God and Man

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:6-8

 

Mankind is the steward of God's creation. He received the commandment from God:

"Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth!" (Gen.1:28)

 

However, humanity quickly squandered everything. This happened because they placed their trust in the wrong party, the devil, who poses as an angel of light but, on the contrary, seeks the total destruction of humanity. For thousands of years, humanity has been in the grip of sin and death. Was there anyone who could deliver them from it?

 

Regarding the dominion of sin and death, the apostle Paul writes:

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned." (Rom.5:12)

The consequences of humanity's wrong choice extend to all creation:

"For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now." (Rom.8:22)

Creation had to be redeemed and freed from all misery. Who could do this? Who is worthy to redeem creation from sin and death?

 

In the last book of the Bible, the question resounds:

"Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" (Rev.5:2)

The scroll is the deed of purchase for creation and the cleansing program of heaven and earth. No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth is worthy to accomplish this task except the Lamb, who stands as slain in the midst of God's throne, the Lord Jesus. Only a human being could redeem humanity and creation, because it was a human being who had fallen into sin. But all the descendants of the first man, Adam, fell under the curse and slavery to which they had sold themselves in exchange for knowledge of good and evil. Someone had to come who was free from this curse, someone outside of Adam's line. That was only God, because God had created Adam. But it also had to be a human being, because it was humans who had transgressed.

 

Therefore, God became the Son of man and, as such, redeemed creation from all forms of slavery in which it was trapped. But God became human outside of Adam's line. The lineage of Jesus, running through Mary, ends with the following sequence:

"... the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God." (Luke 3:38)

Jesus was 'the seed of the woman'. (Gen.3:15) That makes Jesus truly man, ultimately coming from God. On the other hand the forming of Jesus in Mary's womb was announced thus:  “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

 

Jesus was holy, totally free from every burden of sin from any ancestry. He was God Himself, that had come in the flesh, as John puts it: 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us' (John 1:14). God redeems at the cost of himself. He does not use an angel but bears the consequences of humanity's choice by becoming human. These consequences, however, were unspeakable:

^'Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.' (Rom.5:18,19)

 

The redemption that Jesus accomplished on the cross of Golgotha ​​is like the turning of an avalanche. An avalanche is triggered by a small movement high in the mountains. Thus, only one relatively small act was needed to push humanity and creation in the wrong direction: eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But in the valley, the avalanche has gained dizzying force and magnitude, and everyone who falls under it, is buried. The consequences of one wrong act extended to billions of people and to thousands of billions of wrong choices by all those people. The effort required to undo the unimaginable consequences of the Fall was immense. Jesus Christ made that effort, and everyone who places their trust in Him shares in the glorious results of his work.

 

"For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." (Rom.5:17)