New Heaven & New Earth
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Revelation 21: 1-4
For that, Jesus died & rose to change heaven & earth. Earth: where man landed after he was at God's side, where he was sentenced to eternal separation & death. Heaven was the symbol of Grace. Grace was keeping Adam but he couldn't keep it himself. Jesus resurrection brought new heaven & new earth where there will be no more death or mourning. He who lives & believes in me shall not die for ever - He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. To add a third verse as a symbol of trinity He also said: Because I live, you also will live. This is the source; this is the new earth for the new man. The earth where there will be no more death, or mourning, or crying or pain. Whoever is risen with Jesus, could look at heaven as Paul said where Jesus sits. He wouldn't find at all a reason for crying , pain, or complain. I remember one time; while I was treating the subject of Sin, The devil, Grace & God's power; One of my sons went very emotional & said: The devil cannot conquer us & he cannot triumph over me. Of course he said that as he felt Jesus power & the power of his resurrection .
Adam was in an unperceivable glory. The fear of the Lord was upon him. But unfortunately he lost all the glory, even the image of God that was in him (the image of the free choice of righteousness, the image of discerning between falsehood & truth. The volition of doing what is good)
What did God do? He created man in his own image, supported him by additional grace, accommodated him in the paradise where were all tools of wellbeing; no curse, no sadness, no melancholy, no sigh, no letdown, no fear, no terror and no foe … nothing…
It is astonishing that Adam throws down all this glory & all the means that lifted him to an imaginable level almost higher than angels… and he lost everything. What did God do? He recreates Adam, a new Adam!!! That's why He appeared in the body, that's why the Son of God incarnated, taking the human body & nature. He became perfect in everything: body, intellect, sprit, soul, passion & mind… He took everything from the human nature in order to complete God's design in the creation of man. He wanted to create a level-headed & sound creation, in his image, capable of elevating all God's fashioned creation to put it where it can attest & project Him continuously. Man is created to levitate not only him but also the creation so that it becomes at the level of extolling & praising the Lord because His glory is so lofty.
Jesus is word; however He is not a silent, limited word, he is an efficient word, that's why French people translated this attribute to (verb) in the gospel of John (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.) So we notice the translation of (word) is
verb (French: verbe ) not word (French: mot ): Au Commencement était le verbe .
verb (French: verbe ) not word (French: mot )
Effectively, God is efficient & proficient so as His glory. Thereof, man was created to be the image of the efficient God till the end of times. Since all limited things are timed God made a new creation extolling him for ever.
Adam failed & fell under the death penalty and it was over. A whole Creation failed to prove its existence or even to fulfill the purpose for which it existed in the first place. As a result, Jesus was embodied & incarnated to restore man's life, to fulfill God's plan of salvation & glory. That's why Jesus was talking about glory when He said : I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one John 17:22
So in this short verse we could reveal the ultimate objective of God's plan & Jesus incarnation. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me (before the creation of the world) may be in them and that I myself may be in them . John 17:26
The human creation convened in Jesus to become a glorified creation in a body, in heaven to the right of the grandeur. In Jesus, the whole creation reached the fullness of its perfection or the fullness of God's perfect purpose. Hence Jesus fulfilled God's plan in His creation (previously fallen in Adam) in himself as an onset. He became the second Adam who pleased God's heart; not only by returning the creation to God's bosom but also by bringing it to union and fellowship with him.
Jesus won't give up His body so He took it up. He took the body that was brought up at the virgin's side & entered the glory with it in order to fully accomplish God's objective in his creation. As I mentioned previously Adam took the complete grace & the complete image of God & all other measures that allowed him to appear in front of God everyday when the day wind blows ( around 11 AM) Adam used to meet with God asking him about all things that he didn't know. God used to answer him by His full grace. In spite of all that he fell. So, Jesus came to give us something infallible, that can't go astray with the whole creation.
For this reason, it was a must that the godhood nature unites with the manhood completely in no way that grace would leave the human nature. That was the reason or the quintessence or the secret of the union of the godhead with the manhood. It is neither an obligation nor an imagination nor a theological subject to meditate on. It is favorable & advantageous feature that came into the core of our life, mind & salvation design. So, the union of the Godhead with the manhood was to guarantee to manhood or man or the body an inseparable grace.
