Holy Week and the Gospel
of our Salvation – Part Two
Background:
As follow-up to the previous post on this blog, remember
the lessons learned from God’s dealing with the first man Adam in the Book of
Genesis. Through his unbelief and disobedience, Adam had sinned against God by
breaking the commandment that he not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. Even after having been forewarned, Adam committed this sinful act
resulting in the sentence of death from the Righteous God. (Genesis 2: 16-17,
3: 1-20) At that point the reader was introduced to the concept of two types
of death…the death of the spirit / soul that resulted in the immediate loss
of man’s glory and honor and personal close relationship with his Creator; and
the death of the body, a gradual process prolonged over many years.
(Genesis 5: 1-5) The death of the physical body is the called the “first death” because it is only affects
the temporary “house / container” for man’s true, eternal being, the spirit /
soul . (Genesis 2: 7)
Genesis Chapter Three shows that after Adam’s sin against
God, the LORD God meted out the punishments that would affect Adam and Eve (and
their descendants) throughout their lives in their physical bodies. The LORD
God then killed an innocent animal to make clothes of the skin to cover the
naked Adam and Eve. This shedding of innocent animal blood was necessary for
the remission of their sin, howbeit only temporary, and it addressed their prospects
towards the “second death”. In that regard, they had to await the permanent
remission of their sin, which could only take place when our Lord Jesus shed
His holy, innocent blood during His Crucifixion. (Hebrews 9: 22)
To prevent the permanent separation of their eternal spirits
/ souls from God,…that is preventing the “second death” (Revelation 20: 12-15)
…Adam had to demonstrate his faith / belief in the LORD God’s word. He did that when he named his wife “Eve”
meaning the “Mother of all living”, despite knowing they were both under the
sentence of death for breaking God’s commandment. (Genesis 3: 20) Adam and Eve believed the LORD God’s prophecy
that in conception she would bring forth children, and most importantly, “her
seed” would bruise the head of the seed of the serpent who had deceived her.
(Genesis 3: 15-16) We now know that “her seed” referred to our Lord Jesus, who
would defeat the seed of the serpent Satan through His Resurrection victory in overcoming
death on man’s behalf. (Romans 4: 25)
Today:
As noted in the paragraph above, like Adam, we have to demonstrate
our faith / belief in God’s word to keep from the “second death”. [I addressed
that issue of our beliefs in the first part of the post bearing the title
above.]
Since Adam, all mankind have inherited his sin-nature, and
all have fallen under the penalty of death. The first death will come
upon all, except those believers who are alive and remain when the Lord returns
to gather more of His Body in the air. (1 Corinthians 15: 51-54; 1
Thessalonians 4: 13-17).
What our Lord Jesus accomplished during those final days of
Holy Week is what will benefit / bless those
who choose to believe the Gospel of our Salvation to avoid the second death.
They / We have our names written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life”. (Revelation 20:
12-15)
But now I’d like to look deeper into the outcomes of Adam’s
sin and the subsequent punishments not specific to death. (Please review
Genesis 3: 16 – 19) They affect believers
while they are still in their temporary physical bodies. As harsh as those
punishments imposed by the LORD God might seem, there are many more negative,
even horrendous outcomes that resulted from Adam’s fall. His sin resulted in his loss of the dominion
over the Earth that God had given him. (Genesis 1: 26-28; 2: 19-20). That
forfeiture was quickly seized upon by God’s Enemy, Lucifer / Satan who became
the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4: 3-4), and the “prince of the power of
the air (Ephesians 2: 2).
As God’s Enemy, but unable to dethrone Him, Lucifer / Satan
has directed his venom to God’s favored Creation Man. He brought diseases, disability, pain,
suffering, hereditary disorders, violence, mental disorders and a host of other
attacks against the mind and body of man.
Consider the origins of poverty, prejudice and hatred, jealousy and
greed. There is good reason why our Lord Jesus called him the “father of lies”
(John 8:44), and later scripture notes his ability to transform himself into an
“angel of light”. (2 Corinthians 11: 14). Satan’s three major tools against man remain
the “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life”, as he used them
to deceive Eve in the Garden of Eden. (1 John 2: 16) But those attacks can be overcome by
believers who heed the guidance of the Scripture by “putting on the whole armor
of God” to protect their souls and minds. (Ephesians 6: 11-17) Remember the literal “crown of thorns”
crushed into the Lord’s head by the Roman soldiers? (Matthew 27: 27-30) Our Lord Jesus took that abuse to show us
that the “whole armor of God” is His blessing to us to protect our minds and
souls / spirits.
But Satan also uses
the Earth’s environment as a weapon against man, including hurricanes, tornadoes
and other storms; floods, forest fires, and a variety of other “natural
disasters”. Regrettably, many people who don’t know our Heavenly Father Lord
Jesus have called these “acts of God”, rather than placing the blame where it
truly belongs…on the little “g” “god of this world”.
Collectively, there have been various miseries that have afflicted
mankind over the centuries, including acute infectious diseases such as the
plague, malaria, and cholera; and chronic diseases such as addictions, cancers,
heart disease, dementias, etc. But whether affecting the body or spirit / soul
believers should always remember that when our Lord Jesus suffered in our place
during the last days of Holy Week, He took the weight and impact of all those conditions
onto Himself. In addition to His body
having been mutilated while being scourged, His face was beaten and battered. Note the words of the Scripture as the
Prophet Isaiah foretold of the Lord’s suffering during His Crucifixion:
“As many were astonied at thee; his visage (appearance) was
so marred more than any man, and his form (shape / outline) more than the sons
of men:” (Isaiah 52: 14)
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. Surely he hath
borne our griefs, (sicknesses / diseases) and carried our sorrows (anguish / pain) :
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him; and with his stripes (scourging) we are healed.
(Isaiah 53: 3 – 5)
**I think it is very important to note the phrase in the prophecy
above that says: “smitten of God”. Our Lord’s suffering under the provocation of
Satan was to fulfill God’s prophecy of the “bruising of His heel” by Satan, back
in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3: 15) The
phrase highlighted indicates that God intended that this additional burden of punishment
suffered by our Lord Jesus for us, beyond His death on the Cross, was to bring multiple blessings to man beyond eternal
life. Indeed, these blessings would be directed to man’s life in his temporary earthly
body.
As a result, when Christian believers pray and hold Communion with
our Lord Jesus, we understand that the broken bread that represents His Body can
bring healing to our spirit / soul and body in these current times, just as the
wine / juice that represents His blood has been the means to overcoming the
second death and receiving our eternal salvation.
Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson
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