Neglected Kerygma -- Lecture 15

[Rebbe]

THE NEGLECTED KERYGMA OF CHRIST
a series of lecture essays on the biblical concept of a universal salvation in Christ

LECTURE FIFTEEN

Copyright © BRI/IMCF 2021 All Rights Reserved Worldwide by Les Aron Gosling, Messianic Lecturer (BRI/IMCF)

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Audio Lecture is now available for members: THE NEGLECTED KERYGMA OF CHRIST [15]: Lecture Fifteen

In Lecture 46 of our previous series Paul's Letter to the Roman Christians – I wrote something that is vitally pertinent today as never before:

“The International Messianic Community of Faith (IMCF) is unique in a number of respects. But one of these factors involves realising that we do not claim in any sense to be “the one true church” fulfilling “the Great Commission.” Indeed, in the final analysis the only commission we believe we possess – apart from restoring the lost Jewish thoughtform to the biblical revelation (and, of course, all that is associated with such a goal) – is to conduct ourselves in the original spirit of the early disciples. Notice:

“Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the Law” (Rom 13.8). Or, as the Living Bible has it: “Pay all your debts except the debt of love for others – never finish paying that! For if you love them, you will be obeying all of God's laws, fulfilling all his requirements.”

“A disciple, in the Greek, is a student of the Word of God. Those who are associated together in this body consider themselves to be students (not scholars) of the Bible and we have a constant need not merely to research the sacred Scriptures in order to better equip ourselves for our particular ministry but to share the results of our biblical research with others. In this sense, the BRI of the IMCF is an educational institution – free from denominational status, sectarian bias and stance, and the limits of hierarchical control over its membership. Having said this, the IMCF actually promulgates three essentials and we do expect our membership to actively engage themselves in an involved way in respect of these three essentials:

1) To act in unison in determining the IMCF's ministerial obligation, doctrine and practice;

2) To study together and to draw on the ekklesia's total experience and knowledge, using all sources available to determine with precise comprehension that of which the Gospel and Bible truth consists;

3) To encourage others to study – and to share the Gospel – through positive evangelism.

“We do have a MESSAGE. That Message is centred in GRACE. The world needs the information we possess on a variety of biblical subjects – all of them rooted in GRACE. We believe the true knowledge contained in the Word of God has not as yet been fully tapped. A veritable treasure-trove awaits our further investigative search into the pages of the sacred volume known to us as the Holy Bible. It is a highly neglected source of immense spiritual power.

“The End of Days is almost upon us. Because we have been saved by Grace for Grace, let's be fervently involved in positive outreach so that others also may hear this Word, and be moved like us to “inculcate and keep it.”

“The holy Spirit is above all the Spirit of Truth – of a right education and knowledge. But even more expressively, the Bible tells us plainly, “The Lord IS that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is there [in that place] is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to Glory as of the Lord the Spirit” (2 Cor 3.17,18).”  [End quote.]

As we progress in this current series on a “universal salvation in Christ” let us be put in remembrance of some great – indeed enormous – fundamental TRUTHS.

FIRST AND FOREMOST
I have two propositions to share in this present lecture. First and foremost, the shed blood of Our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, IS the only FOUNDATION of all spiritual blessing. It is the sole basis of EVERY tangible and psychological blessing as well. Doctrine is not the cornerstone of blessing – although doctrine is important to shed necessary and essential light on biblical matters. Christ died for us and for all humankind. His life, death and resurrection is not an issue of doctrine. Messiah's life, death, and resurrection was an astonishing REALITY that was occasioned within the framework of SPACETIME. It was as REAL as the failure of the first Man to meet the qualifications of God's expectations of him. The resurrection PROVED beyond doubt that Yeshua eclipsed Adam at every turn.

Understand this! The holy Spirit speaks of Our Lord Yeshua not only as God's Son, but assuredly and meaningfully as “the last Adam.”

The holy Spirit's assertion is as dramatic as it is revealing in itself.

