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A Final Word

It is not the intent of Behold the Man, a discussion of theological dimensions, to end on a negative note.

All you need to do is glance upon what is perceived as Christianity, and you will find people who believe all kinds of things, with their hopes pinned on all kinds of different concepts and beliefs.

Why is it hard to find people who are surprised by this? Why aren’t more people troubled by the disunity of doctrine, or simply the neglect of sound scriptural teaching?

The divided Church has been responsible for this since long before the formation of the creeds, even going back to the times of the apostles, when the scriptures were already being neglected and/or exchanged for the doctrines and commandments of men. It was the apostles who warned of those who had already crept into the Church with their damnable heresies.[1] Paul warned of false brethren,[2] and those who would pervert the gospel.[3] As dire as these warning were, the heresies did take hold, and the gospel was perverted. The divided Church is the proof.

Just as disturbing, and confusing, are the countless forms of worship the divided Church practices. In this reality of what Christianity has become, the God of the scriptures is unknown.
 

Keep in mind Jesus’ scathing words to the respected religious elite of his day, "But you have not known Him." But the great hope of the scriptures is also unknown, having been replaced with other gospels, other hopes, and other expectations.

Perhaps one of the most troubling passages in the gospel accounts occurs when Jesus spoke to his disciples, using words that were not meant to comfort, when he said, "when the Son of man comes, will He find (the) faith on the earth?"[4]

Do you hear the ominous warning?

 

 

In conclusion, keep in mind that beyond the warning await the firm promises of God. The great hope of the believer in God is the creation of “the new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”[5] Part of the reality of the new man God is creating today is His promise that He will dwell in the midst of His people.

Those people who in faith hold to the promise to “partake of the divine nature” are the ones who walk with God, as one.

In the first Adam there is a glimpse of that reality in the times when Adam and God walked together in the garden. But Adam was merely a type of the man who was to come. God had in mind another man, the second or last Adam who, in the process of what we call redemptive history, would come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. This man is the revelation of the reality that God and man can be one.[6]

Oneness with the Father was Jesus’ priestly prayer just hours before he was murdered on behalf of those people who would come to the Father through him. In the purpose of God, Jesus—the last man and in that last hour—has revealed to us the reality of what it means to be one with the Father. Do not the scriptures reveal that Jesus sits at the Right Hand of the throne of God?

All creation groans[7] for the day when God and the man He desired to create in His image and likeness come together to form “the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ.”[8] It is for this reality that “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.”[9] It is the day which will reveal the new heart that is cleansed from all sin and iniquity. It is the day of the new creation, and it is the day the true child of God yearns for presently. It is the day of new beginnings, as “this is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”[10]

That day has already begun, because God has declared it through His word. In the truest sense, the day of God has been coming since before Adam was forced to leave the garden of God. It is the day (the age) toward which redemptive history has been leading the anointed people of God.

But is this the hope of the Church? Is this what is being preached throughout Christianity? Does the man or the woman found in the pews of Churches everywhere look forward to seeing God and walking with him in the age to come? Where the anticipation of being changed, cleansed, and made a partaker of the divine nature?

Even more importantly, where is the willingness to sell all that a person has for that Pearl of great value?

To “behold the man” is to consider Jesus[11] in the essential act of selling all that one has to obtain the Pearl of Great Price.

 

Next Chapter

 

[1] 2Peter 2:1 Jude 1:4

[2] Galatians 2:4

[3] Galatians 1:6-7

[4] Luke 18:8

[5] Ephesians 2:24

[6] Jesus prayed, God and His people that they would be one, at the last supper with his disciples. John 17:22-23

[7] Romans 8:22-23

[8] Ephesians 4:13 The illusion that many translations give us, that Paul is speaking of Jesus the Christ, is unfortunate.
 Consideration of the passage in context shows this is not the case.
 In the Greek, "of the Christ" = τοῦ Χριστοῦ, (lit. "of the anointed") is in the genitive, the case of description.
 The "anointed" are described as those who have the hope and promise of "the perfect man."
 The "Young's literal translation" YLT, gives us (here) the best rendition of the Greek.

[9] Romans 8:19 EVS

[10] Psalms 118:24

[11] "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Hebrews 12:3 ESV