The Bible reveals that God’s eternal intention is to have many sons and to make all these sons the same as He is. Since God is divine and we are human, how can we become God’s divine sons, becoming the same as He is in both life and nature? In order to have many sons, God in the Son firstly took the step of incarnation. By incarnation, He put on human nature. Before His incarnation He had only divinity, not humanity. But by being incarnated, He put on human nature and became a man. Although He became a man, He was still the very God, for He did not put off His divinity to become a mere human being. He was the God-man having both divinity and humanity. How wonderful that our God, the unique God, the Creator, became a man with flesh and blood! As far as human nature is concerned, He became exactly the same as we are. He was a real man with flesh and bones. Never forget that this real man, named Jesus Christ, was also God. He was the real God and the genuine man. Before He could make us like Him, He had to become like us.
Having become a man in the flesh with human nature, Christ was crucified on the cross, was buried, and was resurrected. In resurrection He then took another step: as the last Adam, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This is mysterious. On the day of His resurrection, the Lord appeared to His disciples. “When the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be to you.” (John 20:19, Recovery Version). The doors had been tightly closed, but, to the surprise of the disciples, Jesus came. When the disciples were terrified, supposing that they had seen a spirit, the Lord Jesus said, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39). Speaking to Thomas eight days later, the Lord said, “Bring your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side,” and Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28, Recovery Version). The Lord seemed to be saying to the disciples, “Don’t think that I am a spirit. I am standing here with a body of flesh and bones. Look, the marks of My crucifixion are still upon Me. You can even touch the prints in My hands and feet.”
The Lord was not only the Spirit; He was the wonderful One with a body of flesh and bones in which could be seen the prints of the nails. The wonderful Christ today is the life-giving Spirit; yet He has a body of flesh and bones. Furthermore, the New Testament reveals that this wonderful Christ is in us (Col. 1:27; 2 Cor. 13:5); He is in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17). Christ in resurrection still possesses a body of flesh and bones and He is in us. We cannot explain how He, having flesh and bones, can be in us. This is beyond our knowledge. Although we cannot understand Him, He is real and wonderful.
According to the New Testament, Christ has had two “becomings.” John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh,” and 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Through these two becomings, Christ has become a wonderful Person. He is the very God, the very man, and the life-giving Spirit. As the Son of God, He became a man, and after becoming a man, He became the life-giving Spirit consisting of divinity and humanity. In Him we see the real God and the genuine man. Today this God-man is also the life-giving Spirit. If He were not the Spirit, He could never have come into that locked room to meet with the disciples. Nevertheless, He still has a body of flesh and bones. I cannot explain this because I am limited, but I do know that He lives in me, and I cannot deny that He has done many things for me. Even now, He is living in and for me.
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