Saturday, October 4, 2014

Christ's Humanity Perfected continued! Heb. 5

Christ says... "to him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne"...but note now the next words.... "even as I overcame". Rev. 3:21.
Christ did not have to enter the likness of our sinful mind and thoughts to say this. He never yeilded to sin as we have. But He did have to begin with the weakness we begin with and show us how to hold to the stength He made available through His own heavenly nature. As long as His humanity remained obedient He could be strengthened from the divine resource He himself had made possible. The Father above governed the rules of the great contest and so it was to Him the Son made continual appeal to provide the power His humanity required. But note that Christ Himself is our manna. It had to be all of Christ own resource that was used. He is the bread that came down. It was His divine sustinance, governed by the Father, that He himself was helped with. Thus the servant of the Lord writes...*"Thus Christ gave to humanity an existence out of Himself". 1 SM 250. The intricacy of it remains a mystery to us. But we can better understand that Christ is our manna in both the human and divine aspects.
Christ suffered deeply in the buffetting which Satan showered His humanity with in desparate efforts to cause the human will of Christ to loosen His hold on His Father's will. Had He yeilded but once then our hope would be in vain. Satan finally stood in shocked disbelief that the humanity he had weakened for millennia could display such perfect righteousness without one single failure. It was a mystery to him. Now he knew his battle was lost. Divinty and humanity had found a place in Christ to crush his power. God had shown, through the divine human union in Christ, that His love was sufficcient to counteract Satan's best efforts to degrade mankind. All may enter this union through Jesus free gift alone. We cannot deserve it but we may accept the great unmerited mercy in contrition of soul.
Oh sin scarred soul! What objection could you speak to a God such as this? Does it not melt away every supposed complaint? What woundrous love is this for my soul! God has shown Himself to you as a migthy friend ready to rescue! Repent of your calous heart. Will you not embrace your Father forever? Rejoice oh lowly sinner...you are greatly beloved by the Sovreign of creation!

* Quote referenced above "By his obedience to all the commandments of God, Christ wrought out a redemption for man. This was not done by going out of himself to another, but by taking humanity into himself. Thus Christ gave to humanity an existence out of himself. To bring humanity into Christ, to bring the fallen race into oneness with divinity, is the work of redemption. "Christ took human nature that men might be one with him as he is one with the Father, that God may love man as he loves his only begotten Son, that men may be partakers of the divine nature, and be complete in him.
The Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the only begotten Son of God, binds the human agent, body, soul, and spirit, to the perfect, divine-human nature of Christ." 1SM 250.3

No comments:

Post a Comment