Friday Morning Manna October 11, 2019
Nathaniel Fajardo
When Will Humanity Ever Learn to Fully Trust Divinity?
Why did God Creator have to come down to fallen man’s level in the incarnation?
It was to demonstrate by “manifesting to the world, men and angels” for all eternity the truth of God’s undying and unconditional love for sinners, which likewise reveals the secret of victory of fallen man over Satan and sin, which is: the complete surrender of man man’s will to God’s will, the lost sinner’s will to the Savior’s will.
What was Christ’s will before His incarnation?
It was a divine will for He was and is the Son of God, the “outshining of His glory and express image of His person.” He was and is “the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” From and in the beginning, to which there was no beginning for they are eternal, He was one with the Father and thus “proceeded from the “bosom of the Father’s—not mother’s—womb.” He declared, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
What was His will after the incarnation?
The “last Adam” was also called the “second man,” the Son of man, “the Son of David, “Seed of David,” “Son of Mary,” “Son of woman,” “Son of Joseph,” the “carpenter’s son,” “Man of peace,” Man of sorrows,” “Root of David,” Root of Jesse.” Since “the will is the governing power in the nature of man,” His will also had to be the human will.
Is there a difference between a divine will and a human will?
Yes, there are at least two primarily because one is infinite, the other finite:
Divinity is not humanity. They are not one and the same; each occupy two distinctly different spheres. In fact, there are four non-interchangeable levels of nature in this descending order: divine, angelic, human, and animal. There are also only four general types of living flesh: “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds.” 1 Cor. 15: 39.
The Creator is not the creature. Much less can the creature somehow, through some unbiblical mysterious process “become” the Creator. In fact, this is the blasphemy of the alleged power of the priest in conducting the mass, (the counterfeit of the Last Supper service Christ instituted to permanently replace the Passover). The priest of the Roman church supposedly has the power to the actually change a piece of bread into the actual body of Christ called the “host” by transubstantiation, an invention of man).
The Son “clothed His divinity with humanity” so that fallen humanity could see the Father in person, i.e., including gazing at “the brightness of His glory” but muted lest they die.(All mortals will die but only the wicked will perish–the death which has no resurrection). This “clothing” however, was not merely a physical mantle or a robe or a veil, neither was it merely skin-deep, a mask and costume that could be put on or taken off at will. No! This “covering” was the incarnation itself—whether as the promised “seed” that was “planted” in Mary’s womb when the Holy Spirit “overshadowed” her or when she actually delivered Him nine months after in Bethlehem–He, factually and in reality “became flesh and blood,” “partaking of the likeness of sinful flesh.” Since that defining moment of the start of the divine condescension, His human nature became an added aspect of the Godhead through Christ, forever! Humanity became a part of divinity, in Christ. Human nature became a part of the Godhead, in Christ. Glorified flesh that never saw corruption became a part of the Spirit nature of the Godhead, in Christ. The personality of humanity became a part of the personality of divinity, in Christ. Humanity became even closer to divinity than it was before the fall, because of Christ’s incarnation!
This should help us better understand, appreciate and praise God that His only-begotten Son the Creator factually and in reality, became the Elder Brother of the human race in that all who are eternally redeemed He tenderly and victoriously calls “the sons and daughters of God!”
The Father Sent and Gave His Only-Begotten Son to Become the Son of Man, Forever
Who sent Him? And what was He sent for? He was not self-sent, though He volunteered so but was sent of the Father on the Mission of all missions: to save mankind from the starting point where the first Adam fell as well as in the same space and place where fallen mankind was four thousand years after the fall! But the Father did not only send Him “by whom all things were created that are in heaven and earth” “the fullness of the Godhead bodily” but gave His only-begotten Son to be the one-and-only Lamb of God to be slain, once-and-for all, for the sins of the world—the Guiltless and Sinless One to die in the stead of the guilty and sinful sinners.
He died as the sinners’ substitute, not vicariously but personally. How personal was it? In the same human flesh and blood; by the same temptations by which all mankind are tempted and as a Man, a real male man. How do we know? As all male children of Hebrews and the Jews were required under the Mosaic law of the Old dispensation, Joseph and Mary faithfully followed this rite and had Him circumcised on the “eighth day” after birth.
NOTE: The circumcision of the flesh (surgical removal of the foreskin of the male) signified admission to the community of God’s chosen people, a token of submission to the requirements of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants. (Gen. 7: 1-4). It was a prerequisite to participating in the in the Passover ritual. (Exo. 12: 18). Circumcision of the flesh was the type; circumcision of the heart is the antitype. Rom. 2: 25-29. In the Christian dispensation, circumcision was replaced by water baptism by immersion, even as the Passover was replaced by Lord’s Supper service by Christ Himself before His sacrifice as the antitypical Lamb of God offered at Calvary.
The Creator never ceased for a moment to be God when He became, not changed into, a Man. He alone in heaven and earth possesses this specific power and exercised it once-and-for all, willingly and voluntarily, and is the substance of His unparalleled condescension and sacrifice and is likewise the substance of His unparalleled power and authority as mankind’s Savior.
The divine act of laying aside His divinity, “clothing His divinity with humanity” will never be repeated although its glory and significance will never fade for it will be an integral part of the overall theme of redemption that will be “the science and song” studied and sang to no end by the eternally redeemed. Like the sacrifice He made on Calvary after the incarnation, this is another of the divine one-and- done acts of God.
