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STUDY TWELVE
Jesus Christ: The Purpose of the Ages
A Study in Scriptural Integrity:
Jesus Christ's Place in History
Jesus is the Purpose of the Ages, the Fulcrum of History, the Protagonist
of all Scripture.
It is completely necessary to look at the one
basic purpose of Scripture to understand the nuances. In this study we will attempt to portray the
importance of understanding the things regarding Jesus Christ, who is the
fulcrum of history. In Biblical and in very real terms, Jesus
Christ is the purpose of the ages, the Chosen One of God. The Bible talks of a time when man lived for
hundreds of years. Beginning with Adam and on through to Noah, one could expect
to live hundreds of years. Adam lived a total of nine hundred and thirty
years, nine hundred of those after the casting out of Eden. Enoch was a youngster when he died, a mere
three hundred and sixty five years old. Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty nines
years old when he died, and it is conceivable that since he died the year of
Noah's flood, he actually died of rising water rather than old age! And Noah was already six hundred years old
the year of the flood. After the flood he lived another three hundred and fifty
years. But afterwards, those born had decreasing
life expectancies. Noah's son Shem lived six hundred years, but he was born
prior to the flood. His son Arphaxad lived only to be four hundred and thirty
eight. The son of Arphaxad, Eber, lived four hundred
and sixty four years, but his son Peleg lived only to be two hundred and thirty
nine. Six generations later, Abram (Abraham) lived
only to be one hundred and seventy five, and was considered to be "old and
full of years." Five hundred years later, the Kings of Israel
were living to be sixty or seventy. This continued in Israel until the time of
Christ, but the average inhabitant of the Roman Empire, of which Israel was
then a part, could only expect a twenty-two year lifespan! What had happened? Adam was designed for eternal life. Death was
not an inherent part of his makeup. He was to replenish the earth, ruling over
it. Death entered in when? When he partook of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. Until then, there is no record of death or
illness or weakness in Eden. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. "And unto Adam he said, Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which
I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for
thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Genesis 3:16-19 After the sin of man death is now a part of
his life. But did his body instantly lose its original
design? No. Degradation took generations to
increasingly integrate into the genetic structure of man. Each generation was
less and less the picture of perfect Adam. Spiritually, Man died the day he partook of
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But it took nine hundred years for the body
of Adam to perish. Adam's body had been designed to last forever, as long as it
was in a spiritually correct environment. Even in a fallen world, it lasted nine
hundred more years. But his very DNA was marred by sin. His seed
was corrupt. So Adam's children lived shorter lives, and
their children even shorter. Inbreeding also took a toll on life
expectancy. With perfect DNA, Adam's sons could have mingled with Adam's
daughters without negative effect. No sin, no guilt, no detriment. But the inbreeding of fallen sons with fallen
daughters had negative effects on the gene pool, as any geneticist will tell
you. This also contributed to the degradation of the life expectancy. The Law of Israel forbade inbreeding. The
laws of gentiles did not, and this may help explain (although there were other
factors, most dealing with obedience to God) why the average Jew in the Roman
world lived longer than their gentile contemporaries. So two factors in a decreased life expectancy
that shrunk over the ages are sin in the blood and inbreeding. Some say that
“years were shorter” in Biblical times, since they “didn’t know how long it
took” for the earth to circle the sun. Years were not shorter then. The measuring of
days and years were not significantly different. Biblical years were as much
based on the seasons, which take a year any way you look at it, as they are
now. From the creation of Adam to the creation of
Christ, man's life expectancy truly declined gradually. Two thousand years after Christ, the life
expectancy has risen again. What happened? Jesus Christ. True, science can take its fair share of
credit. But it was Christian ideals that allowed for
a flowering of European civilization that in turn promoted science. Indeed, it
was after the Reformation, a return in theology to Christian roots in European
universities, that thought was allowed to expand. For the first time the wise
men of many nations truly embraced Christian values rather than pagan Roman or
superstitious ones. The truth remains that it was in a
Christianized (not Romanized) environment that overall life expectancies began
to rise again. After the rooting of Reformation European life expectancies rose
again to forty years and plus. With Euro-Christian dominance, the world has
come to an average lifespan of above sixty. The mere existence and influence of Christ on
a dead world made that much difference. Christ brought life, and life is like light,
it shines on whoever is present. “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. “The same was in the beginning with God. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that
was made. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4 In God is life, and Christ has been sent to
reveal God as Father, as Giver of life. “Therefore, brethren, we are
debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Rom. 8:12-14 Walking in the Spirit, not as carnal
Christians but as spiritual, literally brings life to our physical lives. "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this
water shall thirst again: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life. " John 4:13-14 Jesus has a well of water that springs into
eternal life. Life expectancy will improve further with the
actual reign of Jesus Christ on earth. "There shall be no more thence an infant
of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die
an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be
accursed." Isaiah 65:20 This will be during the so-called
"Millennium Kingdom," a thousand year period of Jesus' rule over
earth. A young one of Israel or righteous will be an hundred, and a sinner
living for iniquity will not die till reaching that age. And after that, when all is established in
God, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no
more sea. "And I John saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their
God. "And God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away." Revelations 21:1-4 Death itself shall be abolished! All this hinges on the life of Jesus Christ.
His entrance into human history was the pivotal point of creation and of human
history. All events that carried any eternal significance before his coming
looked to his appearing, and all events carrying eternal significance since
have sprung from it. "Unto me, who am less than the least of
all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ; "And to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid
in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: "To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God, "According to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:" Ephesians 3:8-11 How important is Jesus to the purpose of
history? Verse eight says the riches of Christ were
untraceable, because in verse nine they were hid in God. But in verse nine the purpose of creation
itself is attributed to Christ! That's right. It says the mystery of how important Christ
would be had been hid in God, but that God created all things for the purpose
of Christ! The translation reads "hid in God, who
created all things by Jesus Christ." But the word "by" is
"dia" in the Greek, and means "because of." God created all things for the purpose of
bringing about Jesus Christ, and all else hinges upon him. The creation of the world hinges upon Jesus
Christ. The calling of Israel, the creation of the
Church, the very purpose of all the ages depended upon the coming of Jesus to
Israel. Jesus Christ IS the very eternal purpose of
God. Then, I ask, what should our own personal
lives hinge on? Yes, we should fellowship with our heavenly
Father, for none is so tremendous as He. But Jesus is our Lord. He is to rule over us.
After all, Jesus is our mediator. He enables
us to fellowship with the Father in the first place. Jesus is head of the Church. We are one with
him. He is our brother, firstborn of many
brethren. In him we are heirs with God. In him we have access to God, we have
fellowship one with another, and we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. Do not be ashamed to bow before the Man of
God, Jesus the Lord. He is God's first son, he is God's chosen priest, he is
exalted above all powers and principalities. He is Lord. Do we want fellowship with God? Of course. We want to know God as a Father. No man comes to God as a Father but through
Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ is the eternal purpose of God, and in him we
have our all in all. And Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh, and
to make sense of the Word made into a book, one must go to the Lord Jesus
Christ, about whom the book was written, and who is the purpose of the ages,
and in whom is found the truth that will make us free. Amen? Amen!
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