REDEEMED FOR A PURPOSE

VERSES: 1st Corinthians 2:6-8; 1st Peter 1:9-12; Philippians 2:12; Matthew 16:24-27

“Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are (being made) perfect (the redeemed): yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” [1st Corinthians 2:6-8]

Christians, as members of the Nation of the One New Man, live in a World controlled and governed by satan and his angels. Their positions and power in this Realm date back before Re-creation and Man being made 6000 years ago. Their current ‘glory’ in which they rule in this Earth is a usurped/stolen one from God through Man.

Satan and his princes of this world were acutely aware of the threatening word that God declared unto satan in the Garden of Eden, which came as a result of his chicanery. In that Word to satan, God predicted the coming of the seed of the woman that would ‘crush his head’ which would bring righteous judgment upon him and ultimately take back from him his usurped ‘glory’ in authority over Man and creation in the Earth. Later, satan further came to understand through the Covenant of God with Abraham that from Abraham would come that promised seed. And later still, satan was made aware in God’s Words given to Moses, that another and greater than he (Moses) would come, He being the true Messiah who would bring Israel back to God after their prophesied future falling away. Satan and his princes were well aware of all the Scriptures of the Old Testament in regard to that Seed.

The ‘princes of this world’ had seen and understood that God’s promises of that seed were closely tied to redemption ever since Adam and Eve were redeemed, in that the Redeemer could not himself be unredeemed. Some of their seed down to Abraham were redeemed by the efficacy of the blood and life of an appointed animal sacrificed unto God by the heartfelt offeror for remission of their sins. In that whenever the conditions of God’s redemption were met, then that man who had been born under the curse of death in the kingdom of satan, was then given eternal life.  Upon receiving eternal life, man’s spirit (man being a triad being composed of spirit, soul, and body) was then animated. (1st Thessalonians 5:23)

And after hundreds of years, Abraham’s seed was many in the Land of Egypt when God remembered His Covenant with Abraham and determined to bring them out from under the great oppression of satan’s agents. God called Moses, a descendant of Abraham, and gave him the ‘gospel message’ of a mass ‘redemption’ of Abraham’s seed. And in answer to redemption, the Passover lamb sacrifice was offered unto God, and a people, an entire Nation of people, were immediately redeemed; born again of God. Their spirits were infused with life and delivered from death’s eternal curse, being forever spiritually translated out of the kingdom of satan into the eternal Kingdom of God’s Church (God’s ‘Church’ being the redeemed from the Garden of Eden until today).

The battle for the authority in the Earth apparently was on, in earnest, for the first time since satan had acquired that authority and its inherent glory from Man in the Garden of Eden rebellion. Being then redeemed, Israel was brought out of Egypt and set on course to realize the purpose of their redemption; to overcome the ‘Ites’ of Canaan and inherit the promised kingdom to Abraham’s seed. The type symbolizing the anti-type of redeemed believers overcoming spiritual giants (satan, the World, and their flesh) to inherit the prize of the High Calling to heavenly inheritance in Christ’s Coming Kingdom.

Redemption was no longer an issue in Israel’s success or failure (having been baptized in ‘death’ in the Red Sea and resurrected on the other side) in overcoming and inheritance; as success completely hinged upon obedience or disobedience. Note that after deliverance, comes instruction (as seen in God giving the redeemed of Israel the commandments after their rescue). It was apparent to satan that God intended to place redeemed (and empowered) Israel between him and the Gentile Nations as that promised seed of a woman in their redemption and restoration of Man’s Earthly kingdom and kingly authority. In that then every man of satan’s kingdom was potentially a redeemed ‘saved’ citizen of Israel (who would thus potentially play a role in fulfilling Israel’s call to be a kingdom of kings and priests and a ‘light unto the Gentiles’). Every foot of ground claimed by Israel was a foot of terra firma lost by satan and his princes. 

Now at the time of Christ, satan and his princes of the World had 4000 of years of experience with God’s redeemed being taken out of his kingdom, including that entire Nation of Israel appointed as God’s Theocratic government in the Earth. And although satan and his princes had suffered losses, God’s redeemed were no closer to taking his authority in the Earth away from them than what they were when God instituted redemption for man in the Garden of Eden and gave them the promise of restoration by the seed of a woman. In that although Israel was redeemed (by the blood of the lamb), they had failed in establishing a holy Nation by which God could fulfill His Word. This was due to the weakness of the flesh; being always susceptible to the World’s satanic secular and religious system cleverly developed and patiently presented that they would be led astray and estrange themselves from God. They, although redeemed, were brought again under satan’s service in this Earth.

But this ‘Seed’ of a woman … THE promised Seed, greater than Moses, withstood all temptations of the World system. This having failed, He furthermore withstood satan’s direct offer to grant Him authority over “all the kingdoms of the world… and the glory of them… if thou… therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.”

