Rebirth, what Jesus called “born again,” is the must be. Theologians refer to born again as “regeneration.” Indeed, it is the beginning with regeneration. For the degenerate to be regenerated requires a redoing of generation. Original sin was degeneration and since, Adam’s kind have been degenerated, both is body and spirit. Adam and Eve immediately degenerated. Spiritually it was immediate, and physically a withering process. God would begin the regenerating process by covering them with a coat of skins, because He was the only One to whom return was possible. Neither the beasts nor the Beast had the power of regeneration since none had the Holy Spirit of God.
When they felt guilty, God had grace on them. He began to make
them like they were generated ijn the beginning. The “lamb from God” who He
slaughtered was the start. The blood of the lamb would protect them while they
were alive, but what about in death. Death was gain for them because their souls
were restored, just as they had been before, to wit: “He hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world.” [i]
Death would be gain for Adam and Eve because they returned
safely to their origins. Death saves the soul. Regeneration commences with
rebirth, death saves the soul, and the rapture, or resurrection, saves the body.
Since only God can destroy both the body and soul, only God can save the body
and soul. Adam and Eve, like us, were redeemed when Jesus suffered death. Bu
they were not made whole until when? Until Jesus was resurrected and, “The graves
were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose” [ii]
The rest will be caught up later when Jesus returns for both the dead in Christ
and the living. [iii] Adam and Eve were certainly saints that were resurrected
when Jesus emerged from the grave.
They were some of the dead “saints.” That word is used one
time in the Old Testament and refers to Aaron. Aaron was not pure, but he followed
God. In Hebrew, Aaron was qadowsh, or set apart (Strong’s
Dictionary) for the resurrection. Aaron may have been one of the first to be
resurrected along with Adam and Eve!
Adam and Eve were not saintly, nor was Aaron. But God still set
them apart because after sinning they followed God — Aaron all the way to “Paradise”
to meet Adam who is believed to be buried beneath Calvary. Jesus would feel the
skull of Adam as he stepped on it on the way to Calvary as promised. [iv]
Adam was regenerated in the same fashion that he was
generated. Most certainly the blood and wate from Jesus, when he was pierced in
the side, flowed into the nostrils of Adam’s skull beneath the cross. Adam
would have risen because God breathed life into his nostrils a second time as
he had before: “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” (Gen 2:7). The
“blood” would be the DNA of God and His “breath” would be the Living Waters of
the Holy Spirit. When Jesus died he gave up the Holy Ghost. [v]
The Spirit from God on the Cross would flow onto the same
earth as before, and Adam would finally be regenerated to his original state.
He was “glorified” as Jesus was glorified. “Glorification” is the “entirely
good” condition of all things on the Garden.[vi]
Not just “very good” as is translated, but from the Hebrew wholly good. (ibid).
Virtue had flowed from Jesus to the skull of Adam just as it had in the beginning
when God made everything “good.”
When was Adam regenerated? Was it when he was given the
second chance back in the Garden (the coat of skin) or was it when he arose
from the grave with glorified flesh as Jesus Himself? Adam was “born again”
when He turned to God to regain immortality, but he was regenerated when he was
made whole again as he arose from the grave.
You might say that there are three salvations: (1) saved from
sin, (2) the soul saved, and (3) the flesh saved from corruptible to
incorruptible.
First, Jesus propitiated His own blood to save from sin,
just as he shed the blood of the lamb in propitiation of Adam’s sin. All of the
“sins that are past” were redeemed on the Cross. [vii]
That includes all of Adam’s sins, and also all the sins of Adam’s kind
until that time. Jesus saved mankind from sin when He made the atonement.
However, even Christians still sin! [viii]
It is, however, not accounted to them as sin of they repent of each sin much as
Adam did with his remorse.
Christians once they are set apart (sanctified) need no
longer to sin but they still do. They are much like “perfect” Adam who still sinned
although he knew not to. Adam was created away from sin and was sanctified in
the Garden. He became the target of Satan who thought, If I can only get
perfect Adam to sin, then he will be mine! Well, that is how Satan thought
of righteous Job and righteous Christians. If Satan is successful in getting
Christians to be his again, then God is diminished and he is exalted, according
to his conspiracy from the beginning:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isa 14:12-14)
Those that are not born again remain children of the Devil. [ix] Therefore
Satan does not try to “kidnap” as a pedophile would, because those already are
his. Satan portends to kidnap the sons of God as he did in Noah’s time to use
for his purposes. The Sons of God married the daughters of men for a purpose —
to mutate all mankind with the genes of the Wicked One. That was mostly
successful because thenceforth, every person is “of the Wicked One” [x]
who Christians must overcome. [xi]
Satan tried to overcome righteous Job. Job could have been
overcome by the Wicked One but God thought of Job as a saint because Job
trusted God and not Satan. Many saints (sic) believe in God, but do not trust
God. Satan tempts Christians to see in whom their trust lies.
