For God has allowed us
to know the secret of His plan and it is this, He purposed long ago in His
sovereign will that all human history should be consummated in Christ, that
everything that exists in heaven and earth should find its perfection and
fulfillment in Him (Ephesians 1:9-10-J. B. Phillips).
The Virgin Birth was God’s way of bringing all of creation
back to its original position before Adam’s sin. Jesus is called the last Adam.
He came to blaze a new trail for humanity. He came to destroy Satan’s works and
to restore to humanity all that was lost in Adam’s disobedience.
The first thing Jesus did was to restore our fellowship with
God. Through the New Birth we now have boldness to approach the throne of God
just as Adam did before he sinned!
The second thing Jesus did for us was to break Satan’s
dominion over our lives. Jesus defeated Satan in his own territory. He showed
the spoils of His victory over the dark kingdom in the spirit world before He
was resurrected (Colossians 2:15). His all
authority in heaven and in earth has been given to the church. Now you and I
have the same power over Satan and demonic forces that Jesus exercised.
The third thing Jesus did for us was to guarantee us a new
body at the rapture of the church. God never intended that the human ever die
and vacate his body. Before the fall, God’s plan was that we live in these
bodies of ours for eternity. The death that sin brought is not the plan of God.
Jesus conquered death and brought life and immortality back from the grave for
us! At the rapture, each believer will receive a glorified body that he or she
will inhabit for eternity. This body will fit us for life both in heaven and in
the new earth. It will last for eternity. Read 1 Corinthians 15 for the
details.
The fourth thing that Jesus did for us was to make the way
for the curse that was placed on the earth when Adam sinned to be removed. This
is when God through Christ rids the earth of all rebellion, judges His enemies,
and returns the earth to its pristine pre-fall state.
Here’s how it happens. Jesus returns to earth with the
redeemed church and sets up a one thousand year reign here (Revelation 19, 20).
He rules until all of His enemies are subdued (1 Corinthians 15:24-25). Then He
judges Satan and his forces and casts them into the Lake of Fire ,
their eternal abode (Revelation 20: 10). Then God judges all of the unbelievers
of all ages, and they experience the second death. They are likewise cast into
the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20: 11-15). They
receive the same judgment as their spiritual head, Satan.
Then God autoclaves the
earth. He renovates it with fire (see 2 Peter 3). This cleansed earth is called
the New Earth (see Revelation 21)! A city called the New Jerusalem comes down
from heaven and is suspended between the present heaven and earth. It’s a cube
1500 miles high, wide, and deep. There the saints of God will conduct the
business of heaven and earth with the Father for eternity.
The curse is completely removed form the earth (Revelation
22)! And we get to live here in glorified bodies for eternity! We will be able
to travel back and forth between heaven, earth, and the New Jerusalem! We will
reign with Him for eternity. It will be even better than life would have been
if Adam had never sinned.
That in the ages to
come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7). But
as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the
heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God
has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yes, the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). O the wonder of the
grace of God!
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