Why is this the case?

For starters, Adam is called “the son of God” by Luke (Lk 3.38). Paul explains that the original Adam was a “pattern,” a “type,” or a “figure” of Yeshua (Rom 5.14) whom he later describes as “the second (or better, last) Adam” (1 Cor 15.45).

Many theological dignitaries have ascribed innumerable areas of similarity (both in matters of success and failure) between the two men. But what the vast overwhelming majority of scholars have not recognised (at least publicly) is the fact that through Adam – our physical federal head – “ALL humanity died” (1 Cor 15.22) and that Paul quickly adds the affirmative fact that “in Christ” (there is an equation arising at this point in Paul's mind) “ALL will be made alive” (same verse). Sadly, many Bible versions take the liberty of qualifying Paul's words – and in so doing they disqualify the truth to which Paul was attesting. Consider:

“Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (New Living Translation emphasis mine).

“For just as all people die because of their union with Adam, in the same way all will be raised to life because of their union with Christ” (Good News Translation emphasis mine).

“Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, being members of his sinful race, and wherever there is sin, death results. But all who are related to Christ will rise again” (The Living Bible emphasis mine).

“All men will die as Adam died. But all those who belong to Christ will be raised to new life” (New Life Version emphasis mine).

“All people who are of Adam die. And so also, all people who belong to Christ will live” (Worldwide English NT emphasis mine).

Now these versions (they are called “translations” but they are decidedly not) are correct in that ultimately all will be saved IN Christ, but they are not viewing the future salvation of all humanity in their free versions but they are instead insisting on limiting the salvation of God to the church in this age. This is not worthy translation – it is faulty interpretation! Some get it!

“For just as by Adam all people die, in this way also by The Messiah they all live” (The Aramaic Bible in Plain English).

“For just as through Adam all die, so also through Christ all will be made alive again” (Weymouth NT).

“As in Adam all die, so too, in Christ all will be made alive” (Jay Adams' Christian Counselor's NT, 1977).

“Just as all die in Adam, so also all will be brought to life, in Christ” (The Translator's NT).

“Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ” (Jerusalem Bible).

“In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ” (Common English Bible).

“Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us” (Contemporary English Version). 

“For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (Helen Barrett Montgomery New Testament).

“For as in Adam all are dead, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (Thomas Haweis New Testament).

On the other hand, the Daniel Mace NT speaks of “a restoration to life” and by this rides an implication that this would be a resurrection to physical life to await a negative judgment for the billions of failures “outside of Christ” to die in hell-fire as a judgment of God. “For as by Adam all die, even so by Christ shall all be restored to life” (Mace New Testament).

Paul is clear on the subject of Christ as our (and humanity's) SALVATION. He notes in his letter to the Greeks of Corinth that Adam generated death in his progeny – in his descendants. Acknowledging this revelation as self-evident the apostle then follows through with the necessary Hebraic parallel EQUATION that “therefore” IN CHRIST (as our spiritual Federal Head) salvation comes as a direct consequence of Our Lord and Saviour's shed blood for the human race (Romans 5.18). That's the human race, and not just shed blood for Christians who believe in him. Paul in other places writes about the entirety of the human race (and the universe) being created IN HIM – in Christ (John calls Christ the pre-existent Logos) at the very beginning of the plan, purpose and intention of God the Father. I have already spent time in a previous lecture in this series determining that ALL THAT EXISTS in creation was brought into an existence in Christ and for Christ – and that through Christ God will one day be “all in all.”

I stand by this assessment for the very simple reason that as “ALL creation” is included in – to be found in –  the Logos (which/who became Christ) THEN this absolute biblical fact grants that such occurred AEONS PRIOR to humanity being located in Adam, the first Man and federal head of the homo sapiens sapiens race. Yes, in ALL things Christ has the pre-eminence (Col 1.18).

