Weekly Bible Study – May 28, 2018; The Doctrine of Imputations.

The Doctrine of Imputations.

Scripture References, Word & Phrase descriptions: the “Logos Reftagger” scripture links are hover pop-up active, meaning the scripture reference will just pop-up if you hover your cursor over it (don’t click on the link, just hover your cursor over it), when finished reading, hover your cursor off the scripture reference link. If the Reftagger pop-up doesn’t show all the verses, left click on the “More” button in the Reftagger pop-up window and it will take you to the online bible. If RefTagger pop-ups don’t work on your computer, that’s OK, try left clicking the link if it’s highlighted which should open a window with all the verses at the Biblia.com website; or if that doesn’t work, you can always use your Bible to look up the verses. Word or Phrase definition links may not have a website that opens. If you are running PCMatic, the pop-ups may not work; if that’s the case, email PC Matic Support to see if they can fix that problem for you.

Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

Doctrinal Statement

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

Alphabetical Listing of Terms & Abbreviations used:

STUDY TITLE:

The Doctrine of Imputations.

Imputation is used as an act of God whereby either condemnation or blessing is ascribed, attributed, reckoned, given, or imposed on the human race. Therefore, an imputation is the function of the Justice of God directed toward mankind and related to the plan of God for mankind. Imputation functions as an act of condemnation or blessing from the Integrity of God to mankind. This means that in the Plan of God there are times that God imputes to us things that condemn us and other times things that bless us.

There are three factors in imputation:

a. The source, which is God Himself.

b. The nature of the imputation–which refers to what is being imputed.

c. The recipient of the imputation–which in our study refers to a human being in a specific status quo.

Under this point there are also two different categories of imputations:

The first category of imputations is known as Real imputations, where the justice of God imputes under the principle of the importance of understanding that there is a similarity or a relationship between what is being imputed and where it is being imputed to. What is imputed has an affinity or a home for that to which it is imputed. For example, Real imputations include:

1. human life to the soul.

2. Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature.

3. Eternal life to the human spirit.

4. Blessings in time to the perfect righteousness in man.

5. Blessings in eternity to the resurrection body.

All of these imputations from God, human life; Adam’s original sin; eternal life; blessings in time; blessings in eternity — all have a home or a place to go in man for the imputation. For example, in the first category of imputations there is the fact God imputes or gives to the soul human life. This falls under the principle of not election but selection. At the point of physical birth, you come under the concept of selection not election. God “selected” you to be a member of the human race.

JOB 33:4, “And the breath from God has created me [that is created him as a human being], and the breath of the Almighty gives me [human] life.”

The “breath of God” is life, it is the source of life. The Hebrew phrase is ruach El which is equivalent to the Greek word pneuma meaning breath, spirit, life, and lifestyle. Please note that this statement by Job is after the fall of man in the Garden and states the principle of the origin of human life, which is from God. And that life begins after the human body is formed not before. As we noted concerning the first mention principle in GEN 2:7, Adam’s body was created before God breathe into him the breath of life and then Adam became a living being.

GEN 2:7, Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, [and then after God formed man out of the 16 elements found in the ground then] God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and then man became a living being.

The same thing is still true today, the body is formed before God gives it neshamah, the breath of life.

JOB 33:4, “And the breath from God has created me [a human being], and the breath of the Almighty gives me [human] life.”

Job does not say that the copulation or the sexual relationship between a male and female gave him life, does he?

No!

Why?

Because human life comes from God not SEX. Only God has the power to create human life.

This is why the prophet Isaiah said in ISA 44:2, “Thus says the Lord who made [created] you, who formed you [the Hebrew says out from] from the womb, who will help you, ‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant;”

The Hebrew prepositional phrase translated from is the phrase mi beten and should be translated out from the womb. This means that God formed you or gave you life out from the womb, separated from the womb, outside the womb, or away from the womb. GNT (Good News translation) says ISA 44:2, I am the Lord who created you; from the time you were born, I have helped you. Do not be afraid; you are my servant, my chosen people whom I love.

The Lord is saying I helped you ever since the day you were born not since the day you were conceived. Why? Why does He say I helped since the day that you were born? He said that because He could not help you in the womb because you did not exist in the womb? How do we know that? Well again, look at JOB 3:11-16, “Why did I not die at birth, Come forth from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts, that I should suck? For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest, With kings and with counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ruins for themselves; or with princes who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver. Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light.”

JOB 10:18-19, “Why then hast Thou brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been, Carried from womb to tomb.”

Job is saying that as long as he was in the womb he was not a human being but now that he is out of the womb, he is a human being. Job had no human life until God imputed it to his soul. Job is asking why God ever let him become a human being.

JOB 10:19, “I should have been as though I had not been, Carried from womb to tomb.”

Job describes the limits of life as: out from the womb and to the tomb. Human life exists out from the womb (birth) to the tomb. The limits of human life are from birth to death. This is the sphere in which the angelic conflict is being resolved. There is no resolution to the angelic conflict inside the womb or inside the tomb. God gives human life at birth, and takes it away at death. We were given life to resolve the issue of the angelic conflict.

The womb is not a part of the angelic conflict because the womb does not contain human life. At birth, God creates soul life and imputes it to biological life. At death, God removes soul life from biological life, and for the believer, takes that soul life to Heaven.

