The Transcendent Humanity

THE TRANSCENDENT HUMANITY

Some of the text was taken from Perfecting Holiness.

Flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God. The first man, Adam, cannot enter the Kingdom of God. This is why we must be born again.

Have you ever wondered why God did not make us the way He wants us? We spend our discipleship dying to what we are, so that we may become a new creation in Christ. Why didn’t God make us the new creation to begin with? I have thought about this many times, as I have endeavored to overcome those pressures that seek to keep me as an adamic soul.

There are two forms of humanity:

The adamic soul, which was created in the Garden of Eden.
The life-giving spirit, which is the new creation in Christ.

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45 — NASB)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (II Corinthians 5:17)

The adamic soul is one form of humanity. The life-giving spirit is another form of humanity, a transcendent form.

When the Apostle Paul wrote that flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God, I think he was referring not to the physical body only, but to the entire first form of humanity, the living soul. I believe this because our Lord said that unless we are born again, we cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God.

Our first humanity is born of our mother and father. Our second humanity is born of God. It is a life-giving spirit.

All of us who have been disciples of the Lord for any period of time know the fight our first personality puts up as it seeks to remain alive. Our daily attempts to move from the first personality to the second are a long, difficult struggle.

I have spoken before of the shortcomings of religion, including the Christian religion. A religion is a set of beliefs and practices that we adhere to. It is our approximation of what God requires. It is not the same as fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it is sometimes destructive of our fellowship with Christ, as it calls attention to itself rather than to Jesus. I am not certain how many Christians understand this, thinking that all God requires is that they obey the requirements of their religion. The truth is, the best religion can do is to orient us to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and the atonement for our sins.

Religion may instruct us that God has given us grace so it is not necessary that we do what He has commanded. What a disabling error this is! Religion may teach us that at any moment, the Spirit of God will lift all Christian believers to Heaven where they will live for eternity in splendid mansions in their adamic state, unchanged in personality. This would be a miserable environment to be placed in, to say the least.

The religious Christian, until he or she is delivered from sin and self-seeking, cannot enter the Kingdom of God. It is not our belief in Christ that gives entrance into the Kingdom of God. It is the new creation, the new form of humanity, that by its very nature is qualified and competent to enter the Kingdom of God.

As I said at the beginning, I have pondered why God did not make us a life-giving spirit to begin with. Why make man twice, once as a living soul and then as a life-giving spirit, knowing how painful it would be for us to make the transition?

I do not pretend to understand fully God’s reason in working in this roundabout manner. But I believe at least part of the reason involves the power of choice that God has given us, and has given the angels also. We have the power to choose to remain a living soul, or to continue on to become a life-giving spirit. It is in the daily choosing that we make the transition. We can choose to save our adamic soul, or we can choose to let the Spirit of God slay it so we may partake of the Divine Nature. Probably the critical transition is produced in our mind. Our mind is hostile to God, the Bible says.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8)

Think about the passage above. Our adamic mind, which we were born with, is death. It is hostile to God. Why would God bring us into the world as His enemy? It is as we each day choose to embrace the wisdom and desires of the Spirit of God that we make the transition from the first form of humanity to the second. But this transformation of our mind requires that we present our body as a living sacrifice, always choosing to obey Christ.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1,2)

Perhaps it is the forming of obedience in us that is one of the reasons God is creating us in two stages. If He had made us in His image without our having to obey Him by choosing to leave our familiar personality, we might not learn obedience to the extent God requires.

We are to be changed into the transcendent humanity by the renewing of our minds. One of the emphases of the age in which we are living is that of electronic communication devices, including social networking programs. Do we have any idea how these devices and programs are molding our minds — especially the minds of the young people?

We renew our minds as we keep bringing Christ into our thoughts, words, and actions all through each day, and each night when we are awake. We keep speaking to Christ, asking Him to guide and help us. As He continually knocks, seeking entrance to our personality, we are to continually open to Him at all times and in every situation.

