This is a Christmas message. But, not one you’ve probably heard before. It speaks of the terminal nature of the strong delusion. It speaks of the Jesus and His birth in a manger that we must know to be truly saved.
The Jesus of Genesis who would bruise the serpent’s head. The Jesus of 1Cor.15:45,46 who would be the first spiritual man. The Jesus of Heb.2:14 whose flesh was exactly the same flesh all men have.
Heb.2:14 tells us that in the incarnation, when Jesus was born in a manger that Christian’s celebrate at this time of year, when God took on human form He came in the same flesh all men have. But, because Gnosticism won the day at the council at Carthage in 418 AD Roman Catholics invented the doctrine that says it was because Mary was sinless that Jesus did not have a sin nature.
Protestants invented another story. Saying that the nature of a person comes only through the father. And since for the purposes of the incarnation Jesus’ father was God it was because of this that He did not have the same sin nature that they falsely teach that the rest of mankind has.
These both fabricated these stories to invent a way out of the dilemma they invented themselves into. That all men inherit a sin nature from Adam. Adversely affecting their belief about who Jesus is and who the rest of mankind are.
So they just made up these fables and added them to the scriptures in order that they could continue in their delusion. The delusion that they really do trust in the Biblical Jesus, while at the same time denying Him as John said every antichrist does.
This is why I refer to this delusion as the strong delusion Paul spoke of in 2Thes.2. Where Paul says that the antichrist doctrine John spoke of also in 1John4:1-3 comes with, “10 all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
The unrighteousness perish because Gal.3:21 tells us that unrighteousness is not knowing Jesus. But, Jesus said in John17:3 knowing Jesus and the Father who sent Him is eternal life.
Paul also spoke of this strong delusion when he said in Eph.1 that “in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”
The inheritance Paul speaks of in this passage speaks to the very heart of this strong delusion. By giving the remedy for it that has nothing to do with the nature of our flesh being either evil or good.
But, is the spirit created in us when we are born again. A spirit that no man had previous to this “fulness of times” when through Jesus Paul says God is gathering in one all things that pertain to life and godliness.
But, to partake of this remedy the believer must fight his way out of the antichrist construct that caused these men so long ago to join themselves to the antichrist strong delusional belief that Jesus could not come in the same flesh all men have because the flesh is evil.
This belief is Gnosticism in it’s purest form. The antichrist doctrine John said is a denial of Jesus. The very Gnosticism John was fighting against when he wrote his epistles of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. He recognized its true antichrist structure and how subtle its twists and turns were from the scriptures.
Not denying that Jesus could have a corporeal body. But, only that it could not have been the same flesh that all of mankind has. Because to them the flesh all men have is evil. And a holy God could not inhabit evil flesh or that evil would have to become a part of Him.
But, to refute such heresy like I said earlier in this message Heb.2:14 says, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same”. So we see here that Jesus’ flesh was the same as ours in every way. And that this is exactly what had to happen for Him to be tempted in all points just as all men are as Heb.4:15 says He was.
And that for Him to be able to conquer death for us it must have been that way. Because only in this way could it be, “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Them whose flesh is the same flesh Jesus had in the incarnation when He was born in the manger.
This is why His body had to be the same flesh all men have. Because only this flesh is subject to death. Jesus’ flesh also then was subject to death because His was every bit the same flesh as all men’s bodies are. Because only by being the same flesh as all men’s bodies have could He conquer the same death all men die.
This is why Paul completes the thought here saying, “16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” And again says, “17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren,” Why? “that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
This is why we are told in Gen.2:7 that Adam was a “living soul” when he was made. And not a living spirit. Because then we would know that man was not complete when God made him. But, only as complete as God wanted him to be so that he could come to a saving faith, a personal relationship with God, by his own free will in this dispensation of the fulness of times.
And that this would be worked out over time so that as Paul said in Eph.1:10-12 “in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”
So it is that when Jesus was born in the manger He set into motion God’s “dispensation of the fulness of times” that would be the culmination of all that God planned for mankind after Jesus conquered death on our behalf. By joining with us in death by way of His taking on the same flesh all men have.
That culmination being the “new creature” of 2Cor.5:17. The born again spiritual man of John3:1-8. The man who is free from all condemnation of Rom.8:1. The man who can never be separated from God of Rom.8. The man who can not sin of 1John3:9. The man who is able to judge all things, yet is judged of no man because he has the mind of Christ of 1Cor.2:15,16. The man who is spiritual just as Jesus was of 1Cor.15:45-48.
It was the incarnation of Jesus that made all this possible. Which is why the prophecies about Him which are many had to be fulfilled, and were fulfilled, in every way. Because only then could man be delivered from “the body of this death”(Rom.7:24) through faith in Him and His resurrection.
And if you will confess the Lord Jesus. And believe in your heart that He has raised from the dead. You too can become the spiritual man that in the dispensation of the fulness of times God has made possible by His incarnation. And the conquering of death by His joining with mankind in death and then raising from the dead.
If you will turn from your idols to serve the living God. If you will turn from your fables like Mary needing to be made sinless, or the sin nature only transmitting through the father, or even that there is a sin nature, then you will be set free from death’s power it has over the natural flesh since Adam was denied access to the tree of life as we are told in Genesis and Rom.5:12-14. And you will have eternal life now by the spirit created in you when you trust in Jesus. And immortality at the resurrection.
Consider this as men celebrate Jesus’ birth. Do this as we recognize what His incarnation by taking on the same exact flesh all men have has truly meant for mankind. Do this and be born again and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. A spiritual being housed in a natural body of flesh. One who will be able to worship God for the first time in spirit and in truth. And who will have an immortal body at the resurrection.
Do this… and I will see you there or in the air!