This is why ECC 12:7, then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

If God does not give soul life at birth, there is no soul life, there is no existence. This is why Job says, “As though I had not existed.” Job also recognizes in the last half of verse eighteen that he would have been automatically saved if he had died as soon as God gave him soul life. JOB 3:11, “Why did I not die at birth, separated from the womb and then die?” This clearly says that you cannot die as a human being in the womb, because no one is a human being in the womb. Job could not die before birth, because he was not a human being prior to birth.

JOB 1:21, “The Lord gave [soul life at birth], and the Lord has taken it away [at death]; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

The life that the Lord gives at birth, He takes at death, and that life goes on forever. Biological life is only temporary. Soul life is permanent.

JOH 1:3, “All things came into being through Him. And apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being.”

So, two things happen at birth: God the Father creates soul life and imputes the soul life to biological life and a human being is then formed, and simultaneously the judicial imputation of Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature. These two actions of God demand a spiritual birth or regeneration. Spiritual death demands a divine solution, since mankind is condemned in total separation from God and helplessness to do anything about it. The solution from God is unlimited atonement.

The volition of soul life demands a non-meritorious decision regarding becoming born again. The solution is faith alone in Christ alone. Only God has the power to create human life, which emphasizes the soul of mankind. Man’s ability is limited to reproduction of biological life. Biological life resides in the womb under mother dependence. Biological life in the womb includes an inactive sin nature, transmitted through the male sperm in copulation. However, since there is no human life in the womb, the sin nature is not activated until birth.

Two things occur at birth: the creation of human life (which means God created soul life and imputed it to biological life) and spiritual death. Spiritual death is condemnation from God, total separation from God, and total helplessness to perform any human work by which we could enter into relationship with God. Therefore, the grace policy of God solves the problem of spiritual death. The doctrine of regeneration dramatizes the salvation work of Christ on the Cross. Just as God created soul life and imputed it to biological life at birth, so God, in His grace, provides His very own eternal life at the moment of faith in Christ.

The Holy Spirit creates a human spirit and God the Father imputes eternal life to it–the mechanics of regeneration. Soul life or human life is a gift from God at birth. There is no soul life or human life in the womb. Biological life in the womb is minus soul life, therefore, not human life. While biological life begins at conception, soul life does not begin until after birth. At birth, biological, that is life out from the womb, and soul life, created by God, merge to form human life. The conflict between the genetically formed sin nature and the human soul created by God does not exist until after birth. The conflict between the sin nature and the soul begins after birth, when the human beings comes into existence through the imputation of soul life to biological life.

Biological life minus soul life is not human life. Biological life begins at conception and human life begins at birth when God creates it and imputes it to biological life outside the womb. Biological life begins with mother dependence in the womb and soul life begins with God dependence outside the womb. The sin nature is transmitted through the twenty-three male chromosomes which fertilize the female ovum. The two imputations which occur at birth form human life similar to Adam and the woman after their fall.

Back in ISA 44:2, Thus says the Lord who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you, ‘Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

HCSB (Hebrew Christian Standard Bible) ISA 44:2, This is the word of the Lord your Maker who shaped you from birth; TEV [Today’s English Version] ISA 44:2, I am the Lord who created you; from the time you were born,

Notice God created you from the day you were born not when you were in the womb. You cannot hold God responsible for the deformity of the human body. It is the sin of man that is responsible for that. Even in the New Testament they recognized that.

JOH 9:1-2, And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?”

Now, it is true that in this case our Lord said something that shocked them when in JOH 9:3, Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.

In this case, this was an exception, however, the norm and standard is that when Adam and the woman sinned even nature was affected by it and that is where the majority of physical deformity comes from, ROM 8:18-21. The point is that God is not held accountable for what takes place in the womb, man is because of the OSN. And so those different translations I just gave you concerning ISA 44:2 to let you know that “mi beten” is translated not “in the womb” but “out from the womb” or even “outside of the womb” or “ever since you were born” or “ever since your birth.”

The point that I want to see is that selection begins at your physical birth when God imputes to your soul human life just like election begins for you at your spiritual birth, when God imputes to you eternal life. Though you were elected before the foundation of the world, EPH 1:4.

So it is vital for you to understand when your first imputation began it was at your physical birth not your conception. This is why we read in PSA 22:9, Yet Thou art He who didst bring me forth from the womb; Thou didst make me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. Not when inside my mother’s womb.

Now, you’re either going to have believe what some people say about what they believe is inside of their body because of their experience or you’re going to have believe what the word of God says whether you like it or not, GAL 4:16!

PSA 22:10 goes on to say what the thoughts of our Lord was after His physical birth when it says, Upon Thee I was cast from [when? Conception?] NO birth [again mi beten]; Thou hast been my God from [mi beten again] out from my mother’s womb.

Now, this means that every member of the human race has been selected by God to be alive and that God has a purpose for their life. However, there’s a tremendous difference between a purpose and a destiny…just like there’s a tremendous difference between selection and election. At selection, you have a purpose, 2PE 3:9. At election, you have a destiny, EPH 1:5.

