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Scripture Reading: Rom. 7:8, 17; 8:3; Num. 21:4-9; John 3:14-16; 1 Pet. 2:24
In order to see how man can obtain the highest life, God’s life, we need to see that we are different from Adam when he was first in the garden of Eden. In the beginning in the garden of Eden, Adam had the created human life but not the uncreated life of God. Similarly, when we were born, we also had the created human life but not the uncreated life of God. However, we have something more than Adam had; in the beginning in the garden of Eden, Adam was sinless, but we are sinful.
Sin involves both outward sins and inward sin. These two aspects of sin result in a third aspect — a record of sin before God. Whenever sin is mentioned, these three aspects are involved: one is outside of us, another is inside of us, and the third is before God. Outside of us are sinful deeds, sinful acts; inside of us is a sinful nature, a sinful disposition; and at the same time, before God there is a record of our sin.
Sinful deeds refer to sinful acts, such as lying, reviling, cheating, and stealing. I believe that we all have stolen something from others. At the least we have stolen from our parents; some steal candy, and others steal money. In our heart we all know what we have stolen. Moreover, we all have hated others and been jealous of others. For example, we are discontent when we score ninety-seven in an exam but someone else scores ninety-eight. These are sinful acts.
The sinful nature refers to an element in our nature. In our nature there is an element called sin. What is sin? Romans 7:8 says, “Sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, worked out in me coveting of every kind.” Hence, the sin in us is something living. It is not only living; it also has power and authority. Verse 17 says, “Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.” This verse points out that sin with its power dwells in us. The word dwells is a particular verb. We do not say that a bench dwells in a room, because a bench is not living. We can say that a dog or a cat dwells in a room, because they are living. For something to dwell, it must be living. Sin not only lives in us; it also dwells in us. Therefore, we should never think that sin refers only to the sinful deeds we commit. There is something living in us that drives us to commit sins, and that thing is our sinful nature.
Romans 6:6 and 14 say that we are slaves of sin and that sin is ruling over us as our lord. Sin dwells in us as our lord, and the power of sin is able to rule us. Not only so, sin also has the power to force us to do the things that we dislike. This can be likened to a person who is standing in the middle of a river. The river exerts such power on the person that he is carried along by the flow of the river. The sin in us has this kind of power. It will cause us to do the things that we hate and go to places that we dislike. This proves that the sin in us is living and has authority and power.
What is this sinful nature, the power of sin, within man? To put it simply, it is the nature of Satan. When we were saved, we were born of God to have the life and nature of God; in the same way, when man fell, he was born of Satan to have the life and nature of Satan. The Bible says that all who sin are children of the devil (1 John 3:10; John 8:44). Every child is born of his father and, hence, has his father’s life and nature. All the descendants of Adam are sinners and children of the devil. They are born of the devil and have the life and nature of the devil. This nature of the devil within us is sin. The sinful nature in us is the nature of the devil.
Everyone who is saved has God’s nature within him. This nature of God, which is God Himself, is the element of God. In the same principle, fallen sinners as Adam’s descendants have the sinful nature within them. This sinful nature is the nature of the devil, or we may say that it is the devil himself, his element.
When someone says that the devil is in us, perhaps we do not believe it, or we may even become angry. However, if someone says to me that I am a wicked person, I would reply, “Of course I am. Since I have the devil in me, how can I not be wicked?” When Adam was created, he was pure and had only the human element. However, one day he received Satan’s word and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, Satan, through his word and through the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, entered into Adam. From that time Adam was no longer pure, because within Adam there was not only the element of man but also the element of Satan, the devil.
We can use a glass of water as an illustration. Originally, Adam was like a glass of water. In the garden of Eden he was very pure. However, one day Satan, through his word and the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, injected his element and thoughts into Adam. From that time onward, Adam was no longer pure; instead, he was filled with Satan’s poisonous element. Adam became another person; he became the devil, Satan.
Whom do you look like when you are angry or play mah-jongg? If you look at yourself in the mirror, will you see a demon or a human being? You may seem to be kind and polite and to look like a human being who is very proper. However, since you are fallen, you are contaminated and damaged, and you have the poisonous element of Satan in you. I am not saying this in a casual way. The gamblers in a casino look like demons. The Chinese refer to gamblers as gambling demons, drunkards as drinking demons, and opium-smokers as opium demons. There are all kinds of demons. When people commit sin, they look like the devil.
Initially, Adam was like a glass of water; however, Satan, through his words and the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, injected his thoughts as poison into Adam. Therefore, as Adam’s descendants, we have inherited this poison in our nature. Therefore, we are not only human beings from birth; we are also contaminated with the element of Satan. We have to admit that as sinners our sinning is involuntary; it is not dependent on us.
