“Go, tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.” Matthew 28:9-10
“For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:29
“We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2
Several years ago, when I was being interviewed by a pastoral search committee, I somehow got on the topic of what it means to be Jesus’ “brother” and how believers are part of an entirely new human race. I was shocked to discover that the committee members had never heard of this truth before. In fact, they thought I was being a little weird. Consequently, I never heard from them again.
But it’s true. We believers are in fact members of a new human race, with Jesus Christ being our “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). That is, just as Adam founded the first human race, Jesus, the “last Adam,” has founded a new human race. And just as we bear the consequences of the first Adam’s disobedience, now we bear the blessings of the second Adam’s obedience.
To understand what it means to be a part of this new human race that Jesus started, we need to do a brief review of Christology.
Simply put, Jesus Christ is God. He always has been God and he always will be God. But as the second person of the Trinity, he laid aside his glory – but not his divinity – and, in the Incarnation, became a man. Jesus lived a sinless life. Died on the cross for our sins. Arose from the dead and ascended as a man into heaven where he lives as both God and man in glory, ruling over all creation.
Now here’s the startling truth. Jesus the God/man, who is now exalted in glory and seated at God the Father’s right hand, is our brother in his glorified humanity. He is the “first born among many brothers.” That is, he is the first iteration of an entirely new human race. And when we see him, we, too, will be like him in as glorified human beings.
I love this truth. I think about it all the time. It would be enough for me to be like Jesus as he was on earth. That would be so, so cool. But that’s not it at all. We’re going to be like Jesus as he is in heaven now.
And that is all the hope I’ll ever need.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North American and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt their widowed and single parents in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free training site called New Commandment Men’s Ministry
Learn how to mobilize your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church here.
_______________________________________________________________
Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
