My granddaughter, Kaitlin, when she was about five, was riding her bicycle as she cried her little eyes out for not getting her way. As I watched her, she screamed in anger, “What are you looking at?”
It turns out that is a great philosophical and religious question:
“What are you looking at?” or better yet, “For whom are you looking?”
God is the “Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First
and the Last” (Rev 22:13). The question is, when is the Beginning and when is
the Ending? The Beginning is more obvious. It is creating the heaven and the
earth. [i] The
Ending is when God does a final re-genesis. From the Beginning to the Ending are
cycles of regenerations wherein many are given a fresh start.
Of course, the generation of Adam’s kind was the
Beginning and the regeneration of Adam’s kind is the Ending. In between
were Noah’s kind, Abraham’s kind, Moses’s kind, the Priestly kind, and Jesus’s
kind. God made covenants with them all. He regenerated all those kinds
and gave them another chance. The Ending is the last chance. When Jesus died, it
is written that He gave up the Ghost. [ii]
When Jesus died, it was the Beginning of the End. Jesus is the “Last Chance.”
God tried liberty with Adam, liberty with Noah, and so on
until Jesus came with Liberty for all. Mankind is at liberty to do their own
wills. Life itself is a test of the human will. Made in the image of God, mankind
originally had the Will of God. Back in the Garden of Eden, Satan stole the
glorious Will, the Image of God was mutated, and liberty became a curse:
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Rom 8:20-21)
Liberty is freedom to do one’s own will, given the choices of
that and the Will of God. “Subject to vanity” (in verse 20) is the exercise of
free will. God created mankind to be at liberty to do as his creatures please. It
would seem that, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen
2:17) is not a command but a choice with a warning. It is a harbinger of
things to come!
God did not prevent Adam and Eve from eating. Neither did
God command that they not eat of it. They were allowed to eat, but there was a
price for eating — “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)
Therein is a choice. Sin and die or reject sin and live
eternally. His creatures are free to sin, but in the end, sin (pleasure to the
flesh) requires payment just as amusement parks and concerts are not for free! Indeed,
nothing is free! Someone must always pay, so sin must be paid for by someone.
Adam and Eve were reprieved. Innocent lambs died to pay the
wages for their sins. Then, as a reminder, God made them coats of skins. (Gen
3:21). In the end, “The Lamb of God,” Jesus, provided the coats from His own
flesh. His spiritual “flesh” that is.
God put on Adam’s kind coats made from the Ghost of Jesus to Comfort them.
Each sinner has a “coat” made from the Flesh of Jesus. It is
ready-to-wear. Baptism is to
ceremonially wash the sinner clean before wearing the “Coats” made from Jesus. Whenever,
anyone sees the filth of their flesh, wills to do so, they are candidates for
baptism to ritually wash away sins from the flesh. Of course, the sin is not on
the flesh, but in the hearts of the creatures; to wit: “Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners; and purify your hearts.” [iii]
It seems from that, that the creatures wash their hands and their
hearts.
Handwashing is work, and heart-washing is impossible. Sinful
creatures can only be led to the water and God does the washing. Washing with
water is merely cleansing the flesh in preparation for the new “Coats.” Subsequent
to the cleansing of the flesh, is baptism of the Holy Ghost: “I (John) indeed
have baptized you with water: but He (Jesus) shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost” (Mark 1:8). The Holy Ghost is “Living Water” from the “belly” of Jesus. [iv] When
it was “finished” out of the belly of Jesus flowed the “Living Water” — the
blood and water from the abdomin of Jesus that was pierced. [v]
The repentant thief, Dismas, was never baptized with water
alone, but by the Blood and Water of Jesus when He was pierced. That had to
happen! It is not in scripture, but only by blood and water can anyone be saved,
[vi]
and that was not water by immersion but from the sprinkling of the Water and Blood
of Jesus. The Holy Ghost bled the Blood and Water of Jesus, and that is in Whom
sinful creatures must be baptized. Dismas had to be sprinkled as Jesus was
pierced! It is the “One Baptism” of
which Paul wrote from the “One Lord” because of the “One Faith.” [vii]
It is vanity to think that immersion by Rev. John Doe can save!
Now for the key verses:
26 For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Heb 9:26-28)
When Jesus was crucified, that was the Beginning of the End.
The first coming of Jesus is “now” in
the end, according to Paul (verse 26). Genesis lasted from Adam to Moses (Water),
and re-genesis from the last Adam (Jesus) to the destroying fire. [viii]
Re-genesis commenced with the advent of Jesus and ends with His
second coming. His first coming was to “bear the sins of many” and the second
coming is “unto salvation” (verse 28). Regeneration is from redemption to salvation
just like generation in the Beginning. What was Paul saying? All who would
drink the Living Water are redeemed, but those who “look” for His Second Coming
shall be saved.
The Greeks came to Philip and said, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”
[ix] They
were looking for Jesus at the first coming. They would be redeemed. Salvation
does not end there. Of the “many” that have been redeemed, Jesus will appear to
those that still are looking at the second coming.
What will He do at that time? He will save them as promised.
Jesus died to redeem all mankind; that many! However, He shall save those
who remain looking for Him. Paul looked for Jesus! “I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14).
Jesus redeemed Paul by grace, but Paul continued looking toward
Jesus. Why is that? To be saved in the end!
Look at Paul. When Jesus died, Paul was one of the “many”
that were redeemed. Paul was “born again” when He saw Jesus as the Way. Jesus
had to blind Paul to make him see because the old creature, Saul, had not seen
Jesus in the Flesh. Saul saw the Holy Ghost of Jesus in his blindness and put
on that “Coat” to keep him save from the Wicked One until Jesus comes again.
When Paul died, he was still looking at Jesus from afar. He
could sense the Coat of Jesus, but the Glorified Jesus remained a vision that
he would look toward.
For us, seeing Jesus on the Cross is a beginning, but sinners
must look toward Jesus on the throne in Paradise and trust that He is coming again.
Paul wrote, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment” (verse 27). Why is death so important? Because death brings
about judgment. Judgment is when the flesh dies, and Jesus decides who looked
toward Him and who did not. In the moment of death, judgment takes place. Immortal
souls either die a second death [x] or
live on for eternity. That is why Paul wrote, “To live is Christ; to die is
gain” (Phil 1:20). But what is “in” and “out” of Christ? “But if I live in the
flesh, this is the fruit of my labour” (Phil 1:21).
That goes back to the wages of sin is death. “In Christ” is
living outside the flesh. The “flesh” in scripture is the human will. Hence, living outside the flesh is the
cutting off the human will, and asking God to replace it with His Good Will… “Thy
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:10).
To be saved, those redeemed must be looking to Heaven.
What to look for? Jesus and His Will for His creatures. If any of the “many”
are not looking at Jesus to do His Will, then they shall never be saved from the
second death. Again, that is not a command, but a harbinger. The danger is if
those let out of Satan’s jail for free look to Satan rather than Jesus,
then the wages of that is death.
The question is, those of you who are born again, are you still
looking at the Tree of Pleasure with Satan camouflaged behind its leaves,
or are your eyes directly on Jesus and His Will be done? If you look as if the
Second Coming will never arrive, and do things as if God cares not, then are you
looking for Jesus?
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