Because of the character and nature of God and the imputation of sin at birth, God must provide salvation for everyone to whom He gives soul life to at birth. Therefore, He provides redemption for all. This is called the doctrine of the unlimited atonement. And though I have stated this principle many times, it could never be over-stated. For God to impute Adam’s original sin to our genetically formed OSN that was given to us by God and then He condemned us at birth because of that and then not to provide salvation for everyone is to say that God is unfair and unjust. It is a direct attack upon the character and nature of God. It is to agree with Satan that God is not just and He is not fair nor is He a God of love.

However, God is just and He is fair and He is a God of love which is why He provides salvation for every member of the human race which is called theologically the doctrine of the unlimited atonement. In other words once God imputes to you human life you fall under the doctrine of selection and from then on His desire for you is to fall under the doctrine of election.

2PE 3:9, The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

This means Selection precedes election.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.

Internet Church Service – May 27, 2018; Dispensation of the Mosaic Law. The Fourth Commandment: The Sabbath. Part 2.

EMBEDDED VIDEO SERMON in HD – NOTES
Dispensation of the Mosaic Law.
The Fourth Commandment: The Sabbath. Part 2.

Please join us as we fellowship in the Word of God, listen to
Christian Music, Pray in Christ’s Name, and Praise the Lord
in our Hearts and Minds.

ALL ARE WELCOME

from - Romans 8:38-39

Hymn #1

Hymn #2

Preparing yourself for the study of God’s Word

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is— you have trusted in Him for eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to take-in God’s Word or participating in a Communion Service, so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge your sins privately directly to God the Father. This will assure that you are in fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry, also called the convincing ministry will then be able to teach you as the Holy Spirit is the real teacher and the pastor’s message is the vehicle the Holy Spirit uses to convince you what you are learning is true or not.

1 John 1:9 says—“If we confess [simply name, cite or acknowledge to God the Father] our sins [known sins], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [known sins] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [all unknown and forgotten sins];” NKJV (New King James Version); we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins to God; the issue for you is to believe by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life and you will be saved the very second you believe in Him:

John 6:47 says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” NKJV

Notice again what John 6:47 says, “he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” It doesn’t say, “will have”; it says, “has.” Therefore, the very moment you believe Jesus Christ’s promise of everlasting life, you have it (it’s really just that simple), and it can never be lost or taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” NKJV

Weekly Bible Study – May 21, 2018; The Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ. Part 3.

The Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ. Part 3.

Scripture References, Word & Phrase descriptions: the “Logos Reftagger” scripture links are hover pop-up active, meaning the scripture reference will just pop-up if you hover your cursor over it (don’t click on the link, just hover your cursor over it), when finished reading, hover your cursor off the scripture reference link. If the Reftagger pop-up doesn’t show all the verses, left click on the “More” button in the Reftagger pop-up window and it will take you to the online bible. If RefTagger pop-ups don’t work on your computer, that’s OK, try left clicking the link if it’s highlighted which should open a window with all the verses at the Biblia.com website; or if that doesn’t work, you can always use your Bible to look up the verses. Word or Phrase definition links may not have a website that opens. If you are running PCMatic, the pop-ups may not work; if that’s the case, email PC Matic Support to see if they can fix that problem for you.

Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

Doctrinal Statement

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

Alphabetical Listing of Terms & Abbreviations used:

STUDY TITLE:

The Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ. Part 3.

The Function of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit during the Substitutionary Spiritual Death [Spiritual Death means separation from God the Father; Jesus’ perfect impeccable humanity only, not his deity, was separated from God the Father during those three hours on the cross when God poured out all of humanities sins into the Christ]. Our Lord’s sacrificial suffering and judgment for our sins is dramatized in a phrase which occurs in all three languages of original Scripture. The phrase originates in Psa 22:1, where it was spoken prophetically of the efficacious sacrifice for sin “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The doubling of the vocative, “My God, My God,” (Eli, Eli) is a Hebrew idiom for intensity. It expresses the highest quality under two categories: First, the highest quality of the person being addressed, God the Father. Secondly, the highest quality of the attributes used by that person. And both vocatives refer only to God the Father.

The repetition of the vocative, which is My God, My God, refers to the two attributes of the Father involved in our salvation: The omnipotence of God the Father, by which all our sins were imputed to Christ on the Cross, and the justice of God the Father, by which He judged our sins while the still perfect humanity of Christ was bearing them.

So, in Verse 1, the word why is the interrogative Hebrew adverb lamah which literally means “for what reason.” It indicates a rhetorical question. Our Lord understood why He was being abandoned or forsaken [separated from the Father]; we did not. For that reason, He uttered this phrase on the Cross to tell us what occurred.

The Hebrew phrase “Wa atah qadosh” is translated “because You are holy.” God’s holiness is made up of His perfect justice and perfect righteousness. So, God the Father abandoned Christ during those three hours because Jesus Christ was receiving the imputation and judgment of our sins.

Hab 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You cannot look on wickedness.”

So, because He became sin for us, and God the Father is holy, He not only forsook Christ, but He judged Christ in His justice.

The righteousness of God the Father rejected the sins of the human race. And then the justice of God the Father judged all the personal sins of the human race as they were imputed to God the Son. The Father in His righteousness condemns all our personal sins. The Father in His justice judges our personal sins.

The answer to the second half of our Lord’s question, “why have You forsaken Me?” is found in one Hebrew word in verse 6 tolah translated worm.

