ugmug
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- May 17, 2010
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Jesus Christ – Crucified Between Flesh and Spirit
Jesus Christ was crucified between two thieves. While many see this as just an unforeseen happenstance of the crucifixion, it is in fact God fulfilling Genesis 15:17. Genesis 15:17 is part of the covenant ceremony between Abram and God which is depicted in Chapter 15 of Genesis.
Genesis 15:17
*17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
The torch is Jesus Christ, God become man, and the two pieces represent the two men who were crucified along with Jesus Christ.
Genesis 15:9-10
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.â€
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Here a heifer, a goat and a ram, split in half represents the two aspects of man, his spirit and flesh, for an animal has no spirit (Isaiah 31:3 ). Note that the animals that were split were 3 years old which coincides with the length of Jesus Christ's ministry – 3 years.
The crucifixion, while fulfilling Genesis 15:17, has other great symbolic implications. In fact Jesus Christ being crucified between two thieves was no random coincidence. For the one thief represents man's spirit and the other man's flesh. One is saved and the other condemned.
The symbolic nature of the two thieves is this. On one side of the crucified Christ is man's spirit seeking out God but on the other side is man's flesh which rejects God's offer of salvation. While man's spirit yearns for life, man's flesh is shown to be what it has always been since creation - never satisfied and always wanting more.
So let us start with these biblical passages.
Matthew 26:40-42
*40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?†he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.â€
*42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.â€
Mark 14:37-39
*37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,†he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.â€
*39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.
John 3:5-7
*5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Jesus Christ makes a distinction between the flesh and spirit. He does so because this demarcation is seen throughout the bible and is the essence of mankind itself for man is comprised equally of flesh and spirit. In order to see this we need to go back to the Garden of Eden to creation itself. Adam was created from the dust of the ground and Eve was created from the rib of Adam. The significance of this is that Adam represents the spirit of man and Eve the flesh of man for she was created from the flesh of Adam.
When Satan approached God's creation to tempt them he went to Eve for she represented mankind's flesh, for the flesh is never satisfied. It was easy to tempt Eve with the thought that she could have more, be like God, only if she ate of the forbidden fruit. After eating the forbidden fruit Eve offered it to Adam for which he relented and ate the forbidden fruit as well.
Also it is interesting that there were two trees in the Garden of significance, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. One tree (tree of life) signifies Jesus Christ in spirit and the other tree (tree of the knowledge of good and evil) represents Jesus Christ in the flesh.
As a side note it is interesting that Eve sinned in her desire to add more to her flesh while Adam sinned trying to please his flesh, that is, since Eve was made of Adam's flesh he accepted the apple from Eve to please her thereby Adam was pleasing his flesh. To this day that pattern of sin is the same. Woman will satisfy their flesh by seeking to add more to it (external satisfaction) while men will seek to satisfy their flesh by giving in to it (internal satisfaction).
Let's go back to the crucifixion. Jesus Christ is crucified between two thieves, one represents man's flesh and the other his spirit. Notice what each one said to Christ.
Luke 23:39-43
*39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!â€
*40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,†he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.â€
*42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.â€
*43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.â€
** notice that the flesh spoke up first **
The one thief (that represents our flesh) calls out for more proof, more knowledge, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The flesh can never be satisfied and is doomed by its own lust for secular knowledge. All those who follow their flesh will be condemned to an existence in hell, robbed of a glorious life in heaven by their own stubbornness in trusting their flesh and not their spirit. The other thief (that represents our spirit) yearns for life and seeks out God, who is Jesus Christ become man. The spirit cries out to Jesus Christ for his assurance that it will be saved and taken to heaven along with Christ. Jesus Christ assures this thief that he (along with his spirit) will indeed be with him in Paradise.
It is interesting to note that the one thief (who represents our spirit) rebukes the other thief (who represents our flesh) before he calls out to Jesus. So too is it today that we must constantly rebuke our flesh before we turn to God.
