“Knowing this, that the old man is crucified with him, that the body of death might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6)
There has been an ongoing discussion between well meaning individuals for many years in attempt to render a consensus concerning the ‘old man’ and the ‘new man’. While we have not been openly involved in any of these discussions in any more capacity than a curious bystander, the subject matter has come to mind. We know that we shall not bring any new revelation to light nor have the ability to bring any conclusion to the discussion but we hope that these thoughts will set forth what we believe the scriptures to teach. We feel our mind has been stirred and we hope it is of the Spirit who is the only teacher of truth and holiness.
“IN the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”
It is impossible to understand the question at hand without the wisdom and Spiritual understanding that can only be given by the Holy Spirit. It is also impossible to discuss the matter without returning to the beginning for a common point of reference. To attempt to speak of old man vs. new man without a Biblical platform would encourage the logic and reason of the flesh to roam from pillar to post without guidelines or discipline. To allow such unbridled passion would no doubt lead to traditions based upon fables, erroneous conclusions and these lead to discord among the sheep of the pasture.
In the beginning God commanded the ground to bring forth grass and herbs yielding seed. He brought forth trees yielding fruit after its kind whose seed is within. Each and every blade of grass came forth and yielded the seed of grass. There has never been a time when the fruit bearing fruit tree dropped its seed to the ground and a rose bush sprang forth. The seed took root and grew into a mature plant with its fruit which yields the seed in a self procreating cycle that continues even today. God created every living thing having its seed within and after its kind. The great whales and every living creature that moved which the waters have brought forth abundantly, procreating after their kind. The winged fowl genders after his kind. The cattle, the beast of the field and every thing that creeps upon the face of the earth was made having a complete seed within them after their kind. Once fertilized, this seed produces a copy of the original creature which was formed having the seed created in them by God’s design. Never did the breeding of a horse with a horse bring forth a fish and never did a carrot seed bring forth the oak tree. Such things may seem rudimentary but they set forth the pattern which God established in His creation.
God created man, ‘full of fruit’ and instructed him to multiply and fill the earth, (Gen. 1:28). Can there be any misunderstanding that Adam was created having his seed in him? Or that when the seed of man fertilizes the seed of the woman that it would then produce anything other than man? (And yes, the seed of a monkey only produces a monkey. No matter how many times or whatever the environmental conditions were, the ape, monkey, chimp or orangutan can only reproduce after its kind. Let the fools feast well on this theory.) Could there be any possibility that something other than a copy of the man created by God could come forth, after his kind, as a result of any and all procreative acts? (By the way, for all those who try to live by science and renounce ‘faith’, how much ‘faith’ does it take to believe the preposterous theory of evolution?)
This seed was for the reproduction of the clay vessel that God had formed out of the dust of the ground. This vessel was prepared before the life which God breathed into Adam when he became a living soul, “And Jehovah God formed MAN of the dust of the ground and breathed into HIS nostrils the breath of life and MAN became a living soul”, (Gen. 2:7). Notice how the scriptures record that he was man before he became alive. Adam (man) had a distinct and separate existence from the life which was placed within and he was designed to accommodate that life. Before God breathed into Adam and made him alive, the vessel existed, being formed and fashioned complete awaiting the living soul. Even today this fact is made evident at both the beginning and end of our temporal existence. When a child is born, the body compliments and houses the life within. Man with all his latest technology may tinker and meddle in the secrets of God’s creation but he, “knowest not what is the way of the spirit, how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the work of God who maketh all” (Ecc. 11:5). When the life departs from the body in death we may look upon and grieve over the empty shell. With all his so called ‘genetic engineering’ he cannot control the life soul that causes the vessel to animate. God has, like the master potter, fashioned each and every clay pot with the exact characteristics, qualities and essentials, in precise order, establishing the time of their habitation and the limits thereof, for the life that He has decreed should inhabit it.
