By Neibert David
The Creation Of Man
Genesis 1:26 says “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule (or have dominion) over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” This portion of Scripture shows that God is a triune being (let Us make). God is made up of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and because humans are made in His image and His likeness, we are also triune beings: humans are spirit, soul, and body.
Triune God
Mark 1:9-11 says: “At the time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water. He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.’” Also, Matthew 28:19 says: “Go therefore and make disciple of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
In these Scriptures above the Spirit represent the Holy Spirt. He is the third Person of the triune God sometimes also called the Trinity. Jesus represents Himself. He is the second Person of the triune God or the Trinity. And the voice speaking to and about Jesus represents the Father. He is the first Person of the Trinity.
Triune Man
Hebrews 4:13 says: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Additionally, 1 Corinthians 6:19:20 says: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
These Scriptures are demonstrating the triune nature of human beings. The joints, marrow, and body represent the body of humans. This is the third person of the human. The soul and thoughts represent the soul of human. This is the second person of the human, and it is invisible to the human eye. The spirit and attitudes of the heart represent the spirit of the human. This is the first person of the human and is also invisible.
Fall of Man and Prophecy of Jesus
Genesis 3:14-15 says: “So the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6) they sent humankind (male and female) into sin because they were the father and mother of all humankind. Sin entered the world through their disobedience. God had specifically told Adam not to eat from that tree (Genesis 2:16-17), therefore them eating from that tree was their disobedience to God.
Adam told Eve God’s instruction, but she was disobedient to that instruction, which was given to Adam. We all came from Adam and Eve after they sinned, and therefore we inherited Adam and Eve’s sinful nature. Adam was made in the image of God, but all other humans have made in the image of Adam. Because of our sinful nature all humans need a redeemer.
God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden because of their disobedience to will His will. They were also expelled because if they had eaten from the tree of life, they could live forever in this fallen state. (Genesis 3:22-24)
Since humans now needed a Savior, God promised that the woman’s Seed (which represented Jesus Christ) would bruise the serpent’s (which represented Satan) head. (Genesis 3:15) Jesus was the One who would reconcile humans back to the Father through His obedience.
Through disobedience Adam also forfeited his right to have dominion over the earth. He willingly gave Satan the dominion of the earth that God had given to him. Satan rightfully tells Jesus that the earth has been given to him, and if Jesus would worship him, he would give Jesus the earth. Luke 4:6-7 says – “And the devil said to Him, ‘All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all with be Yours.’” Jesus did not fall for the bait!
The Witness of Jesus Christ – Son of God
Humankind needed a Savior to reconcile them to God, therefore when the time was right, God sent His Son as promised in Genesis 3:15. Jesus was the Word and the Light, John 1:1-4 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
John 1:6-8 says: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through Him might believe. He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.”
John 1:14-15 says: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me in preferred before me, of He was before me”
John 1:22-23 says “Then they said to him, ‘Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? He said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.’”
John 1:32-34 says “And John bore witness saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Through these Scriptures John, called the Baptist, testified that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God. It was also spoken of John before his birth that this would be his role in history in Luke 1:13-17.
Born Again (that is: Eternal Life with God)
John 3:16-21 says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come in the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Not believing that Jesus is the Son of God (the Father), and not believing that the Father sent His Son, is not believing in the goodness the Father has demonstrated to all humans. How can we believe in the giver of this gift but not in the gift that the giver gave? Everyone will have eternal life, but will they be with God or separated from Him for all eternity?
Ministry of Reconciliation
After the introduction of sin (the fall of humankind), humans needed to be reconciled to the Father. In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were perfectly secure in who they were, but after they sinned, they hid themselves (Genesis 3:6-8) from God. Before they sinned, they had nothing to hide, but after sinning they hid from the very One they should have run to. Sin manifests itself in hiding. Humans are still hiding from God today, every time we reject and turn away from His call to salvation it is a form of hiding from Him.
Jesus was born to reconcile us back to the Father (2 Corinthians 5:18). Because He committed no sin while He walked on earth, He was eligible to be a sin offering for all of humankind. He was the sin offering that redeemed humans from being condemned (John 3:18).
According to God, humans must be born again (accept Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior) to enter the Kingdom of Heaven – John 3:3 says: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” When we choose not to be born again, we are already on the road to be separated from God for all eternity.
John 3:18 explains “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Begotten Son of God.” When humans choose not to be born again, they are rejecting the shed blood of Jesus Christ. They are actually saying that Jesus suffered and died in vain. Yet, He suffered and died for all humans.
It is necessary to accept Jesus to have eternal life with God, therefore as believers of the Son of the Most High God, we must pray and intercede for our families and friends and the people in our world for them to accept the free gift of Him as Lord. However, only the Holy Spirit can change someone. So therefore it is only by prayer and leading a believer’s life can God use us to be a witness and a conviction to others.
The terms for salvation or being saved is being born again. Being born again means that you have accepted that Jesus Christ lived, He died for our sins (or paid the price for our sins), He was resurrected from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and He is alive today seated at the right hand of the Father. It means you have accepted Him as your Lord and personal Savior. It means that you have accepted that He already paid the price for your sins against God.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Luke 24:1-9 says: “Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but He is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.”
Luke 24:36-53 says: “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, ‘Have you any food here?’ So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate it in their presence. Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understand, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen”
