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CONTENTS
PREFACE
CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY
OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
MESSAGE ONE
IN THE PROPHECY
CONCERNING THE ETERNAL ECONOMY OF GOD
(1)
OUTLINE
B. A child is born to us, a son is given to us, whose name is Mighty God and
Eternal FatherIsa. 9:6; Luke 2:11-12.
C. As the seed of woman, in His humanity, He would bruise the head of the
old serpentSatanRev. 12:9; Heb. 2:14:
1. Who tempted the man, whom God created for Himself, to sin
and rebel against God and imparted himself in his sinful nature
into man to be man's nature, constituting man a sinner, dead in
his spirit (Gen. 3:1-6), making himself one with manMatt.
16:23; John 6:70; 8:44; 1 John 3:8a.
2. Who has the might of death, holding man in slavery through the
fear of deathHeb. 2:14-15.
E. As the seed of woman, in His humanity, He opened the closed way for
sinners to take God as the tree of lifethe source of the divine lifeGen.
3:22-24; Heb. 10:19-20.
B. As the seed of Abraham, in His humanity, He blesses all the nations with
the gospel of ChristGal. 3:8-12, 16.
C. As the seed of Abraham, in His humanity, He bore the curse of the law
that the redeemed sinners may be blessed with the consummated Spirit,
who is the consummation of the Triune GodGal. 3:13-14.
A. A twig from Jesse's stemthe last part of a cut trunk close to the roots
v. 1a.
C. He would delight in the fear of Jehovah, and as the King of Israel, in His
humanity, He was given by God the authority to execute judgment (John
5:27) in righteousness over the earth and make all the creatures of God
live in peaceful harmony in the millenniumvv. 3-9.
V. Many fundamental Christians know that our Savior Jesus Christ is both
God and man, but they pay their attention mostly to what Christ has done
and is still doing as God. They do not care much for what Christ as a man
has done and still is doing. Especially they do not pay full attention to the
prophecy concerning Christ as a man in His humanity in the Old
Testament. In these first three messages I hope that the Lord will go
along with us to unveil to us what Christ as a man in His humanity did in
the Old Testament.
VI. We want to see the humanity of Christ in the prophecy concerning the
eternal economy of God. God has an eternal economy, and Christ carries
it out. In what way does Christ carry out God's economy? He does it in
His humanity. There are prophecies concerning this in the Old
Testament. In these messages the culture and language are new, so we
have to pay our full attention to the wording of the outlines.
VII. In this message we want to see four persons, signifying Christ as a man in
His humanity: the seed of woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of
David, and the branch of Jesse.
X. A. Immanuel
XI. The Son born of a human virgin is called ImmanuelGod with us (Isa.
7:14; Matt. 1:23; Gal. 4:4). El in the name Immanuel means "God." Christ
is a human seed of a woman, yet He is God.
A. Signified by Isaac
Christ is the seed of Abraham (Gen. 22:18; Matt. 1:1b), signified by Isaac (Matt.
1:2). Isaac was a figure of the coming Christ.
A. Signified by Solomon
Christ is the seed of David (Matt. 1:1a; Rom. 1:3), signified by Solomon, the son
of David (2 Sam. 7:12b-14a; Matt. 1:6).
CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY
OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
MESSAGE TWO
IN THE PROPHECY
CONCERNING THE ETERNAL ECONOMY OF GOD
(2)
OUTLINE
V. A man:
1. He was Jehovah with two angelsvv. 1-3, 9-14, 16-18, 22, 33;
19:1.
3. He told Abraham that his wife Sarah would bring forth a son in
the next yearvv. 9-15.
1. While Jacob was under the threatening that his elder brother
Esau would come to destroy him on his way back to his father's
land from Haran, where he could not suffer his uncle Laban's
stripping any longer, Christ came in His humanity to meet Jacob
at the time of his needvv. 1-24.
2. Jacob would not let Him go unless He would bless himv. 26.
D. Christ, who was the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah Himself, came as a man
in His humanity to tell Manoah's wife that she would bring forth a son,
Samson, to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines for the
carrying out of God's economyJudg. 13.