The vessel that God called Adam was neither holy nor immortal. If it was created immortal why then did God expel Adam and Eve out of the garden, “Lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever:” (Gen. 3:22)? It was indeed created ‘good’ as proclaimed to be so by the Creator, for it was in exact agreement with the purpose for which it was created. It had all the necessary elements to perform what God intended for it. When God made him alive, Adam was given an impeccable knowledge of all things, except the knowledge of good and evil. God had prepared a garden for him, having such as was needful for sustenance and set him in Eden for to “dress it and keep it”, (2:15). God then brought every animal of the earth, that He had created for Adam, to Adam for to “see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof” (2:19). Everything that God had intended for Adam to do was performed in complete compliance to His will and in the proper time sequence. Nothing that Adam did was contrary to the nature of his creation, independent of the Will of God or in defiance of His eternal decree. He was prepared and endowed with the knowledge and ability to dress and keep the garden but without the ability to fly like a bird or live under the water like the fish of the sea. He could name the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air but he could not provide a help meet for himself. He had the ears to hear the voice of God and to walk with Him in the garden but he could not obey his commandment, “of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” (2:17). If he had been created immortal and did not have the ability to die, then this prophetic proclamation of God was of no value. He was given the ear to hearken unto his wife after she had been deceived by the serpent and had succumbed to the lusts and desires of the flesh; therefore he had been created with the ability to be corrupted. Eve, being created in Adam, did not obtain her ability to be deceived by the serpent from any peer pressure, any social, political or economic circumstances, any training or education she received. She was created able to be deceived therefore she was deceived. Adam and Eve acted precisely as God intended them to perform for He had created them that way.
Adam was created incapable of being obedient to God’s commandment and devoid of the power to resist the temptation. When God formed him from the dust of the ground, he had a fully functional body. All of his internal organs were completely operational. In this he did not differ from any other animal which God had created until God breathed into him and he became a living soul. Now he had the mechanics, the strength, the nature and the power to perform what God had intended. He acted in complete harmony with this opening prelude to the symphony of creation and by his act, sin entered into the world and death by sin upon all his seed being in him. Therefore death passed unto all men, for all have sinned (Rom. 5:12).
Sin is as eternal as the Law of God for sin is the transgression of the law, (1 John 3:4). Sin already existed since it was found in that created covering Cherub. He was ‘full of wisdom and perfect in beauty’ and was ‘upon the holy mountain of God’ walking ‘up and down in the midst of the stones of fire’. This is Satan, Lucifer and the Wicked one who was, “perfect in all thy ways from the day thou wast created till iniquity (perversity, depravity, guilt) was found in thee” (Ezek. 28:15). He was sent forth according to the decree of God, “thou hast been in Eden the garden of God”, (28:13), to question the commandment of God, confuse and deceive Eve. He was the messenger by which doubt and disobedience came to Adam. By Adam’s disobedience, his seed became corrupt and depraved and guilt passed unto all the children of Adam. His seed was in him and even though they do not sin after the similitude of Adam, the guilt of his conduct became their guilt just as Levi was credited with actively paying tithes in Abram being still in his loins. This dual process, in which the living soul died and eyes of Adam and Eve were opened, giving them the knowledge of good and evil, caused all who bear the image of the earthly, to have a soul dead in trespasses and sin and to know they are guilty. “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that doest the same thing”, (Rom. 2:1).
Before we precede let us consider some alternatives to the premise which is being set forth. Could Adam do anything for which he was not created? If so, then where did he obtain the power to perform this task contrary to God’s creation? Is there any power other than the Almighty? Did God create Adam with the ability to overrule His sovereignty? Did He create him a ‘free spirit’ to seek out his own way without any guidance, direction or leadership? Was the ultimate course of all creation conditional upon Adam’s action? Was there an alternate plan which Adam thwarted by his disobedience; a plan in which man would live continually in the garden of Eden, tilling the ground and, being full of fruit, multiplying? How was Adam created? Did not Christ teach the disciples, “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16)? The proof of how God created man, beast, bird or fish is in the action they perform. How they function is either how God intended them to be or something happened to change that which God created and called ‘good’. If something did happen then maybe it is true that the created being started out as something different and mutated into what we see before us now. Or even that the world was indeed not created by God but rather everything began when a random amount of different space gases mysteriously collided together causing a tremendous explosion which, when cooled, formed the planets. Then when one of the planets found its way to a particular orbit around a sun that would be conducive to the formation of life, spontaneously a gelatinous goo found a string of protein and life began as scum in a pond. However if such undisciplined imaginative theories be nothing more than the hysterical dreams of an unhumbled mind, then the heavens and earth were created by much more than an intelligent design. Adam was created in the image of God having his seed in him. Eve was brought forth from the side of Adam capable of being deceived and powerless to stop or overcome the wiles of the serpent. Adam was created capable of being corrupted and powerless to control his actions, the action of his wife or in any way to alter the predestinated decree of God.
