Personal from Joseph Tkach
Personal from Joseph TkachWe are rapidly approaching the spring festival season, at which we commemorate the death and resurrection of our Savior.
We are not commemorating days, of course--the days are merely a method we use to commemorate our Savior and the salvation that he has achieved for us. "By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14, New Revised Standard Version throughout). "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (v. 10).
The work has been done. The gift has been given. The money is in the bank, we might say. It is ours to use. Jesus Christ "is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).
Jesus paid for the sins of everyone--even though many do not yet know it, even though not everyone accepts it. The atonement has been made--fully effective, once for all time. Our faith doesn+t add anything to its effectiveness or cause it to be given. Our faith merely accepts the gift that has already been secured. And all who accept Christ, who accept his gift, rejoice!
The spring festival season is a time of joy. When we commemorate the resurrection of our Savior, we leap for joy, because his resurrection foreshadows our own--and even now we live with Christ in newness of life.
The spring festivals also remind us of the shameful death of Christ, and even this is an occasion for joy, because of the significance of his crucifixion. He was the second Adam, and his death was sufficient to reconcile all humans to God.
One way that the Bible describes our salvation is as a re-creation. We are a new creation, a new person, born again, with a new identity. We are a new humanity. We say, with the apostle Paul, that the old person died with Christ--and that is why his crucifixion is so important for us. We were with him on the cross, and the old sinful person died with him, and we now live anew in the risen Christ. There is a contrast between the old humanity and the new.
This picture is seen again when Paul says that Christ is the image of God, and that we are being re-created in his image. God loves us so much that he sent Christ to redeem us from our own rebellion and selfishness.
The wonder of it all hearkens back to Psalm 8:3-6. When we look at the heavens, when we consider the moon and stars, when we consider the enormity of the universe and the stupendous powers involved in each star, we might well wonder why God bothers with us at all. Why should we think that he even looks us, and cares about each individual?
Human beings are in some ways like God himself, yet inferior, yet crowned by God with honor and glory. Humans are a paradox--so tainted with evil, and yet believing that they should behave morally. So far below God, and yet called honorable by God himself.
Scientists call us Homo sapiens, a member of the animal kingdom. Scripture calls us nephesh, a word also used for animals. We are dust, and when we die, we return to the dust. Our anatomy and our physiology is like that of an animal.
But Scripture says that we are much more than animals. -God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them+ (1:27). Humans are a special creation, made in the "image of God." We are in some way like God himself.
Women and men are both made in the image of God; they have equal spiritual potential. Social roles do not change a person+s spiritual value. All humans deserve love, honor and respect.
Genesis 1 concludes by noting that everything was "very good." This was just the way God wanted it to be--but anyone who lives in the real world realizes that something is now terribly wrong with humanity.
What went wrong? Genesis 2 and 3 explain that the originally perfect creation became marred. Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. Humanity sinned, rebelled against the Creator, chose to go its own way.
The first result of their sin was distorted vision--they saw something wrong with their nakedness (3:7). Even after making loincloths, they were afraid of being seen by God (3:10).
They made their lame excuses, and Yahweh explained the consequences: Eve would bear children, which was part of the original plan, but now it would be with great pain. Adam would till the ground, which was part of the original plan, but now it would be with great toil. And they would die. In fact, they were already dead. "In the day that you eat of it you shall die" (2:17). Their true life in union with God was over. All that was left was mere physical existence, far less than the true life God intended.
What Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3 is what humanity as a whole has done; the story illustrates why humanity is in a less-than-perfect situation. Humanity is typified by Adam and Eve-humanity lives in rebellion against its Creator, and that is why sin and death characterize all human societies.
So the scene has been set: The problem that humans find themselves in is their own fault, not God's. He gave them a perfect start, but they blew it, and everyone ever since has been infected with iniquity. But despite human sinfulness, humanity continues to be in God+s image--tarnished and dented, we might say, but still the same basic image.
But God still cares, and he has a plan for us. Jesus Christ, God made flesh, is the perfect image of God (Col. 1:15). He became fully human, showing us exactly what a human being ought to be: perfectly obedient, perfectly trusting. Jesus restored the life that was lost through sin. He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).
Jesus is called "the last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45). What Adam did for physical humanity, Jesus Christ does for the spiritual revision. He is the starting point of the new humanity, the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). In him, everyone will be made alive again (1 Cor. 15:22).
We are born again. We are starting over, this time on the right foot. Through Jesus Christ, God is creating the new humanity, and sin and death have no power over this re-creation (Rom. 8:2; 1 Cor. 15:24-26). The victory has been won; the temptation has been rejected.
Jesus is the one we are to trust and the model we are to follow (Rom. 8:29-35); we are being transformed into his image (2 Cor. 3:18), the image of God.
Through faith in Christ, through his work in our lives, our imperfections are being stripped away, and we are being brought closer to what God wants us to be (Eph. 4:13, 24). We are going from one degree of glory to another--to a much higher glory!
Of course, we do not yet see the image in all its glory, but we are assured that we will. "Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we will also bear the image of the man of heaven [Christ]" (1 Cor. 15:49).
Our resurrected bodies will be like Jesus Christ's: glorious, powerful, spiritual, heavenly, imperishable, immortal (vs. 42-44).
John put it this way: "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is" (1 John 3:2-3).
We don't yet see it, but we know it will happen, for we are God's children, and he will make it happen. We will see Christ in his glory, and that means that we will also have a similar glory, able to see spiritual glory. And then John adds this pastoral comment: "And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure" (v. 3).
Humanity is a multilevel being: physical and spiritual.
1) Even the natural human is made in God's image. No matter how much a person sins, the image is still there and the person is of tremendous value. God has a purpose and plan that includes every sinner.
2) Through faith in Christ, a sinner becomes a new creation, modeled after the second Adam, Jesus Christ. In this age, we are just as physical as Jesus was during his earthly ministry, but we are being refashioned into the spiritual image of God.
This spiritual change means a change of attitude and behavior, brought about because Christ lives in us and we live by faith in him (Gal. 2:20).
3) If we are in Christ, we will bear the image of God perfectly in the resurrection. Our minds cannot now fully grasp what that will be like, and we do not know exactly what the "spiritual body" will be, but we know that it will be wonderful. Our gracious and loving God will bless us with as much as we can enjoy, and we will praise him forever!
Friends, when you see people around you, what do you see? Do you see the image of God, the potential for greatness, the image of Christ being formed? Do you see the beauty of God's plan at work in giving grace to sinners? Do you rejoice that he redeems a humanity who went astray? Do you rejoice at the majesty of the wonderful plan of God?
This is far more wonderful than the stars. It is far more glorious. He has given his word, and it is so, and it is very good. In the spring festivals, let us rejoice in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us be thankful for the sacrifice he made, and be thankful that it was effective for the whole world, even for us. In him we have new life!
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