THE PASSOVER: JESUS’ DEATH AND RESURRECTION-GOD’S PLAN A

In this time of passover we are reminded that Jesus' death and resurrection was necessary from before God began His creation. In 1Peter1:20 Peter said God planned it that way from before the world was made. So the fact that Jesus HAD to die is and always has been a foregone conclusion.

Heb.9:15-17 says the New Testament's power is derived from the death of Jesus. So without it Israel would remain under the law "shut up unto the faith" that delivers from death to life. From mortality to immortality. And the Gentiles would be in the same boat because they would still have no covenant at all with God.

Because it was only by the death of the testator that the New Testament would have force. And without the force of His New Testament man would remain mortal and simply continue to return to the dust from which he was taken as God told Adam he would in Gen.3:19.

Some say the reason God planned for Jesus to come was that He knew He would need a plan B because in He knew Adam would sin. And that by sending Jesus as a plan B men could be saved from the consequences of their bad works. And then he would be restored to what he had in the garden. But, that this was not what God originally intended in His plan A.

Uhh, not even close! Because if Jesus came to restore man to what he had in the garden then he would never be able to live in heaven. That's right. Because as a natural man Adam was only flesh and blood. Which is why God said he would "return to the dust from which he was taken".

So their plan A would have actually doomed man to remain natural forever. To be stuck in the garden where he would never realize the righteousness, which is the relationship spiritual men have with God, that God intended for him to have. These people don't know this because they have been blinded by the false doctrine of original sin and sin nature.

But, contrary to the travesty this false doctrine makes of God's plan for mankind, the Bible says that God's plan A was that while man was at first only mortal, a way would be made so that mankind would come to realize his mortality. Because when a man realizes his mortality, the fact that he will die, he seeks after something greater than himself because he fears death. And it is when man freely chooses to seek for something greater than himself, which was God's plan A all along, it is then that God makes Himself known.

We can even see this written out in the meaning of the names that represent the genealogy from Adam to Noah.

Hebrew -----English

Adam ------- Man

Seth ---------Appointed

Enosh --------Mortal

Kenan --------Sorrow;

Mahalalel ----The Blessed God

Jared --------Shall come down

Enoch --------Teaching

Methuselah ---His death shall bring

Lamech -------The Despairing

Noah ----------Rest, or comfort.

When a sentence is made from these it reads,

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.

So gloriously what we have here in these names is the Gospel hidden within Adam's genealogy in Genesis!

We see here that it was God's plan for Adam from the very beginning to one day come to realize his need for a savior. And that this realization would not come through guilt from bad works. But, through his realization of his own mortality. And the sorrow that is the fear of death as Heb.2:14,15 says.

So it was this fact, that God made him natural and not spiritual as Paul plainly says in 1Cor.15:45-50, that created the need for Jesus to come. Because His coming gave power to a New Covenant that would solve man's mortality problem.

Because in John4:24 Jesus said "God is a Spirit and those who worship Him", that is to have true fellowship with Him, "must worship Him in spirit and in truth". And according to 1Cor.2:14 the natural man, flesh and blood, can not perceive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually understood. So it was because of man's need for immortality and God's plan A that God allowed the serpent into the garden.

And even though the serpent thought he would destroy God's finest creation if he could get him to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What he didn't know was that this was God's plan A all along. Because when Adam did eat he would be equipped for the next phase in his journey toward a true and loving fellowship with his Creator. A journey that would require man's free will in a big way.

The reason for this is simple. Man was made for fellowship.

But, for it to be a fellowship based on love it must be freely given and freely received. And to do this one must have the opportunity and the ability to freely choose between love for the true God or to reject Him.

A choice that would bring man to a destiny of his own choosing. Not one that is forced upon him, because that would be a denial of real love. Because real love is freely given and freely received. This is the only kind of love that makes for a truly personal relationship. And John17:3 says only a truly personal relationship with God is eternal life.