If this be not true, then what happened? What power is stronger than the Almighty? Where did this power emanate from? Was God powerless to stop it or did He in some form of masochistic thrill sit back and watch to see what would happen; who would fall, who would die, who would obey and who would live? Such must be the conclusion to the ideas, theories and doctrines of this world’s theology concerning the creation and God.
Is God sovereign over all things or not? Truly He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He is sovereign over every thought, word and deed. He commands the wind to blow as it sweeps across the landscape and lifts the dust of the earth only to deposit it precisely where the Master intended it to be. He turns the heart, stimulates the emotions and excites the passions of every man. He speaks and it comes to pass and nothing is outside the realm of His control. “Remember this and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old for I am God and none else, God and none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times that are not done saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all My pleasure: calling the ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it”, (Isa. 46:8-11).
Do not search the logic of the natural mind to try to answer these questions for the natural man does not and cannot understand these things. Only the Spirit of Wisdom can impart this truth to one in whom He dwells. Search the scriptures to see if these be so, “knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20) and do not rely on the wisdom of the flesh. By man’s ‘wisdom’ a theory has been devised in which God created the world perfect and called it good. Then along came the wicked one and confused God’s plan and corrupted His creation. This is known as the ‘gap theory’ because somewhere, between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, man in his ‘infinite wisdom’ and ‘eternal knowledge’ has written an entire theology based on the words, ‘without form and void’. Sufficient to say that such additions to the Spirit inspired Word are an abomination before the Lord.
Adam was not created ‘born from above’. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Ye must be born from above”, in order to see the kingdom of God. If Adam was created ‘born from above’ then all of his seed would have been also and they, like him, would be holy. If he was born from above he could not have fallen short of the glory of God for, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18). The serpent could have done no harm to Adam nor could he have deceived Eve had Adam been made alive by being ‘born from above’.
Adam was not created a child of the kingdom of God. He was created flesh and blood and made a living soul. The children of the kingdom are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, (Eph. 1:4), and become partakers of flesh and blood, (Heb. 2:14). The children are not created, they are part of that Rock and that Rock is Christ, (1 Cor. 10:4). Therefore they are the sons of God, (1 John 3:2), “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ;” (Roms. 8:17). The children of the kingdom are as eternal as their Father the King and have eternal life. Man is a temporal and mortal being formed from the dust of the earth and to the dust he shall return when the time of his habitation is over. But “flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:50), therefore, Adam was not created a child of the kingdom of God.
Nor was he created wicked. When the act of disobedience was concluded and Adam had tried to cover his deed, conceal his shame of nakedness, blame Eve for the commission of the act and blame God for giving her to him, God was merciful, “and made Jehovah God for Adam and his wife also skins and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). God took two of the animals that He had created for this very purpose and by a blood sacrifice made a covering for both Adam and Eve indicating that they were indeed chosen vessels, “and almost all things are by the law, purged with blood and without the shedding of blood is no remission”, (Heb. 9:22). He demonstrated His mercy, appeased His Holy Law and forgave their transgression. If Adam had been created wicked how then says the prophet Nahum, “Jehovah is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked:” (Nah. 1:3).
Adam was created perfect for the purpose of God’s eternal decree and from that same lump of clay, formed from the dust of the earth the Master Potter ordained one vessel unto honour and one unto dishonor. The vessel of honour was, afore the creation of Adam, prepared unto glory and made acceptable in the Beloved to house the treasure within. The vessel of dishonour was outfitted for destruction and God assigns the seed of the wicked serpent to inhabit it, reserved unto judgment. This is manifested in the natural birth of Cain, the possessor, and Abel, the breath.
Cain was of the seed of Adam and his desires were of the earth earthly. He was also dead in trespasses and sin. He brought forth a sacrifice unto the Lord that was unacceptable because it was of the fruit of the ground (earthly) and the works of his hands (carnal). Curious that one who had such a privilege of the experience of being in the presence of God should not know what was proper and what was not. He had the privilege of speaking with God and knowing Him but became wroth with God and his countenance fell when God had no respect for his carnal offering. His actions indicate a limited temporal knowledge, a depraved understanding and a bitter hatred. He knew that a sacrifice was needed and required by God and no doubt did what he thought was right in bringing a sacrifice unto God yet he took offence when God said it did not measure up to His standard. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out many devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me ye that work iniquity”, (Matt. 7:22).
