Jesus Christ is Our Intercessor at the Father’s Right Hand
1 John 2
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
What an incredible statement, “the Lord for the Body,” made by Apostle Paul. He
also said, “The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord.” (I Corinthians 6:13) In eight
verses Paul identified our “bodies” as Jesus’ temples and declares beyond all question
that the Son of God came to redeem our bodies and purchase them for Himself as His
purpose and place for all redemption. This passage of redemption revelation is beautiful.
“Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now
the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath
both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that
your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make
them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to
an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he
that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are
not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in
your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6:13-20)
The mystery of Christ’s death is more fully revealed right here than in any other
single passage of Scripture. Eight times Apostle Paul speaks of the body in this great
picture. The Creator made man to be His own joy and placed him in His own created
world to live out a special fellowship with his God. This creation was made in a unique
likeness to the Creator and was given a great measure of freedom to love God and be His
pleasure forever. In some strange way, one of God’s prior creations from His Heavenly
host became jealous and haughty. He led a rebellion among the angels and then led a
rebellion with Adam and Eve on earth. Satan was cast out of Heaven and with the
disobedience of Adam and Eve, he became the god of this earth. Man and all that God
had made for man to enjoy were corrupted. The only things that were defiled in this
rebellion were Satan, his followers, and the world of Adam and Eve. Heaven was
protected because Satan and his cohorts were cast out and down to the earth and earth’s
environment of the heavens above the earth. Satan and those angels he deceived cannot
be redeemed because they are reserved in darkness for the coming judgment. Hell was
created for their future abode.
But, our God and Creator had a different plan for His fallen race of man. He had
created Him for His pleasure and He immediately declared His intent to provide a
redemption plan. He even provided a covering so that Adam and Eve could come out of
hiding. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and
clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21) The Words of God also declared that in some unexplained
way He, the Creator, would use women in providing a future redemption and defeat of
Satan. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) Since woman
had been the first to be deceived by Satan, she would be required to provide the means of
Satan’s final defeat and man’s redemption.
The one reason that the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, born of woman, was
to redeem the body of a fallen race and the environment created for that race to enjoy. So,
then, when Apostle Paul said, “the Lord for the body,” he was speaking of the total
purpose of redemption. The holy angels, the Heaven where our God dwells, and all that
constitutes the possessions of the Godhead has no need of redemption because His
dwelling place is undefiled. Man and his world are the locations of all that is defiled and
Jesus Christ came to redeem it back to its original purity. The body that God created for
Adam and Eve, in which we are partakers, was to be, and has now been, redeemed from
sin and will soon experience full redemption from the consequence of sin. The apostle
spoke of that glory soon to be revealed. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:22-23)
The ultimate of all redemption is the body and its environment or dwelling place.
We must look at how our God preserved a bloodline of women for 4,000 years to provide
a body for the Eternal Son to make His sacrifice of redemption. The Father twice reached
into the pagan world, chose and redeemed Gentile women to be part of the “seed of
woman.” When Abraham took Sarah into Egypt and out of fear lied about her identity,
the Father, by His Spirit, smote the heart of the Pharaoh less he defile God’s seed. But,
when the “fullness of time was come,” the Father “sent forth His Son, made of a woman.”
(Galatians 4:4) The redemption of the body required a body for the “Redeemer.”
When the failure of sacrifices and offerings by flesh was clearly evident, our
Creator orchestrated the perfect answer to man’s dilemma. The Spirit said, as recorded to
the Hebrews, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldest not, but a Body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written
of me,) to do thy will, O God.” (Hebrews 10:4-7) God the Father, by the Holy Ghost,
provided a body for His only Begotten Son. In his Psalms, David had prophesied of this
truth as recorded in the Book of Hebrews. Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son and the Eternal
Word, spoke in the present tense in this prophecy of David hundreds of years before its
fulfillment. “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I
delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:7-8) Notice
carefully that His coming was in the “volume or totality of the Book.” His birth of
woman was not a secondary scheme or an afterthought of God. It was the one and only
plan and was a fulfillment of total truth and revelation.