V. A MAN
We want to continue our fellowship concerning the humanity of Christ in the
prophecy concerning the eternal economy of God. This message presents Christ
appearing as a man four times in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament
Christ was prophesied as a man, particularly in four cases. First, Christ as a man
in His humanity visited His friend, Abraham (Gen. 18). Second, Christ as a man
in His humanity wrestled with Jacob, a heel-holder (Gen. 32). Third, Christ as a
man in His humanity met Joshua, the general of God's army, to fight not only
for Israel but for the carrying out of God's eternal economy (Josh. 5:13-15).
Fourth, Christ as a man in His humanity came purposely to the wife of a
common man by the name of Manoah to tell her that she would bring forth a
son by the name of Samson to fight for Israel (Judg. 13). Samson would fight the
Philistines, signifying a people between the world and religion, who greatly
disrupted the carrying out of God's economy on this earth. It is hard to find out
the reason why Christ appeared as a man in these four cases. I want us to notice
the following phrase which is written four times in the outline of this message:
for the carrying out of God's economy. In order to carry out God's economy,
Christ needs to be a man.
A. Christ Visiting Abraham
as a Man in His Humanity
God became Abraham's friend. If God would have visited Abraham as God, this
would have frightened Abraham. As God He could not become friends with
man. If God came as God to be friends with us, we would run away. In our
crystallization-study of Song of Songs, we saw that God came as a "country
man" in order to court a "country girl." One day God came to visit Abraham, not
as God, but as a man.
Christ was Jehovah, but He came to Abraham as a man with two angels (Gen.
18:1-3, 9-14, 16-18, 22, 33; 19:1). Abraham might have wondered who this One
was who came as a guest to his tent. He provided Him with water for foot-
washing and asked his wife to prepare a meal for Him (18:4-8). As God He
would not have needed to wash His feet or to eat. He told Abraham that his wife
Sarah would bring forth a son in the next year (vv. 9-15). At that time Abraham
was about one hundred years old (Rom. 4:19), and Sarah's age prevented her
from bearing children. However, there was One who told Abraham that He
would come back and that Sarah would have a son. Actually, the birth of the son
would be His coming back (Gen. 18:10).
Now we have to find out why Christ needed to be a man to visit Abraham,
wrestle with Jacob, meet Joshua, and come to Manoah's wife. The answer to this
question brings us to the unique and deepest truth in the divine revelation of the
holy Scriptures. We need to answer the questions: "Why is there a God, why is
there a Bible, why does this unique God have an economy which is revealed in
this Bible, and why did God create the old creation with man as its center?" The
answer to these questions as the one truth is the deepest truth, and it is very
hard to explain.
Acts 2:23 says that Christ was crucified, "delivered up by the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God." The Triune God in eternity past held a
council to make a decision that the second among Them had to become a man
for the purpose of visiting His chosen ones and making friends with them (Luke
7:34). When Nathanael saw Christ, he proclaimed that Christ was the Son of
God, but Christ referred him to the Son of Man, saying, "You shall see heaven
opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man"
(John 1:51). Christ being a man in His humanity is for God to carry out His
economy, and the goal of God's economy is for the Triune God to be
incorporated with man to be an incorporation. The New Jerusalem is the
universal incorporation of God with man. For God to carry out His economy to
have this incorporation, a constitution of God and man, man needs to be
mingled with God. Without this, the whole universe means nothing. This truth
is the unique truth in the whole universe. God needs man to match Him, to be
united with Him, to be mingled with Him, to be incorporated into one
incorporation with Him. The New Jerusalem will be the consummate
incorporation of God and man. In eternity the New Jerusalem will stand to
declare to the whole universe that this is God's eternal goal for His expression
and for His enlargement.
The sixty-six books of the Bible are very consistent, but to see what the Bible
unveils requires light. Apparently all the books are different, but in the unique
truth the entire Bible is consistent. The Bible unveils to us that God's economy is
to have God and man incorporated into an incorporation. Without man, with
whom could God be incorporated? Therefore, there is the need of man. The one
Bible reveals to us only one thing. First, God wants to be united with man, to
have a union with man. Then God wants to be mingled with man.
Consummately, God wants to be incorporated with man to be an incorporation.
This enlarged, divine-human, universal incorporation is God's eternal goal,
which is the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate union,
mingling, and incorporation of God and man. I hope that we all can see this.
CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY
OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
MESSAGE THREE
IN THE PROPHECY
CONCERNING THE ETERNAL ECONOMY OF GOD
(3)
OUTLINE
V. A man:
E. Christ, as a man in His humanity, will be like a refuge from the wind and
a covering from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the
shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land, and at the same time He will
reign according to righteousness as the King, under whom there will be
righteousness, protection, and enjoyment, in the millenniumIsa. 32:1-
8.
F. Isaiah 53 unveils that Christ was a man of sorrows (v. 3) in His humanity
to be our Redeemer in detail.
G. Christ, as a man in His humanity, was sitting on the throne of God above
the firmamentEzek. 1:26-28.
K. Christ, as a man in His humanity, was with Israel in the suffering of their
dispersion for God's eternal economyZech. 1:8.
M. Christ as the Shoot of David (Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5; 33:15; cf. Isa. 4:2), as a
man in His humanity, will build the temple of God, bear majesty, sit and
rule on His throne, and be a priest on His throne, being the counsel of
peace between the twoZech. 6:12-13; Rev. 20:4, 6.
E. Psalm 80:15 and 17 say, "Even the stock which Your right hand has
planted/And the son which You have strengthened for Yourself....Let
Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,/Upon the son of man
whom You have strengthened for Yourself":
1. These two verses refer to the oneness of Christ, as the Son of Man
in His humanity, with the children of Israel (Hosea 11:1; Matt.
2:15b).
2. Christ, as the Son of Man in His humanity, was the stock of Israel
planted by God's right hand and strengthened for God Himself;
God exalted Him in His ascension by seating Him at His right
hand (Psa. 110:1), the highest place in the universe, with the first
place, the highest position, the preeminence.
F. Daniel 7:13-14 says, "Behold, with the clouds of heaven,/One like a Son
of Man was coming;/And He came to the Ancient of Days....And to Him
was given dominion,/Glory, and a kingdom,/That all the peoples,
nations, and languages might serve Him./His dominion is an eternal
dominion, which will not pass away;/And His kingdom is one that will
not be destroyed":
1. Christ, as the Son of Man in His humanity, after He was cut off
(Dan. 9:26), after He finished His earthly ministry through His
crucifixion, went to God in His ascension to receive the kingdom
(Luke 19:12, 15; Rev. 11:15).
2. He, as the Son of Man in His humanity, will be a stone cut out,
not by human hands, to crush (Matt. 21:44) all the kingdoms of
the world and become a great mountain, filling the whole earth
in His kingdom for the carrying out of the eternal economy of
GodDan. 2:34-35, 44-45.
F. In this message we want to see more concerning the revelation of Christ
as a man in the Old Testament prophecy concerning the eternal economy
of God.
I. F. A Man of Sorrows
J. Isaiah 53 unveils that Christ was a man of sorrows (v. 3) in His humanity
to be our Redeemer in detail.
O. The entire Bible needs our study so that we may have the proper
interpretation of the Bible. The Bible was first written, later translated,
and then interpreted. The many different truths in the Bible can be
likened to pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In our study of the Bible, we have
endeavored to put together all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. Today I
believe that I have finished the work of putting the pieces of the entire
Bible together. When all the pieces are put together properly, we can see
a clear view.
J. Appearing to Daniel
for His Appreciation, Consolation,
Encouragement, Expectation, and Stabilization
In Daniel 10:4-19 the excellent Christ, the centrality and universality of God's
move on the earth, as a man in His humanity, appeared to Daniel for his
appreciation, consolation, encouragement, expectation, and stabilization.
He, as the Son of Man in His humanity, will be a stone cut out, not by human
hands, to crush (Matt. 21:44) all the kingdoms of the world and become a great
mountain, filling the whole earth in His kingdom for the carrying out of the
eternal economy of God (Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45). The entire Bible reveals that
Christ is a stone in three aspects. First, He is the stone for His temple (Psa.
118:22; 1 Pet. 2:4-5). Second, He is the stone for us to trust and rely upon (Isa.
28:16). Third, He is the stone crushing the enemies. All these aspects of Christ
are for the carrying out of the eternal economy of God.
CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY
OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
MESSAGE FOUR
IN THE FULFILLMENT
OF THE ETERNAL ECONOMY OF GOD
(1)
OUTLINE
I. The flesh:
5. Full of grace (God gained by us) and reality (God realized by us).
6. As the Word who is God becoming the last Adamthe last man
1 Cor. 15:45.
10. The Spirit of God confesses that Christ came in the flesh in the
teaching of the apostles, but at the end of the first century, when
the apostle John was still in his ministry, Docetism intermixed
with Gnosticism denied that Christ came in the flesh1 John
4:2-3; 2 John 7.
11. After His resurrection Christ showed His disciples that He still
had the resurrected flesh and bones (Luke 24:39; Acts 2:31) of
God's new creation (whereas in His incarnation He became flesh
of God's old creation), which will be His body of glory when He
comes back (Phil. 3:21).
4. Being put to death for our sins, the Righteous on behalf of the
unrighteous1 Pet. 3:18.
8. Initiating for us a new and living way to enter into the Holy of
Holies through the splitting of His crucifixionHeb. 10:19-20;
Matt. 27:51a.
II. In the previous message we saw that there is a difference between Christ
as the man and as the Son of Man. The man is simple with no
relationships or involvements. When Christ came to visit Abraham, He
was a man in humanity, without any involvements. When He came to
wrestle with Jacob, He was simply a man without any involvements. But
Christ as the Son of Man coming to seek and save sinners is full of
involvements. Psalm 80:17 uses both of these terms for Christ. On the
one hand, Christ was the man; on the other hand, Christ was the Son of
Man. As the Son of Man in His humanity, He was one with the children
of Israel.
III. In the previous three messages we have seen the humanity of Christ in
the prophecy concerning the eternal economy of God in the Old
Testament. In the following set of three messages we want to see the
humanity of Christ in the fulfillment of God's eternal economy in the New
Testament.
8. Suffering
Christ became flesh to suffer, to be crucified (1 Pet. 4:1).
11. Still Having the Resurrected Flesh and Bones after His Resurrection
After His resurrection Christ showed His disciples that He still had the
resurrected flesh and bones (Luke 24:39; Acts 2:31) of God's new creation
(whereas in His incarnation He became the flesh of God's old creation), which
will be His body of glory when He comes back (Phil. 3:21). In the night of His
resurrection, Christ came back to the disciples. The disciples thought He was a
spirit or a ghost. However, He told them to touch Him. This was not His original
flesh, but the resurrected flesh and bones of God's new creation. His physical
body was of God's old creation. His resurrected body is of God's new creation.
His resurrected body will be His body of glory when He returns. At that time we
also will be transfigured to be the same in body as He is, that is, we will be
conformed to the body of His glory.
B. Christ's Ministry in the Flesh
2. Manifesting God
First Timothy 3:16 says that Christ was God manifested in the flesh.
3. Condemning Sin
Christ came in the likeness of the flesh of sin to condemn sin (Rom. 8:3b). Sin is
in the flesh of sin. Christ died not only for the sins in our conduct but also to
condemn the sin in our nature.
7. Christ's Death Ministering to His Believers Eternal Life and Making Him
One with Them
In John 6:51-56 blood and flesh refer to Christ's humanity (Heb. 2:14). Christ's
blood being separated from His flesh indicates death, and eating and drinking
denote receiving. Christ's death through the shedding of His blood ministers to
His believers eternal life and makes Him one with them (John 3:14-15).
CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY
OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
MESSAGE FIVE
IN THE FULFILLMENT
OF THE ETERNAL ECONOMY OF GOD
(2)
OUTLINE
A. Coming in His humanity to seek and save the lost sinnersMatt. 18:11;
9:13; Luke 19:10:
C. Being, in His humanity, the Lord of the SabbathMatt. 12:8; Mark 2:28;
Luke 6:5.
D. Confessing in him, before His Father in the heavens and before His
angels, everyone who confesses in Him before men, and forgiving the
ones speaking words against HimLuke 12:8, 10; Matt. 10:32; 12:32.
E. Sowing Himself, in His humanity, as the good seed into man to grow
HimMatt. 13:3-9, 37.
F. Asking His disciples who they knew Him to be in His humanity and
guiding them to know Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, who
will build the church to be the kingdom of the heavensMatt. 16:13-20.