Now it became clear to satan and his princes that Jesus was the Son of God. In that He declared the gospel of the Kingdom of God was at hand, accompanied by signs and wonders, and everywhere He went, He cast out demon spirits and healed the sick. And not only had He power and authority in the Earth, but He was anointing his followers who also were casting out demon spirits and healing the people in His Name. All evident to the princes of this world that the prophesied Seed that was to come and crush their head in authority in this Earth and establish His Kingdom on the Earth forever had now come to claim it.

The threat of a restored Israel led by their Messiah, apparently the Seed of the Garden Promise of restoration of Man’s Earthly kingdom, looked inevitable. Satan’s ultimate test of Jesus’ righteousness before God or not was “skin for skin” (Job 2:4) meaning… His scourging with the threat of death by Crucifixion which led to His death.

The Gospel of grace to the unredeemed is contrasted with the Gospel of glory to the redeemed.

Satan and his princes had seen the results of the Gospel of grace to the redeemed for 4000 years as not a real threat to their Earthly kingdom. But after Christ’s Crucifixion death, burial into Hades, and Resurrection in Glory, the dynamics changed in that it was no longer just the Earthly Kingdom at stake, but to the surprise of satan and his co-rulers, God’s wisdom in the hidden mystery was it was always about the right of just conquest of the ruling heavenly Kingdom.

In that shocking discovery, satan finds out that the redeemed will be empowered to assault his heavenly Realm for its conquest. Being redeemed alone was/is not a threat to their kingdom… as not one merely redeemed will replace a prince of satan on his throne. But had they known the depths of the Atonement, the princes of this world would have done everything within their power to stop Christ’s sacrificial death. So what was the mysterious hidden wisdom of God that, had they known, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”? It is the Gospel beyond redemption; that of the salvation of the soul of a man. This was a hidden mystery even to His faithful Angels. (1st Peter 1:9-12… “Receiving the end (goal) of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”)

After ‘being born form above’, believers are instructed to take up their crosses and follow Christ, crucifying their flesh (their psuche; carnal soul in the Greek) and evangelize the World with the Truth concerning the (full) Gospel of the Kingdom, which is a Gospel beyond Redemption. It is the full gospel about the calling unto sanctification that would cause the displacement (and replacement) of satan and his hordes from their Realm wherein they now rule.

It was satan and his princes of this World’s failure in seeing the fullness of the Atonement ramifications for crucifying the Lord of glory that they later, in the preaching of Paul’s Gospel, learned more fully to regret. (Ephesians 3:1-11) In that through the preaching of the Gospel of Glory to the redeemed, that “so great salvation” opportunity (beyond the past experience of saving redemption) had/has a present and future aspect; the present aspect of sanctification and the future aspect of reward. That Gospel being that out of the redeemed there would come those who have worked out a holiness in their soul through reverential grateful selflessness for which they later will receive the reward of the First Resurrection in glory. And they would replace the ruling princes of satan on thrones in the heaven above this Earth, who would then be cast down to Earth and then shortly thereafter cast into the Pit, the lowest part of their present dominion in the center of the Earth, and ultimately into the Lake of Fire.

The salvation of the soul has to do with the preaching the Gospel of Glory to the redeemed/to those who are in the the process of sanctification by the Word in the wisdom of God’s hidden mysterious dispensation in which we live. That being the Age in which Israel’s Earthly calling is suspended, while God is calling out of a people more worthy for His Name out of the Nation of the One New Man (Matthew 21:43); a heavenly Bride, and firstborn sons to rule as His Theocratic Government over the Nations of the Earth from the heaven of this Realm. (Daniel 4:26, Revelation 20:4-6)

Obedience to the Word will bring Christ’s Atonement purging to the soul, and at the same time will bring the World’s hatred. (Hebrews 9:14, John 17:14,17) The redeemed Nation of the One New Man is now twice over more at peace with the World. In fact, there is very little enmity between the Modern-day Church (especially the Western Church) and the World (in either direction). Why? Because the Truth surrounding the salvation of the soul expressed by the Word has been targeted and leavened out from the Gospel of the Nation of the One New Man. In that if there is no salvation of the soul, there is no threat to satan’s kingdom. And as Israel failed, so satan is determined that the Nation of the One New Man will also fail.