The first time a person plays mah-jongg, he may think that he likes it. Later, however, he becomes sick and tired of playing and even hates playing mah-jongg. At this time he discovers that whether or not he plays mah-jongg is not up to him. He discovers that there is a force within him that propels him and forces him to play. There was once a man who played mah-jongg to the extent that he felt that he was imprisoned by it. Then he began to hate playing mah-jongg. However, he could not stop playing, because there was a force in him propelling him to play.
There was another person who would dance until two or three in the morning every day. It was as if his two legs would mysteriously begin to dance as soon as the sun went down. After dancing, his back would ache and his legs would be sore, such that he lay on the bed and wondered why he caused himself to suffer so much. When he woke up in the morning, he would tell himself that he would never go dancing again. However, as soon as the sun set, inexplicably he would go to the dance hall. When he finished dancing and returned home, he would berate and loathe himself. It was not until he was saved that he realized that it was not he who went to dance but that there was an evil power, an evil nature or a corrupted life, within him that propelled him, forced him, and pushed him to dance. Those who drink, smoke, or gamble will invariably discover that there is an evil force compelling them to do these things.
For the created man, Adam, to obtain God’s life in the garden of Eden, all he had to do was eat the fruit of the tree of life and thereby contact God. Regrettably, Adam was tempted by Satan to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and was corrupted. Consequently, today we also suffer from the same poisonous damage and thus have a mixture within us. We not only have the element of man but also the element of the devil, Satan. It is therefore not as simple for us to obtain God’s life as it was for the created man, Adam, in the beginning.
If we would receive God’s life, the problems of sin need to be solved first. On the one hand, we have a sinful nature within us, and on the other hand, we have many sinful deeds outside of us. In addition, before God we also have a record of sin. If these matters are not solved, we cannot receive God. God can give us His life only when these three aspects of sin — the sinful deeds, the sinful nature, and the record of sin — are solved.
In Genesis 3, after Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he became fallen, because Satan’s evil element entered into him. For this reason, God immediately drove Adam out of the garden of Eden and closed the way to the tree of life. God could not allow a corrupted man, a man who had the element of Satan, to contact the tree of life and receive God’s element and thereby live forever. This kind of mixture would not be accepted or approved by God. God wanted to solve the problem of man’s sin. He wanted to deal with the sinful element, the satanic element, within man. God wanted to “detoxify” man. Only then could He give man His life. It was therefore necessary to have redemption through the cross. There was a need for the Lord Jesus to accomplish redemption on the cross.
Before man became fallen, there was no need for redemption in order for him to receive God’s life. Even though God still needed to pass through incarnation, death, and resurrection in order for man to receive God’s life, such a death would have been only a life-dispensing death, not a redemptive death as well. This is similar to a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying to bring forth many grains (John 12:24). It is also similar to food going through the process of cutting and cooking so that it can be eaten by us and turned into nutrients to be the life element in us. In both cases the process of “death” is necessary, but only for the impartation of life. Before the fall God still needed to be processed in order for man to obtain God as life. However, for fallen and corrupted people to obtain God as life, God also had to pass through death to accomplish redemption. Hence, when the Lord Jesus was crucified, both blood and water flowed out of His side (19:34). Blood signifies the redemptive aspect of His death. Water signifies the life-imparting aspect of His death, which can be compared to a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying yet bearing many grains.
Furthermore, when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He stood in the position of a sinner and bore the sins of sinners. Isaiah 53:6 says, “Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all / To fall on Him.” He bore up our sins in His body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24). During the second half of the time that the Lord was on the cross, darkness fell over all the land. During that time He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). God forsakes a man entirely because of sin. However, the Lord Jesus was sinless even when He was on the cross. Why did God forsake Him? The Lord Jesus was forsaken by God because He was bearing our sins. Jehovah caused all our sins to fall on the Lord Jesus; the Lord Jesus bore all our sins. He stood in the position of a sinner; hence, He was forsaken by God, judged by God, stricken by God, and put to death by God. Thus, the Lord accomplished redemption for us.
When the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption, not only did He stand in the position of a sinner and bear the sins of all sinners, but also He bore us, the sinners. What does this mean? He is the Word who became flesh. He became the same as we, who have flesh; that is, He became the same as we are by putting on the body of flesh. In our flesh there is the element of sin. However, the flesh that the Lord Jesus became did not have the element of sin. He had only the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3) without the element of sin. He had the outward form of sin without the inward poison of sin. Numbers 21:4-9 records the incident of Moses lifting up a bronze serpent. The bronze serpent, which was set on a pole, was a type of the Lord Jesus. John 3:14 says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” This shows that the bronze serpent refers to the Lord Jesus.