Psa 22:6, But I am a worm, and not a man, A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

Tolah refers to a very unusual worm which was harvested, crushed, put into a very large vat. In this manner, its blood was used for the purpose of making a crimson dye used to color king’s robes in the ancient world. On the Cross, the perfect and impeccable humanity of Christ was crushed with the judgment of our sins. Therefore, He calls Himself a tolah, for the weight of those sins crushed Him as He was being judged for them. So, the imputation and judgment of our sins in Christ on the Cross by God the Father is analogous to the worm being crushed in a vat, so that its blood can be used for the manufacture of royal robes.

Because our Lord was judged for our sins on the cross, we now wear the royal robes of His imputed righteousness. Ours is a double righteousness under the principle of the firstborn receiving double blessing, we were imputed with the righteousness of God the Father, and we share the righteousness of Christ through the baptism of the Spirit.

Psa 22:1, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
The qal perfect second masculine singular of the Hebrew verb azab means to abandon or to forsake.

The subject is found in the suffix, a second masculine singular. Only one person abandoned our Lord at the Cross, and that was God the Father. The reason is because the Father’s omnipotence, which had provided everything for Christ in the incarnation plan, now had to call for the printout of all the sins of the world and impute them all to Christ.

It is important to understand that God the Holy Spirit was not addressed in this cry on the Cross. God the Holy Spirit did not abandon or forsake our Lord Jesus Christ. Matt 27:46, And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

He shouted this question, not because He needed an answer. It was a question to which we needed the answer. A rhetorical question is not designed to provoke questions but to communicate, to answer why something is happening. God the Father had to abandon the Son as He imputed to Him the sins of the world and judged every one of them. The omnipotence of God the Father imputed to the impeccable humanity of Christ what was not antecedently His own.

John 3:16 “For God [Father] so loved that world that He gave His uniquely born Son.”

This is the expression of the Father’s impersonal love for the entire human race. In verse 46, the Greek word for forsake is in the aorist tense. The aorist tense gathers together the entire three hours of our Lord’s spiritual death, during which time God the Father both imputed and judged all the sins of the world. And the culminative aorist regards this three hour action from the viewpoint of existing results: And what are those existing results?

a) The provision of eternal salvation for the entire human race under substitutionary, efficacious, unlimited atonement:

b) The guarantee of our eternal security because the power of God is greater than human power. We do not have the power to lose our salvation.

c) The strategic victory of Jesus Christ in the historical extension of the angelic conflict.

d) His resurrection, ascension, and session, at which point He received His third royal patent, though He was without a royal family.

e) The interruption of the dispensation of Israel and the substitution of the Church-age for the calling out of the election of the royal family of God to accompany His third royal warrant.

f) The perpetuation of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union into the dispensation of the Church, causing the Church-age to become the unique dispensation of all human history.

g) The greatest distribution of divine power to every believer in all of human history, causing the Church-age to become the crossroads of human history as an extension of the angelic conflict.

The active voice in the second person masculine singular refers to only God the Father who produced the action. Perfect God forsook perfect humanity. The deity of the Father could not forsake the deity of the Son. So, it was the human body of our Lord that carried our sins. The interrogative indicative assumes there is an actual fact which can be stated in answer to the question. The question is rhetorical for our benefit.

The actual facts which explain the forsaking include substitutionary spiritual death, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, unlimited atonement, imputation, and justification. The facts of soteriology; i.e., the efficacious, substitutionary, unlimited atonement of the perfect humanity of Christ during those three hours on the cross when He was made sin for us. Therefore, salvation is completely the work of God.

1) God the Father imputed our sins and judged them.

2) God the Son bore their judgment and became our Savior.

3) God the Holy Spirit reveals this Gospel message.

He also sustained the humanity of Christ on the Cross. In His unique spiritual death, Jesus Christ received in three hours the judgment for billions and billions of sins. This was why He screamed the question in the Aramaic. Throughout all the beatings and excruciating pain, “as a lamb before His shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.” But in bearing sin as the only impeccable human being, He screamed. The three hours of darkness that covered Golgotha were the most intensive moments in all of history. For every sin in the history of the human race were all imputed to Christ, down to the last sin of the Millennium.

The perfect humanity of Christ received the imputation and judgment for every one of these sins. This was the time, above all, when He could not afford to sin. His humanity could not leave the PPOG at any point during the bearing of our sins. Yet, if ever there was a challenge to bitterness, implacability, hatred, self pity, etc., it was during that time when He was being judged for our sins.

But He didn’t get out of the PPOG; He didn’t sin; He didn’t react. Not only did He remain impeccable, but He endured the suffering. So, the scream of our Lord on the cross, “My God, My God, for what reason have You abandoned Me?” was addressed to God the Father only.

Point 7. A Fortiori and the Omnipotence of God as it Relates to the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ. A fortiori is a Latin prepositional phrase meaning “with stronger reason.” It is a system of logic related to comparison, then inference. A fortiori says that by comparison comes inference. A fortiori compares a first conclusion with a second conclusion, inferring that the first conclusion is more difficult and that the second conclusion is easier, therefore inescapable and even more certain. An a fortiori in Scripture can generally be recognized by the Greek phrase “polus mallon” translated much more then or much more therefore. In the a fortiori of omnipotence, the premise and conclusion are as follows:

If the omnipotence of God the Father has accomplished the most difficult thing in imputing our sins to the humanity of Christ and judging them, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God can accomplish the least difficult, which is what the omnipotence of God the Father and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit are doing for you. For example, if the omnipotence and justice of God the Father did the most difficult thing in all of history in imputing our sins to Christ and judging them on the cross, it follows, a fortiori, that He can do the least difficult thing, which is to deliver the believer from the Last Judgment. This is taught in Rom 5:8-9.