There is a stark contrast between the Gospel of redemption to the ‘unredeemed perishing’ versus the Gospel of Glory to the redeemed. In that mere redemption does not fit a Man for heavenly glory. This is the part of the Atonement of Christ that had the princes of this World had known, they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory. It is that greater part of the Atonement that the entire Written New Testament is built around. Why? Because the wisdom of God, in hidden mystery, looked beyond the gift of redemption, to a salvation that makes Man worthy to rule instead of the princes of satan. This is the great offense to the World, the Gospel of the Cross of Christ: in that redeemed Man (saved in the past tense) may now take up his own Cross and crucify his flesh/soul (the working out of his own salvation; the present tense of being ‘saved’). Note that in the Greek, there are 3 tenses to the word salvation: there is having been saved, being saved, and the future tense of ‘will be’ saved. At redemption, our spirit has been saved, we are then (as a present ongoing work) told to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” as Paul says in Philippians 2:12, and the future tense speaks of being saved body, soul, and spirt, in glory in the First Resurrection, when the souls of those found worthy are infused with glorious abundant life/light. Glory cannot be imputed, as it is a reward for personal righteousness. The Forerunner paved the way for a personally acquired righteousness beyond the imputed gift of righteousness that ultimately, when exercised, would qualify them for Christ’s resurrection glory to fill their souls as a holy New Creature from a personally attained righteousness justly, then worthy of replacing the princes of this World who rule unrighteously in a stolen ‘glory’ from Adam (the future tense of ‘saved’ being the fullness of God’s Salvation Plan). 

Had the rulers of this World known that their Crucifying Christ would result in Man’s empowering abilities (beyond redemption; that of the shedding abroad of the agape of God in the heart, the revealing Word of the hope of glory, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and being kept by the power of God, and the indwelling of the power of the Holy Spirit) for the sanctification of the soul unto a worthiness of resurrection out from among the dead unto heavenly ruling glory displacing them and sealing their fate… they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory.

Matthew 16:24-27… “Then said Jesus unto his (redeemed) disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself (his old man/nature within), and take up his cross (only a redeemed man can take up a cross), and follow me (this he must). For (because) whosoever will save his life (carnal soul) shall lose it (his glorified soul): and whosoever will lose his life (soul in selflessness in the abilities I will supply) for my sake shall find it (saved unto a future glory).

For what is a man profited, if he shall (not deny his soul/flesh and yet) gain the whole world, and lose his own soul (disqualified from eternal Resurrection glory)? or what shall a (redeemed) man give in exchange for his soul” (to be glorified)?” The man who is satisfied with having ‘eternal life’ does not understand that it is the quality of his eternal life that is at stake. 

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels (at the time of the First Resurrection); and then he shall reward every (redeemed) man according to his works” (either crucifixion of the soul unto glory on the one hand or his flesh works at peace with the World but at enmity with God. Either way, they each will receive a just recompense of reward). Redemption has to do with eternal life through the spirit’s rebirth; Sanctification of the soul has to do with glory; a present work of faithful obedience with the promise of glory in the reuniting of spirit in the glorification of the soul and body in resurrection. In the leavened teaching in the Body of Christ, the ‘saving of the soul’ is represented to mean the Gospel of redemption to those who are unredeemed and perishing (the so-called Gospel of Grace only). But it is most difficult to find the Gospel of redemption as that to which Paul here calls the hidden wisdom of God, and a mystery had the princes of this World knew they would not have Crucified the Lord. For redemption’s gracious gift of eternal life by the shedding of blood had been known since the Garden revealing. The wisdom of God, in the saving of the soul of man unto oneness glory, was shrouded in the Garden redemption of Adam and Eve (and throughout the Old Testament); the hidden mystery of Christ Crucified unto Man’s Glory. 

Scripture defines the ‘saving of the soul’ as a further work after a believer is born again/redeemed in 1st Peter 1:9… “…receiving the end (goal) of your (redemptive) faith, even the salvation of your souls.” Not to be confused with redemption in the spirit’s rebirth, the salvation of the soul is to be obtained by the careful observance of the Word of God unto fruitful maturity and crucifying the deeds of darkness resident in carnal old man. Speaking to the redeemed, James writes, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted (implanted seed of the) word, which is able to save your souls.” Without this implanting of the Word in the renewal of the mind and thinking, and acting accordingly, which is able to save our souls, we would instead of becoming what we might have been, be lost or ruined. “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:39)

The saving of the soul becomes the sole purpose of the redeemed. It is at the center of the heart of God. The salvation of the soul is about an inheritance as the rest of refined faith, and approved works at the Judgment Seat of Christ. In type, it is the race with the prize in view (1st Corinthians 9:24-27, 10:1-12); a crown and position of authority in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. The Biblical economy of God’s family as His children and His sons has to do with inheritance. The first-born son has the rights of ruler and priest along with a double portion. But those rights may be forfeited, as seen in the types of Esau, Ruben, and the Nation of Israel. Now Adam having lost the first-born rights through unfaithfulness, the faithful 2nd Adam has now secured them. Jesus, having received the First-Born inheritance, now seeks His Bride (Eve in type) with whom He shall share those rights. Had satan or his princes understood, they would not have unwittingly provided the just ground on which God would extend the Gospel of the inheritance of Glory to mankind. They would not have instigated nor allowed Christ’s Crucifixion. (1st Thessalonians 2:12, Colossians 1:25-27, Hebrews 2:10)