Behold the Man
The eternal Christ, the Logos which governs the universe – what we might think of today as the one ultimate law of physics from which every other law emerges – came to earth in flesh as Jesus the man to show us what we do to Him in spirit.[1] Jesus the man provided a momentary, visible object lesson to illuminate a perpetual, invisible reality. Jesus the man perfectly embodied the Truth Itself; therefore, the people of His time and place responded to Him in the flesh as all people of every time and place respond to the Truth in spirit – ultimately, by crucifying Him, thereby removing Him from themselves in hopes of sparing themselves from subjection to Him.
On the cross, Jesus the man demonstrated the consequence of sin, lifted up like the bronze serpent Moses held before the Israelites in the wilderness. Serpents bit the Israelites and killed them with poison, but all who looked upon the bronze serpent were saved. Our sin crucifies Christ, the Light of the world and the Life of men – not only once in history in Jerusalem in the flesh, but every day in every place in spirit. We must learn this or perish, and we learn by looking at Jesus the man on the cross.
Our sin separates us from the Truth; sin is separating ourselves from the Truth. When we sin, we murder the Truth in ourselves, removing it from ourselves in hopes of sparing ourselves from subjection to it. When we sin, we depart from the Way of life like a traveler departing from the trail that would lead him safely through a dangerous jungle. When we sin, we smash the compass that guides us safely and effectively through life in this reality, and we become lost.
But Christ does not remain in the grave. The resurrection in the flesh announced the forgiveness of sins in spirit – not just once in history in Jerusalem, but every day in every place. Like the father of the prodigal son, God gives us new chances to join in His life – to become one with Truth – not just once, but seventy times seven times.
[1] Why? Because God, the Ground of all things, in His loving kindness, desired to save us from darkness and death by illuminating the fatal consequence of rejecting Him, the Source of all life.