Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, the Second Man - “It is Finished!” – Part 4 by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 05/05/24
This
message was originally recorded December 22, 2013, the fourth in a series of 8
messages.
My
notes:
'Consider
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith' - the One 'who began a good work
in us who will bring it to completion', 'the last Adam, the second man, the
Lord from heaven' (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47). As
the second man, "there will be no successor to Him." There are no
more humanities than that in Adam and that in Christ. Satan's attempt (since
the days of Noah) to modify and manipulate God's creation via hybridization
(fallen angels cohabiting with human women to produce offspring) does not
create a third species of humanity recognized by God. (Though today's teaching
doesn't mention this, I thought it would apply.)
Those
who are born once will experience the second death – eternal separation from
God in hell - it's the second because all born in Adam are born spiritually
dead, our first death. Only those who are born twice will experience eternal
life. Therefore, as Jesus said, we 'must be born again'. Our becoming born
again is only available to us because of Jesus' becoming born again at His
resurrection, 'the firstborn from the dead'.
In
Isaiah, Jesus is described as being 'marred more than any man'. You may be
surprised to learn this did not refer to what Jesus suffered physically. This
is one of the departures from reality and truth the Roman Catholic church takes
as it emphasizes the physical suffering and blood of Christ. You'll hear Doug
explain the reality as perhaps something you didn't realize before, that the
sufferings of Christ go way beyond anything physical. He yielded His soul unto
death; the stripes He received were so much more than those from the Roman
soldiers. It was the Father's judgment that went immeasurably further than any
man could do to Jesus as He became sin on our behalf.
In
this message, Doug corrects the common evangelistic message that one must
repent of their sins to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. If this sounds
not-quite-right to you, you'll hear the explanation in this teaching. Also, how
often we hear the gospel presented that Jesus died for our sins without including
the fact that Jesus didn't just die for us, but AS US. He took
us, the first Adam, into death and into the grave to be left there, forever
judged and condemned by God, never to rise again. Jesus as our representative,
the last Adam, died, and in newness of life, the new man, the new humanity, as
the second man, the Lord from heaven, He was raised and we with Him, a new
creation, not the resurrection of the old one. Our water baptism is the symbol
we have to illustrate this, though it may not be apparent that we leave the old
man behind in the water unless it is explained to us.
The
whole human race in Adam was baptized (identified with / incorporated) into
Christ's death. When He died, we died. Well, you may say, "I wasn't even
born yet! How could I have died 2,000 years ago?" Well, the Bible tells us
that when Adam sinned, we sinned. Well, you may say, "How could I have sinned
6,000 or more years ago? I wasn't born yet." If this is new to us, we are
learning positional truth. In Adam, the first representative of the corporate
human race, we sinned. His sin is accounted to us as our sin. You may think
this unfair. Well, 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the second man, the second
representative of the corporate human race, was crucified. His death is
accounted to us as our death. In Adam, we sinned; in Christ's death, we died.
This has to do with what Jesus cried out on the cross: "It is
finished!"
When
we discover we are dead, what do we come to realize we need most? We need life
- we need to be born again. When we receive Christ, we are transferred out of
the old Adam into the second Adam, the new man in Christ, resurrected out of
death into the newness of life in Christ. Christ's death, burial, and
resurrection is ours just as if we were right there 2,000 years ago. That's
positional truth; now we learn to live out that truth experientially. That's
sanctification.
Doug
makes this astounding revelation: "On the cross, God took responsibility
for allowing Satan to tempt man in the first place; and He took responsibility
for man's sin. He took care of both." How did He do that? By the
crucifixion of Christ on the cross. So if any of us have any complaints about
being charged with Adam's sin, our mouths are shut by this reality. If we don't
like being charged with Adam's sin, we'll surely want to claim Jesus' act of
righteousness on our behalf when He took care of the debt we owe due to our sin
(positional and experiential).
Doug
quotes Stephen Kaung: "Our biggest problem is not that we don't have
enough strength; it is that we have too much strength." He closes this
message with a searching question: "Are we perfecting holiness in the fear
of the Lord?"
Doug
mentioned a message by Eric Ludy he thought was titled "The Ineffable
Name" - it may actually be The Unspeakable Name
(https://ellerslie.com/the-unspeakable-name/)
Also
recommended: The Celestial Court series (see our Video page)
Link
to audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-22-13+Sunday+Assembly.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!