The death of Jesus Christ and the shedding of His blood provided the sacrifice
required to redeem mankind. It was not His greatness as the Eternal Son of God that
redeemed us. He offered His body, “sanctified and sent into the world,” (John 10:36) as a
spotless offering for sin’s atonement. There are many efforts in this last generation to
provide redemption without the blood offering of the very body of the Son of Man/Son of
God. Every effort will fail and truth will prevail. The sacrifice of His “Body” as an
offering to God was the Father’s only plan from the foundation of the world. “… in the
book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8b)
Romans 3
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
In that great passage to the Hebrews the Holy Ghost plainly said, “A body has
Thou prepared me.” As the writer continued, He says, “By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” “For by one
offering (His Body) he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:10,
14) We must never forget that “His Body” was God’s offering for sin’s penalty. It was
“His Body” that was “striped” for our healing and “His Body” that was “smitten, stricken,
and afflicted of God” for our righteousness and deliverance.” (Isaiah 53:4-5)
The Apostle Paul goes even further in his letter to the Hebrew believers. We now
have a High Priest at the right hand of God that is our advocate and intercessor. He is
there in the glorified Body that was smitten and wounded. The marks of His sacrifice are
forever and indelibly written in His “Body” that sits at the right hand of God. Listen to
this. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to
say, his flesh (body); And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22) His flesh or
body is the veil, which stands between the Holy Place and Holy of Holies. When you
pray, your only doorway to the Father’s glory is the wounded body of the Son of God. If
you forget the cross and the sacrifice of His body and blood, prayer is a waste of time.
There is no other door or veil into the sanctuary of His wonderful presence. We either
enter by that veil or we do not enter.
Healing is by the Stripes on His “Body”
When Apostle Paul said, the Lord for the body, he knew whereof he spoke. The
early church was a church full of miracles and supernatural powers of the Holy Ghost.
The Son of God’s death was witnessed by a multitude. Slaying His body on the cross
started a sovereign move of revival and glorious conversions. Miracles were
commonplace because the people either saw His body mutilated or probably knew
someone who did. There was a powerful anointing that shook this great company of
people after His great sacrificial death and resurrection. By the thousands, people were
saved and many people were healed just by the shadow of some of these blessed saints.
The crucifixion of the Son of God “opened a fountain in the House of David for sin and
uncleanness.” (Zechariah 13:1)
That fountain is still open. Apostle Peter stated, “Who his own self bare our sins in
his own body on the tree (cross) that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (I Peter 2:24) The wounds inflicted on
His back are vicarious wounds. They have in them supernatural powers to heal the sick
and make the afflicted “every whit whole.” You cannot utterly trust the victory of those
wounds without receiving the triumph they represent for the human body. His body was
wounded, His sinless, perfect body, without Adam’s nature, was smitten with a Roman
whip in our place and stead. Sickness was totally absent in His sinless body. His body
was without guile and He did nothing to deserve His wounds. Instead, these stripes and
wounds were a sacrificial offering for every trusting soul. “By His stripes we were
healed.” It is finished.
1 John 4
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Our Bodies, Temples of the Holy Ghost
Every “born again” believer has been chosen to be a temple of the Holy Ghost.
The body of every believer has been set aside, purified, and justified. We are not our
own, but bought with a price. Holiness of lifestyle and separation from the world is
absolutely normal for any believer that has been transformed by the power of God.
Religious people of many different pagan religions make a determined effort to look and
dress like their faith teaches. Fundamental Muslims dress like Muslims. The same is true
of Hindus and other distinct religious groups.
Most of the church world has attacked and denigrated any idea of separation
among “born again” believers in today’s modern church. The result is that the church has
lost its sense of Godliness. The world and the church look alike, dress alike, and do the
same worldly activities. No wonder the church has had to turn to secular humanism and
self-help schemes to try to heal their wounded. There is power in a Godly and pure
lifestyle. To claim Godliness without the sanctification of the body is totally contrary to
Holy Scripture. God will not put His approval on such disobedience.