According to Genesis, the serpent in the garden was the devil. One day the devil went to Eve and seduced both her and Adam. Thus, the poison of the devil entered into Adam. This can be likened to a person being bitten by a venomous snake. The poison of the snake is injected into the blood of the person. In Genesis 3 Satan, as the serpent, “bit” Adam, and his serpentine poison entered into Adam. Thus, Adam was filled with the serpentine poison, the element of Satan.
Numbers 21:4-9 says that the people of Israel spoke against God in the wilderness and that fiery serpents came to bite them. When the serpents bit the people, the serpentine poison entered into them. In the eyes of God, all those who were bitten by the serpents became serpents. We are not only human beings; we are also serpents.
In the eyes of God, the Israelites who were bitten by the serpents all became serpents. They committed sin, were poisoned by the serpents, and were to be judged by God. The children of Israel committed sin and offended God; consequently, God had to judge them. But Moses prayed to God and asked God to forgive them. Therefore, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. If a person who was bitten looked at the bronze serpent, he would live. God judged the sinful Israelites, and at the same time He set up a way of salvation to deliver them. God asked Moses to make a bronze serpent to be judged as a substitute for the Israelites.
Every descendant of Adam is poisoned by the devil and has become a serpent. However, God’s way of salvation, which He set up for us, is to make a bronze serpent to be judged as our substitute. Though this bronze serpent has the form of a serpent, it does not have the serpent’s poison. The bronze serpent is a type of the Lord Jesus. He was the serpent lifted up on the pole, but He had only the form of the serpent without the serpent’s poison. When He was hung on the cross, He had only the likeness of the flesh of sin; the poison of sin was not in Him. He took the form of a serpent, the flesh of sin, that is, the form of fallen man, the form of Satan, in order to deal with the serpent’s poison, the poison of sin, and to deal with Satan, the devil. Hence, in the Lord’s death on the cross, not only were all the sinners crucified there, solving the problems of sin and of death; Satan also was crucified. In this way the Lord judged all fallen men and also judged Satan on the cross.
Before the Lord Jesus was crucified, He said, “Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out,” and “the ruler of this world has been judged” (John 12:31; 16:11). The ruler of this world is the devil who, being in fallen men, was judged on the cross by God. When the Lord Jesus was incarnated, He put on the likeness of the flesh of fallen man. However, the Lord Jesus, being without sin, had only the likeness of the flesh of sin. He was without the poisonous substance of fallen man. Through incarnation the Word, who is God, became flesh, in the likeness of the flesh of sin, that is, the likeness of a fallen man (1:1, 14). Christ was crucified in the flesh and died in the flesh (1 Pet. 3:18b). Although Christ was a fallen man only in likeness, when He was on the cross, God counted that likeness as real. Since sin, the old man, Satan, the world, and the ruler of the world are all one with the flesh, when Christ died in the flesh, sin was condemned (Rom. 8:3), the old man was crucified (6:6), Satan was destroyed (Heb. 2:14), the world was judged, and the ruler of the world was cast out (John 12:31). Hence, through Christ’s death in the flesh all negative things were dealt with.
This is a marvelous matter. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, not only did He stand in the position of a sinner and bear all our sins, but also He bore us, the sinners. Because Satan is in us, the sinners, the Lord Jesus became a man with the likeness of the flesh of sin. Thus, on the cross the Lord judged man, and He also judged Satan. He judged Satan in man, He condemned sin in the flesh, and He judged sin, which is Satan’s nature, Satan himself. The Lord stood in the position of a sinner, bore the sins of man, and had the likeness of the flesh of sin when He died on the cross. He shed His blood to end sin, to terminate Satan, and to redeem man, thereby accomplishing redemption before God.
Therefore, if we would receive God as our life, we must believe and receive this Savior who died on the cross. As soon as we receive this Savior, we receive the redemption that He accomplished on the cross, which solves the problems of our sinful deeds, our sinful nature, and the record of sin that we have before God. The Lord Jesus solved all the problems of sin. After He died, He released the divine life, and He resurrected from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Now He is presented to us in His word. If we believe in His words, He, as the life-giving Spirit, will enter into us to be our life.
Once we believe into the Lord Jesus, we pass out of death into life. Formerly, we were those who were bitten by the serpent and were under the pole on which the bronze serpent was set. But as soon as we look at the bronze serpent, we become alive. We come out of death and will not perish. We have eternal life. The Lord Jesus was sinless and did not know sin, but He put on the likeness of the flesh of sin to become sin in order to solve all the problems of sin. Now through faith we may have the life of God and become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). We have died to sins so that we can live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). In this way all the problems brought in by Satan are fully resolved. We have God as our life. We have the eternal life within us. This is regeneration.