This points out another interesting fact about a pastors role in a church. The pastors role will be, and always be, to help God's faithful rebuke its flesh so they can then reach out to God in spirit. We must first silence our flesh before we can use our spirit to reach out to God. For all those who think that adding material goods to our lives will help us worship God, think again! The more we satisfy the flesh the harder it will be to silence it in order to use our spirit to call out to God.
Also notice that God, Jesus Christ, does not respond to the one thief who represents our flesh. Christ only responds to the thief who represented our spirit. Again this is true in the real world as well. God will not respond to our cries for more secular knowledge, or wealth, to satisfy our flesh. He only responds to our spirit when we worship God in spirit.
It can also be clearly seen that our flesh is unwilling to rebuke itself. It is only the spirit that is willing to rebuke and silence the flesh. The spirit represents a life and attitude that follows and incorporates Godly principles. Once upon a time it was the father of a family who rebuked the child's 'inner selfish and unruly flesh' (for as we have seen the flesh will not rebuke itself) and it was the mother who instilled a Godly spirit in children.
Sadly we have removed the father from the family and the resultant disorder has been the result. Also, since the flesh will not rebuke itself, we should not look for government, corporations, or sometimes even churches, to reform themselves. Government seems hell bent on providing the flesh with what it loves the most, secular knowledge, and carnal living.
Another aspect of Jesus Christ's crucifixion is the notion that God will acknowledge any of our own works towards salvation. We have already seen that Jesus Christ refuses to debate or acknowledge the thief that represents our flesh. If God never addresses this thief then why do we believe he will honor our own works, done in the flesh, to effectuate our own salvation.
The flesh is doomed to an eternity in hell and any works done by the flesh are also thrown into hell. How then can any works done by the flesh be used in heaven to secure our salvation, they can't. Salvation is achieved entirely by the obedience of our spirit in believing in the sinless death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, PERIOD! No works or rituals by the flesh will garner anything but disgust by our lord Jesus Christ.
Upon death, once our spirit leaves our bodies any work done in the body is lost. All work done to try and achieve our own salvation is lost as well. Only Jesus Christ retained his resurrected body and therefore retained all of his sinless works down here on earth to facilitate mankind’s forgiveness.
Look at Philippians 3: 20-21
Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
It is clear from Philippians 3:20-21 that all men and woman who are saved by their belief in Jesus Christ will be given a new body, a new obedient flesh. So if the old flesh is done away with how can any works of salvation, done by our 'old' flesh down here, be carried over into heaven? They can't!
Again, only Jesus Christ who was resurrected both in body and spirit will have his works (that were done down here on earth in the flesh) carried up into heaven to be presented to God as a pure blameless sacrifice for the forgiveness of all of mankind’s sins.
To repeat, man's flesh is doomed to an eternity in hell. That fact is represented by the rebellious thief who was crucified along with Christ and refused to be saved. The thief who represented our spirit turned to Jesus Christ and asked for forgiveness which Jesus granted. Man's spirit will be saved while his flesh will not. No amount of works by sinful man will ever change that fact.
God Bless
note:
This juxtaposition of spirit and flesh together, to represent mankind's inner self, is highlighted throughout the bible. First we have the division of man and woman at creation each represents an aspect of man's self. One represents the spirit and the other the flesh. Then you have the covenant of Abram.
Genesis 15:9-10
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.â€
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Here a heifer, a goat and a ram, split in half represents the two aspects of man, his spirit and flesh, for an animal has no spirit (Isaiah 31:3 ). Again, note that the animals that were split were 3 years old which coincides with the length of Jesus Christ's ministry – 3 years.
In the story of Christ's crucifixion it is shown that by Jesus Christ being crucified between the two thieves he is fulfilling Genesis 15. The two thieves represent the split animals in Genesis 15:9-10 and Jesus Christ’s crucifixion between them fulfills Genesis 15:17.
More splitting ….......