So when condemnation from the law is the means used to show someone that it is because they are inherently bad that they need Jesus, they are playing right into the serpent's hands. Because it is the devil that wants men to believe they go to hell because they are bad. And that going to hell is a foregone conclusion because no one can help being bad because they have a nature that governs their choices that is bad.

Because if you believe that, then you will also believe that the reason men go to heaven is because they are good. Or that someone has been good enough in their place so that somehow they can be made good by it's imputation.

But, the Bible teaches no such thing. It teaches that the reason men can not be good enough to go to heaven has nothing to do with man's nature. Nor does it have anything to do with good or bad works. These have no role whatsoever in God's plan of salvation. Or even in our need for salvation.

Paul made this clear when he wrote- "Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." Gal.3:21-23

So while Paul makes it clear here that works/law are not against the promises of God. He also makes it clear that they do not help either. Because they have no affect one way or the other at all whatsoever for salvation. Because it is works/law that shuts men up unto the faith that is only revealed in Jesus. A faith that is revealed in Jesus that Paul calls "the faith of Christ" in Gal.2:16. A faith from which Paul says our justification/righteousness is derived.

To see what this faith is we need only hear the words of Jesus when speaking with the Father about His soon coming crucifixion. Here Jesus asks the Father if it is possible that this cup pass from Him. In other words Jesus is asking if there was any other way to bring salvation to mankind. In this conversation we see the faith of Christ when Jesus says, "Nevertheless not my will but thy will be done".

From this we can see that it was God's plan from before He made the world that Jesus would die on behalf of all men just as Peter said. And that God placed His plan in the names of the lineage from Adam to Noah. Telling us so that we who are alive now could see and know who God is, who Jesus is, and what His atonement was for. And that we would recognize a counterfeit when it was told to us.

That it had nothing to do with the naughty/nice Santa Claus religion of the doctrine of original sin and sin nature. A system based solely on works. But, instead has only to do with the kind of faith that is defined by the faith of Christ shown when He said to the Father, "Nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done".

Because this kind of faith reveals a relationship of trust that is only possible through love. We don't have to love someone to obey them. Just ask anyone who has worked for a hard task master. But, obedience based on trust will always have love as it's foundation.

Because to trust someone implicitly as we are to trust God for salvation we must know that they have our best interest at heart. And God has shown us that He does by coming as a mortal man to join with us in death. So that by the power of His resurrection our death and mortality would be conquered so we could live eternally in God's kingdom.

This is the message of the passover. A message of love for His creation. A love that God showed mankind through His incarnation and resurrection.

This is how the meaning of the names from Adam to Noah shows God's plan was to bring an end to mortality for all who will receive His gift of immortality. An immortality for which Paul says, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" in 1Cor.15:51-53.

The sorrow men have is their recognition of that mortality. And that God did this so man would see God's love in Jesus' teaching, death, and resurrection. And be led by these to see God's love and to trust in the Creator for deliverance from his mortality. The fear of death. And would have loving fellowship with his Creator.

This then is why Jesus HAD to die. Because after having realized our mortality, and that only God could conquer death and mortality, will we choose to seek Him. To the end that we would choose to enter into fellowship with Him.

By this Jesus not only showed us that He is God. But, He also showed His love for mankind by joining with men in their mortality to conquer it by His death and resurrection.

By His death because the death of the Testator is the only thing that gives power to His Testament. A New Testament that would deliver Israel from the Old Testament "ministration of condemnation and death". And a New Testament that would bring Gentiles who were not in covenant with God into covenant with Him. And His resurrected life that took the keys of hell and death, destroying the devil's power over mankind.

Do you want to be free from the fear of death? You can be if you will trust in the power of the Passover today. Will you confess Jesus is your Lord? Will you believe in your heart that He has raised from the dead? Then join with Jesus saying, "Nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done". And you will join with Him in resurrected life. You will have the immortality that God's plan A is for all men to have. And heaven will be your new eternal home.

Do this... and I will see you there or in the air!

This message can also be heard at:  Rumble