Calvinism propagates “preservation of the saints.” Indeed
God preserves His adopted children unless they deny Him as their father.
Denying God is apostasy — those who were God’s return to the Devil. They do not
“lose their salvation” but give up their “preservation.” Preservation is the
interim period between rebirth and the resurrection; the latter the time of
salvation. “Ye (saints) shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he
that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Mat 10:22).
Paul likened salvation to a race. Those who enter the race
can only obtain the prize, and they see the prize at the finish as if the reward
is already in hand. [xii]That
is faith, but what if Satan trips the runner before the prize is obtained? That
is Satan’s purpose and goal! To obtain the prize, so as not to trip, the race
must be run without looking back as Lot’s wife did. Runners must all run the
race toward Jesus. Just as with Adam, Satan puts all types of “shiny objects” on
the Way to distract the runners. Christians must not be easily distracted but
remain “sober and vigilant” so as not to be devoured by the Beast. [xiii]
What is the Beast has his way with a Christian. What if those
born again continue to have “intercourse” (knowing him) with Satan as Eve did? That
person will be devoured by the Beast. God preserved Adam and Eve one time, then
they were sent out on their own to “run the race.” So long as they wore the
coat that God provided, they were safe. If they had gave up the “coat of skin,”
representative of the Holy Ghost, then they would be vulnerable to the world.
When Christians are born again, God puts on them His coat.
The Ghost of the Lamb of God. Why is the Holy Ghost so important? To blaspheme
the Holy Ghost is the unpardonable sin. [xiv]
Blasphemy is being sacrilegious to what is sacred. The Holy Ghost of Jesus is
sacred to God. Jesus will only give up the Holy Ghost one time. “If they shall
fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to
themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Heb 6:6).
Jesus will only suffer death for rebirth one time. If the
Holy Ghost is blasphemed by a saint — one who wears the “Coat of God” — then they
“fall away” from God because they are unsafe without the Coat of the Lamb of
God. By removing the “Coat” themselves, they blaspheme as sacred thing. God
would never remove the “Coat” because He will never leave nor forsake you.”[xv]
However, saints can fall away from their state of preservation. For God to “renew”
them would shame Him. Of course, “renewal” is to be “born again,” again.
Once born again, Jesus justifies. I an Old Testament context
that is “to cleanse.” In the New “to make right.” It is not just as if one
never sinned, but just as if one has sinned and received grace. To consider
oneself as never a sinner would be a lie. [xvi]
There are many key theological points herein:
·
“Born again” is the one “must be”. Safety
is the outcome of rebirth.
·
Rebirth is not “regeneration” but the beginning of
the process much like Genesis 1:1 began the process of generating life.
Rebirth commences a “re-genesis” terminating in the reward at death, or when a
Christian has finally overcome the Wicked One.
·
“Salvation” is for those who are in Christ to
the end: “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” [xvii]
What is gained? Salvation of the soul. It is not when one first believes.
·
Tribulation is for believers, not sinners. Great
Tribulation is for those who will be tested by the Beast at the cost of their
heads.
·
Water does not save unless it is Living Water
from the side of Jesus. There are not three baptisms, but two: John’s and the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. The former is for repentance, and the latter for safety
until Satan can no longer do harm.
·
Those who are certain of their faith, have the “hope
of salvation.” [xviii]
That hope is the assurance of salvation and is validated by works done
willingly.
·
All “works” are acts of love, and only those
with new natures with rebirth love with intensity.
·
Love (agape) is good will toward God and Adam’s
kind. Hatred is evil will toward God or man. The prescription for eternal life
is the doing the Will of God — to love God and others.
·
Regeneration is wholly saved: from the nature to
sin, the salvation of the soul, and the salvation of the body. Only those who endure
to the end, the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, shall be saved.
·
Once saved, indeed, once always saved! “Unsaved”
is an irrational existence because salvation does not come until death. If saved,
how could it be possible to undo that? Once dead, the Christian is made alive
and is forthwith saved from the Devil. The opposing doctrines are due to when
salvation occurs. Rebirth offers the “hope of salvation” and the those who
remain faithful have the “assurance of salvation.”