Rom 5:8-9, But God demonstrates His own virtue-love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died on behalf of us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, [efficacious sacrifice on the Cross], we shall be delivered from the wrath of God through Him.”

Once you believe in Christ, there’s no way you can be involved in the Last Judgment, the judgment which condemns unbelievers to the Lake of Fire. The a fortiori here says that it is easier for the omnipotence of God the Father to deliver the believer from the Last Judgment than for the omnipotence of God the Father to impute our sins to Christ on the Cross and judge them. The most difficult thing the Father ever did was to use His power, His divine omnipotence, and His justice to impute and to judge our sins in Christ.

If the omnipotence of the Father did the most difficult thing at the cross in judging our sins, it is concluded, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of the Father can do the least difficult thing in the Church-age: deliver the believer from the Last Judgment, and provide eternal security and your very own portfolio of invisible assets, the easiest thing for Him.

This emphasizes the reality of your very own portfolio of invisible assets. If the omnipotence of the Father accomplished the most difficult thing at the cross, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God the Father can accomplish the least difficult thing for every Church-age believer.

This is stated in Rom 5:10 “For if, while we were His enemies [in real spiritual death] we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son [substitutionary spiritual death of Jesus Christ], much more, having been reconciled [most difficult], we shall be delivered by His life [least difficult].”

The least difficult thing for the omnipotence of God is to provide the divine power for the execution of the PPOG. It is easier for the omnipotence of God the Father to deliver the believer from the Last Judgment than for the omnipotence of God the Father to reconcile the world to Himself. The most difficult thing was for the omnipotence of God the Father to reconcile the world to Himself. The barrier between man and God was the sins of the world. However, since the work of Christ on the cross, the barrier has been removed. Man is reconciled to God because every sin of the world was judged. It was the omnipotence of God the Father which reconciled us by judging our sins on the Cross. Christ reconciled us by receiving our sins on the Cross. The Holy Spirit was involved in reconciliation because He empowered Christ to endure and to receive the judgment of every sin.

Church-age believers are delivered by His life in two ways:

1) The omnipotence of God the Father in providing us our portfolio of invisible assets.

2) The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit in providing the divine power for the execution of the PPOG.

In other words, we are delivered by His life through the perpetuation of the great power experiment into the Church-age. So, the a fortiori conclusion. If the omnipotence of God can accomplish the most difficult thing, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God can accomplish the least difficult thing. It was much more difficult for the omnipotence of God the Father to impute and judge our sins in the perfect humanity of Christ on the cross than for that same omnipotence of God the Father to provide for every Church-age believer His very own portfolio of invisible assets.

Your portfolio was easy to provide, and it is as certain as the fact that Jesus Christ died for your sins. It was much more difficult for the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit to sustain and empower the humanity of Christ inside the PPOG so that He endured on the cross than it is for the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit to sustain and empower the Church-age believer inside their very own plan. The most difficult ministry of the Holy Spirit occurred during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union in the PPOG for the lord Jesus Christ.

Hence, the inescapable conclusion of a fortiori: If the most difficult function of the omnipotence of God occurred during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, it follows, a fortiori, that the least difficult function of the omnipotence of God occurs during the great power experiment of the Church-age. This inescapable conclusion explains why God does more for every individual believer in the Church-age than He ever did for the greatest believers in the Old Testament!

The Church-age is the greatest opportunity for believers in history! It’s called an “experiment” because we don’t know how many believers will actually use the divine power available to them. The same omnipotence that sustained Christ during the First Advent now sustains every believer during this Church-age. It was much easier for the omnipotence of God the Father to provide for every Church-age believer a portfolio of invisible assets than for Him to impute our sins to the perfect humanity of Christ on the cross and judge them.

It is much easier for the Holy Spirit to empower and sustain the Church-age believer inside the divine dynasphere [predesigned plan of God] than it was to empower and sustain the humanity of Christ inside His very own plan. Therefore, the a fortiori doctrine of Rom 8:31-32 “Therefore, with reference to these things [that relate to the death of Jesus Christ], to what conclusion are we forced? The God [Father], who did not even spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him graciously give to us the all things?”

If the omnipotence of God can accomplish the most difficult, it follows, a fortiori, that the omnipotence of God can accomplish the least difficult. “With Him” means with the substitutionary, efficacious atoning work of Christ on the Cross. “The all things” includes the omnipotence of God the Father doing the easy thing of providing for every Church-age believer with his very own portfolio of invisible assets. “All things” includes the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit providing the easy thing: the divine power for the execution and fulfillment of the PPOG for the Church-age.

So again Rom 8:32 “The God [Father], who did not even spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him graciously give to us the all things?”

This is the great a fortiori of grace. God the Father did not even spare His own Son but actually judged our sins as they were imputed to Christ. Again here is the substitutionary prepositional phrase: huper plus genitive of advantage of pas and ego means “in place of [instead of] all of us.”