As universalist theologian A.E. Knoch has stated (and on this I unequivocally DO agree with him)... Christ “displaces Adam, and His work affects all, even as Adam's has done. He is the second Man, as though none had intervened between Him and the first. He is the last Adam, in Whom there is a new humanity, which will be blessed by His one sacrifice, even as the old humanity was doomed by Adam's single transgression” (A.E. Knoch, All in All., 1978, 99).

Indeed! Paul goes on to articulate that “Consequently... as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, THUS ALSO IT IS” – Paul loves to utilise Hebraic parallelisms – “through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying” (Rom 5.18 Concordant Version).

Writes Knoch, “The parallel here is perfect. Adam's one offense is counteracted by Christ's one just award. The act of Adam actually affects all mankind. So Christ's work, eventually, must also actually justify all mankind” (ibid).

SECONDLY
I had two things – propositions – to share specifically in this lecture.

So, Secondly, I must insist the PURPOSE of the living God DETERMINES human destiny. Not many people would agree with me on this matter. However, despite this, God's purpose remains inviolate. Our free will certainly does not determine our destiny. God miraculously works with our free will to merge it into His perfect free will. This is what is called the “conversion” experience. God is above all else a God of loving PURPOSE.

For, “It is God who works IN us to both to WILL and to do HIS GOOD PLEASURE” (Phil 2.13).

Or, as it is translated in the Berean Study Bible: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf OF HIS GOOD PURPOSE” (emphasis mine).

“For it is God who is working in you both the will and the power to act” (Charles Thomson Translation). 

“For it is God who works effectually in you, both to will and to perform, on account of his benevolence” (Living Oracles New Testament). 

Now it appears that all the versions and translations I have quoted from are stating the same biblical view. Intriguingly, according to scholar James Murdock, the Greek Paul utilises to express his theology can also be translated back into Syriac (Aramaic) and into English as, “For God is operating in you, both to purpose, and also to perform that which ye desire” (Murdock's Syriac Peshitta NT – emphasis mine).

This latter translation broadens our base of understanding considerably and begins to make much more sense.

Human intellectual profligacy – and adamant refusal – to comply with God's volitional INTENTION for the human race shrivels as a defiant will in the face of that original undeviating Creative aim, design and ALL-encompassing Salvific goal.

It is clearly and patently stated that when human opposition to God occurs, Yehovah purposely “locks up that rebellious hostile mind” so that a future salvation can be assured – brought about – through the means of a loving Grace in order that a PURPOSEFUL God may be merciful to all. Paul expresses it this way:  “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” (Romans 11.32).

The Greek word for “disobedience” is the same for our term “unbelief” as found in the AV.

Why is it that MOST people (especially Christians) miss the awesome truth in its entirety?

The answer is they are already wretchedly programmed by Satan the Devil to believe the very opposite of what the Bible proclaims to us. The men and women who think that they are educated into the correct biblical teachings through the auspices of church organisations and fellowships and colleges are dogmatically “entranced” into something OTHER than a revelation of God's loving heart and Gracious disposition and they in turn are proceeding to clutter-up the impressionable unsuspecting minds of unbelieving believers.

The Dark Lord has most certainly DECEIVED the entirety of the world at every level – in religion, politics, economics, medicine, education, racial issues, and societal values. (See again Rev 12.9 and particularly in relation to Genesis 3.13). Deception is rampant in a world already filled to the brink and overflowing with unrestrained immoral promiscuity and narcissistic depravity. Consider the 2020 US Presidential elections and reflect on our advice over the entire length of this ministry at BRI/IMCF when we say that YOUR vote in elections really counts for nothing. Sincere people are still getting themselves involved in horrific fraud called “politics” that is perpetrated in all countries all over the world. Such folk are sincere without a doubt, but they are sincerely wrong in voting for this evil world system. The “Biden” outcome proves my point! I smiled, however, at a large waving placard displayed by someone in the mob that stormed the US Capitol in recent days. While similar flags and placards read emblazoned in large bold letters “TRUMP – 2024” instead I was gratified to see “JESUS – 2024.”

