God’s intention in creating man is to gain a corporate man to express Him and represent Him; Christ as the Son of Man, the second Man, and the last Adam fulfills God’s intention in creating man. Hallelujah!
This week we come to a further topic on how the church as the one new man fulfills God’s purpose in creating man, and that is, Christ as the Son of Man, the Second Man, and the Last Adam Fulfilling God’s Intention in Creating Man.
The Lord wants to gain among us the intrinsic reality of the one new man – not just the teaching or the doctrine, and not even just the outward practice of the one new man, but the intrinsic reality of the new man that fulfills His purpose.
The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man.
What are we doing here on earth? We were created by God in His image and according to His likeness so that we may become intrinsically the reality of the one new man for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.
We live the church life and we we live the daily Christian life for this purpose, that we may bring forth the one new man.
So the Lord is working to remove the things that divide us and make us “special” or isolated, and our vision of the one new man will kill anything in us that hinders the one new man. We need to organic manifestation of the one new man.
The new man is not something that we put together or organise; it is not something we practice outwardly by coming together with many people of different backgrounds and saying we’re the new man.
The Lord desires to gain the new man before He returns, and the church as the one new man is the corporate man in God’s intention, fulfilling God’s twofold purpose in creating man.
On one hand the new man bears the image of God to express Him, and on the other hand, he fights the spiritual warfare to subdue God’s enemy and bring in His kingdom.
At the end of the book of Ephesians we find both the bride (who bears God’s image, spotless, without any blemish, but cleansed by the washing of the water in the word) and the warrior (who fights for God’s interest and defeats the enemy by putting on the whole armor of God). This is what God needs today.
This week we will focus on Christ as the Son of Man, the second Man, and the last Adam to fulfill God’s intention in creating man.
In order for God to gain the new man, a corporate entity, there has to firstly be a pattern, a prototype, a sample of what this man looks like, how this new man behalves and lives, and how this new man does things to fulfill God’s intention.
What is this prototype? Praise the Lord, it is Christ Himself.
May we see Him and enjoy Him as the Son of Man, the last Adam, and the second Man, and may He have a way to be duplicated and reproduced in us today for the one new man to come into existence and in reality on earth today!
Christ is the Son of Man to Fulfill God’s Purpose
Christ is equal to God, one with God in the Godhead, even God Himself; but in order to fulfill God’s purpose, Christ became the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13; Matt. 16:13; John 1:51).
Without man, God’s purpose cannot be carried out on earth; in order to accomplish God’s purpose, it was necessary for Christ to be a man. Christ could not have fulfilled God’s purpose merely as God Himself, because God intended that man would do that.
So it was necessary for Christ to become a man; so two thousand years ago, in His incarnation, Christ became the Son of Man (Matt. 16:13).
On one hand, because the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, He is the Son of God (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35). This holy thing that was conceived in Mary, a human virgin, was of the Holy Spirit; the source was divine, and the essence was of God. Christ was divine, the Son of the living God.
On the other hand, because Christ was conceived in a human virgin and born of her, Christ is the Son of Man (Matt. 1:23).
Christ was really God and truly man; He was both God and man in one person – He was a God-man with divinity and humanity. On the divine side, Christ is the Son of God, and on the human side, He is the Son of Man. Hallelujah!
Even right now, the Lord Jesus is the Son of Man in the heavens at the right hand of God since His resurrection (Acts 7:56), and He will be the Son of Man in His coming back on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 26:64; 24:30).
When he was being stoned to death, Stephen saw Christ as the Son of Man at the right hand of God. Hallelujah, a Man is in the heavens, ruling heaven and earth!
A Man is at the right hand of God – this Man is the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, and He will also be the Son of Man at His coming back on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory!
When Jesus will return, He will be the Son of Man coming on the clouds in heaven; at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the land will mourn; they will see the Son of Man coming.
Hallelujah for Christ as the Son of Man who fulfills God’s purpose in creating man!
Praise You Lord for becoming the Son of Man to fulfill God’s purpose! Hallelujah, God became a man – He was conceived in a human virgin with the divine essence mingled with the human essence, and He became a God-man! Praise the Lord for being both the Son of God and the Son of Man. Hallelujah, there’s a Man in the glory, sitting at the right hand of God and ruling over heaven and earth! Praise the Lord, Christ as the Son of Man will return on the cloud with power and great glory!
In His Incarnation Christ is the Second Man to bring in the New Creation!
In His incarnation Christ is the second man (1 Cor. 15:47). Adam was the first man, but in His incarnation Christ came not as the first man but as the second man.
In the entire universe there are only two men – the first man Adam and the second man Christ. This second man, Christ, came out of heaven; this denotes both the divine origin of Christ and His heavenly nature as the second man.
The first man, Adam, is from the earth, earthy; the second man, Christ, is from heaven, having God as His origin and having the heavenly nature.