God has provided more for us in this dispensation than has ever existed for believers before.

Therefore, if the greatest benefit was given to us when Jesus Christ was judged for our sins on the Cross, then, a fortiori, God can surely provide anything else.

Heb 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us [Old Testament believers of Heb 11], let us lay aside every encumbrance [human power] and the sin that so easily wraps itself around us [by rebound]. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Be concentrating on Jesus, the author [pioneer] and perfecter of our doctrine, who because of exhibited happiness [+H], He endured the Cross, having disregarded the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you do not become fatigued and faint in your souls.”

More than in any other dispensation, we in the Church-age are required to have endurance.

Why?

Because when the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union reached its peak at the Cross, our Lord had endurance. The basis of His endurance was the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit; the same omnipotence of the Holy Spirit we have right now! Endurance comes from the enabling power of the Holy Spirit inside both the PPOG for our Lord and for us. Running with endurance includes the utilization of both categories of divine power: the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, and the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit related to our function inside the PPOG.

Christ was able to endure the judgment of our sins on the cross through the available omnipotence of the Holy Spirit inside the PPOG and by using the ultimate problem solving device: +H. All precedence for the PPOG in the great power experiment of the Church-age is derived from Jesus Christ in the previous dispensation. The doctrine of the Church-age is mystery doctrine, totally unknown to Old Testament believers, and not revealed until our Lord came in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. And so our Lord endured the Cross and the substitutionary spiritual death which took place because of the joy or the happiness that was placed before Him.

+H fulfills the mandate to of Heb 13:5 “be content with such things as you have, for He will never leave you nor forsake you.” “Exhibited happiness” means exposed to public view.

The entire world could see that Jesus Christ, in His humanity, had the ultimate problem solving device. For no one has ever endured more pain, been more unjustly treated, had so much abuse, and then received the judgment of the sins of the world! The humanity of Christ had advanced in the PPOG to spiritual maturity and had passed evidence testing. Therefore, He had maximum use of this fantastic problem solving device of +H.

In Heb 12:2 having disregarded the shame, means our Lord did not allow contact with our sins to produce sin in Him. Even while being judged for our sins, our Lord did not have any self pity, bitterness, vindictiveness, etc. Instead, He was able to remain on the cross and receive the judgment for all sins by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and the function of +H. And therefore we are told in Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you do not become fatigued and faint in your souls.”

You become fatigued by using human power instead of the unfailing power of God. Human power is no substitute for divine power in the execution of the PPOG for your life. So our heritage from Jesus Christ on the cross is the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and the use of the greatest problem solving device, +H. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is available to us inside the PPOG, in the fulfillment of the two commands: “Be filled with the Spirit,” Eph 5:18; and “Keep walking by means of the Spirit,”Gal 5:16.

Both these are mandates to reside inside the PPOG under the enabling power of the Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine. So when it says that Christ died for our sins it isn’t talking about physical death and it isn’t talking about bleeding to death, which He didn’t do at all, it is talking about spiritual death. Our Lord’s physical death had nothing to with our salvation, His physical death meant that His work in the first advent was completed.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.

Internet Church Service – May 20, 2018; Dispensation of the Mosaic Law. The Fourth Commandment: The Sabbath. Part 1.

EMBEDDED VIDEO SERMON in HD – NOTES
Dispensation of the Mosaic Law.
The Fourth Commandment: The Sabbath. Part 1.

Please join us as we fellowship in the Word of God, listen to
Christian Music, Pray in Christ’s Name, and Praise the Lord
in our Hearts and Minds.

ALL ARE WELCOME

from - Romans 8:38-39

Hymn #1

Hymn #2

Preparing yourself for the study of God’s Word

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is— you have trusted in Him for eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to take-in God’s Word or participating in a Communion Service, so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge your sins privately directly to God the Father. This will assure that you are in fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry, also called the convincing ministry will then be able to teach you as the Holy Spirit is the real teacher and the pastor’s message is the vehicle the Holy Spirit uses to convince you what you are learning is true or not.

1 John 1:9 says—“If we confess [simply name, cite or acknowledge to God the Father] our sins [known sins], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [known sins] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [all unknown and forgotten sins];” NKJV (New King James Version); we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins to God; the issue for you is to believe by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life and you will be saved the very second you believe in Him:

John 6:47 says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” NKJV

Notice again what John 6:47 says, “he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” It doesn’t say, “will have”; it says, “has.” Therefore, the very moment you believe Jesus Christ’s promise of everlasting life, you have it (it’s really just that simple), and it can never be lost or taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” NKJV

Weekly Bible Study – May 14, 2018; The Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ. Part 2.

The Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ. Part 2.

Scripture References, Word & Phrase descriptions: the “Logos Reftagger” scripture links are hover pop-up active, meaning the scripture reference will just pop-up if you hover your cursor over it (don’t click on the link, just hover your cursor over it), when finished reading, hover your cursor off the scripture reference link. If the Reftagger pop-up doesn’t show all the verses, left click on the “More” button in the Reftagger pop-up window and it will take you to the online bible. If RefTagger pop-ups don’t work on your computer, that’s OK, try left clicking the link if it’s highlighted which should open a window with all the verses at the Biblia.com website; or if that doesn’t work, you can always use your Bible to look up the verses. Word or Phrase definition links may not have a website that opens. If you are running PCMatic, the pop-ups may not work; if that’s the case, email PC Matic Support to see if they can fix that problem for you.

Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

Doctrinal Statement

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

Alphabetical Listing of Terms & Abbreviations used:

STUDY TITLE:

The Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ. Part 2.

We are now ready to complete our study in the Gospel of John in John chapter Three and how it relates “The Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ.”

John 3:1-8, Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Him by night, and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.” Here is our Lord dealing with religion. Religion needs a spiritual birth. Religion needs changes. Because you see religion is Satanic.

Religion has false doctrine, called doctrine of demons, 1Ti 4:1.

Religion has a devil’s communion table, 1Co 10:19-20.

Religion has another gospel, Gal 1:6.

Religion has another Jesus, 2Co 11:4.

Religion has another Spirit, 2Co 11:4.

Religion is called “whitewashed tombstones”, beautiful on the outside but inside full of dead-men’s bones. So our Lord’s words in John 3:7, “Do not marvel” suggest the reaction of Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was totally shocked in spite of all his human accomplishments. He was totally baffled.

In verse 8, Jesus illustrates that a spiritual thing is not something that you can see.

John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

When you were born again you didn’t see it. God the Holy Spirit entered you into union with Christ.

The Holy Spirit came to indwell inside of you, you didn’t feel it or see it either. Where does the wind begin and where does it end? The wind cannot be seen, only the effects are visible. You know wind exists because it hits you in the face. However, you do not know how the wind got there or where it’s going. So, it is with the spiritual birth. It is unseen, but it is nevertheless real.

So in John 3:9, Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

He had not been taught this at his theological seminary and please notice our Lord uses a ittle sarcasm at the right time.

John 3:10-13, Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and you do not receive our witness. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, {even} the Son of Man.”

No man has ascended up to heaven, simply means that all Old Testament saints were in Abraham’s bosom and none had ascended into heaven as of yet. Abraham’s bosom is a reference to paradise which was located in the middle of the earth before Christ ascended into heaven. The first man to enter into heaven in a resurrection body was the Lord Jesus Christ. However, in verse 13, the Lord Jesus Christ declared He was in heaven at the very moment He was speaking to Nicodemus.

He could be in heaven at the same time that He was also in His human body because He is the God-man, the unique person of the universe. Nicodemus was familiar with Numbers 21 which gives us the story of the serpent. What did our Lord mean when He said “The son of man must be lifted up?”

He meant that true life could only come out of death. He meant that in order for a new creation to begin the old creation must be destroyed. When our Lord died on the Cross He put an end to the Adamic race and began a new one.


Our Lord referred to His sacrificial death as a lifting up because the Jews were looking for a Messiah who should be lifted up. They wanted the Messiah to be elevated to the throne of David but before this, He must be lifted up upon the Cross and put to shame. To illustrate the character the meaning and the purpose of His death, the Lord refers to the well known incident in Numbers 21.

In Numbers 21 Israel was murmuring against the Lord and against the man of God.

Num 21:4-9, Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. And the people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.” And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

Israel was murmuring against the Lord and against Moses. So that in verse 6 the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. The interesting thing here goes back once again to the original language.

Because in verse 6, the word for serpent is the same word used for the serpent in the arden of Eden in Gen 3, nachash (naw-khawsh’); meaning a snake or literally an image of a serpent. This serpent lies and deceives the individual in a literal way. However, when the Lord says in Num 21:8 to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard” The word for serpent here is the Hebrew word nachash (naw-khawsh’) referring not to a snake, but a mythological type of a serpent. Which simply means that the Lord Jesus Christ does need to use sin to fulfill His plan and policy literally. He can use a type of sin or something that represents, as in, in this case a nachash, a type or representative analogy of sin. Now, why is this so important? It is important because there are teachings like Buddhism that teach that we need evil to reveal sin.

There are even Christians who teach others that we need evil to appreciate good.

And they quote verses and passages like Isa 45:7 to justify their opinion, which says “I am the One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.” These fiery serpents bit the people so that some of the people died and many others were wounded from the poisonous bites of the literal serpents. In verse 7, notice that they confessed they had sinned and they cried unto Moses for relief. Moses cried unto God and the Lord told him to make a serpent out of brass and place it on a pole.

The Jews who were bitten by the fiery serpents were told to look at the brazen serpent “in faith” and they should be healed. This all was a foreshadowing of our Lord. It spoke of Christ being lifted up on the cross in order that He might save, through the look of faith, those who were dying from sin.

Why use a serpent?

The serpent was an appropriate figure of that deadly and destructive power, sin.

In Gen 3:15, the serpents’ seed is said to be unregenerate sinners.

The serpent therefore represented the sinner. Now, the poison of the fiery serpents’ bite effected the entire system of its’ victims. There was no deliverance therefore for the Jews unless God provided one. The remedy which God provided was a “public exhibition” of the destroyer, the serpent on a pole.

Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

Now, the question arises, Why didn’t Moses use one of the actual serpents and spike a fiery serpent on the pole?

Because it would have damaged the typology.

It would have pictured God’s judgment on the sinner himself and worse still, it would have misrepresented our sinless substitute, TLJC.

Heb 7:26, For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

The type chosen was in the likeness of a serpent, it wasn’t an actual serpent, but a piece of brass made like one.

