Search
In this message we shall cover the six aspects of Christ in redemption: the Lamb of God (John 1:29), a man in the flesh (Rom. 8:3), the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), a creature (Col. 1:15), a serpent in form (John 3:14), and our peace and Peacemaker (Eph. 2:14-16).
In John 1:29 we see that in redemption Christ is the Lamb of God: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” This verse indicates that Christ as the Lamb of God takes away sin from the human race. The phrase “of the world” in this verse actually means from mankind. Through Satan sin entered into man, for Satan injected sin, his poisonous nature, into the human race. But the Lamb of God has come to take away this sin from the world, from mankind.
Christ died on the cross as the Lamb of God to deal with sin and sins. From 1 Corinthians 15:3, 1 Peter 2:24, and Hebrews 9:28 we see that as the Lamb of God the Lord Jesus died for our sins. Furthermore, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Hebrews 9:26, His death dealt with sin. Therefore, both sin and sins were dealt with by the Lamb of God, who was under God’s judgment on the cross.
In redemption Christ as the Lamb of God satisfied God’s requirements, the requirements of His righteousness, holiness, and glory. No fallen human being could ever fulfill these requirements. Hence, there was the need of a Redeemer, the Lamb of God, designated by God to fulfill His righteous, holy, and glorious requirements.
In the Gospel of John the Lamb of God signifies the Word in the flesh (John 1:1, 14) as the fulfillment of all the Old Testament offerings to accomplish God’s full redemption. Christ is the totality of all the offerings. He is not only the sin offering but also the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the wave offering, the heave offering, the free-will offering, and the drink offering. With Christ as all the offerings we have God’s full redemption. Through Christ as the Lamb of God fulfilling all the offerings we may enter into God and participate in the divine life and nature (John 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Because of Christ as the Lamb of God, we are well able, even enabled, to enter into God. We may boldly come into God, knowing that He does not have the right to reject us, because we come through His Lamb. We have full redemption in Christ, and therefore we are enabled to enter into God to enjoy all that He is.
According to 1 Peter 1:20, Christ as the redeeming Lamb was foreknown by God before the foundation of the world, that is, before the creation of the universe: “Who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in the last times for your sake.” Christ was foreordained, prepared, by God to be His redeeming Lamb according to His foreknowledge before the foundation of the world. This was done according to God’s eternal purpose and plan; it did not happen accidentally.
The Greek root for the word “foreknown” includes the meaning of appreciation, approval, and possession. And to be foreknown by God means to be foreordained by God. In his expanded translation of the New Testament Kenneth S. Wuest uses the word “foreordained” in 1 Peter 1:20, saying, “Christ...was foreordained before the foundation of the universe was laid.” This means that in eternity past God approved Christ and appreciated Him. God also ordained Christ to be His anointed One, the One commissioned to fulfill in time all that had been planned by God for the accomplishment of His eternal purpose. In particular, Christ was foreknown, foreordained, to be the Lamb of God to accomplish redemption.
Revelation 13:8 speaks of Christ as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” In the eternal view of God, Christ as the Lamb of God was slain from the time creation came into being. This means that in the sight of God Christ was slain not two thousand years ago, but from the time creation came into existence, that is, since the fall of man as a part of the world. God foreknew the fall of creation. Therefore, from the existence of creation Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain.
When Christ died on the cross, He also died as a man in the flesh. As the Word which was with God and which is God, He became flesh (John 1:1, 14). First Peter 3:18 says that Christ was “put to death in flesh.” As a man in the flesh, Christ had only the likeness, the form, of a fallen man; He did not have the sinful nature of a fallen man. This means that He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3), but He did not have the actual nature of sin. Because the Lord Jesus died as a man in the flesh, His death dealt with the fallen flesh. Sin and the fallen flesh were all dealt with by the death of Christ.
Romans 8:3 reveals that when Christ died as a man in the flesh, God condemned sin in the flesh. The phrase “sin in the flesh” refers to the source of sin, the Devil. For this reason, in Romans 6, 7, and 8 sin is personified as a living one. This living sin was condemned by God when Christ died on the cross as a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin. When the flesh that Christ put on through incarnation was crucified, God condemned the sin in the flesh of fallen mankind.
Christ was sent only in the likeness of the flesh of sin. He did not actually have the flesh of sin, but only the form, the likeness, of the flesh of sin. This is portrayed by the type of the brass serpent: the brass serpent had the form of a serpent, but it did not have the poisonous nature of a serpent. Likewise, when Christ died on the cross, He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He did not have the nature of the flesh of sin. Nevertheless, because He died as a man in the flesh, God could condemn sin in the flesh. As a man in the flesh He died so that sin in the flesh might be condemned by God.