Yes, that individual had it right.

CHURCH EARLY “LOST THE PLOT”
From our earliest days in this ministry we grasped, through the kindness and goodness of the living God, the fact that the church had misrepresented the GRACIOUS story plot as to be discovered in the opening chapters of the first scroll of the Torah – Genesis. In truth, the church – as it had become organised in Roman-style ecclesiastical frock and desiring to become one with the world, early “lost the plot” completely.

Church teaching emphasises to this day the tragic “fall” in the Garden of Eden of our first parents – Adam and Chavah (Eve). They were deceived by Satan the Devil who was in a severe conflict with God according to this same wretched doctrine. Enthusiastically they rebelled against God knowing better and gave preference to listening to the voice of the Enchanter (Hebrew, nachash – meaning “shining one”) thus bringing upon themselves and the entirety of the human race that was to follow them, death.

My take is that Adam did not “fall” but rather was pushed. Adam was created as an adult. He had NO past. One minute he was not, and the next minute he was. There was no way he could have evaluated, through his experiential knowledge of past background activities, to come to any intelligent conclusions. No past, no self-identity, largely blank brain = no organised neural pathways. Here was his Creator telling him one thing and the Nachash ('shining one') elaborating on God's statements to the woman.

Recall there were two trees planted in the original Paradise. I have written a great deal in past decades on the tragedy in Eden. Both trees were planted by God. There was a Tree of LIFE. There was also a Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. How many students of the biblical revelation have thought of this latter tree only as the symbolic “Knowledge of Evil” from which Adam and Eve ate! But the Genesis account is specific in its identification of the “Tree” as one which made provision for “GOOD and evil.” Of course, our first homo sapiens sapiens [sic] as federal heads of the human race SHOULD HAVE EATEN from the Tree of LIFE in order to subsequently live forever. They failed to do this. And, due to the fact that death has been inherited by their descendants ever since, we all continue to eat, to devour, to compulsively consume, the fruit of that “Tree.”

Of course, all knowledge is based on contrast. It is encapsulated in comparative oppositeness. All knowledge is essentially dualistic by its very nature. The ONE “Tree” was one which produced “fruit” that was good and “fruit” that was evil. All knowledge is therefore, relative. None of us can escape from such a conclusion. I am sure our intent is to eat of the knowledge of that which is constituted as “good.” Even Rav Shaul advised,

“Whatsoever things [knowledge] are true, whatsoever things are worthy of reverence and are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable and kind and gracious, lovely and lovable, whatsoever things are of good report, truly virtuous and possessing excellence; indeed, if there be any virtue at all and if any praise, THINK ON and WEIGH and TAKE ACCOUNT of these things by FOCUSING YOUR ATTENTION upon them” (Philippians 4.8).

“Think on,” “weigh,” and “take account” of positive things, focusing attention on them. But Adam and Eve were paralysed by the “Shining One” when he suddenly appeared and articulated the most powerful engaging word in the human language.

“YES!”

What a positive approach. And yet this word is missing from the text of Genesis 3.1 in most Bibles. Let me just share this story as an aside. In my years of selling, I would always approach my target and use the same model. Speaking in so positive a manner beginning with a sharp “YES!” as way of introduction got me to the position eventually of top salesman in the organisation to which I belonged, and Baron Paul Hamlyn (German-born British publisher and philanthropist) honoured my sales figures and achievements (by which he financially benefited greatly) by celebrating my status with a massive bottle of champagne. I would have preferred $$$.

The Creator had lovingly warned Adam: “The day that you eat thereof [of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil] dying you shall die” (Genesis 2.17).

But Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of that Tree and the man was held responsible for not sharing this information properly with the woman who was later taken from his side. Eve, as yet remaining “unconsciously attached” in the side of Adam, was not directly given such a commandment from God. She remained ignorant of the Voice of God hearing only that which her mate had shared with her. The man alone kept this information to himself as an awesome secret only he knew. “The pride of life,” John called this aspect of man's nature many millenniums later (1 John 2.16).