Giving us his flesh & his blood as a divine body & a divine blood is a grace that can be separated neither from the body nor from the blood. In the communion the priest proclaim: “Given for forgiveness & eternal life” He declares that he is not the source of this gift. He is entrusted to deliver the flesh & the blood with its nature & characteristic, consequently it is an eternal life. It means that grace can never leave us. We have gained the right of an eternal life (I am talking from a very practical point of view & I don't wish to enter a debate about whether or not grace can leave us , about whether can we fall from grace or not. This debate that shook the theology from its correct place & made it a theoretical theology that could carry yes or no & you know in Jesus there is always yes & never no. If any theological discussion outgoes this beneficial reason for which Jesus incarnated & for the salvation for which we endeavor with labor, tears, fasting and martyrdom; it is not considered a real theology. This is the theology that we need & honor; this is the flesh & the blood in which dwells the inseparable grace. Saint Athanasius said: - when Jesus incarnated he yield the flesh. It is a difficult word for theologians to hear however it is a true & correct theology: Jesus wore a flesh of manhood & deified it. He took a body from a virgin & deified it by the union of the word with the Godhood which means that the manhood of Christ had in it the inseparable grace.
This is the incarnation secret & it was derived from him when he said: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. By this he revoked the penalty of death, doom, separation from God. Humankind found its salvation in Jesus Christ (I would like to give more focus to this point taking into consideration theologians who like to grab hold of my words noting that my precaution gives you more explanation)
Jesus (I am limiting my speech to Jesus only) can never be separated from the grace; Godhood can never separate from the manhood. The flesh; Jesus Body, carries the downright salvation with no remorse or parting.
When a human becomes in Christ Jesus = in the fullness of grace = in the fullness of salvation & eternal life = the new creation brought in Jesus Christ. As long as in Jesus Christ there is no parting, no regret, no gloom, no sadness, so sigh, no old creation, no old earth and no old heaven. The human kind went into its second new position that surpasses by far the first nature of Adam; because the grace that was in Adam's nature was good however losable. On the other hand in Jesus Christ, The lord himself incarnated in the flesh of the man to guarantee an inseparable grace, a union with God, a deliverance from death & doom. What happened to the old creation cannot be repeated in the new one. What happened to the first Adam can never happen to the second one. As we wore the earthly flesh of Adam we will wear the spiritual body of Jesus Christ
Jesus truly died to abolish the death penalty; because if we would still be afraid of death & its penalty it would have contradicted intensely the grace He gave us. But Jesus wanted to say that His flesh & His blood have in them the eternal life capable of conquering death & abyss. Jesus wanted to show them the power that is in His flesh & blood for this reason he told them before giving them the bread: This is given for eternal life. What happened on Friday is just a completion (if this word to be used here) or accomplishment or realization (which is a more suitable word) of what happened on Thursday. He entered into death by Himself, abolished it as He entered into death with a mortal body. According to Saint Athanasius when he said (he took a created body & deified it) this mortal “created” body is now lifted up beyond the concept of “the created” hence Jesus outreached = spread.. ) according to one of the theologians' expression (the body took all the godhead attributes in outreaching =spreading)
During one of my discourses, I was reproached by one of the attendees when I said that Jesus body fills heaven & earth. Then I explained that saints on earth or in heaven are Jesus body, we are Jesus body consequently & simply speaking: - His body fills heaven & earth. Also the personal body of Jesus (Igilius) (an important theological terminology) His personal body made Him fill heaven & earth because he took all the godhood attributes & became present everywhere. Jesus can be in my cell & your cell at the same time, because He took all Godhood features in outreach & infinity (from a self concept & fellowship concept)
Can you now imagine how much profit we got from Jesus Christ incarnation? The death penalty abolishment became a living truth He said: He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. He said also because I live you also will live.
At the communion, the priest gives the bread & says it is for eternal life. You will not die then like Adam died. Only the body will change to become similar to the body of our modesty & similar to the body of His glory.
Jesus death is a completion of his incarnation, a completion of the Thursday covenant by which He granted to the new mankind eternity & infallibility. (Some may think wrongly that sometimes Jesus get angry with us; With Jesus there is no sadness, no distress, no sigh… He doesn't get upset with us at all…)
Sadness, distress, sigh, sin, sin law, death, all have lost their authority over us. What makes us sad here till we reach death is the law of sin which works in the body members. This is what impulsively, condemns human to death. But the law is dead & what works in you in the curse issued from God when He said: for when you eat of it you will surely die. But Jesus abolished this with His own death & He destroyed our death and restored our eternal life.. He gave us a regretless grace that works in us with no parting.
