The New Humanity
Notes
Transcript
Spiritual Beings
Spiritual Beings
Last week we finished up our study on spiritual beings where we have been doing a deep dive in the bible to study the elohim. We studied God, who is the Elohim of elohim. Then we learned about the divine council. Next we tried to get a better understanding of some of the most misunderstood spiritual beings, the angels and cherubim. After that we looked into the mysterious Angel of the Lord. Last week we finished up the study by looking into the Satan and Demons.
Technically, last week we finished up this series, however there is one more spiritual being that we haven’t talked about at all. Even though we wrapped this study up last week, I would like to have a brief discussion about the new humanity.
This series is based on a Bible Project bible study that can be found on their website if you would like to study this theme in more depth than we have been able to go. Understanding spiritual beings in the bible helps us to understand the mission and identity of Jesus. Jesus brings fulfilment to the story of humanity that was presented on the first pages of the bible.
That calling was for the lowest of all of God’s creatures, the humans made from the dirt, to rule with God over all of his creation. The poem in Psalm 8 reflects on this calling and celebrates God’s majesty…
1 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. 2 You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— 4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?
Remember that in the eyes of the biblical authors the moon and the stars were representatives of God’s divine council. They are the ones that rule with God in the spiritual realm, but for some reason God shows favor to the dirt creatures from the physical realm…
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
God created the humans from the dirt. Their creation status was less than that of the spiritual beings, BUT the humans were the ones crowned with glory and honor. Some translations say “majesty.” The poet is celebrating God’s majesty and the fact that God shared His majesty with the humans and commissioned them to rule along side Him over all of the rest of His creation. To rule with God over everything His hands have created.
In order to rule along side God, His human partners needed to transcend death. To accomplish this, God provided everything the dirt creatures needed so they could rule with Him forever, including a way to overcome the mortal limitations of a creature in the physical realm. According to author Bruce Waltke…
“[The tree of life] represents life that is beyond the original life that God breathed into human.” -Bruce Waltke
Through deception and greed the humans were tricked into joining some of the spiritual beings who were rebelling against God, which results in being expelled from the garden and God’s presence. Throughout the OT we see story after story of God extending His grace and mercy to the humans to bring them back into His presence. We also see story after story of the humans trying to get back into His presence their own way.
After all of these massive failures in the OT, God reveals His surprising solution. The creator God, who raised up Israel for the task they could not complete, becomes human in the divine person of Jesus.
Last week we talked about Jesus being tested by the Adversary and how He overcame the tests, unlike the first humans. All of the tests that Jesus faced present Him as succeeding where humanity has consistently failed. His tests mirror tests that humanity and Israel faced in the OT.
He was tested in the wilderness, Israel was tested in the wilderness. He refused to put God to the test, Israel tested and disobeyed God’s will. Jesus even quotes scripture that speaks of Israel’s failure when they were tested in the wilderness.
Jesus fulfills Israel’s calling to the nations. He is the humanity that we could not be. Not only does He DO what we could not DO, but He IS something we cannot be. Jesus is part human, and part God. One part of Jesus is the mortal human dirt creature, and the other part is spiritual being from the eternal realm that we can not access. The creation story shows us that God wants to partner with humanity to rule, but He needs a partner who will not “surely die.” Jesus is God’s human partner that can transcend death.
Jesus is unique. He is a Human, but He is also something new. He is also a spiritual being. Not just any spiritual being, but the Elohim of elohim. He is God. The same God who created humanity to rule with Him forever. So for that to work He must share this new humanity. So Jesus passes through death and raises in new life in order to share this new humanity with us.
It’s probably much less confusing to ponder Paul’s words in Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. We will just read a small passage, but I highly encourage you to read through this whole chapter and meditate on it with everything we are studying in mind…
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
In this passage, Paul is talking about the different “bodies” in which God’s creation exists. Some are birds, some are beasts. Some of His creation are humans and they have a natural body. Yet other’s have spiritual or heavenly bodies. You can think about all of the spiritual beings we have been talking about. Jesus brings us a new “body,” a new humanity. A humanity empowered by God’s life-giving Spirit. A Spirit-empowered humanity whose life can be given to others through the power and presence of God’s Spirit.