In redemption Christ was also the last Adam, a man in the old creation (1 Cor. 15:45b). This is the reason Romans 6:6 says that our old man was crucified with Him. Because the Lord died on the cross as a man, the last Adam, in the old creation, our old man was dealt with through His death.
As the last Adam, Christ was the conclusion of the old man. Therefore, when He was crucified, our old man was crucified with Him. His death as the last Adam was for God’s dealing with our old man.
When Christ was incarnated, He took us upon Himself. He put on blood and flesh. Therefore, when He was crucified, we were crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20). From God’s viewpoint, before we were born we were crucified in Christ. When Christ was crucified, not only were sins and sin dealt with; we ourselves were crucified with Him.
When Christ died on the cross for our redemption, He died not only as a man in the flesh, the last Adam, but also as a creature. Christ is both the Creator and a creature, for as God He is the Creator and as a man He is a creature. Christ with respect to His humanity is a creature. Christ is a man, a typical man with flesh and blood, which are created things. It is ridiculous to say that Christ is a man but deny that regarding His humanity He is a creature.
Colossians 1:15 reveals that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. For Christ to be the Firstborn of all creation means that He is the first of all the creatures. The preposition “of” in the phrase “the Firstborn of all creation” indicates that Christ is one of the creatures, not someone who is apart from the creatures. As the Firstborn, He is one of the many items of the creatures.
The redemption accomplished by Christ is not only for man but also for all creation. Through His redemption all created things in heaven and on earth have been reconciled to God (Col. 1:20). Thus, Christ’s redemption is for all things. Hebrews 2:9 says clearly that Christ tasted death not only on behalf of every man but also on behalf of everything.
If Christ were only a man and not the Firstborn of all creation, the first of all the creatures, how could He have accomplished redemption for all the creatures? In the same way that it was necessary for Him to be a man to accomplish redemption for man, it was necessary for Him to be a creature to accomplish redemption for all the creatures. It was necessary for Christ to be the first of all creation in order for Him to redeem all creation, just as it was necessary for Him to be the last Adam in order to be qualified to be the Redeemer of mankind. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He died also as the Firstborn of all creation. Hence, through His death on the cross the entire old creation was dealt with.
The fact that Christ’s death as a creature terminated the entire old creation is indicated by the rending of the veil in the temple from top to bottom. Concerning this, Luke 23:44 and 45 say, “It was already about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun’s light failing; and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.” The darkness here is related to sin, and the veil is a type of the flesh of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 10:20 speaks of “a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” On the veil that was rent when Christ died cherubim were embroidered (Exo. 26:31). According to Ezekiel 1:5, 10 and 10:14-15, cherubim were living creatures. The cherubim on the veil, then, represent the living creatures. Upon the humanity of Christ were all the creatures. This means that in His flesh Christ bore all the creatures. When the veil in the temple was torn, the cherubim embroidered on it were also torn. This indicates that when the flesh of Christ was crucified, all the creatures borne by Him were crucified as well. Through the death of Christ, sin, sins, the flesh, the old man, and all the creatures were dealt with. His death truly was all-inclusive.
Some may be very surprised to hear that Christ died on the cross even as a serpent in form. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Here the Lord Jesus applies to Himself the type of the brass serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness (Num. 21:4-9). Because the children of Israel complained and were rebellious, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Num. 21:6). Then the people came to Moses and confessed that they had sinned in speaking against the Lord and against him. They asked Moses to pray that the Lord would take away the serpents. When Moses prayed for the people, the Lord said to him, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (v. 8). We are told that Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole. Then “it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (v. 9).
The incident in Numbers 21 was sovereignly prepared by God to reveal a particular type of Christ. The brass serpent lifted up on a pole is a type of Christ lifted up on the cross for us as a serpent in form according to John 3:14. As fallen human beings, we all have been “bitten” by the serpent, the Devil. We were bitten in the garden of Eden when Adam was bitten by the serpent and poisoned by him. Therefore, we are all serpentine beings with the poison of the serpent in our nature. In the sight of God, the entire fallen human race consists of poisonous serpents. As such serpents we needed a substitute; we needed Christ to die for us in the form of a serpent, but without the poisonous element of the serpent.
We need to be very clear that Christ was a serpent in form but that He did not have the poisonous nature of a serpent. We, however, actually are serpentine, for in our fallen nature we are children of the old serpent, the Devil (1 John 3:10). For this reason, in Matthew 12:34 the Lord Jesus called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers.” In Matthew 23:33 He called them “serpents, brood of vipers,” the offspring of the most poisonous kind of serpents. Because the Devil is the father of sinners (John 8:44), sinners are children of the Devil. Sinners also are serpents, the offspring of vipers. Therefore, in the sight of God, in our fallen nature we are not only sinful — we are serpentine.