Matthew 27:50-52
*50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
*51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
To further the fact that man is equal parts of spirit and flesh we need only to look to the 10 commandments. The first 5 commandments are for the spirit and the other 5 commandments are for the flesh. It is interesting that in the Garden of Eden man embraced the spirit and shunned the flesh while after his downfall it was the reverse, where man embraced the flesh and shunned the spirit.
The story of Moses and the denial by God to allow him to enter the promised land is yet another indication that our flesh will not follow into heaven (promised land). Here you have Moses, who did many good works, which should have at least earned him a 'shot' at securing his own salvation being denied by God entry into the promised land. This shows that while all of Moses good works were done in the flesh they will never reach heaven and can never be used in earning his own salvation.
Again in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah Lot and his wife fled the immorality of the flesh. Lot represented the spirit which will escape into eternity (if one first believes in Jesus Christ) while Lot's wife represented man's flesh (which refused the salvation of Jesus Christ) and couldn't give up its pleasures and ultimately was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot represented man's spirit while Lot's wife represented man's flesh. One was saved the other lost.
In the story of Noah's Ark, Noah represented man's spirit which enters the ark of Jesus Christ and is saved and forgiven. The other inhabitants of the land represent man's flesh which is left behind and suffers the condemnation of its sinful condition. Once again the dichotomy of man's spirit and flesh is revealed.
Another point that must be made is that when Jesus Christ promised the one thief that he would be in heaven with him all of salvation could have been lost. If Jesus Christ hadn't been God himself any promise made about heaven would have been a violation of the 9th commandment forbidding false witness. How could a mere man make such a promise and not violate the 9th commandment of bearing false witness. Only someone who had come from heaven could witness about heaven here on earth and still not sin. So the fact that Jesus Christ made such a statement about heaven on the cross, died sinless, and was resurrected, meant that not only did Jesus Christ die sinless but that he was also God come in the person of Jesus Christ.
So please if you’re not yet saved by the forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ now is the time to do it. Believe in the person of Jesus Christ as your savior and then get baptized. Make sure your spirit is ready to flee the flesh like Lot did in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah once salvation calls.
Amen
Let The Revival Begin!
Jesus Christ was crucified between two thieves. While many see this as just an unforeseen happenstance of the crucifixion, it is in fact God fulfilling Genesis 15:17. Genesis 15:17 is part of the covenant ceremony between Abram and God which is depicted in Chapter 15 of Genesis.
Genesis 15:17
*17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
The torch is Jesus Christ, God become man, and the two pieces represent the two men who were crucified along with Jesus Christ.
Genesis 15:9-10
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.â€
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Here a heifer, a goat and a ram, split in half represents the two aspects of man, his spirit and flesh, for an animal has no spirit (Isaiah 31:3 ). Note that the animals that were split were 3 years old which coincides with the length of Jesus Christ's ministry – 3 years.
The crucifixion, while fulfilling Genesis 15:17, has other great symbolic implications. In fact Jesus Christ being crucified between two thieves was no random coincidence. For the one thief represents man's spirit and the other man's flesh. One is saved and the other condemned.
The symbolic nature of the two thieves is this. On one side of the crucified Christ is man's spirit seeking out God but on the other side is man's flesh which rejects God's offer of salvation. While man's spirit yearns for life, man's flesh is shown to be what it has always been since creation - never satisfied and always wanting more.
So let us start with these biblical passages.
Matthew 26:40-42
*40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?†he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.â€
*42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.â€
Mark 14:37-39
*37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,†he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.â€
*39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.
John 3:5-7
*5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Jesus Christ makes a distinction between the flesh and spirit. He does so because this demarcation is seen throughout the bible and is the essence of mankind itself for man is comprised equally of flesh and spirit. In order to see this we need to go back to the Garden of Eden to creation itself. Adam was created from the dust of the ground and Eve was created from the rib of Adam. The significance of this is that Adam represents the spirit of man and Eve the flesh of man for she was created from the flesh of Adam.