·
Faith is a gift from God, and not of oneself. [xix]
But it is also a “work of faith” and a “labour of love, and patience of hope in
our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father” [xx]
Hence, the faith God has given must be worked and the crop of faith increased. The
“crop” is God planting a “seed” within Christians that must take root, mature,
and be harvested.
·
If God is not loved, then the seed planted in
those with a new nature is uprooted by none other than the Devil. [xxi]
·
Once withered away, no plant can be “unwithered.”
That too is irrational! So once withered always withered, and the seed that God
planted will perish along with the bad seed.
·
Withering leads to perishing. The safe person
throws off the protective “coat” of the Holy Ghost and exposes himself, not to
light, but darkness. Underexposure is apostasy which is living in spiritual
darkness after having lived in the light: “Take heed therefore that the light
which is in thee be not darkness” (Luke 11:35)
·
Those who see the Light of Jesus are “born
again.” The Light from the Cross exposed Satan hanging from a nearby tree, all
alone in darkness. Rebirth is understanding that the death of Jesus exposed the
Satan in subtil Judas. [xxii]
Just as righteous Adam and Eve fell away from God by the subtilty of Satan, so
can the Christian: Just “as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2 Cor
11:3).
·
“Corruption” in that context is Satan taking
minds off Christ and onto things of the world. It is from the Flesh of God to one’s
own flesh — to be as God. [xxiii]
The first man and woman fell away, and so can the latter saints.
·
And the main point: Because God seals the
Christian as His heir, that makes those who are born again adopted children of
God and they have the right to Paradise. Albeit God has never broke the seal
since the time that He and Abraham made the Covenant, He will never break the
seal. But throughout the many centuries those chosen of God have nearly
always broken the seal of the Covenant. In the end, most will break the “Seal
of God” [xxiv]
and take the mark of the Beast; [xxv]even
Christians!
·
To think that because one day you felt guilty and
apologized to God does not seal the deal. The Covenant of Grace was made to
Abraham, and it is an “everlasting covenant.” [xxvi]
God sealed His Word in blood and water. As such, those who are born of God “drink”
the blood and water of Jesus, so to speak. The Hebrews looked at the pole with
the brazen serpent on it that Moses held. They saw what Jesus would do to the “Serpent”
Judas. However, once they were safe, they fell away from God again and nearly
all perished in the wilderness. The same goes for all who take their eyes off
Jesus to this day.
·
Never worry about losing something that
you do not have. “Death is gain” because that is the salvation of the soul. “Losing
salvation” is irrational since salvation is not obtained until death. Neither
can one forfeit what they do not have. What happens is apostasy?
·
“Apostasy” is the occurrence mentioned herein: “Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim
4:1). “Latter times,” in that passage, is after the Resurrection of Jesus. The Holy
Ghost of Jesus is the “Coat” of protection on them, and Christians will shed
their coats, reveal their flesh, and give back the faith that God has given them.
They lose nothing, but part with what they had! Apostasy is not losing
faith but parting ways with God.
That was much to say for provenance that salvation cannot be
lost but safety in Jesus can be given up by parting with the
faith that the Christian once had. It is blaspheming the Holy Ghost by removing
the protective incorporeal coat that God provided for the Christian to wear
until death, after which Christians will wear new “coats” of glorified flesh
given to them by God! With that, the Comforter of the Holy Ghost can be parted
with, because then the faithful Christian shall have glorious flesh of their
own and be in the Image of God, just like Jesus!
Perhaps “justification” is cleansed and preserved, not just
as we never sinned, but after salvation in the end, just as Jesus
who too was glorified at His Resurrection!
[i]
Ephes 1:4
[ii]
Mat 27:52
[iii]
1 Thes 4:16
[iv]
Gen 3:15
[v]
Mark 15:37
[vi]
Gen 1:31
[vii]
Rom 3:25
[viii]
1 John 1:10
[ix]
John 8:44
[x] Mat
13:38
[xi] 1
John 2:14
[xii]
1 Cor 9:24
[xiii]
1 Pet 5:8
[xiv]
Mark 3:29
[xv]
Heb 13:5
[xvi]
1 John 1:10
[xvii]
Phil 1:21
[xviii]
1 Thes 5:8
[xix] Ephes
2:8
[xx] 1
Thes 1:3
[xxi]
Mat 13:5-6
[xxii]
Mat 26:4
[xxiii]
Gen 3:5
[xxiv]
Rev 7:3
[xxv]
Rev 14:1
[xxvi]
Gen 17:7
No comments:
Post a Comment