Man's "Flesh" in the Beginning and the End

This is the second introduction in preparation for the eschatology from the Book of Revelation. Thus, there are two "Daily Thoughts" for today. My desire is to provide the ontology and eschatology of mankind. Why so? In the end, Christians will have the same nature as in the beginning! That is where the path comes full circle. Not only will man return to his original condition but also the Garden which now seems to be gone. We just may learn where it is!

Let's look at how mankind was created:

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...  2:7  And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.  2:22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

You will notice that the summary of mankind's creation was put in chronological order with the details. I did this as a refutation of the "two creations" heresy. These verses are the ontology of mankind. I propose that mankind was created without human flesh. Don't let this contention bother you because it's better than that!

In the above verses, the Hebrew word transliterated "flesh" - basar, could have as easily been rendered "body". Depending on context, according to Strong's definition, fresh, flesh, body, a man's pudenda, or nakedness could be used. I submit that "body" is more appropriate because "the flesh" is sinful. If we look at how much a man should love God, we find this:

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Hence, originally mankind was made up of matter, spirit, and mind. When one says "love with all your heart" that means to  love with all your physical existence since emotions are covered under mind. This love with all the heart is both matter and human nature.  I don't use soul and spirit interchangeably. I perceive that what we call "the soul" is the container for the "spirit", akin to space being the container for matter.

Since mankind was created immortal it follows that man had no flesh.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Man was originally born of the Spirit. No flesh was necessary. Flesh is of the world and spirit is of God. The Garden was God's Kingdom, and from that which man came, he shall return by grace. 

1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

This is called the rapture. As the dead is raised, their bodies live again. It is presumed that at that time the living in Christ shall have the same. Since, death was the outcome of sin, corruptible flesh was put on to exist in the world. At the last trumpet, the dead shall rise incorruptible - without flesh, the exact same condition as when man was created!

What then will we have in the second paradise to cloth us? Not corruptible flesh, the sensor of pleasure. We will be made again in the image of God just as originally at the creation. We shall have God's Mind, Spirit, and Body, or if you don't like the idea of being without flesh, then God's likeness.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) 40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.

Before Jesus died, the King James translators wisely used the Greek  pneuma with different contexts in the same verse: Since a "Ghost" is the Spirit of a dead man, and Jesus had yet to die, the Holy Ghost could not come down until Jesus was "glorified".

Glorification comes with death. Jesus had died, returned from the dead, and walked the earth for forty days, yet no one was allowed to touch him because he had yet to be with the Father (John 22:17). (No, Thomas was only challenged to touch Jesus but he didn't need to.) Thus "glorification" is when mankind stands in the presence of God. Scripture is very clear: that cannot be done "in the flesh" because God is entirely pure, and the flesh is not. Whatever clothing we shall wear will be incorruptible - it will never perish nor can it sin! The flesh is unwelcome in the kingdom of God in either the Garden of Eden, in the world, or in the Garden of Heaven.

Whatever we wear, we again will be in the image of God. In the Garden, mankind wore the same "skin" which the glorified Jesus wore after he ascended to the Father.

I was confused for awhile. Genesis says that we were created in the image of God. God's "Image" is Jesus Christ. On the other hand the New Testament says that Jesus was made in our likeness. It finally came to me - both are true! In the Garden, mankind had an incorruptible body. After our ancestors were removed from Paradise to the world, they put on a different corruptible flesh to both cope in the world as well as be tempted. (This hypothesis is validated by sacred writings.)  Jesus was born with corruptible flesh, just like ours, to show that mankind does not have to sin. Our flesh was necessary to be fair in Jesus's temptations by the devil.

Once Jesus died, he no longer needed our flesh. He defeated it! It died on the cross, and stayed clean until he ascended to the Father in purity. Once ascending in the air, Jesus was glorified, putting off the flesh and becoming new. Our own baptism is symbolic of that same thing!

There is still one thing missing to understand from whence we came and where we're headed. "The flesh" is much more than the dermal layers. It includes man's nature as well. Just as us, Jesus had a personality. He could be tempted since he was flesh and bones. However, Jesus had the supra-nature of God. He was born that way! In order to be like Jesus in body and spirit, we must be born-again. As we become new creatures, the old sinful nature of the flesh is tempered somewhat. It is sort of divine acclimation until we too ascend. If we're still alive, we will join the dead in the sky with Jesus and put on a new incorruptible body with whatever new skin that entails!

This commentary covers both the ontology and eschatology of mankind. Tomorrow we will proceed with the Book of Revelation..