The first man, Adam, is the head of the old creation, representing it in creation; the second man, Christ, is the Head of the new creation, representing it in resurrection.
Adam represents the old creation, and Christ represents the new creation; Adam is the head of the old creation, while Christ is the head of the new creation.
We believers were included in the first man, Adam, by our human birth from our parents; however, through regeneration we became part of the new creation, part of the second man (Gen. 1:26; John 3:3, 5-6).
We are so happy that we’re not only part of the first man, Adam, but also part of the second man, Christ!
We came from Adam by our human birth, but one day when we heard the gospel, repented, and believed into the Lord to receive Him, we became part of the second man, Christ, by our regeneration.
Unless we are born anew we can’t see the kingdom of God; unless we’re born of water and the spirit we can’t enter the kingdom of God, for that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
This refers to what happened at our regeneration – we were reborn, born of God, to be part of the second man!
So in regard to our being part of the first man, our origin is the earth and our nature is earthy, but in regard to our being part of the second man, our origin is God and our nature is heavenly. Hallelujah!
By our human birth we were born of mud, soil, and we are dirty and will return to dust; but through our regeneration we are part of the second man, and we have the divine life and the divine nature. Hallelujah!
May we resist the temptation to look at the earthy part of our fellow brothers and sisters – may we refuse to consider one another according to the flesh and see others in Christ! Amen, when we look at others in Christ, we see no spots or wrinkles, for in Christ we are of God and we are heavenly!
Praise the Lord for Jesus Christ as the second man who came out of heaven! Amen, thank You Lord for coming as the second man to be the Head of the new creation in resurrection, and we can become part of the second man by believing into You! Hallelujah, all those who are regenerated are no longer merely part of Adam, the first man, but also part of Christ, the second man, to be a new creation in resurrection! Now we are not merely earthy by our human birth but we are also heavenly by nature by our regeneration!
Christ is the Last Adam – He became a Life-Giving Spirit in Resurrection
In 1 Cor. 15:45 we see a colossal truth: Christ is the last Adam. This means that before Him there was Adam, and all men were in Adam, but He is the last Adam – He finished Adam, He terminated Adam, and He’s the last one of Adam.
This verse implies two creations: the old creation with man as a living soul to be its center, and the new creation in resurrection with the life-giving Spirit as its center.
In the old creation man is the center, and man has a living soul; in the new creation the life-giving Spirit is the center, and this Spirit is actually the last Adam.
The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit and became the center of the new creation.
Christ’s being the last Adam implies a termination and a conclusion of the old creation.
Hallelujah, if anyone is in Christ, is a new creation; not only so, but the old things have passed away (the old Adam is terminated) – behold, they have become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
The old creation has been terminated on the cross; it has been concluded and it was dealt with. Now we are a new creation in resurrection by means of Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
The old creation ends with a man – the last Adam. This man – who terminated the old creation – became in resurrection a life-giving Spirit.
Today this last Adam has a name – He is the life-giving Spirit; this is His name, His person, His reality as the resurrected Christ. He is both a Man, and He is the Spirit, and He is the Head of the new man in resurrection.
Through incarnation Christ became the last Adam to die on the cross for the termination of the old creation; He terminated the old creation through His death on the cross (Gal. 6:15).
Then, through resurrection Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit to germinate the new creation. Now what matters is not circumcision or uncircumcision but only a new creation, because this is what maters to God.
The church today is the new creation, and the recovery of the Lord must be that one new man to be the duplication of Christ as the Son of Man, the second Man, and the last Adam. Amen!
How wonderful it is that, through incarnation, Christ became the last Adam to die on the cross and terminate the old creation, and through resurrection He as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit to germinate the new creation!
Hallelujah, Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit in resurrection to germinate the many believers in Christ as the new creation! Thank You Lord Jesus for not only becoming a man but also for being the last Adam – You came to terminate the old creation and bring in the new creation by Yourself as the life-giving Spirit! Hallelujah, all believers in Christ are part of the new creation with the life-giving Spirit as its center! Praise the Lord for being the Son of Man, the second Man, and the last Adam to become the life-giving Spirit!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 26, 314 (Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 2, Christ as the Son of Man, the Second Man, and the Last Adam Fulfilling God’s Intention in Creating Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– O Lord, Thou art the Son of man, / Our human nature Thou didst take; / Begotten of a virgin true, / Of flesh and blood Thou didst partake. (Hymns #61)
– Thou, “Last Adam” wast entitled, / And wast called the “second man”, / Head of all the new creation, / Better than the first man. / On this earth in life and conduct / Thou indeed wast Son of man; / Now in heaven with this nature / Thou dost still appear as man. (Hymns #62)
– Now the Triune God has come to dwell within / As the wonderful Spirit in us. / We are mingled with the Lord, we’re one with Him / As the life-giving Spirit in us. (Hymns #1113)
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