The serpent is a symbol of the Devil, who is called “the ancient serpent” (Rev. 12:9). No doubt, the Lord Jesus was crucified as a serpent in form in order to deal with Satan, the Devil, the old serpent.
It was through being crucified as a serpent in form that the Lord Jesus crushed the head of the old serpent, the Devil (Gen. 3:15). In this way He judged the ruler of this world: “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). By His death on the cross Christ destroyed the Devil, who had the power of death (Heb. 2:14). Therefore, as the One who died as a serpent in form under God’s judgment, the Lord Jesus dealt with the Devil and with his world, the satanic system.
Through the death of Christ, sins, sin, the old man, the entire creation, the Devil, and the world have all been dealt with. This was possible only because Christ was crucified as the Lamb of God, a man in the flesh, the last Adam, a creature, and a serpent in form. As the Lamb of God, Christ took away sin. As a man in the flesh, He made it possible for God to condemn sin in the flesh. As the last Adam He terminated the old man. As a creature, He crucified the entire creation. And as a serpent in form, He destroyed the Devil and the satanic world.
Around 1935 I heard a message given by Brother Watchman Nee in Shanghai. He said that if you went to a young believer and asked him who died on the cross, he would say that his Redeemer died on the cross for his sins and his sin. If you went to another one who was more advanced and asked him who died on the cross, he would say that Christ died there, bearing his sins, sin, and himself. Someone still more advanced in the Christian life would tell you that Christ died on the cross for his sins, sin, and himself with all of creation. Another category of Christians would say that Christ died on the cross not only for their sins, sin, and themselves with all of creation, but also in order to destroy Satan and judge the world. Later I began to see that there was the need for even further advancement in realizing the death of Christ, that there was the need to see that through the death of Christ all the ordinances were abolished. All the ordinances — the habits, customs, traditions, and practices among the human race — were abolished on the cross. Concerning this aspect of His death, Christ is our peace and Peacemaker (Eph. 2:14-16).
Christ died as the Peacemaker, as the One who makes peace: “He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, having abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, making peace” (vv. 14-15). Christ died on the cross to abolish all the ordinances among mankind. In particular, He died to take away the partition between the Jews and the Gentiles. Not only was there a partition between Jews and Gentiles; there were also partitions between every nationality and race. Without the removal of these partitions, there would be no way for us to be one in Christ as His Body. Praise the Lord that all the ordinances were abolished by Christ on the cross! Now in the church life we have people of all races, colors, and nationalities.
Christ is our peace. Christ, who has accomplished full redemption for both Jewish and Gentile believers, is Himself our peace, our harmony. Due to the fall of mankind and the call of the chosen race, Israel, there was a separation between Israel and the Gentiles. Through Christ’s redemption this separation has been removed. Now, in the redeeming Christ, who is the bond of oneness, both are one.
Christ has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity. The middle wall of partition is “the law of the commandments in ordinances,” which was given because of man’s flesh. The first of these ordinances is circumcision to cut off man’s flesh. This became the middle wall of partition between the circumcision and the uncircumcision, the enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles. Christ broke down this middle wall of partition by abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances, the law of the ritual commandments, such as the ordinances of circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, and dietary regulations. When Christ was crucified, all the ordinances were nailed to the cross. Because the middle wall of partition has been torn down through Christ’s abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, the Jews and the Gentiles can be built up together as the Body of Christ.
Christ’s death was all-inclusive and was accomplished once for all. There is no need for Him to die again. The Lord’s all-inclusive death is eternal. If we see this, we shall praise the Lord that sin, sins, the flesh, the old man, the old creation, Satan, the world, and the ordinances have all been dealt with through the death of Christ.
Because Christ is an all-inclusive person, He died an all-inclusive death. For example, if the king of a certain country were to die, a person with a twofold status — a man and a king — would die. As our Redeemer the Lord Jesus had a sixfold status and therefore died as the Lamb of God, a man in the flesh, the last Adam, a creature, a serpent in form, and our peace and Peacemaker. Such an all-inclusive person died an all-inclusive death. Because Christ’s death was all-inclusive, when He died on the cross all negative things were dealt with. Sin, sins, the flesh, the old man, the old creation, Satan, the world, and all the ordinances were dealt with. All these negative things were terminated and taken away through the all-inclusive death of Christ, our Redeemer.
As we remain under the Lord’s dispensing, all the aspects of His person in redemption will be dispensed into us. We should not try to overcome sin or destroy Satan. If we try to overcome sin, we shall be overcome by it. If we try to destroy Satan, he will destroy us. The only way to overcome sin and destroy Satan is to stay under the dispensing of Christ. Our basic need today is to experience more of the dispensing of the processed Triune God into our being.