G. Coming, in His humanity, not to be served, but to serve and to give His
life as a ransom for manyMatt. 20:28; Mark 10:45.
H. Giving, in His humanity, the food which abides unto eternal lifeJohn
6:27, 53.
I. Dying in His humanity:
3. To be delivered into the hands of the chief priests and scribes and
crucified by themMatt. 17:22-23a; 20:18-19a; 26:2, 45; Mark
8:31a; 9:31a; 10:33-34a; 14:41; Luke 9:22a, 44; 18:31-33a; 24:7a.
J. Being buried in His humanity in the heart of the earth three days and
three nights as Jonah was in the belly of the great fishMatt. 12:40;
Luke 11:30.
V. If we had only the New Testament without the Old Testament, our
enjoyment of Christ would not be adequate. I have given many messages
on the types and prophecies in the Old Testament to show people Christ
and the enjoyment of Christ. In Luke 24:44 the Lord Jesus pointed out to
His disciples that the three sections of the Old Testament, the Law of
Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, reveal Him. This shows that the
entire Old Testament is a revelation of Christ and that He is its center
and content.
VI. Some teach that the whole Bible unveils Christ, but they understand this
in a very shallow way, which can be compared to skating on a layer of ice.
All the deeper truths are in the depths "beneath the ice." By the Lord's
unveiling in His mercy, we have an interpreted Bible, revealing the
deeper truths.
CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY
OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
MESSAGE SIX
IN THE FULFILLMENT
OF THE ETERNAL ECONOMY OF GOD
(3)
OUTLINE
1. To destroy the whole earth as the flood did in Noah's days and as
the fire and brimstone did at Lot's timeMatt. 24:37-39; Luke
17:26-30.
2. To take away His believers who are watching and ready for His
coming secretlyMatt. 24:40-44; Luke 12:40; 21:36.
5. Sending His angels to collect out of His kingdom all the tares and
cast them into the lake of fireMatt. 13:41-42.
8. As the lightning coming forth from the east and shining to the
westMatt. 24:27; Luke 17:24.
2. To judge all the people, signified by the sheep and the goats, who
are living after His coming backMatt. 25:31-46:
c. The goats who have ill-treated the Jews and the believers
in the great tribulation will go into eternal punishment
(the lake of fire) to perishvv. 41-46a.
Q. Bringing heaven to earth and joining earth to heaven as the ladder seen
by Jacob in Genesis 28:11-12, 16-19John 1:51:
III. Christ, the Son of Man, is the fulfillment of God's eternal economy. God's
eternal economy is to have a Body for Christ, and this Body consummates
the New Jerusalem. The Bible ends with Christ as the Son of Man, as the
consummation and completion of God's eternal economy. Nathanael
recognized Jesus as the Son of God (John 1:49), but Jesus told Nathanael
that he would see the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of
Man (v. 51). Christ as the Son of Man is the reality of the ladder which
Jacob saw in Genesis 28:12. John 1, the introduction to the Gospel of
John, ends with Christ as the Son of Man being a ladder that joins earth
to heaven and brings heaven to earth. The entire Bible also ends in this
way, that is, with Christ Himself as the Son of Man being a heavenly
ladder. This heavenly ladder is the New Jerusalem.
IV. We have seen that the New Jerusalem as the goal of God's economy is the
universal incorporation of the consummated God with His regenerated
believers. God in His Divine Trinity is an incorporation, mutually
coinhering and working together as one (John 14:10-11). Furthermore,
Christ is in the Father, we are in Christ, and Christ is in us (v. 20). The
conclusion and totality of these three ins is the Spirit of reality, who is
Christ Himself, to be the reality within us (v. 17). The Spirit of reality
came not only to be with us but also to be in us. Our being in God the Son
and God the Son being in us and also in the Father reveal an
incorporation. This incorporation is first the Body of Christ and then the
New Jerusalem. Ephesians 4 speaks of one Body, one Spirit, one Lord,
and one God and Father (vv. 4-6). The three of the Triune Godthe
Spirit, the Lord, and the Fatherare constituted and incorporated with
the believers. We have spent much time to study the humanity of Christ
from the prophecy of the Old Testament and from the fulfillment in the
New Testament to see a view showing us that God's economy is to have a
Body for Christ which consummates the New Jerusalemthe enlarged,
universal incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated
believers.