When Satan approached God's creation to tempt them he went to Eve for she represented mankind's flesh, for the flesh is never satisfied. It was easy to tempt Eve with the thought that she could have more, be like God, only if she ate of the forbidden fruit. After eating the forbidden fruit Eve offered it to Adam for which he relented and ate the forbidden fruit as well.
Also it is interesting that there were two trees in the Garden of significance, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. One tree (tree of life) signifies Jesus Christ in spirit and the other tree (tree of the knowledge of good and evil) represents Jesus Christ in the flesh.
As a side note it is interesting that Eve sinned in her desire to add more to her flesh while Adam sinned trying to please his flesh, that is, since Eve was made of Adam's flesh he accepted the apple from Eve to please her thereby Adam was pleasing his flesh. To this day that pattern of sin is the same. Woman will satisfy their flesh by seeking to add more to it (external satisfaction) while men will seek to satisfy their flesh by giving in to it (internal satisfaction).
Let's go back to the crucifixion. Jesus Christ is crucified between two thieves, one represents man's flesh and the other his spirit. Notice what each one said to Christ.
Luke 23:39-43
*39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!â€
*40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,†he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.â€
*42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.â€
*43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.â€
** notice that the flesh spoke up first **
The one thief (that represents our flesh) calls out for more proof, more knowledge, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The flesh can never be satisfied and is doomed by its own lust for secular knowledge. All those who follow their flesh will be condemned to an existence in hell, robbed of a glorious life in heaven by their own stubbornness in trusting their flesh and not their spirit. The other thief (that represents our spirit) yearns for life and seeks out God, who is Jesus Christ become man. The spirit cries out to Jesus Christ for his assurance that it will be saved and taken to heaven along with Christ. Jesus Christ assures this thief that he (along with his spirit) will indeed be with him in Paradise.
It is interesting to note that the one thief (who represents our spirit) rebukes the other thief (who represents our flesh) before he calls out to Jesus. So too is it today that we must constantly rebuke our flesh before we turn to God.
This points out another interesting fact about a pastors role in a church. The pastors role will be, and always be, to help God's faithful rebuke its flesh so they can then reach out to God in spirit. We must first silence our flesh before we can use our spirit to reach out to God. For all those who think that adding material goods to our lives will help us worship God, think again! The more we satisfy the flesh the harder it will be to silence it in order to use our spirit to call out to God.
Also notice that God, Jesus Christ, does not respond to the one thief who represents our flesh. Christ only responds to the thief who represented our spirit. Again this is true in the real world as well. God will not respond to our cries for more secular knowledge, or wealth, to satisfy our flesh. He only responds to our spirit when we worship God in spirit.
It can also be clearly seen that our flesh is unwilling to rebuke itself. It is only the spirit that is willing to rebuke and silence the flesh. The spirit represents a life and attitude that follows and incorporates Godly principles. Once upon a time it was the father of a family who rebuked the child's 'inner selfish and unruly flesh' (for as we have seen the flesh will not rebuke itself) and it was the mother who instilled a Godly spirit in children.
Sadly we have removed the father from the family and the resultant disorder has been the result. Also, since the flesh will not rebuke itself, we should not look for government, corporations, or sometimes even churches, to reform themselves. Government seems hell bent on providing the flesh with what it loves the most, secular knowledge, and carnal living.
Another aspect of Jesus Christ's crucifixion is the notion that God will acknowledge any of our own works towards salvation. We have already seen that Jesus Christ refuses to debate or acknowledge the thief that represents our flesh. If God never addresses this thief then why do we believe he will honor our own works, done in the flesh, to effectuate our own salvation.
The flesh is doomed to an eternity in hell and any works done by the flesh are also thrown into hell. How then can any works done by the flesh be used in heaven to secure our salvation, they can't. Salvation is achieved entirely by the obedience of our spirit in believing in the sinless death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, PERIOD! No works or rituals by the flesh will garner anything but disgust by our lord Jesus Christ.
Upon death, once our spirit leaves our bodies any work done in the body is lost. All work done to try and achieve our own salvation is lost as well. Only Jesus Christ retained his resurrected body and therefore retained all of his sinless works down here on earth to facilitate mankind’s forgiveness.
