless to the last degree. The second man knew no sin, was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and walked even upon this earth in a realm higher than the heavens. Have you ever wondered how the second man became the Saviour of the first man if He Himself was the first man? How could the fallen man become the Saviour without a Saviour? If Jesus was like us in that He needed a Saviour, but was able to save Himself without a Saviour, and then save others, then mankind really needed no Saviour at all, for they could have, like Jesus, simply saved themselves. Such reasoning is spiritual tomfoolery and theological drivel." -- End quote.

TYPES, SHADOWS, AND REALITIES

It is known by most that types and shadows of the Bible point to realities. A great deal of Kingdom teachings rest on this premise. One example of types most often used is the Tabernacle. Everything we see in the Tabernacle is representative of something being fulfilled in the lives of those called out of the world. The fulfilling of these types take place not only in their wilderness wanderings, but also beyond Jordan after the victory of taking the promised land. We read in Hebrews that all these things serve as examples and shadows of spiritual realities. And Moses was admonished of God that he was to make all those things according to the pattern showed to him in the mount. We are also told that Jesus obtained a more excellent ministry, in that He became the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises (Heb 8:5-6).

A covenant, which speaks of cutting flesh and shedding its blood was first seen with bulls, heifers, calves, goats, lambs, rams, pigeons, and doves. These all symbolized things that were to come later on as spiritual realities:

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship" (Heb 10:1, NIV).

Those sacrificial types were pointing to sacrificial realities, and they were fulfilled by the one sacrifice of Jesus. I believe we need to draw our attention to a question many may have never considered. Why is the Bible filled with types and shadows? The obvious answer, of course, is that they relate to something on a greater level which will be fulfilled at another time. And the major types we see in the old covenant are the sacrifices. Therefore, if Jesus had not been the fulfilling sacrifice, there would have been no need for the types in the first place.

CAN GOD DIE?

There were sacrifices of those things which spoke of man's flesh and human will. There were bulls and goats; but there were also lambs and doves that died on the altars. I had often pondered the types, and wondered if all or only a part of Jesus died on the cross. If all of Jesus died, it would mean that all of that which was the very image and substance of God would have died. How could God die, has been a question. I would always come up with the same conclusion -- it is impossible for God to die. And that is true, yet I believe this conclusion was due to me viewing death only as being in an unconscious, unresponsive, comatose state of being. From that precept it is utterly impossible for He who is Eternity to die. There is no way for He who is Life everlasting to become totally unconscious of anything, unresponsive, and utterly comatose.

However, the Spirit of the Lamb could certainly die, but not as corruptible things die. Namely, it could die to its place in the world where air is breathed, water is drank, power is to be had, and grand things can be done. The Lamb can, and did die to the world wherein He could be tempted to rise up as a lion and be king. While dying to those lofty temptations, Christ was alive to His Father's will and everything having to do with Him. Although the body of Jesus laid dead for three days and nights in the grave, He was very much alive and busy ministering to all those who had died from Adam to Noah. He was busy leading captivity captive and establishing the last man and covenant.

To die is more than being comatose. Dying can be a descending from one state of being to a lower one, or stepping down from one realm to another, divesting oneself. Paul speaks of this in his letter to the Philippians, saying that Jesus: "...emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:7-8 NASB).

There is no question that Jesus descended into death, hell, and the grave when He was sent by His Father from heaven's glory and took His form in the earth. For in John 17:5 we read: "And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Although He was glory personified in the earth, and He took glory everywhere He went, His prayer indicated that He knew the glory He once had was greater than what was possessed after He descended.

And once more, for God to die, from our limited perspective, we must say, impossible. Our Lord Jesus, however, could die. He descended, stepped down from the glory He had, and even stepped down from the glory He had in the earth. He divested Himself from His glorious Kingdom power and became weak and humiliated. He emptied Himself, and gave up the Ghost. That is what the obedient Son did in the form of the first Adam. So it was more than merely judging the serpent and putting it to death.

To think Jesus was merely getting rid of our problem by killing the old man when He suffered the naked and humiliated death of the cross is selling Him far short of the honor due to Him.

So come on saints, of all people, let us not do away with the very thing the reality or our faith is built upon. Let us not cast aside that which Jesus came to do and suffered so greatly in doing it. Let us not brush aside our Lord's supreme sacrifice for all men and for all time. It should be far from us to water down His supreme sacrifice of utter humiliation.

If we must have some new revelation to keep us going, then let it come from the New Man, the Last Adam. Let it be from the man called Christ Jesus, He who is the mediator between man and God (1 Tim 2:5); for all truth is in Jesus (Eph 4:21). Our new revelations should never be from that old man, for he is dead. There's no life to be had from the dead. Let us stop thinking, speaking, and being influenced by that dead man who claims to be God, but is only a god. Enough of that stuff!

I have come to know that what I say will have little impact on some people's beliefs. Once they have smelled the tantalizing aroma of something different, and have embraced it with open arms, it is doubtful that there will be any changes in the near future. Neither will ten thousand scriptures make a difference in what they believe to be true. *So in God's name -- why do I write? Ah, I know! It is for those whose eyes well with tears of joy when truth is heard. I write to those of whom I am equally yoked, to those whose stride is never broken by the words I write or by what anyone else writes. Even if what I write misses the mark at times, they continue in the Spirit with me in loving kindness. I write to those who are friends that stick closer than a brother.

Therefore, my dear friends and fellow sojourners, I will write, and as I write, I hope to peer deeply into God's distant shadows, into His seemingly small and insignificant types -- types that expand into a vast universe of endless realities!

 Elwin R. Roach

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