Monday, February 4, 2019

"Complicit

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…



"Complicit"



     The first man slew the second man.

    "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof… And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Genesis 4:3-4; 8).

    This typifies a greater truth, namely, the first man slew the second Man.

    "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is the Lord from heaven" (I Corinthians 15:45-47).

   Adam's first offspring Cain murdered the second son Abel.  The reason involved Cain's false worship, in contrast to Abel's genuine devotion to the Lord.  Cain offered the fruit of ground cursed by God, as attained by his own efforts.  Abel offered the sacrifice of blood, that is, the life of another.  God's response to the offerings enraged Cain, which led to his shedding the blood of Abel.  Again, the first man slew the second man.

   The same thing happened at Calvary.  Adam, the first man, killed the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Man.  The natural man murdered the spiritual Man.  Or, in the most telling description, the fleshly race of Adam (which includes all his descendants) nailed the Head of God's spiritual race to the cross of Calvary.  Yes, when the old hymn raises the rhetorical question, "Were you there when they crucified the Lord?", we must all bow our heads with a heart of acknowledgment and repentance, confessing, "Yes, I was there, and I participated in the abomination."  Indeed, flesh is flesh.  We all inherited it from Adam, and left to itself, the natural will kill the spiritual.  We were all in him at Eden - "in Adam all die" - and we were all in him at Calvary - "he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit" (I Corinthians 15:22; Galatians 4:29).

   In our physical birth, we descend from Adam.  Even after our spiritual birth into Christ that constitutes us as a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness," our flesh retains the "law of sin" that became Adam's moral disposition (Ephesians 4:24; Romans 7:22-25).  Thus, our flesh still "lusteth against the spirit" (Galatians 5:17).  This is written as a consideration of Biblical truth, and as a reminder that if we are tempted to focus too much on the sins of others, we all have a debt of accountability that would rightly condemn us were it not for the grace of the Lord Jesus.  Yes, the first man slew the second Man.  And we were all complicit in the conspiracy, the collusion, and the crime.

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
(Isaiah 53:3-6)

Weekly Memory Verse
   Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
(Galatians 6:1)
    
  

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