Abel was also of the seed of Adam yet, having been quickened with the Spirit within, he brought forth an offering that was approved by God. He was the shepherd of the sheep and brought a blood sacrifice acceptable unto God. Ever wonder how Abel knew that the blood sacrifice of the herd was acceptable before God? He had no ‘how to’ books to consult. He had no written law. He had no tutor who through experience could instruct him as he passed on the oral law of God (whatever that is). Even if we conclude that the example given to Adam and Eve by God in sacrificing of the animals for a covering is to be considered as the teaching tool to be used, what was there that caused Able to follow the example and Cain to ignore it? They had the same father and mother. They had the same social-economic environment in which to grow and mature. They had the same education, no peer pressure and the same exposure to God. “For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive?” (1 Cor. 1:7).
Each earthen vessel contains by nature, the characteristics and aptitude of the original prototype Adam. This is sometimes called instinct or human nature. It is referred to in the scriptures as the carnal man. It was breathed into Adam by God and died in Adam, without the ability to comprehend or understand spiritual things or the capacity to receive them, (1 Cor. 2:14). God has set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning, (Ecc. 3:11), so that no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Cor. 1:29). Man has a temporal knowledge, linear reasoning, limited comprehension and mortal faculties. This is why he is drawn after the things of this world. Being dead in trespasses and sin he seeks after the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life and walks in them. His body is dead because of sin, he is carnally minded and at enmity against God.
“Jehovah God took the man and put him in the garden to dress it and to keep it. And Jehovah God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:15ff). And so it came to pass by the decree of God that they took of the tree and ate and died. But what died? Adam did not fall to the ground as his body ceased to function. He still walked about and reasoned in himself a course of action, so what died? Are we to assume that this death is the same thing that happens to our vessel when the time of our habitation is over? If so, then why when God said, in the day that you eat thereof thou shalt surely die, didn’t Adam’s body cease to exist?
The scriptures tell us that the only thing that was alive in Adam was his soul. Without this man is still a lump of clay and water which modern science can keep functioning for many years after the ‘life force’ has departed. God breathed into the man and made him a living soul, therefore, when man ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:20). Adam and all his seed became dead in guilt by the commission of the offence and dead in the manifestation of the inability to meet the standard of God.
Adam’s disobedience was not the result of a choice between obedience and disobedience for without the knowledge of good and evil he could not have a reference point to discern what was obedient and what was disobedient. He did not have any prior experiences in which to weigh his discussion, compare the situation to or to contemplate the consequences of his action.
But something else happened; his eyes were opened and he knew they were naked. Becoming dead to God he became alive to the knowledge of good and evil and to sin. When the Pharisees came to Jesus after He had healed the blind man who had been born blind (and for this he was excluded from the assembly), Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words said unto Him, Are we blind? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:39ff).
When his eyes were opened, knowing good and evil and what had happened, he turned back to the earth and acted according to his nature. He harvested fig leaves and sewed them together into aprons because he knew that they were both naked and was ashamed. He then attempted to hide himself in the garden from the presence of God and finally he accuses the Almighty Everlasting Father of culpability for giving him a help meet, “and the man said, the woman whom thou gavest with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat” (Gen. 3:12).
Adam’s seed, being dead to God and aware of good and evil, is drawn away by the lusts and desires of the flesh. When that lust conceives it manifests the inability to measure up to the Holy standard of God’s perfection. Therefore all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All of the seed of Adam is in the bondage of this corruption against the weaknesses and infirmities of this frail and mortal body. The slightest temporal events of this existence distracts and deceives the senses, stimulating the flesh to do something.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). This was a corporate act in which the head of the race affected, infected and condemned his entire seed, without exception. “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one;” (5:17); “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;” (Rom 5:18); “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners”, (5:19). Likewise the entire race had their eyes opened to know good and evil.