Sin happened in the body & when Jesus comes again to take us home He will come sinless He is; He will come to glorify Jesus death that abolished what's left from God's curse & from the law of sin that works within my members confirming the judgment of grace, salvation & eternal life. Since He abolished death to wipe out its authority on us then the grace He gave us will not be under the authority of death as well. Death can not take me or deprive me from God. Grace is positive & death is negative both can never meet except in the person of Jesus Christ. For this Jesus died & rose because Jesus deified it. From the theological concept he could never die because godhood was united with manhood wholly & absolutely. But manhood was mortal & united with the immortal godhood. So it is normal that if he dies, he rises. He died 3 days but death had no authority over him. Since He was wearing a created flesh He had to die. By His resurrection, he abolished the death ruling for ever. By faith in him he gave us himself by the word, by the fellowship, the pleasant personality, by the flesh & blood, by all what's in the baptism: death, resurrection & triumph. He gave us his united manhood with his godhood; accordingly, he gave us all the new human rights or the saved mankind. Whoever is in Christ Jesus is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. Since we are in Jesus Christ, we are in the second Adam, we became in the new mankind which is free from Death, sadness, distress, sign. The resurrection day has already begun.
Adam obtained all what you could dream of as a monk or hermit from fellowship with God, friendship with beasts & animals. Now, when a hermit becomes a friend with a beast we call him a saint. When Adam lived in the paradise He had a faultless life: with no enmity neither with beasts, nor animals, nor angels. There were no sweat; plants grew by themselves with no pain… life was so easy. More & above, he was speaking with God which is the ultimate desire of any hermit & worshipper. . Unfortunately he lost it all!
But now when Jesus incarnated & defied the body according to the expression used by Saint Athanasius, he gave it the from the godhood nature, since The Thursday of covenant. God was capable to restore Adam quickly but since he dealt with the devil once it means He was not infallible. That's why Jesus came to guarantee us the infallible life with God, to give us his image & the plan of elevation that he deposited as a seed that makes the worshipper grows in God's knowledge, capable of living with God, the life he lost. God desired to reinstate it in an unassailable way.
The inevitability of the resurrection is a testimony of His godhood. Because His resurrection means that the body as it is united with the godhood, is risen. Lazarus was raised then died again. That is simple because the word of God can liven & deaden. But the word Himself was predetermined to rise. Thereof Resurrection became a testimony of the Christ godhood, as he is risen on the third day. In Hebrews Paul used the word revealed. & this shows that it was an existing truth then revealed to us. The Holy Spirit proclaimed His resurrection. He proclaimed it to the mankind. It is impossible for a man to say Jesus is God except by the holly spirit. Jesus went through many offenses, crucifixion & curse that would negate his nature as a Son of God. He was denied by the people. (Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree) He was denied by people & buried outside the camps; that's why he was buried outside Jerusalem fear of becoming unclean. Because of His sufferings no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. So that he oversteps the pain & the curse which the stumbling stone for any non- Christian wondering how could he believes in a god that was crucified & beaten. Those are the secrets of God that we cannot perceive easily like a simply mathematics it is not like 1 + 1 = 2. God issues are absolute. The absolutes are infinite & the infinites are not brought time. What is not brought under time is unchangeable. All what is unchangeable is immortal.
From the holiness spirit concept, He was proclaimed son of God at His resurrection. The humankind roused & was uplifted in glory, conquered the abyss. Hereof, death & its ruler lost their authority. Human kind rose up to heaven to sit with God & to have a fellowship with Him. It took the fullness of the salvation & redemption plan. The plan predetermined from the very beginning of times. Yes, the whole lacked the resurrection, Hereof; the man who transcends death sinless & imperishable appeared. And here is Jesus Christ. He asked His disciple to touch Him & be not afraid. He ate fish & honey with them to show them that He is the same but with immortal body. Jesus carried the sin on his body. It was impossible for him to sin, though; he carried it to die for the whole mankind. He took the murder, the haughtiness, the adultery, the impurity; he became a curse, the one who didn't know sin became a sin (not only carried it) it means He carried the sin in his depth, bonded with it to become to deserve death. He took our sins on the cross. The one, who didn't know sin, never practiced it, in whose spirit is no deceit, accepted it in his body & became a sin! Thereof, being a sin he deserved to die (He carried my sin this is the concept of justification) this is the magnificence of the resurrection. He is risen with an infinite body, with a new manhood, subject to no judgment or condemnation (those who are in Jesus Christ) because in Him it is impossible to be subject to condemnation.
My sin bonded with Him, He died with it. Two can not die for the same crime. Even in the juridical law if two killed a man, the one who carried out the crime is to die, the other is to be sentenced to life prison. But they do not execute the two of them. So it is not permissible for me to die when Jesus already did that. The civil law is derived from the spiritual & evangelical law.
The splendor of the truth is that Jesus accepted my sin in His body to die with it & revoke it; though He didn't know sin. He was punished like a sinner & died. Therefore, His resurrection & the new imperishable manhood He bestowed us, reveals to us his salvation plan from incarnation to resurrection, which aimed for restoring in us to the beauty of God's creation & the beauty of his image so we live in a new heaven & a new earth.
Glory is to God for ever amen!