Without life there can be no will to exercise. What the only-begotten Son surrendered to His Father, was not His divinity nor His divine will but His incarnated human will. Himself being the Creator of all things, the Life giver and sustainer of life, whose life is “original, unborrowed and underived,” His divine will is thus likewise original, unborrowed and underived.
It was only during a specific time, from birth to His death that He set aside His divinity during which time it lay dormant, inactive, quiescent. He willingly made Himself willing to completely acquiesce to and fully submerge His own incarnated human will to the will of His Father. It was only in this sense, and only during this specific period of earth time that the Son became subject to the Father—i.e., in a father-son-relationship–where before His incarnation, He was “one with the Father,” the “outshining of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person,” the “fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Then He humbled Himself with a humility that can never be duplicated or replaced by any creature but only patterned after, for who can fathom infinity?
Surrendering All Willingly
Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy body, all thy soul, and with all thy strength.” In the plan of redemption, the mystery and power of godliness cannot and will not prevail over the mystery of iniquity and the power of sin unless the sinner fully surrenders all to His Savior. “All” here means all of the heart, mind, body, soul, spirit and strength–all governed by the individual’s will: “The will is the governing power man’s nature.” The Creator partook of the fallen nature of man, including its will but His incarnated will remained sinless because He never yielded to temptation, unlike the will of the first Adam and all “the sons of men” which have all been corrupted by sin.
Unless his sinful will is surrendered and submerged in the sinless will of the Savior, the lost sinner, no matter how beautifully or loudly he may sing “I once was lost but now I’m found,” remains as lost as though he was never found. In the vocabulary of the Bible there is no such thing as “somewhat saved because to be somewhat saved is to be wholly lost. Almost but not quite is not almost but none. Ultimate and eternal salvation is either or; nothing in between as in limbo, purgatory or a twilight zone between darkness and light.
There were certain times and specific recorded instances during this quiescent period that, strictly as acts predetermined beforehand by omniscience in order to address the necessities as they arose, when He humbly allowed, not ostentatiously summoned His divinity to flash through humanity.
Here’s just one instance given in Desire of Ages, pp. 237-7, 239: When He, perceived as just another “rabbi” was in a synagogue one Sabbath, He was asked to take part in the service and give a sermon. He stood up and began reading from the prophecy of Isaiah referring to the coming Messiah. After declaring, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears,” here was their reaction: “Who is this Jesus? They questioned. He who had claimed for Himself the glory of the Messiah was the son of a carpenter, and had worked at His trade with His father Joseph. They had seen Him toiling up and down the hills [of Nazareth], they were acquainted with His brothers and sisters, and knew His life and labors. They had seen Him develop from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood. Although His life had been spotless, they would not believe that He was the Promised One. . . . As they opened the door to doubt, their hearts became so much the harder for having been momentarily softened. Satan was determined that blind eyes should not that day be opened. Nor souls bound in slavery be set at liberty. With intense energy he worked to fasten them in unbelief. They made no account of the sign already given, when they had been stirred by the conviction that it was their Redeemer that addressed them.
“But Jesus now gave them an evidence of His divinity by revealing their secret thoughts. ‘He said unto them [Luke 4: 23-27, R.V. quoted]. By His relation of events in the lives of the prophets, Jesus met the questionings of His hearers. The servants whom God had chosen were not allowed to labor for the hardhearted and unbelieving people. But those who had hearts to feel and faith to believe were especially favored with evidence of His power through the prophets. In the days of Elijah, Israel had departed from God. They clung to their sins, and rejected the warnings of the Spirit through the Lord’s messengers. Thus they cut themselves off from the channel by which God’s blessing could come to them. The Lord passed by the homes of Israel, and found a refuge for His servant in a heathen land, with a woman who did not belong to the chosen people. But this woman was favored because she had followed the light she had received, and her heart was open to the greater light that God sent her through His prophet.” pp. 237, 238.
“Our standing before God depends, not upon the amount of light we have received, but upon the use we make of what we have. Thus even the heathen who choose the right as far as they can distinguish it are in a more favorable condition than are those who have had great light, and profess to serve God, but who disregard the light [they already have], and by their daily life contradict their profession.” p. 239.
But such manifestations of His divine power were never summoned to intimidate or bully His detractors or enemies neither to assist Him in the great controversy of His personal battle and struggle against Satan and his evil angels in desperate confederacy with wicked men and apostate religious institutions, beginning with His own people.
Rather, as laid out in the Godhead’s own rescue-and-restore plan of salvation, the last Adam had to, and He did faithfully fulfill this requirement during the quiescent period of His divinity on earth as the last Adam—and that was to totally trust, depend and obey without question or doubt by:
(1) Exercising the consummate “faith that works by love” and not by sight or feelings.
(2) Trusting the soundness and fail-proof nature of the gospel plan they Themselves devised in Their omniscience and omnipotence.
(3) Relying on the love of the Father for His only-begotten Son, as the power of all divine powers by which He would “magnify the law and make it honorable” because it had been transgressed, trampled upon, distorted and “made of no effect by the traditions of man and the apostate churches. He fought and won the battle against temptation, sin, the world, the flesh and devil until His victorious death on the cross and resurrection on the third day.
This was the example the last Adam set for all sinners. He accomplished all in His humanity.
(To be continued next week)