Look at Philippians 3: 20-21
Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
It is clear from Philippians 3:20-21 that all men and woman who are saved by their belief in Jesus Christ will be given a new body, a new obedient flesh. So if the old flesh is done away with how can any works of salvation, done by our 'old' flesh down here, be carried over into heaven? They can't!
Again, only Jesus Christ who was resurrected both in body and spirit will have his works (that were done down here on earth in the flesh) carried up into heaven to be presented to God as a pure blameless sacrifice for the forgiveness of all of mankind’s sins.
To repeat, man's flesh is doomed to an eternity in hell. That fact is represented by the rebellious thief who was crucified along with Christ and refused to be saved. The thief who represented our spirit turned to Jesus Christ and asked for forgiveness which Jesus granted. Man's spirit will be saved while his flesh will not. No amount of works by sinful man will ever change that fact.
God Bless
note:
This juxtaposition of spirit and flesh together, to represent mankind's inner self, is highlighted throughout the bible. First we have the division of man and woman at creation each represents an aspect of man's self. One represents the spirit and the other the flesh. Then you have the covenant of Abram.
Genesis 15:9-10
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.â€
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Here a heifer, a goat and a ram, split in half represents the two aspects of man, his spirit and flesh, for an animal has no spirit (Isaiah 31:3 ). Again, note that the animals that were split were 3 years old which coincides with the length of Jesus Christ's ministry – 3 years.
In the story of Christ's crucifixion it is shown that by Jesus Christ being crucified between the two thieves he is fulfilling Genesis 15. The two thieves represent the split animals in Genesis 15:9-10 and Jesus Christ’s crucifixion between them fulfills Genesis 15:17.
More splitting ….......
Matthew 27:50-52
*50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
*51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
To further the fact that man is equal parts of spirit and flesh we need only to look to the 10 commandments. The first 5 commandments are for the spirit and the other 5 commandments are for the flesh. It is interesting that in the Garden of Eden man embraced the spirit and shunned the flesh while after his downfall it was the reverse, where man embraced the flesh and shunned the spirit.
The story of Moses and the denial by God to allow him to enter the promised land is yet another indication that our flesh will not follow into heaven (promised land). Here you have Moses, who did many good works, which should have at least earned him a 'shot' at securing his own salvation being denied by God entry into the promised land. This shows that while all of Moses good works were done in the flesh they will never reach heaven and can never be used in earning his own salvation.
Again in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah Lot and his wife fled the immorality of the flesh. Lot represented the spirit which will escape into eternity (if one first believes in Jesus Christ) while Lot's wife represented man's flesh (which refused the salvation of Jesus Christ) and couldn't give up its pleasures and ultimately was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot represented man's spirit while Lot's wife represented man's flesh. One was saved the other lost.
In the story of Noah's Ark, Noah represented man's spirit which enters the ark of Jesus Christ and is saved and forgiven. The other inhabitants of the land represent man's flesh which is left behind and suffers the condemnation of its sinful condition. Once again the dichotomy of man's spirit and flesh is revealed.
Another point that must be made is that when Jesus Christ promised the one thief that he would be in heaven with him all of salvation could have been lost. If Jesus Christ hadn't been God himself any promise made about heaven would have been a violation of the 9th commandment forbidding false witness. How could a mere man make such a promise and not violate the 9th commandment of bearing false witness. Only someone who had come from heaven could witness about heaven here on earth and still not sin. So the fact that Jesus Christ made such a statement about heaven on the cross, died sinless, and was resurrected, meant that not only did Jesus Christ die sinless but that he was also God come in the person of Jesus Christ.
So please if you’re not yet saved by the forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ now is the time to do it. Believe in the person of Jesus Christ as your savior and then get baptized. Make sure your spirit is ready to flee the flesh like Lot did in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah once salvation calls.
Amen
Let The Revival Begin!