The message to the Saints of God is simple. “Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty.” (II Corinthians 6:17-18)
John said, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of
the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.” (I John 2:15-17) Our bodies have been delivered from the world of
fleshly living. We do not need legalism to deliver the truly “born again.” Their new life
repulses the old life and it is unclean to them.
We have been called unto “holiness.” Our dress will be a reflection of our desire to
present our “bodies” in a Godly light. Women will desire to be pure and feminine and
men will follow after a Godly masculine demeanor. It is natural to be what God has made
us to be when our bodies have been set-aside as the temple of the Holy Ghost. When God
made our bodies in His image, He made us and beautified us to honor the likeness of
Himself. When a person tries to change the beauty that is natural into an unnatural
appearance, something is wrong in the soul. We have been called unto holiness. “For God
hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” (I Thessalonians 4:7)
Philippians 2
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Body Will Soon be Glorified
Our “bodies” in their present form, must die. Sin is the fatal flaw, but in the life of
the redeemed person, sin has been put to death itself, so that the body can be a temple to
the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost in us renders sin powerless day by day that we might
live victoriously. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit
is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:10-11)
As we await our coming change, the Spirit quickens our mortal bodies. This is the
very lesson Jesus taught Mary and Martha before they reached the tomb of Lazarus.
Martha stated, “… I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus
said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world.” (John 11:24-27)
We are living in a spiritual resurrection as we await a bodily resurrection. This life
of the Holy Ghost in us is our guarantee of our future hope. It is the Spirit of God that
shall provide the very life of our coming resurrection. Paul said, “For we know that the
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now And not only they, but
ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:22-23)
The presence of the Holy Spirit renewing and sanctifying us daily is that firstfruit
of our coming glory. No wonder the five foolish virgins were left, because the oil (Holy
Spirit) was absent in their lamps. (Matthew 25:1-10)
The Glory of our New Bodies
Jesus ascended bodily and will return to reign on this earth bodily. When He was
resurrected, He came forth out of death and the grave with His eternal body. It was no
longer flesh and blood to return again to death, but a spiritual body. He was the firstfruits
of the First Resurrection, according to the Apostle Paul. Speaking by the Spirit, he said,
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”
“But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at
his coming.” (I Corinthians 15:20, 23)
The Apostle Paul also clarified that there is a distinction between the earthly body
and the spiritual body. “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it
is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man
Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” (I
Corinthians 15:42-45)
When we see Him, we shall be like Him. The glory of His spiritual body is an
example in which we shall share. While there will always be a distinction between the
Son of God and His redeemed saints, we will have a likeness to Him; beautiful to behold.
It will be an image of Him, not an equality with Him. “And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” (I Corinthians 15:49) The
letter to the Philippians adds measurably to this truth. “For our conversation is in heaven;
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall change our
vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Phil. 3:20-21)
It is exciting to see how intimately the body is emphasized in the entire scheme of
redemption. “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it
and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the
body.” (I Corinthians 6:13) The body is where sin was and is manifest and the body is
what Jesus came to redeem and then inhabit by His Holy Spirit. The sanctified bodies of
His saints now reveal the Lord Himself, by His Spirit to this world. We are His
ambassadors and messengers. He has committed unto His redeemed saints the glorious
gospel to proclaim. “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” (II Corinthians 5:19-20)
No wonder the devil hates Godly living and righteousness of lifestyle. Satan wants
to remake the believers in Christ into an image tainted by the world and its Hollywood
styles. The more like the world we look, the less like the image of Christ we project. No
wonder the Spirit said, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
Conclusion
Remember, the great statement made in the Spirit by the Apostle Paul. “And as we
have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” (I
Corinthians 15:49) This great truth places great responsibility on the saints. But, even
greater are the joys and hope of being His temple in this world and sharing His
Resurrection in the world to come. His great redemption plan is not just an exercise of the
mind or intellect leaving the body in the quagmire of unclean living. We are transformed
and sanctified “body, soul, and spirit” and “preserved blameless unto the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Thessalonians 5:23)