Our Participation With Christ Through The Gospel Is The Key
Hi flier:
Thank you for asking this very good question.
Flier6 >> I'm a new believer and am having trouble with a very important Christian concept. It has to do with the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for our sins. Now, I know that if I sacrificed one of my children, I would see that as the biggest sacrifice I could EVER make. But in the case of Jesus and his death, it doesn't seem like nearly as much of a sacrifice because even though he was put to "death", he rose again from the dead and lives again. Furthermore, He knew IN ADVANCE that he was going to rise from the dead. This doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice compared to if one of us sacrificed one of our children . . .
The right answer to your question is a little more complicated than you might expect. Please allow me to demonstrate using a few diagrams and perhaps the deeper meaning of what God is doing through His Son will become apparent. Then from a larger view of things we can return and address your question. Back in the very beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.
Consider that the perfect “Heaven†is God’s Perfect Word and that through Him God called this Creation (Earth) into being. Colossians 1:16-17. God (spirit), His Perfect Word (blood) and this Creation (water) existed in absolute perfection. There were no such things as ‘heavens’ or a physical ‘earth’ in that Creation, but those terms were bound up in the same things as a singularity of expression. There were no such things as angels or men or even women, because all created beings were created perfect, whole and complete and their spirit and body was the exact same thing. However, The Satanic Rebellion caused the blue sphere above to become divided directly into two parts of heavens (spirit) and earth (water) and darkness was upon the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2). God could not send His Perfect Word into this broken creation, because He continued to exist (The Word = John 1:2) in His Perfect singularity expression. This is where we come to the most important event in the history of this universe, because God was forced to divide His Word into two parts of the Father (spirit) and Holy Spirit (water). God sacrificing His Word is the ‘true’ sacrifice that He made for everyone here, because it was through the rejoining of those first two witnesses (Father + Holy Spirit) that God’s Son became the “Only Begotten from the Father†(John 1:14).
Note how the perfect round blue sphere above was transformed into the three witnesses of “Heavens†(spirit), “Heaven†(blood) and “Earth†(water). God’s Perfect Word was transformed into the Father (spirit), Son (blood) and Holy Spirit (water) in Matthew 28:19. God’s three witnesses appear in Figure 2 as “God To Come†(spirit), “God Who Is†(blood) and “God Who Was†(water) in Revelation 1:8. Then, God sent His Only Begotten Son through the “First Veil†(Figure 1) to incarnate into ‘Heaven’ (between Heavens and Earth) of ‘This Creation,†as the “Lamb of God.â€Â
Note carefully that the “Lamb†is in the ‘center of the throne’ (Revelation 7:17) in Figure 3, which is in “This Creation†between the seen (Earth) and unseen (Heavens) universe. Then realize that “Jesus Christ†is the ‘incarnation’ of the “Lamb of God†onto “Our Earth.†Therefore, when Jesus Christ began His march to Calvary, then He was fulfilling types in ‘Heaven’ of this “Creation†(Figure 3) AND those established in the “Word Realm†(Figure 2) from where “The Word†is being restored into God’s “Only Begotten Son.†That red section in Figure 2 (“Highest Heavenâ€Â) is the “Son†enlarging to once again become “The Word†from the middle of the first diagram above. Likewise, “Heaven†(Figure 3) is also becoming the perfect round blue sphere (Creation = Adam) of the first diagram above. Figure 1 demonstrates how "God" is "IN" His Son (restored Word). You and I are living during the time between their division (Satanic Rebellion) and God restoring Both to their perfect state. Now, from this understanding let’s try to address your comparisons to you sacrificing your own son and God sacrificing His Son.
God sent Christ to the cross to die for our sins, but that is only half the story, because God also sent the gospel into the world that He had raised Christ from the dead. On the surface this does not seem such a miraculous thing, because God can make sons out of mere stones (Luke 3:38). The ‘power of God’ (Romans 1:16) manifested by the Gospel is that all of those believing are baptized (1 Corinthians 12:13) into Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27) on the cross at Calvary 2000 Years ago. We become active participants in His death, burial and resurrection, so that God seats us “IN†the heavenly places “IN†Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6-7.
Note carefully that the Father + Son + Holy Spirit = “Christ Jesus†the Heavenly “Man†between God and men. 1 Timothy 2:5. Note also that God raised Jesus Christ not just into heaven, but “far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.†Ephesians 4:10. In other words, Jesus Christ ascended above ‘Heaven’ and the ‘Heavens’ of “This Creation,†to go all the way back to “IN†the Son back in the “Word Realm.†That is the same place that God has seated everyone to believe our Gospel, as we are also seated “IN†the heavenly places “IN†Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6-7). This is what Paul means in saying that we have been ‘crucifd with Christ’ (Galatians 2:20) and that God has raised us up together with Christ (Colossians 3:1); and that our lives are hidden with Christ “IN†God. Colossians 3:3. Sacrificing your son in no way allows others to become an active participant in his death, burial AND resurrection, because his resurrection is still in the future; where Christ’s is in the past. The diagrams show how God is truly transferred us from this “Domain of Darkness†into the Kingdom of His Beloved Son (Colossians 1:13), which is indeed NOT of this Creation (John 18:36).
I hope this helps you to understand the differences. Thank you again for asking this very good question,
In Christ Jesus,
Terral
