Philippians 2: 10-11 (NKJV)
There are three primary dimensions (only three places) where there is breath: heaven, earth, and hell. These three places within the universe are connected, and have entry requirements:
- You enter HEAVEN by being in the SPIRIT and by having GOD’S nature,
- You enter the EARTH by being in the FLESH and having HUMAN nature, and
- You enter HELL by being in the SPIRIT but having the DEVIL’s nature.
So when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, it was not just fruit; it was the nature of the devil that was transferred to man, and man became devilish. Any man that dies in that condition goes to where the devil belongs: hell. A man in this condition does not go to where God is, because God is Holy and cannot handle sin. But man wasn’t designed to go to hell; man was designed and created to be in relationship with God forever, so God made a plan.
They were naked and God clothed them with the skin of an animal – the first animal sacrifice. The Bible says that “without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sin]” (Heb 9:22). During an Old Testament sin offering, the person would put their hand on the head of the animal, and their sin was transferred to the animal. The person was then justified, and the animal needed to die because it bore the nature of sin. The death of the animal was a substitute for the death of the man. This was the law, but God was not pleased with the blood of animals, so He reached out to the world and offered His only Son.
John 3:16 (NKJV)
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus came as the sacrificial lamb. The day that Jesus was supposed to be sentenced to death, two cases were brought before the Sanhedrin: Barabas and Jesus. Barabas means ‘son of God’. Jesus was the Son of man AND the Son of God. They stood side by side as the crowd chose to crucify Jesus, the innocent Son of God, and let Barabas (guilty of many crimes) go free[1].
God only punishes a sin once, so God punished your sin over Jesus, once for all.
At the exact time that the high priest was slaughtering the sacrificial lamb at Passover, the soldiers drove nails into His hands and feet and Jesus was crucified. At about 3 o’clock In the afternoon, at the time of the offering, Jesus, knowing His time had come, called out with a loud voice and said, ‘It is finished!’ His blood that was shed was the payment for your sins so that you wouldn’t be guilty anymore. God only punishes a sin once, so God punished your sin over Jesus, once for all.
Since it was close to evening, and the Shabbat was drawing near, the Jewish leaders did not want the body of Jesus (or any others) to stay on the cross, so some disciples went and asked for the body of Jesus. By the time the soldier approached His body on the cross, Jesus was already dead. The soldier had to make sure, so he took a spear, and pierced Jesus in the side. But recall: woman was taken from the side of man! When the soldier pierced Jesus on the side, two substances came out: water and blood. When a woman is giving birth, she also releases water and blood. So when Jesus was pierced at the cross, it was a release of a new creation. It was the BIRTH of a new kind of person; a new man in Christ. When He was pierced, YOU came out!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
When Jesus walked this earth He was not alone; we were inside of Him: He was pregnant with you and me. Jesus carried us, looking for a place to deliver, until He came to the cross. When His side was pierced, the water broke, blood came, and you were delivered. But you didn’t come out as a sinner, you came out with the very nature of God: the nature of righteousness.
John 1:12-13 (NKJV)
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
In Eden, God said, ‘reproduce yourself’ (Gen 1:28). Later, when Jesus came to earth, God said: ‘I will reproduce Myself IN them’. When you have His nature, you can be called a child of God. The Hebrew word for child is teknon meaning ‘a reproduction of a confirmed copy of the original’. When you are born again, you became a teknon: the REPRODUCTION of God Himself.
We are all God’s creation, but we are not all God’s children.
This is where the distinction comes in, between those who are called children of God, and those who are not. When you are born again, the DNA of God runs through you: you are His child, you can communicate freely with Him, and you can relate to the Holy Spirit, because you are born NOT of the desire of the flesh, but of the Spirit. However, when you are not born again, you have the devil’s nature, and, therefore, belong to the devil, because you are not yet born through God. We are all God’s creation, but we are not all God’s children. Some claim that we are all children of God, but it is not true. You only become someone’s child by the process of birth or adoption. You are not simply born again by going to church, you must have a real encounter with Jesus Christ.
Unless man (flesh) dies, he cannot be in a relationship with God.
God designed and created man to be in a relationship with Him forever. But we fell from grace (this is why it is called ‘the fall’). God knew that the fall could not be resolved by anything other than the death of man. Unless man (flesh) dies, he cannot be in a relationship with God. You were designed to be in a relationship with God forever. You were created for greatness.
1 John 4:4 (NKJV)
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
