"We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life!"

(Romans 5:10 GNB)

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So far in this series we have discovered God's eternal purpose to have us as children of His love. We have also looked at how, through deception, the devil appeared to have derailed it when Adam and Eve sufferred spiritual death. They entered into union with the devil's sin nature thereby becoming His bond slaves. The human race was in need of salvation from ultimate death. As mentioned in part 3(click here to read part 3, if you missed it), God was not without the proverbial "Ace" up his sleeves. Just as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, He made the following announcement;

1. "I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel." (Genesis 3:15 MSG)

The offspring to which He referred, was no other than the last Adam, Christ(the chosen one). He was our Savior sent to save us permanently from sin and death and set us back on course, to enjoy God’s eternal purpose.

1. "The woman said, "I know...the Messiah will come...the one we call Christ…"I am that one," Jesus told her, "and I am speaking to you now." (John 4:25-26 CEV)

2. …John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world!.." (John 1:29-30 MSG)

4. "When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good--not only ours, but the whole world's." (1 John 2:2 MSG)

5. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23 MKJV)

6. "Jesus said,...I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?" "Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world." (John 11:23-27 MSG)

God clearly had a plan in place already. Christ was the "Ace". As God's sacrificial Lamb, His blood would deal with sin and His resurrected life would deal with death for good. Even physical death would not stop the life He came to give. This would put God's eternal purpose back on track for good. To achieve this, He had to come as a man(Son of Man - Last Adam) to die for man(descendants of the first Adam) and as a bearer of God's life(son of God).

1. "For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die.."Death is destroyed; victory is complete!" "Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your power to hurt?" Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:53-57 GNB)

Here lies the man with a fallen nature

Here comes the law to activate sin in Him

Here comes death, the wages of sin

Here comes the deliverer to break the chain of death

Recreated in Christ with a righteous nature

Recreated in Christ who has fulfilled all the law

Recreated in Christ with Eternal life within

I'm forever grateful, for the chain of life in Him

1. "The first man was named Adam, and the Scriptures tell us that he was a living person. But Jesus, who may be called the last Adam, is a life-giving spirit. We see that the one with a spiritual body did not come first. He came after the one who had a physical body. The first man was made from the dust of the earth, but the second man came from heaven. Everyone on earth has a body like the body of the one who was made from the dust of the earth. And everyone in heaven has a body like the body of the one who came from heaven. Just as we are like the one who was made out of earth, we will be like the one who came from heaven." (1 Corinthians 15:45-49 CEV)

2. "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man...it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up-- and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life." (John 3:13-15 MSG)

3. "Don't work for food that spoils. Work for food that gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because God the Father has given him the right to do so." "What exactly does God want us to do?" the people asked. Jesus answered, "God wants you to have faith in the one he sent." (John 6:27-29 CEV)

4. "John clinched his witness with this: "I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him…The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, 'The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' That's exactly what I saw happen, and I'm telling you, there's no question about it: This is the Son of God." The next day John...looked up, saw Jesus walking …and said, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb." (John 1:32-36 MSG)

5. "Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life..." (John 20:30-31 MSG)

Jesus; in order to save us from our corrupted nature, had to be free from corruption and so could not come from Adam’s seed. He was conceived by the incorruptible living Word of God materialized by the spirit and planted in a Mary, a virgin woman(Genesis 3:15 - seed of a woman). The true Lamb of God without spot or blemish was on His way.

1. In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the Word. Everything that was created received its life from him, and his life gave light to everyone…God sent a man named John, who came to tell about the light and to lead all people to have faith….The true light that shines on everyone was coming into the world. The Word was in the world, but no one knew him, though God had made the world with his Word. He came into his own world, but his own nation did not welcome him. Yet some people accepted him and put their faith in him. So he gave them the right to be the children of God. They were not God's children by nature or because of any human desires. God himself was the one who made them his children. The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us." (John 1:1-14 CEV)

2. "So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She'll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us). " (Isaiah 7:14 MSG)

3. "In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to … a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary...Gabriel greeted her… You're beautiful with God's beauty… inside and out! God be with you…."Mary…God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great, be called 'Son of the Highest.' The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob's house forever-- no end, ever, to his kingdom." (Luke 1:26-33 MSG)

4. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you," (1 Peter 1:18-20 KJV)

In part 5 we will begin looking at the part that blood of Jesus played in God’s grand plan of salvation.

(To be continued..)

Selah

click here to read part 5

To view others instalments in the series, click here