Colossians 1:15
“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”
Prophecy 700 years before His birth says His name will be Immanuel.
Reading prophecy (foreknowledge, utterance, and writing) of God’s plan indicates that God is Sovereign, Brilliant, and powerful.
God says here is what I am going to do and then He does it just to prove that He is who He says He is.
People who do not believe the Bible are illogical and ignorant.
If you just read what the Bible says and then look in history you will find that God has done exactly what He said He would do, in the way that He said He would do it and in the time frame He gave Himself to do it.
An honest skeptic would have to say, “I know that there is a God but I refuse to acknowledge Him”.
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
God said that He was going to do something that no one had ever done and that this would be a sign to Israel.
In the N. T. we find exactly what the meaning of that name “Immanuel” is.
Matthew 1:23
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
God said, “I am going to become a man” and 700 years later He placed Himself in the womb of a virgin and became a man.
Luke 1:35
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
Understand that before God created the first man He already knew that someday He would limit Himself to being one of us.
That man, “God with us” is Jesus Christ.
I find that to be truly amazing.
You can argue the point of whether Jesus Christ was God or not but you can not argue the point of His existence.
Our calendar we use today says there was a man that so impacted history that our dating system is according to His birth.
Today it is July 18, 2010 “Anno Domino” “the year of the LORD.”
A man named Jesus Christ lived and his life is recorded in history.
He claimed to be God and all you have to do is decide whether you want to believe that or not.
God becoming a man fulfilled prophecy and accomplished the purpose for which the plan was devised.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God’s plan of redemption for mankind was that He would become a man and take upon Himself the punishment we deserve for our sin.
If you were God would you make a man or an angel or anything else knowing that they would disobey and disgrace you?
Would you create a man knowing that he would live totally contrary to your plan for him?
Would you create a man knowing that he would hit you in the face and spit on you and say all manner of evil to you?
I believe God created man because He could see the glory He would get for taking man’s place on the cross.
God knew that He was love but know one else knew it.
God must have known that what He would do for man would be the greatest demonstration of love that had ever been revealed to mankind.
God was fully aware that the vast majority of mankind would reject His love and He would then have to punish them in the lake of fire forever.
But there was something in the heart of God that desired man’s fellowship that made Him go with His plan of redemption.
Think about it!
God went to the cross as a man to take your place.
Not your wife’s place, not your husband’s place, nor anyone else…He went to the cross and became sin for you.
He poured out His wrath on Himself to show you how much He cared for you.
We think too often in general and plural terms.
We need to think more in specific and singular terms.
It was for me that He died.
It is me that is the sorry, wicked, vile, sinner in need of a Saviour.
1st Peter 3:18
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”
1st Peter 2:24
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
2nd Corinthians 5:21
“For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
We believe that in eternity the word was with God and was God but in time the word became a man in the flesh.
Galatians 4:4
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Purpose:
Galatians 4:5
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
The purpose of Jesus Christ becoming a man in the flesh was our salvation…He came to redeem us.
Without God choosing to become one of us salvation would not have ever been available to us.
God became a man by placing Himself in the womb of a virgin and after the normal nine months in the womb He was born just like we were.
Luke 1:35
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
The Sovereign, eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, invincible God took upon Himself flesh and became a man.
That is why Jesus Christ is called the firstborn of every creature.
Colossians 1:15
“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”
Jesus Christ was the first to be born of the Holy Spirit.
That is why we are said to be “a new creature” when we get saved.
2nd Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
We are born of the Spirit at the new birth just like Jesus was born of the Spirit at His birth and we become a new creature.
John 3:8
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
When a man gets saved his spirit experiences a rebirth by the Spirit of God.
• Spiritual Death and Second Death
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they died spiritually.
Adam had been forewarned of this by the Lord and always think this way…Adam’s disobedience was not a surprise to God.
Therefore we can know that the plan of redemption was designed before Adam sinned.
There is no evidence that Eve heard God give this command and thus it is established that the man is supposed to lead His wife.
Genesis 2:16
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Genesis 2:17
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.”
Adam was given full liberty to eat of every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Adam obeyed God until His wife disobeyed.
Thus we see in the example of the very first man that responsibility is a very serious thing.
God told Adam not to eat of one tree but God had also given Adam an helpmeet that he loved dearly.
I am not going to say that a man should sin and be disobedient to God just because his wife did so but it is significant to note that Adam was willing to die for his wife.
Adam knew what God said about dying.
Adam knew that he was giving up fellowship with God when he disobeyed and ate of that tree.
It almost seems like Adam knew God well enough to believe that God was going to make some kind of a provision for their disobedience.
It is impossible for us to know how Adam was thinking because we are hindered by our sin nature.
Adam was created holy and Adam knew what it was like to walk with God and talk with God.
Adam knew God in a way that none of us could possible know him.
Adam was without a doubt confident that God had made a provision for his disobedience before he disobeyed.
You say, then why did he hide from God after he disobeyed?
That, my friend, is one of the very first fruits that you experience when you sin.
Because of God’s holiness Adam immediately knew that he was no longer worthy to stand in the presence of God.
Sin caused Adam to hide and sin caused Adam to doubt God’s love for him.
Adam experienced spiritual death in the sense of knowing that he no longer could have fellowship with God.
God told Adam that he would die “the day” he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
But we know that Adam did not die physically that very day.
Genesis 5:5
“And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”
There are no mistakes in the word of God; therefore the Lord must have been talking about spiritual death.
This is illustrated with Adam being removed from the garden.
Death is separation. (EXAMPLE: Physical death)
Spiritual death is separation from God.
Genesis 3:24
“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Adam could have eaten of the tree of life but he did not.
Now God must block the way to the tree of life because it is no longer available to Adam.
It is important for all to know that there comes a day when the tree of life is no longer available.
John 14:6
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
When you hear a clear presentation of the gospel and the Holy Spirit is definitely reproving you of sin, righteousness, and judgment it is time to turn in repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You have no guarantee that you will have another opportunity to be saved.
Notice that God gives the plan of salvation as we now know it in the context in type.
Genesis 3:21
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
An innocent substitute had to die.
Its blood was shed.
1st Peter 1:18
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers;
1st Peter 1:19
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
Adam and Eve were clothed with clothing of God’s choice.
2nd Corinthians 5:21
“For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Once you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Saviour you are accepted into fellowship with God.
Ephesians 1:6
“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”