Jesus told His disciples that the, “false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”, can be known by the fruit they produce. “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit… Wherefore by their fruit ye shall know them” (Matt. 7 15-17). Man cannot discern a person’s heart or their spiritual state for only God can discern the heart, so, one can only discern the tree by the fruit on it. Cain was the first child born into this world. He was of the seed of Adam and was the first person born with the knowledge of good and evil. Yet when God has no respect for his sacrifice he exhibits anger, commits murder and tries to lie to God. This was different from the response that Adam presented in the garden when he tried to atone for himself. Something was drastically different. Cain was making a full presentation of ripened fruit on the bough of his tree just as the Pharisees of Jesus day. “Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there was no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). Cain had a second lineage that was bearing fruit just as his earthly father and mother had borne him physically.
Some may object to this and say that there is no record in the canon of scripture that records that Satan was created with a seed in him, yet consider, “Thou (Satan) wast perfect (complete) in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezek. 28:15): and again, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, it (her seed) shall bruise (crush, fall upon) thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen.3:15). Now if Satan had not been created with his seed in him then he could not have been created complete. If his seed was not created in him then where did it come from? Whose seed are the Pharisees that Christ spoke of and all those who bear the fruit of that tree which are at enmity against God? Therefore, by the actions which he performed, Cain was of the seed of his father the devil, a liar and a murderer. But more importantly, he was at enmity with his brother Abel, not as sibling rivals but hatred enough to take his life.
We have no record left us by the Spirit of Truth about the birth, childhood and maturity of these two individuals. To speculate upon their actions and interactions while growing up would be completely without basis and presumptuous since the Spirit did not deem it necessary. To say they were ‘just like any other normal brothers’ is also of arrogant presumption for there were no other brothers and therefore what could be considered ‘normal’. All we know is that one was a keeper of the sheep and the other a tiller of the ground. One’s name means the breath the other’s means the possessor or gatherer. But when God would not even gaze upon the offering of Cain, for He is “of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look upon iniquity” (Hab. 1:13), but gave regard to the offering of Abel, Cain’s countenance fell; he became wroth. He determined in himself by his depraved reasoning to plot and finally murder of his brother.
Abel was exhibiting some fruit of another lineage also. He had the delights of God after the inward man. He acted according to the characteristics of the ‘new covenant’ spoken of by Jeremiah, (30:33). The old stony heart and the dead ‘breath’ were taken away and a new heart and a new ‘breath’ were given him. He had the law and statutes of God written upon his heart and God caused him to walk therein, (Ezek. 36:26f). He had been loved with an everlasting love. His vessel had been swept and cleaned for it was a vessel afore prepared unto glory. He had been born from above by the Spirit which quickened him and, having the knowledge of ‘good and evil’, he brought forth an offering that God respected. Not that God is a respecter of persons or of works. He cannot be influenced in any way or by any body. He gave respect to the sacrifice because Abel was a child of grace and He moved upon his heart, gave him the necessary understanding and caused his hands to perform what He had decreed was acceptable. This same sovereignty over all things is just as He had moved upon Cain with a lack of understanding and the ability to bring forth that which was unacceptable. The offering God gazed upon was from the one whom He loved and the other was treated accordingly for the one He hated that the purpose of God might stand according to election. There was a marked difference in Abel from conduct of Adam with the soul that had died in the garden. He did not exhibit the characteristics of the old man of the garden who sought to justify himself. He delighted in the law of God after the inward man and because it was God who worked in him both to will and do of His good pleasure, (Phi. 2:13). His fruit was the evidence of a connection to a living root for it was the peaceable fruit of righteousness, (Heb. 12:11). The ‘old man’ had been removed and even though the outward man perished yet the inner man was renewed, (II Cor. 4:16), by the acceptance of the sacrifice by God.
God did not put this enmity, (hatred, hostility), between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Adam; He put it between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. This seed of the woman, was the earthen vessel which God prepared for the Anointed Deliverer that He might be made like unto His brethren; “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4). He is the second Adam with a body just like the first having His seed in Him. This is the seed chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world, the seed that should serve Him and be accounted unto Him for a generation, (Ps. 22:30). Unlike the first Adam, He had the power of God within because the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore as the Son of man, He could be tempted, in the same manner as all of His seed that became partakers of flesh and blood and, being the Son of God, measure up to the standard of the Holiness of God. By this He is not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but has experienced all the trials, temptations, frailties and feelings of each of His children, who have been made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope, (Roms. 8:20). “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:17f).