[To the modern 21st century mindset, the very idea of Adam originally created with Eve as an integral (or perhaps extended) part of his human body, seems grotesquely horrible in the extreme. Jokes abound concerning it, and other Genesis stories. Mark Twain had a joke where he described Adam coming home to Eve after naming all the creatures in Paradise. Eve looked at an elephant and said, “What did you name that big animal?” Adam replied, “I called it an elephant.” Eve asked, “Why did you call it an elephant?” Adam answered, “Because it looked like an elephant!”]

Translator and scholar Dr James Moffatt saw the depth of what John was conveying about human nature and spoke of the pride of life as “the proud glory of life.” To be secretive may on occasion have its benefits but a secretive nature is usually covering up a deep and abiding sense of personal inferiority coupled with having a competitive streak within the heart.

How do I know Eve was not appropriately informed of God's original instructions from Adam?

Because Eve had a garbled interpretation of God's instructions.

When confronted by the speaking “Serpent” (Hebrew nachash: enchanter) who asked Eve the all-important question which followed directly on the heels of his paralysing single word statement, “Yes! And so God has said that you are not to eat fruit from any tree in this Paradise?” (Genesis 3.1) the woman responded, “We can eat fruit from the trees in the park, but as for the tree in the centre of the park, God has said, You must not eat from it, YOU MUST NOT TOUCH IT, lest you die” (Genesis 3.2). Notice that Eve added to the original commandment of God.

Note also that the writer of Genesis realised that Adam was also told by the Creator in the garden or park that (apart from the one forbidden tree) he was entirely FREE to eat from any of the other trees that were available to him (Genesis 2.16). Right at the start of the human story freedom and liberty are emphasised and encouraged by God Himself. Out of ALL of Eden's plants and fruits only ONE TREE was forbidden! God has not changed. God still desires humankind to desire to experience FREEDOM and LIBERTY, but that freedom and liberty is not from obedience but IN obedience to a loving Creator!

I have mentioned that Adam and Eve were immobilise by the use of a powerful single avouchment uttered with authority by the “god of this world.” Let me share a little more on this subject.

When haSatan as the Enchanter came to Eve in the Garden he opened his conversation with that powerful, positive articulation.

“YES!” was his prime word of greeting. The Enchanter utilised the most potent selling principle of all time. He approached his target with a stimulating affirmation. Eve was left in a frozen embryonic state – her mind virtually paralysed with haSatan's great and immense positive mental attitude and asseverative “YES!” She was left reeling under the impact of his cunning, rapidly insinuated doubt. “YES! Has God said, you shall not.....” (3.1). Now all theologians agree that Eve did not “fall” until she actually took the fruit (whatever that fruit happened to be or represent) and ate it with Adam.

But please note that Eve (Gen 3.3) already possesses a less than perfect nature. Before her “fall” she, for whatever reason, adds to God's Word (cf Gen 3.3 with 2.16,17).

And the “Enchanter” (as it is in the Hebrew) says to the woman, “You shall not certainly die....” – the first lie. Yeshua tells us with all authority that haSatan is “a liar and the father of all lies” (Jn 8.44). There is no truth in him. What is truth he distorts. He cannot help himself. He is gripped with a theology of cynicism – a snarling dog-like put-down of anything altruistic and noble.

Satan did tell Eve the truth about her destiny, but he wanted our first parents to grasp at their glorious future in the Absolute Likeness of Deity before they QUALIFIED by building essential character – based on total obedience to God the Creator.

He does the very same thing with us. How many churches today lay stress on the sanctified life – on the need to build character? How many sermons do we hear which emphasise our eternal salvation on the one hand and the need to grow into the IMAGE of Messiah on the other? How many talk about the coming Kingdom of God which will rule this earth under Yeshua the Messiah and the twelve apostles? How many discuss the positions of power we saints are to occupy in that soon-to-appear world government? How many realise that Jerusalem is destined to be the centre of world rule? Very, very few!