And according to Paul, the future resurrection of the new humanity is the grand fulfillment of the storyline that began on page one of your bible…
50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. 51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So what’s the point in studying this confusing topic? Someday all of this perishable mortal garbage will be burned up and we will be transformed into the new bodies that will never die. That’s when scripture will be fulfilled, so I am just waiting for it to happen.
Actually, the point that Paul repeats in his teaching is that Jesus gave us a new humanity that begins the moment we encounter Him. The new humanity isn’t about a new body that we will have in the future, it’s about the transformation that Jesus makes in our lives today. It’s about the new humanity that we are a part of right now. As followers of Jesus, we are a part of God’s new humanity.
Paul said that Jesus is a “life-giving spirit.” That means when Jesus shared His spirit with us in order to give us life, we now have that same “life-giving spirit” inside of us. I love the way Paul shares this idea in Romans…
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Why were we buried with Him into death? For newness of life. So He could share His life-giving spirit with us. The Greek word used here that we translate to “newness of life” means: “in the new state of absolute fulness of life in which the Holy Spirit places us so as to produce a new state which is eternal life.” Absolute fulness of life given by the Holy Spirit.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
The old dirt humanity has been crucified with Him, freeing us from slavery to flesh and failure…
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
The old humanity in us has died and now we are a part of the new humanity. The new humanity that is alive because of the life-giving spirit of Christ.
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We are already alive in Christ. We are already a part of the new humanity. The only thing that could stop us from living like we have life-giving spirit living inside of us is ourselves. The old human that doesn’t want to die and let God be in charge. The old humanity doesn’t want to give life, it wants to take it. Just like Adam and Eve, it SEES something that looks GOOD and TAKES it!
The life-giving spirit does the opposite. It sees something that is good and shares it. That’s how Jesus started His sermon on the mount. It's not the wealthy who are blessed. Your confident and proud neighbor isn’t the fortunate one. Happiness doesn’t come from never experiencing sad or difficult times.
When Jesus kicked off His Sermon on the Mount He said that the blessed people are the ones who are poor in spirit. Happy are the ones who mourn. Fortunate are the ones who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. How good is life for you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on His account!
I have to imagine at least one of the disciples were probably thinking, “Whoa! Hey Jesus, should you say things like that? Most of us have had a pretty rough life.” The point Jesus was making wasn’t, “How to be blessed! Tweet #Blessed!” He was teaching them how to be a blessing. He was teaching them how to share His life-giving spirit…
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Jesus wanted His followers to see themselves as participants in the arrival of God’s Kingdom. He wanted His new humanity to share His life-giving spirit as light in the darkness. Because the new humanity has already begun. We are already blessed.
The Greek word used in the beatitudes that we translate to “Blessed” (Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek…) is “makarios” (mak-ar’-ee-os). It means: Supremely blessed, fortunate, happy.
How will you let Jesus’ life-giving spirit transform your life today, regardless of where you are at, and live like the supremely blessed new human that you are? The scholar team at the Bible Project re-translated this passage to bring fresh language to familiar wards while using consistent English terms for Greek words used throughout this part of Scripture, and I want to close by reading it to you.
Sometimes when we have heard a scripture so many times in our life it forms preconceived notions and ideas. I love how this new language is the same, but forces me to see it from a new perspective…
How good is life for the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of the skies.
How good is life for those who grieve, because they will be comforted.
How good is life for the unimportant, because they will inherit the land.
How good is life for those who hunger and thirst for right- relationships, because they will be satisfied.
How good is life for those who show mercy, because they will be shown mercy.
How good is life for the pure in heart, because they will see God.
How good is life for the peacemakers, because they will be called children of God.
How good is life for those who have been persecuted on account of doing what is right, because theirs is the kingdom of the skies.
How good is life for you when they insult you and persecute and speak any evil lies against you on account of me.
Celebrate and shout for joy. Because your reward is great in the skies, because this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.
You are the salt of the land. But if the salt becomes unsalty, with what can it be made salty again? It is useful for nothing, except to be thrown out and stepped on by humans.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set up on a mountain is not able to be hidden. And they don't light a candle and place it under a basket. Rather, upon a candle stand, and it will shine on everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people so that they can see your good works and they can give honor to your Father who is in the skies.