The seed of both the first and the second Adam are complete in each in both composition and number. None may be added to or subtracted from either lot. The first lot bears the image of the earthly, finds the things of God foolish and is without hope of deliverance. The second lot while bearing the image of the earthly, has been predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son of God when this hide is torn away and the tabernacle of this dwelling is dissolved. They walk by the faith of the Son of God, are without fear of condemnation being justified by His faith and are at peace with God.
The Master Potter formed man from the dust of the ground, (Gen. 2:7). In that one lump of clay He had afore, from the beginning, fashioned vessels of mercy prepared unto glory and vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, (Roms. 9:22ff). God then assigns the souls that are to occupy these tabernacles whether dead to sin and alive unto Him or dead to Him and alive unto sin, for, “Behold all souls are mine” (Ezek. 18:4).
Into these vessels of mercy He placed the seed, being born from above, whom He loved with an everlasting love. But before the seed could inhabit these ‘booths’ as a stranger in a foreign land, the inability to measure up to the standard of Holiness as required by God must be removed. Therefore the leaven had to be purged out from within these earthen vessels, the houses had to be swept and cleaned, no leaven are found in all the coasts of the land and the field is prepared to receive the treasure. The only cleansing agent capable of performing this cleansing is the Blood of the Lamb whom John saw, “slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev.13:8).
Into the vessels of wrath, outfitted for destruction, God, according to His purpose, which He purposed throughout the whole earth and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations, (Isa. 14:26), assigned the seed of the serpent. This is a body of dust which is dead because of sin, a soul that is dead unto God in trespasses and sin with a carnal reprobate mind, (Rom. 1:28), that walks after their own counsel, (Ps. 81:12). It is an evil seed that devises iniquity and works evil upon their beds and in the morning light, they practice it, (Mic. 2:1).
The seed of the serpent can do nothing but wickedness in the attempt to ascend against the throne of God. Like its father Lucifer, the heart of the wicked is lifted up and the desire is to “be like the Most High”, (Is. 14:14). Therefore, “the wicked are estranged from the womb: they go about speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, like a deaf adder with stopped ears which will not hearken to the voice of the charmers, charming ever so wisely” (Ps. 58:3f). This seed has a foolish heart that is alive unto sin and dead unto God. It cannot comprehend the invisible things of God that are clearly seen in His creation for, “when they knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart is darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man and bird and four footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen”, (Rom. 1:21-25). This is the heart of a fool who says there is no God. “Thus saith Jehovah God: Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of god in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God… Therefore thus saith Jehovah God: Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God” (Ezek. 28:2-6). This wickedness, created by God, is the object of God’s eternal hatred. It is contained in its head, Satan, who is the epitome of all that is evil and in his seed. He and they are in complete submission to God's will and by the power of that will, “while men slept, His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way”, (Matt. 13:25). All who possess this seed are at enmity with the seed of the woman. Even though they grow side by side in the same field they are distinctly different for they proceed from completely different roots. The Master of the field knows who they are, He decrees that they continue to grow together and has predestined the final destination of them both.
Conversely, that which is born from above cannot sin. Whosoever is born of the Father is chosen in the Son from before the foundation of the world, predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son, shall bear that same image of His Spiritual resurrected body and was quickened by the Spirit unto a living hope when He arose from the dead. The body is still of Adam and the bondage of this corruption from whence the creature groans to be freed from. The soul that was dead in trespasses and sin by which the body, “in times past walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved) and has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, (Eph. 2:1-6). This seed can do nothing but measure up to the standard of Holiness required by their Father in Heaven since they have been hewn from the Rock even though it inhabits a body of death that was dug from the pit. This is that Great Rock in the weary land that casts a long shadow over His people as they travel through the barren wilderness. He is alive and the source of all life, “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Because Messiah is that Rock, (1 Cor. 10:4), and He is the life, (John 14:6), everyone, no matter how large the chunk or how small the chip, must be alive; therefore they are called ‘living stones', (1 Pet. 2:5). They are of the Father who gave them unto the Son therefore He is not ashamed to call them brothers. His seed, His children have the same eternal life as He has with the Father and the Spirit. They were one with the Father, they were raised up in the Son and He has not lost a single one. “Lord thou hast been our habitation in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, thou art God”, (Ps. 90:1f).