What was it in Eve, before the actual “fall”, that made her reach out and take the forbidden fruit? The apostle John tells us plainly!

“Love not the world, neither the things [the ways] that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all [Greek: all collectively] that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 Jn 2.15,16).

The lust of the flesh. It is written that the woman saw that the tree “looked good” for food.

The lust of the eyes. It is written that the woman saw that the fruit “was pleasant to the eyes.”

The pride of life. It is written that the woman considered that partaking of the fruit would “make her wise.”

Theologians inform us that these are the conditions of a “fallen” nature yet here they are deeply exhibited in Eve! Before the “fall.” And so she took the fruit. And out of love for Eve, man shared her folly. Here were our first parents seduced by the Dark Lord into becoming “as gods” [Hebrew: elohim] BEFORE they qualified!

FIRST comes our initial salvation, THEN comes God's Spirit inwardly to enable us to grow into SALVATION GLORY – NOT the other way around. Our experience of growth comes after conversion, not before it. Satan seduced Eve into experiencing, experimenting, tasting DEITY before she qualified (Gen 3.22).

God created Adam and Eve innocent, but not in any way “perfect.”

And God knew well in advance that BOTH human beings would take wrong advice. We know this for a fact because there is nothing hidden from God – even well in advance of any criminal, or unproductive, activity. We also know that Christ was slain from eternity – to make provision for the sins Adam and Eve would make. It tells us so in the very Word of God.

Christ is “... the Lamb who has been slain in the mind and purpose of God since the time when the foundations of the universe were laid, and who is looked upon by God as the slain Lamb at present" (Revelation 13.8 Kenneth S. Wuest, The New Testament, An Expanded Translation, 1961, 7th Printing 1972).

CHRIST WAS NOT A CONTINGENCY PLAN
The apostle Paul explains that when the first Man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that “sin entered into the world” (Romans 5.12).

SIN made an entrance. This admission is missed by just about all biblical scholars. The Greek indicates that sin, like an actor, was waiting his cue in the wings to enter the stage of the unfolding drama. Therefore sin already existed long before Adam ate the fruit. God, not the devil, planted this tree from which Adam and Eve ate.

It is SOLELY God, not the devil, who is ENTIRELY RESPONSIBLE for his own plan that happens to be a plan of redemption. Although the church doctrine is popular God did not get caught out unexpectedly. God did not find His plan in tatters by the decision of Adam and Eve to disobey Him. Christ was in no way a contingency plan just in case something was to “go wrong” in God's intention for the couple (and the human race) after Eden. There was NO WRONG CHOICE in Eden outside of the ultimate will of God. Man may have been accountable for his actions but God was responsible for his plan and purposes. This point cannot be overemphasised.

Consider also: the Enchanter was granted access into the garden. Was this not occasioned by God's express will? Quite apparently, Satan entered Eden with God's express foreknowledge. God wasn't asleep on the job, and any theology that infers that he was is nothing more than a travesty. Satan was there doing his job. God well knew the Enchanter's every move. The Dark Lord was in Eden with God's express knowledge and permission otherwise we are faced with a God who has a much-reduced sovereignty. But God's sovereignty cannot even be challenged, let alone placed aside (Romans 9.19). In a nutshell, God wanted Satan there. 

Adam's transgression was very much a part of God's plan of salvation. God's plan is a plan of SALVATION. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A plan is thought out well ahead of time, before it is executed, prior to its actual initiation. Sin is essential for salvation. With the human species of planet Earth God has no other plan. Without sin there would be no Saviour. Without enslavement there would be no Deliverer or Redeemer. Without transgression there could be no act of justification, or Grace imparted. Without the cross, Grace would be meaningless. Without darkness there would be no appreciation of light. Without estrangement there would be no possibility of reconciliation. Comments C.S. Lewis, “The glory of God, and, as our only means to glorifying him, the salvation of human souls, is the real business of life” (C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections, 1967, 14).

