Since it is the Christmas season we have taken up a study on the transformations that have occurred in human history.
We saw that at the fall mankind was transformed from spiritual life into spiritual death. We saw that the woman became a child bearer and that the earth was cursed so it became hostile and needed to be brought into subjection rather than simply watched over.
We saw that God's solution to the problem was the 4th transformation where God became a man in the person of the incarnate Christ.
The story of Christmas from God's perspective is found in the dialogue between God the Father and God the Son on Christmas Eve. It is found in Heb 10:5-10; This is the key to understanding the fourth transformation.
Heb 10:5,"Therefore, when He entered the world He said (Psa 40:6-8;), `You (Father) do not desire sacrifices and offerings, but You have prepared for Me a human body.'"
Sacrifices and offerings refer to the ritual plan of God for Israel that taught Christology (Jesus Christ) and soteriology (salvation) by ritual analogy.
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity in a human body to become the Savior of the world. As God, He could have nothing to do with sin so His Deity could not receive the judgment for sin.
He had to become true humanity to become the Lamb of God. Eph 2:15; Phil 2:7-8; Col 1:22; 1Pet 2:24; 1Pet 3:18.
In addition, Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be the mediator between God and man. In Job 9:2; Job asks how can a man mediate with God and states that he can't.
This is because a mediator must be someone who is equal with both parties. In this case equal with both God and man; only the God-man Jesus Christ qualifies. 1Tim 2:5; "there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus."
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity in order to become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. A priest is a man who represents man before God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ became true humanity for that purpose. There could be no universal priesthood of Church Age believers and no high priesthood of Jesus apart from the first Christmas.
Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to fulfill the Davidic Covenant. For God had unconditionally promised to David that he would have a Son who would reign forever, 2Sam 7:8-16; Psa 89:20-37.
So Jesus Christ had to have a human body born from the royal line of David and He did. Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David. Mary was a descendant of Nathan and Joseph was a descendent of Solomon.
Of course only Mary's chromosomes were used since God the Holy Spirit impregnated her. Matt 1:18;
The ritual soteriology ( doctrine of salvation) of the dispensation of Israel used animal sacrifices to portray our so-great salvation. But these animal sacrifices were shadows, not capable of propitiating (satisfying) God the Father.
Heb 10:7; "`Behold, I have arrived in history (in a scroll of a book (Old Testament) it stands written about Me) to accomplish Your will, O God.'"
The first Christmas was the beginning of the Hypostatic Union of our Lord Jesus Christ, the beginning of the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, called the First Advent.
Our Lord goes on to recognize the validity of the Old Testament Scripture with the statement "I have arrived to accomplish Your will, O God."
From the moment He was placed in the manger our Lord had absolute confidence with regard to His destiny. Our Lord had a personal sense of destiny on the first Christmas Eve when the uncertainties of history were about to reach a new crescendo.
Just as Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union had a destiny, you as a believer in Jesus Christ likewise have a destiny.
The fact that you're alive and have received at least forty things at salvation means you have a destiny.
The fact that God has promised those who love Him that He works all things together for their ultimate good, means you have a destiny.
The fact that the protocol plan of God and your own portfolio of invisible assets are available to you means you have a destiny.
Heb 10:8-9; "After saying the above, `Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You been propitiated by them (the sacrifices are offered on the basis of the Law),
v9 then He said, `Behold, I have arrived to execute Your will.' He has taken away the first in order to establish the second."
With this statement, our Lord rescinded the Mosaic Law that had established the ritual plan for Israel, in order that He might establish the second: the protocol plan of God for the Church.
We are now under the "second," that is the protocol of the Church and all that God has provided for us in the Church Age. This refers to all that we have because of who and what Jesus Christ is as the God-man, because of the first Christmas.
Jesus and the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union forever stands as a barrier between the ritual plan for Israel and the protocol plan of God for the Church.
The dispensation of the Hypostatic Union establishes precedence for the Church Age.
The protocol plan of God supersedes the ritual plan of God. The new spiritual species of the Church Age supersedes the new racial species of Israel.
Heb 10:10; "By which will (purpose and plan) we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all."
This anticipates the fifth transformation, where the sinner, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone during the Church Age, becomes a new spiritual species and the royal family of God is established forever.
The fifth Metamorphism is where spiritually dead mankind becomes spiritually alive through faith in Christ.
The moment you personally believed in Jesus Christ, you went from being a sinner under spiritual death to a born-again member of the royal family of God, accomplished through the baptism of the Spirit and regeneration.
Regeneration occurs when God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit that God the Father imputes eternal life to. In order to live with God forever, you have to be as perfect as God so you receive the imputation of God's perfect righteousness. You also have to have God's life, which is eternal life.
Titus 3:5; "He saved us, not on the basis of the deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, but the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." John 3:16,18,36; Acts 16:31.
So sinful man, through faith in Jesus Christ, becomes regenerate man. This causes man to become spiritually alive. We are saved, not by works, but by God's mercy in regeneration that is made possible by Jesus Christ.
The other part of this transformation is accomplished by the baptism of the Spirit, Gal 3:26-28' "For all of you are the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
v27 for all of you have been baptized into union with Christ, and therefore have clothed yourselves with Christ.
v28 And there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for all of you are in union with Christ."
At the moment of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior every believer is entered into union with Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the means of creating a new spiritual species, the basis for our destiny. We have a destiny both through election and predestination.
The sixth Transformation is when the immature believer becomes mature.
Through the spiritual mechanics of the protocol plan of God, the Church Age believer can glorify God to the maximum as a winner believer. This is the great metamorphosis of the spiritual life.
When you reach spiritual maturity you become an invisible hero. This transformation is the result of the attainment of spiritual maturity through the execution of the protocol plan of God.
The daily metabolization of the thinking of Jesus that is contained in God's Word changes the believer from a spiritual baby to a spiritual adult.
This transformation provides a very personal sense of destiny. It makes you realize that no matter how uncertain the future events of history may be, God has provided a plan and purpose for every believer.
You are sustained logistically in the devil's world by God's grace. He provides everything it takes to keep you alive and to fulfill His objectives, and to have a life of meaning, purpose, definition, contentment, and happiness.
The seventh transformation is the when God transforms the royal family in to their resurrection bodies.
The body of corruption is exchanged for a body of incorruption at the Rapture or exit resurrection of the Church.
The seventh transformation is the believer in a resurrection body forever. This is the eternal transformation of the royal family having a resurrection body exactly like our Lord's, given at the Rapture of the Church. 1John 3:2;
John 11:25; "Jesus speaking to Martha about Lazarus said, `I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.'"
Paul discusses this in 1Cor 15:50-57; We have a purpose and destiny as believers now in time but we have an even greater purpose and destiny forever in eternity.
This was all made possible that first Christmas day when God took on humanity and they called Him Jesus.
Merry Christmas.