The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message Two
Christ as the Son of Man, the Second Man, and the Last Adam Fulfilling God’s Intention in Creating Man
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
1 Cor. 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing from Himself except what He sees the Father doing, for whatever that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
Word of Appetizer
Why is it that Christ as the Son of Man, the second Man, and the last Adam fulfilling God’s intention in creating Man?
In His incarnation Christ is the Son of Man; without man, God’s purpose cannot be carried out on earth; in order to accomplish God’s purpose, it was necessary for Christ to be a man; through His incarnation Christ brought the infinite God into the finite man.
The incarnation of Christ is closely related to God’s purpose in the creation of man in His image and according to His likeness—that man would receive Him as life and express Him in His divine attributes.
Spiritual Burden
Christ’s God-man living constituted Him to be a prototype so that He may now be reproduced in us and live again in us; if we would become a reproduction of the first God-man and live Christ as the God-man, we must be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit and be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul. When we open ourselves to the Lord, love Him, and desire to be joined to Him as one, we are filled and possessed by Him and live out the glory of divinity and the virtues of humanity.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Christ is the Son of Man, the second man, and the last Adam.
Christ’s incarnation and God-man living fulfilled God’s intention in His creation of man.
Christ’s God-man living constituted Him to be a prototype so that He may now be reproduced in us and live again in us.
The Experience of Life
When the Lord Jesus saves us, He comes into us as the One with the human virtues filled with the divine attributes. As the life-giving Spirit, He enters into us to bring God into our being and to fill our virtues with God’s attributes. Such a life saves us from within and uplifts our human virtues, sanctifying and transforming us.
Practice and Application
If we would become a reproduction of the first God-man and live Christ as the God-man, we must be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit and be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul. We live not according to the environment but according to the Lord’s moving and leading within us; when we open ourselves to the Lord, love Him, and desire to be joined to Him as one, we are filled and possessed by Him and live out the glory of divinity and the virtues of humanity.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Matt. 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is?
1 Cor. 15:47 The first man is out of the earth, earthy; the second man is out of heaven.
45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
I. Christ is the Son of Man, the second man, and the last Adam
- Christ is the Son of Man; in order to accomplish God’s purpose, it was necessary for Christ to be a man; in His incarnation Christ is the Son of Man.
- In His incarnation Christ is the second man; in the entire universe there are only two men: the first man Adam and the second man Christ; as the first man, Adam is the head of the old creation, representing it in creation; as the second man, Christ is the Head of the new creation, representing it in resurrection.
- Christ is the last Adam; the old creation with man as a living soul to be its center, and the new creation in resurrection with the lifegiving Spirit as its center; Christ’s being the last Adam implies a termination and conclusion of the old creation; through incarnation Christ became the last Adam to die on the cross for the termination of the old creation, and through resurrection He as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit to germinate the new creation.
Key Verses (2)
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.
Heb. 2:17 Hence He should have been made like His brothers in all things that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God.
John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing from Himself except what He sees the Father doing, for whatever that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
II. Christ’s incarnation and God-man living fulfilled God’s intention in His creation of man
- The incarnation of Christ is closely related to God’s purpose in the creation of man in His image and according to His likeness—that man would receive Him as life and express Him in His divine attributes.
- Through His incarnation Christ brought the infinite God into the finite man.
- Christ is both the complete God and the perfect man, possessing the divine nature and the human nature distinctly; Christ is the God-man, a person who is the mingling of divinity with humanity.
- Christ expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues.
- In His God-man living, the Lord Jesus never did anything out of Himself (v. 19), did not do His own work (4:34; 17:4), did not speak His own word (14:10, 24), did everything not by His own will (5:30), and did not seek His own glory (7:18).
- In His living, the Lord Jesus achieved the greatest thing in the universe— He expressed God in His humanity.
Key Verses (3)
2 Cor. 3:3 Since you are being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God…
Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me…
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.
Phil. 4:13 I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.
III. Christ’s God-man living constituted Him to be a prototype so that He may now be reproduced in us and live again in us
The Gospel of Luke records the history of the God-man living of the first God-man; now this history needs to be written into our being.
When the Lord Jesus saves us, He comes into us as the One with the human virtues filled with the divine attributes.
The Christ who lives in us is still the One who possesses the human virtues strengthened and enriched by the divine attributes.
If we would become a reproduction of the first God-man and live Christ as the God-man, we must be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit and be transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul.
When we love the Lord, pursue Him, and fellowship with Him, we spontaneously live in a condition that is beyond human description.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 In the entire universe there are only two men: the first man Adam and the second man Christ. (1 Cor. 15:47)
(Please illustrate that what does it imply that Christ is the last Adam.)
T2 Christ, the last Adam, became in resurrection a life-giving Spirit. (1 Cor. 15:47)
(Please illustrate that which two creations contains in first Corinthians 15:45.)
D2
T1 God created man in His image and after His likeness (Gen. 1:26-27)
(Please illustrate the difference between image and likeness.)
T2 Christ is the mingling of God with man. (Luke 1:3, 35)
(Please illustrate the living of Jesus, the man of God revealed in Luka.)
D3
T1 Our human virtues need to be rescued, restored, and recovered. (Heb. 2:17)
(Please illustrate that what is the way of saving us, the Man-Savior.)
T2 Christ’s incarnation and God-man living fulfilled God’s intention in His creation of man (Gen. 1:26-27; John 1:1, 14)
(Please illustrate the meaning of Christ’s incarnation and God-man living.)
D4
T1 Our will represents our whole being. (John 6:38)
(Please illustrate that the will represents our being, in its doings.)
T2 The Lord Jesus lived a genuine human life—to express God in God’s attributes. (John 4:34; 5:19)
(Please illustrate that the Lord Jesus lived a genuine human life by God’s mind, will, and emotion.)
D5
T1 This is the life-giving Spirit moving in you and mingling with your spirit. (1 Cor. 15:47)
(Please illustrate that the riches of Christ are included in the life-giving spirit.)
T2 A reproduction of the first God-man (John 3:6; 2 Cor. 3:18)
(Please illustrate that regeneration and transformation are two steps in the process to reproduce the God-man.)
D6
T1 From the very beginning when God created man, God had no intention to ask man to do anything for Him. (Gen. 2:8-9)
(Please illustrate that God only wants us to love Him, to open ourselves up to Him, and to let Him live from within us.)
T2 Without the Lord filling you as a vessel to work out something from within you, your whole being is a peculiarity. (Phil. 4:13)
(Please illustrate that how can we be saved from our peculiarity with experience)