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil: and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14f). When Messiah became incarnate and dwelt among us, the fullness of the Godhead dwelt within the body that had been prepared for Him, being conceived by the power of the Most High in Mary’s womb. She did not give birth to God. She brought forth, “her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). This body was prepared fully functional without sin and with all the limitations and frailties that Adam had in the garden. He ate, he drank, he slept, he groaned within himself and he wept. Every emotion that each one of Adam’s seed has ever or will ever experience was experienced by Jesus. He was tempted in all points like unto we are. He endured every trial and tribulation. He was made week through the flesh enduring the contradiction of sinners against Himself. He was buffeted and beaten, scourged by Pilate and the Roman guards. He anguished in the garden and sweat as it were, “great drops of blood”. He bled when the soldiers beat Him, He bled when the crown of thorns was platted upon His head, He bled when they nailed Him to the cross and when He had given up the ghost, they pierced His side and blood and water came out. He was every bit flesh and blood, yet without sin. There can be no doubt as to the validity of the Adamic style body which He had or that He bore the image of the earthly. Nor should there be any question to the qualifications of this body as the first born of the household without spot or blemish, the one and only acceptable sacrifice before God. He was totally and completely man, with the power of God to do His will and the indwelling presence of God to finish the work in righteousness.
God sent forth His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, so that when His blood was shed and His body died, He condemned sin in the flesh. Hanging on the cross, He who knew no sin became the sin of His people, not in the Godhead, but in the flesh. When His body became polluted with this contamination, the Father turned His back to Him and His body was broken for His people. Not that the bones of His body were broken for we know that in fulfillment of scriptures they were not, (John 19:31-37). But rather His body was broken as the Godhead could not co-abide with the sacrificial Lamb because of the imputed sins of His people. Jesus therefore cried out, “My God My God, Why hast thou forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34). This sacrifice was complete to every jot and tittle and it was offered once, “For Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which are a figure of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood for others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:24ff). It stands as being completed before the foundation of the world, manifested in time and ever present before the throne of the Father.
In summation of these opening remarks then, we would present to you for your diligent consideration, the proposition that there are three seeds; the seed of Adam, the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman which is Jesus the Messiah and His eternal seed.
The seed of Adam, like all of God's creation, is the land of two rivers, (Shinar), and from the one lump two bodies are formed. Each of the same metaphysical composition, bearing the image of the earthly and each is predestined to the same destination. “And unto Adam He said … in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return”, (Gen. 2:19).
The seed of the serpent was created in him when God fashioned him for His good pleasure, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created”, (Rev. 4:11). It has the same characteristic and aptitudes as its father and serves the will of Almighty God in the same way. “Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore will I put My hook in thy nose and My bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest”, (Isa. 37:29). The seed acts like its father, full of evil, enmity and wickedness, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works”, (II Cor. 11:13f). This seed shall stand before the Judgment throne of the Father and be cast into outer darkness where the destruction is everlasting and the torment of the Lake of Fire unquenchable. It shall also bow the knee before the Holy One of Israel and proclaim with their wicked tongue that He is Lord. “I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness and shall not return, That every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear”, (Isa. 45:23).
The seed of the woman is the body prepared by the power of the Most High when He overshadowed the virgin Mary, causing her to conceive and bring forth a son. Not a body fashioned out of the dust of the earth, subject to time and age or polluted with the sin but still being flesh and blood. This was the earthly tabernacle of Emmanuel and it was prepared as the Lamb of God whose sacrifice was foreordained for His people. From the beginning, He, like Adam, had His seed and His bride in Him and they are one in the same. He came forth with a strong hand and a mighty arm to rule having His reward with Him and His work before Him, (Isa. 40:10). Unlike Adam, He was not created subservient to corruption for He is the Master over all things and in the fullness of time God sent Him forth born of a woman to inhabit this vessel, the seed of the woman. His seed is identical to Him in every way. Holy and without blame before Him in love, “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee”, (Song 4:7). Because they proceed from Him they cannot denounce Him or defile Him in any way. They must, because their nature is of the Spirit, measure up to the exact standard of Holiness which is God.
We hope that the reader shall try these things by the teaching of the Holy Spirit in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding. Search the scriptures to see if these things be so. If the Lord has decreed, we hope to continue with this topic in another installment.
As always your thoughts and comments are appreciated.
Your servant in Christ,
(Elder) Chet Dirkes
August 12, 2009
Banner of Hope
Volume 3, No. 3 - August 2009
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