This is our third GN in a trilogy. We began with a drill down of Galatians 2:20 where a constant contrast between death and life is depicted, I have been crucified nevertheless I live. Christ Jesus, who is delivered from death by death, is also experienced by the born again believer. Created in Jesus, a believer is a new person with a new identity. Our New Life is supernaturally birthed, literally, providing living roots within our risen Savior. Our distinctiveness is a resurrected Jesus within us, inside our container of flesh. This is so amazing it is difficult to grasp! It is a miracle … only by His grace! His power is released into our old crucified self. It sounds cultish to a person without a supernatural Spiritual birth. Yes, it is supernatural, and just as mystic as is creation all around us.
Our Shepherd Lamb
Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth and became the Son of Man. He was both man and God. He became God’s Lamb so that He could become God’s Shepherd. This is both beautiful and profound.
God put Himself sinlessly into our fallen state so that He may righteously redeem and justify a new kingdom of mankind. Adam is the head of our natural temporal state and we are all born into sin through him. When we enter into 2 Corinthians 5:17 as a believer, we are born a second time into the second Adam, Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:45. The first birth is a natural birth and the second birth is a spiritual birth, 1 Corinthians 15:42ff, “the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
We are spiritually dead in Adam. We are spiritually alive in Christ. In
Adam we are naturally hostile to God and we shun spiritual things. Yet, while in Adam and hostile to God, Christ died for us and reconciled us back to God.
This is the argument Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 15 and in Romans 5 but notice this astounding announcement in verse 10 of Romans 5:
The Lamb of God
A few weeks ago we visited heaven through the eyes of John. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was there! The Lamb’s Book of Life is also there with the names of believers who will be with Christ in heaven. The curious thing is this Book was written before the people in it were born. In fact, it was written before the foundation of the earth was even in place.
How do we bring together this pre-creation reality with the vision of the Lamb of God we see in Revelation? How does what existed before time extend into a place not yet in history and how can it have relevance for you and me? That is the beauty of it all. It IS about us!
The Bible is very comprehensive. It is not just a collection of religious stories. It is God’s communiqué of reality to creatures He created. God prepared the Bible to reveal His supernatural unseen contemporary plan. It is a map showing how Jesus Christ is the portal through which we can actually step into the eternity existing before and after our present temporal experience. It sounds mystic but it is, in fact, NOT.
There are a myriad ways of reading the Bible, studying it, preaching it and trying to understand it in meaningful ways. To get there from here requires walking on stepping stones called faith. These faith stones themselves are divinely placed leading us to the portal of Jesus Christ. It is up to us to choose the steps we follow and it is also up to us to step into eternity through Christ.
Our Shepherd
Last week we explored our origins. We saw how the scripture pilots the prologue of our very life into eternity, existing before creation. The Lamb’s Book of Life already existed and in it names of people like you and I, people who accept by faith God’s provisions for salvation.
God provided through visual creation, the written record of men like Abraham, and His own Son a revelation of who He is and how we participate in what He is doing. He has also given us a will to choose our own paths. Lets take one thin slice of Abraham lemon meringue pie and savor the truth the Holy Spirit may provide about His love so that we can make righteous choices.
Abraham’s name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life along side of yours and mine. God used His story to illustrate truth about our lives. Abraham is prominent in the Biblical account of man’s journey on earth. The story of Abraham and his son Isaac demonstrates how our eternal God reveals eternal plans in lives who have faith in Him.
Lets review the context of Abraham’s story. Abraham was Abram when he was born in the region of Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur is located in the valley of the Euphrates River toward the Persian Gulf. Abram’s father Terah took Abram and his cousin Lot toward Canaan by way of Haran. Haran was a northern city in the Euphrates River Valley. They stayed in Haran for an extended time and Terah died there.