Christ as the Son of Man will return in the glory of His Father with His angels in
His kingdom (Matt. 16:27-28; 25:31; Mark 8:38b; Luke 9:26b). He will be
ashamed of the people who were ashamed of Him and His words in this
adulterous and sinful generation (Mark 8:38a; Luke 9:26a). When He comes
back openly, He will be like the lightning coming forth from the east and shining
to the west (Matt. 24:27; Luke 17:24). Lightning may be considered as being
concealed in a cloud, waiting for an opportunity to flash forth. In a similar way,
Christ will be clothed with a cloud (Rev. 10:1) in the air for a time and then will
suddenly appear, like a flash of lightning striking the earth. This implies also
that the Lord is like electricity. He will appear in heaven on the clouds with
power and great glory to be seen by all the mourning tribes of the earth (Matt.
24:30; 26:64b; Mark 13:26; 14:62b; Luke 21:27). At that time they will see and
receive Christ, and the whole family of Israel will be saved.
He will judge all the people, signified by the sheep and the goats, who are living
after His coming back (Matt. 25:31-46). During the great tribulation, Antichrist
will persecute the believers. At that time, an eternal gospel will be preached to
the nations (Rev. 14:6-7 and notes). Those who obey that gospel and treat the
Jews and the suffering believers well will be blessed, will be reckoned as
righteous, and will inherit the kingdom (Matt. 25:34, 37). These are the sheep.
But those who do not will be cursed (v. 41) and will perish for eternity. These are
the goats. The Lord will sit on the throne of glory at His return to separate the
sheep from the goats. The sheep who have well-treated the Jews and the
believers in the great tribulation will go into eternal life to be the nations of the
judged world (vv. 33-40, 46b). They will be saved, not to receive eternal life but
to enter into eternal life. Eternal life will be the sphere and the realm into which
they will enter and in which they will live. They will be the nations around the
New Jerusalem but not the kings. We believers, who are the New Jerusalem,
will be the royal family to rule over all the nations. The goats who have ill-
treated the Jews and the believers in the great tribulation will go into eternal
punishment (the lake of fire) to perish (vv. 41-46a). Later, the Lord as the Son of
Man will judge all the dead people who will be resurrected unto judgment after
the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15).
God's economy will consummate in such a ladder, which is a city. This city is an
incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers, an
incorporation of God in man and man in God. We will be God's incorporation
for God's glory to be manifested in humanity. We will be His dwelling place, the
tabernacle (Rev. 21:3), and He will be our dwelling place, the temple (v. 22).
That will be the mutual abiding of God in us and us in God to have God's glory
manifested in humanity radiantly. This is the conclusion of the humanity of
Christ in both the Old and New Testaments.
Note:While fundamental Christianity was fighting against the heresy that denies
the divinity of Christ, another heresy was unconsciously made by some
Christians, even Christian teachers, that is, the heresy concerning the humanity
of Christ of two points:
1. Many Christian Bible teachers dare not recognize that Christ is the Firstborn
of all creation (Col. 1:15). This implies that they dare not acknowledge the
humanity of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all
creation. According to our human view, Christ was born about two thousand
years ago. But according to the divine view, He is the Firstborn of all creation. In
God's eyes, there is no time element. Although Christ was slain less than two
thousand years ago, Revelation 13:8 says that Christ was slain from the
foundation of the world. With God there is only the fact, not the element of
time. According to the fact, God reckons Christ as the Firstborn of God's old
creation so that Christ might be the first in everything. We reject that heresy
which says that Christ was only a creature and not God. Christ as God is the
Creator, but we also have to recognize that Christ is a part of the creation
because He is a man who partook of the created blood and flesh. As such a man,
He is the Firstborn of God's old creation.
2. Some Christians do not believe that after His resurrection Christ is still a man
through His ascension, coming back, reigning in the millennium, and being the
heavenly ladder in eternity. Probably even a good number of Christian teachers
make the same mistake unconsciously. Eventually, the centrality and
universality of the entire universe, signified by the New Jerusalem, is Christ as
the Son of Man.