Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, the Second Man - “It is Finished!” - by Pastor Doug Riggs

by John Mark on 04/24/24

This message was originally recorded December 11, 2013, the first in a series of 8 messages.

My notes:

What did Jesus mean when on the cross He said, "It is finished"? What is finished? What does that mean to you and me? What does it mean to God?

In this message, Doug explains that this declaration not only applies to what was required for our salvation, but also for our sanctification. So many of us for so long have either struggled to become a Christian only to discover there isn't any work we can do to accomplish it. It's through the finished work of Jesus on the cross that meets the requirement for me to receive the grace-gift of salvation through faith, placing my faith in Jesus and His death on the cross instead of faith in myself that somehow I'm good enough.

But what about our ongoing struggle to live the Christian life? Maj. Ian Thomas so well put it: "The Christian life is impossible." Jesus Christ is the only one who can live it. As we count on the fact we died in Christ and we in and of ourselves cannot live the Christian life, we take on His resurrection life as our resurrection life, and in so doing, allow Him to live the Christian life in and through us. "It is finished" applies to our salvation as well as our sanctification. Doug explains, "So if it's finished, how does that finished work of Christ in sanctification be transferred to us? That's what the Holy Spirit is for. That's His 100% full-time job and focus, to transfer that which constituted the humanity of Jesus Christ to be constituted in us... Everything He (Jesus) did as man to please the Father is transferable [to us]." He continues, "If we appropriate the finished work of Jesus Christ as our holiness, as our sanctification, as our righteousness, then the Holy Spirit takes that which was perfected in His (Jesus') incarnation and transfers it to us."

"God doesn't just do something legally and pronounce and declare us righteous. He gives us the righteous one. And that is a fact accomplished at new birth, but then for sanctification, the gift remains."

Doug explains what might be misunderstood about Jesus being a 'mediator'. "As mediator, He doesn't stand between us and God. As mediator, He is like the fountain, and He mediates that which is who He is as the perfected Man through the Holy Spirit into our lives." I used to think God was 'up there' ready to pounce on me whenever I sinned, but Jesus was there holding up His nail-pierced hands declaring me righteous, that He'd take away my sin. I like Doug's explanation way better.

What will we be like in eternity? Will we all look the same? We'll all see Jesus - and we'll be like Him. So will we all be equal in heaven? Doug bursts that bubble - well, actually the Apostle Paul does, but Doug takes us back to the word and adjusts that misconception. To the degree we've been conformed to the image of Christ through our death union with Christ (via His cross) and Jesus being formed in us (via His resurrection), this will determine the degree we have capacity to see Him as well as the degree others see Him in us. This applies to us in time as well as eternity. As we are not all the same here in time - as the Apostle John delineates us as 'children, young men, and fathers', the glory of the attained reality of Christ in our lives will be displayed like the glory of the stars we see at night - some very bright; others not so much. This is explained in 1 Corinthians 15:35-42, "star differs from star in splendor". "Will everyone be like Him? Oh, yes! But the measure and the definition of that seeing and the manifestation of that seeing has vast, vast differences."

Doug would on numerous occasions reiterate the fact "God is not a communist! We will not all be equal in heaven." We used to talk about how the Apostle Paul will be like a 55-gal drum filled with Jesus in resurrection. His capacity to enjoy Him and the measure of Jesus he contains for others to see and enjoy will exponentially increase for all of eternity. Then we compare him to Demas ("having loved this present age") who might be like a thimble filled with Jesus, full, but not to the capacity or measure of the Apostle Paul. He'll grow exponentially throughout eternity, but at a much lower scale than Paul. "There will be no end to the increase of... His kingdom." (Isaiah 9:7)

"Every Christian's going to receive a glorified body; but this life affects the measure and participation of that glory in ages to come. That should put fear in us."

In this message, Doug refers to Dr. Henry Mabie's term, mid-death resurrection process. That's the ongoing daily process of the death of the cross that is applied to what we are in Adam, and in Christ, the second Man, is resurrection life.

There are only two species of humanity: Adam, the earthly old man, the first man - and Christ, the heavenly new Man, the second Man. "The cross is the division between the heavenly - the spiritual, the natural and the earthly."

Once again we hear Doug pointing out the difference between redemption and inheritance. To "inherit is conquest; inherit is reward. He (God) gives it to you, but you have to take possession. Whereas when you're justified by faith, that's just a gift. You just put your faith in Christ and your sins are forgiven; you're justified. But when it comes to inheritance, that means there's warfare, and there's a possession."

Link to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-11-13+It+is+Finished.mp3

Maranatha!

John Mark

...hereby committing this unto the providential care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is blessed forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!

 

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