It is written:

“God was in Yeshua reconciling the world to Himself,” Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians. More than this, He is “not holding their trespasses against them” (2 Cor 5.19).

That's what the sacred Scripture tells us. Why is this? Because God has blinded the eyes of the unconverted to His salvation – and to innumerable multitudes that think they are saved – in order to have mercy on them all when He finally discloses His outflowing, outgoing lavish and superabundant love to them by His Spirit. The principle is found in Romans 11.32. Notice it now:

“For God has bound [Gk., imprisoned] all men over to disobedience [the Greek can also mean “unbelief”] so that he may have mercy on all.”

“Mercy on ALL” – not the destruction or eternal torment of ALL.

If we want to know what the love of God is like, look at His Son, our dear Lord Yeshua. Yeshua is called “the Suffering Servant of God.” Yeshua suffered in his life, and he suffered dreadfully. If Yeshua suffers, then God suffers. “God was IN Christ.” Christ is called “the image of God” (Col 1.15; Jn 5.29; Heb 1.3; 2 Cor 4.4; Jn 10.30; 14.7,9).

God identifies with suffering MORE than we realise. And, he sent the Lord Yeshua to our planet not to destroy men's lives but to save them (Luke 9.56). That was his intention, and his purpose. That's why he died for each and every one of humankind's children.

Consider this! Yeshua is called the “Son of God” by his disciples and the writers of the New Testament. His choice of designation happened to be reflective of his loving heart. He called himself “the son of Man” (Mk 10.45; Acts 7.56). Over 30 times Our Lord Yeshua is spoken of as “Son of Man” in the Gospel of Matthew, and on over 80 occasions in the whole NT. The term “son of man” really means “son of humankind.” But taken back to Hebrew it shouts aloud: “Son of haAdam!” – Son of THE Adam. Yes, son of our first Original.

The LORD Yeshua has gained the headship of the human race – which he came to SAVE, as his Name suggests. He gained the headship of the race by QUALIFYING for it, and thus able now to save to the utmost not just the Man he dispossessed – Adam – but the entirety of the human race. All of humankind. Yeshua came to earth with the intention of saving all that Adam lost.

Do we – CAN we – believe his own words when he declares: “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19.10)?

I might add that since Adam walked the earth over 140 billion men, women and children have lived and died. Salvation awaits each and every one of them.

What WE understand because we grasp the meaning of the Jewish festivals listed in Leviticus 23 which God gave to His people Israel, is that He has a purpose and an intention to SAVE humanity – all of humankind. As I have mentioned, it has been estimated that over 140 billion people have walked the earth since the dawn of time. That's an awful lot of death, and an awful lot of sin that brought about death. And, that's an awful lot of people to save.

“God's hand is not shortened that it cannot save,” we are told in Psalm 59.1. God is not a respecter of persons as we are also advised (Acts 10.34; Romans 2.11).

It's high time for Christians especially – of all theological persuasions – to come to realise and to faithfully acknowledge that Adam and Eve had NO choice in becoming sinners. AND that none of us who consider ourselves “authentic believers in Christ” had ANY CHOICE in becoming such a believer.

It is either ALL of us or ALL of God. Not of GRACE? Then not of God.

If our first “originals” became sinners without any real choice in order for God's Work to initiate and bring about His own plan of SALVATION then we today will be SO SAVED solely by the Work – the DECISION – of Christ. For “BOTH are actual and universal” (A.E.Knoch).                                                   

I believe the Word of God. He wrote the sacred scripture after all! And God's Word speaks of a number of “time periods” in which God will deal with all human beings in time zones with which they are entirely familiar.

It is our time NOW to experience “our day of salvation by Grace” as a minority of “Firstfruits” of a GREATER GATHERING of souls yet to be harvested.

By God's GRACE we shall all witness the SALVATION of our awesome and loving God.

THIS CONCLUDES THE CURRENT LECTURE