The never-ending experiment… (pt 5)

Updated in July to walk with you further.

Let’s go back to the surface identity and the core identity. Remember, it was explained that the surface identity is external and the core identity is internal? To look at it biblically, these two concepts can be viewed as the flesh (surface identity) and the spirit (core identity). Galatians 5:17 tells us that there is always conflict between the flesh and spirit. Our actions reflect which influence is dominant.

Humanity is born with a natural inclination to sin. Ephesians 2:1-3 describes humanity’s sinful condition, stating, “…you were dead in trespasses and sins.” Though physically alive, we were enslaved to the desires of our flesh, allowing sin to control our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This inherited sin nature keeps us out of alignment with God, operating within a corrupted world where Satan actively flexes his power and influence over the people. We see this all around us today, and throughout Scripture where people reject the true God and worship false idols—from money and power to our own pride and rebellion.

When God breathed the breath of life in Adam, he became a living creature. It is that breath of life that sustains all of humanity. When the barrier separated humanity from God due to sin, humanity became unworthy to be in God’s presence. It’s like being cut off from the life source, making us incomplete and leaving a void that we constantly crave to fill. Without that connection to our Creator, we desperately try to fill this emptiness with anything the world offers, which puts us on the path of destruction. This internal struggle between the flesh and the spirit is not something that we can overcome on our own. Only spiritual restoration and redemption can reconcile us back to God.

Scripture warns us, “…Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan doesn’t appear with horns and the theatrical gimmicks that the world often portrays. His schemes are in a way that imitate God and His ways. The world will tell you that you are created in God’s image, and in that same breathe it’ll show you its god, Satan. This is why it is vital to your existence to utilize those skills — thinking critically, researching diligently (or should I say studying the Word of God), and leaning on His wisdom for knowledge and understanding — to be able to discern what is good because it is the dialogue in the garden and the choice that follows it that sets the stage for the ongoing struggle between good and evil. As Scripture declares, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

Throughout the Old testament, there were several prophets, who have been called by God to deliver messages to His people, the nation of Israel, about the coming Messiah, meaning anointed one or Christ. The prophet Isaiah, for instance, prophesied that the Messiah will be born to a virgin and called Immanuel, meaning “God is with us” (Isaiah 7:14). The New Testament then reveals the fulfillment of this prophecy and other prophecies. In the Gospel of Matthew, Scripture confirms the miraculous birth of Jesus to a virgin, born to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:18-25). Jesus’s identity as the one who God has sent is the central theme of the Gospels. In a conversation with his disciples, Jesus asked them who people said he was. After they named off John the Baptist, Elijah, and other prophets, Jesus then asked them a more direct question: “Who do you say I am?” It was Simon Peter who said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded that this truth was not revealed to Peter by flesh and blood, but by God the Father (Matthew 16:13-20). This highlights that the recognition of Jesus’s divine nature is a spiritual revelation.

The Gospel of John provides a deeper understanding of Jesus’s divine nature. It begins with a powerful declaration:

1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5)

This passage identifies, “the Word” as a divine being who pre-existed with God from the very beginning of creation. The Word is not only with God but is God, and all of creation came into being through him. The Gospel of John further clarifies the identity of the Word, stating, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This confirms that the divine Word, who is God, took on human form as Jesus Christ.

The understanding of Jesus as God manifested in the flesh also helps to interpret a key passage from Genesis 1:26, where God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The use of “us” and “our” here is understood to be a reference to the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These are three distinct persons as one God, co-equal in power, glory, and eternal existence.

Jesus’s words and actions were pure and truthful. He lived a sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21), ministered about the kingdom of God, called people to repentance, and demonstrated his divine power through healing the sick and performing miracles. All of this led to the appointed time of his crucifixion (John 12:23 - 26). Through his suffering and sacrifice on the cross with the shedding of his blood, he satisfied God’s righteous anger against the sin of humanity. He was treated as sin even though he never sinned. He took on the punishment that we deserved. Before giving up his spirit while on the cross, he said: “It is finished” (John 19:30). Meaning, the debt of sin is paid in full. Through this, all Old Testament prophecies have been fulfilled, sin and death are defeated, and those who believe in Christ are restored and reconciled to a holy God. Jesus came to make right what was wrong, and it is through faith in him alone that we can be made righteous. No human effort or works could ever make us right with God. Belief in Jesus’s birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and his second coming is the very path leading us back to an eternal life.

As the Gospel of John confirms:

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16-18)

Jesus’s atoning work was not only for the Jews but for all of humanity, which is everyone else in the world…you, me, and so forth. Salvation is a gift offered to those who believe in Christ.

When we accept God’s love and the atonement of Jesus’s sacrifice, we can fully surrender in repentance and turn to Christ. His resurrection—the fact that death could not hold him—and his ascension into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of the Father, provides believers with hope. We can persevere in faith, knowing that when Christ returns, both the living and the dead who have remained faithful will be taken up with him in glory.

In Christ, we become a new creation, made whole and perfect in God’s sight by His grace. We are declared righteous because of our faith in his finished work on the cross. When you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you are saved (Romans 10:9). God takes up residence in you through the Holy Spirit. He purifies your heart and mind, guiding you to live righteously.

When the Holy Spirit dwells within you, He transforms your thinking, emotions, behavior, and worldview. You no longer define yourself by the world’s shifting standards that is influenced by Satan. You are reconciled with the true living God and adopted into His family as His child, among brothers and sisters in the faith who are doing the will of the Father. God calls us to be in fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ, because it is only in him we are saved and led to live a life of righteousness, fully submitting ourselves under the authority of Christ. We now operate within a kingdom with Christ as our King, and we reflect his teachings and values as we use our God-given gifts to build up the people of God and point others to Him through Jesus, all to glorify God.

The ultimate conclusion of the “never-ending experiment” is that eventually it comes to an end. It is time that you acknowledge that there are only two options: life or death; good or bad; righteousness or wickedness; God or Satan. May you obey the calling of God drawing you to Jesus, leading you to the path of eternal life.

Morgan