The correlates with Rom 8:3, For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God {did:} sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and {as an offering} for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

Heb 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as {we are, yet} without sin.

The one who is the sinners Savior was sent, in the likeness of sinful flesh. How could a serpent fitly symbolize the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy One from God? A serpent is one of the last things we would ever think would represent the Lord. However, the brazen serpent foreshadows Christ only as He was lifted up on the cross.

The lifting up pointed to the Cross. The serpent was a reminder and emblem of the curse. It was through the agency of that old serpent, the devil, that our first parents were seduced nd brought under the curse of a holy God. On the Cross never forget, the holy one of God was made a curse for us.

So, the serpent accurately prefigured the crucified Savior being made a curse for us. But why a serpent of brass? This brings out once more the perfect accuracy of the type or the doctrine of typology. In the scriptures brass symbolizes divine judgment! The brazen altar illustrates this truth for on it the sacrificial animals were slain. Upon the brazen altar descended the consuming fire from heaven. In Rev 1 Christ is seen as judge inspecting the seven churches, we are told that His feet were like fine brass.

Rev 1:15 and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace,

Brass is harder than iron, or silver, or gold, it told, then, of Christ’s mighty strength. He was able to endure the awful judgments which fell upon Him, a mere creature, though sinless would have been utterly consumed.

From what has been said so far, it is evident that when God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and to place it on a pole and told the Jews to look on it and they should live, that He was preaching to them the Gospel of His grace.

Moses was commanded by God to make a serpent of brass, it was something the Lord provided. Moses was commanded to fix this brazen serpent upon a pole. Therefore, the divine remedy was publicly exhibited so that all Israel might look and be healed. The Lord’s promise in Num 21:8 was that “It shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looks upon it shall live.”

The point is that man was to look away from himself to the divinely appointed object of faith.

The brazen serpent was lifted up so that those who were too weak to crawl up to the pole itself simply could look and be healed.No matter how many times he may have been bitten, no matter how far the poison had advanced, if they looked they could be healed, anyone could be look and anyone could be healed.

It is interesting that man became a lost sinner by a look as in Gen 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Now the sinner is saved by a look, Isa 45:22 “Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.

After salvation the Christian life continues by looking.

Heb 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

At the end of the Christian life we are still to be looking for Christ, Philippians 3:20.

Phil 3:20, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

From the beginning to the end it’s a mere look. Some might say, I don’t know if I’m looking right. In that great crowd of bitten Israelites there were some with young eyes, some with old eyes that looked at the serpent. Some with clear vision and some with dim vision. Faith is simply the eye of the soul looking toward the Lord Jesus Christ, even if it’s only a little faith.

Luk 17:6 “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.”

John 3:14-16, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

“God” refers here to the first person of the Trinity, God the Father. Since God is perfect, His plan is perfect. Man’s biggest problem which was sin was solved by a perfect God in eternity past. Everything we will ever need in time, every sin that we would ever commit has a divine provision from a perfect God. Every sin in the human race that would ever be committed has a divine solution “in Christ”. God knew every failure we would ever have, every suffering and every heartache.

Therefore, He made a provision for every situation in this life. There will never be a trial, or a testing or a suffering too great for the plan of God to handle. Billions of years ago at a certain point of time God loved us. Love requires thought not emotion and billions of years ago, God thought about you. And when He thought about you, He loved you. And because He loved you, He decided to act upon that love.

The mental attitude preceded the action. The mental attitudewas love, the action was the cross. God the Father loved you before you ever loved Him. However, it says that God so loved the world. It is true that God is love but here God so loved the world.God’s love for both the believer and unbeliever is centered around the Cross. It is true that God is love and because God is love the cross exists, When a member of the human race by passes the cross or rejects Christ as his or her personal Savior, he then ecomes the object of divine wrath.

People often wonder why is there a hell? First of all, Matt 25:41 tells us hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. The reason is because God has more than one characteristic. God is love and He is also righteous and just and holy, Hab 1:13, Thine eyes are too pure to approve evil, And Thou canst not look on wickedness with favor.

The Bible is very dogmatic about a literal hell, over one hundred-sixty-two texts in the New Testament alone are given, Over seventy were uttered by the Lord.

Hell is said to be banishment from the presence of God, 2Th 1:4.

Hell is a place of torment and punishment, Luk 16:23.

Hell had to be enlarged by God to make room for man, Isa 5:14.

Hell is a place of eternal fire, Matt 13:42, 50; Rev 20:15 and outer darkness, Matt 8:12.

Hell is a place of worms which discomfort their victims, where the conscience does not die, Mark 9:44, 46, 48.

Hell is a place where others can be recognized, Luk 16:23.

Hell is a place where people will pray but will not be heard, Luk 16:27.

Hell is a place where desire remains unfulfilled, Luk 16:24-27; Rev 22:11.

Hell is said to be a bottomless pit, Rev 9:1.

Hell is said to last forever and ever, Rev 14:11.

Hell is a place where the victims are eternally dying yet they are not in a state of death but a process of constantly dying, Rev 2:11; 20:14.

However, God so loved the world that He did something so that no one would ever have to suffer in the eternal state.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

God loves those who are incapable of loving Him. Spiritual death means more than being separated from God, it means we do not even have the ability to love God. And, God loved us when we had no capacity to love Him.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.