I do not mean that we only ask Christ to answer our prayers, although that certainly is a great part of our speaking to Christ. Rather, we are to keep referring our desires, plans, and ambitions to Him. Jesus Christ is interested in the smallest aspects of our behavior. If God knows the sparrow that falls, and the number of the hairs on our heads, how much more is He interested in what we are thinking, planning and hoping for?

It appears that the new form of humanity is created as we keep choosing to invite Christ into all of our being and doing. Ordinarily, we choose and plan our behavior according to what we think is best, based on our understanding and experience. In the new world of righteousness, the world governed by life-giving spirits, we do not choose and plan our behavior according to what we think is best; rather, we look to Jesus and keep thinking, speaking, and acting according to what we are hearing from Him.

The Light that fills the new Jerusalem is not that of the sun. The light is the Life of God in Christ. The nations of saved people on the earth also walk by the light that is the Life of Christ because it radiates from the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is the Tabernacle of God, the eternal House of God consisting of Christ and the members of His Body.

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:4)
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. (Revelation 21:24)

This is how Jesus lives. It is the eternal Sabbath, the rest of God which Hebrews emphasizes. Jesus thinks, speaks, and acts according to what He hears from the Father. In this manner, He and His Father are One. It is the will of God that we think, speak, and act according to what we hear from Christ. In this manner, we and Christ become One. This is the Kingdom of God. This is the Light of God by which we are to live.

Each member of the new world of righteousness, from the highest ranking ruler to those in lower positions, will live as a part of Christ: some to a hundredfold extent, some to a sixtyfold extent, and some to a thirtyfold extent. Thus the entire creation will be subject to Christ, and Christ will be subject to the Father.

For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (I Corinthians 15:27,28)

When Christ on the cross exclaimed “It is finished,” not only the atonement was completed and finished, the entire adamic creation was completed and finished.

In II Corinthians chapter five, Paul speaks of the body from Heaven that will clothe our resurrected flesh and bones, of the Judgment Seat of Christ, and of the new creation. These all are related. Notice that the Judgment Seat of Christ is central to these three concepts:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (II Corinthians 5:10—NKJV)

“Each one may receive the things done in the body.” The preceding verses, in the fifth chapter, speak of the body from Heaven we will receive at the appearing of Christ. That body will contain the things we have practiced on the earth. It will reveal a corrupt nature due to what we have practiced while living on the earth, or it will reveal a life-giving nature.

When we choose to overcome by our new Divine Nature, we are trading the lesser for the greater. Think of our adamic traits as an old, worn out suit of clothes we are exchanging for a wonderful garment of splendor that will never wear out. Our new clothes will be clean, attractive, holy, and will rejoice in righteous behavior. They are referred to in the Scriptures as sparkling white linen.

Too often, I think, the Christian salvation is considered to be that of patching up our old suit of clothes. Rips here and there are repaired. Salvation is not like that. It is a brand new suit, a transcendent humanity. It is not the same old Adam made acceptable to God by being overhauled.

As we look ahead to verses 17 and 18 in chapter five, we notice the new creation. The new creation comes into being as we have pursued the Holy Spirit during our lives on the earth. The body from Heaven that will clothe our resurrected flesh and bones, at the appearing of Christ, is an integral part of the new creation, the life-giving spirit.

We can begin to understand why God began with a flesh and blood creation before moving to what He really desires. Had He begun with the life-giving spirit, there would be the possibility that we would, as Satan did, attempt to usurp God’s position. A life-giving spirit will be a powerful person in the new world. Instead, God made us similar to the animals in order to humble us and to prevent our doing eternal damage.

Obedience is the issue. As we, by obeying the Spirit of God, are transformed into life-giving spirits, and this through numerous tribulations, the virtue of obedience to Christ becomes engraved in our personalities. We overcome the temptations to disobey until a rod of iron righteousness and obedience to Christ are created in us. This is why the rewards go to the overcomers.

It appears to me that most Christian people are not overcomers. They are not making the transition from living souls to life-giving spirits. In fact, they may not have even been taught that such a transition is a necessary part of entering the Kingdom of God.

What then can we say? That the Kingdom of God will consist only of a handful of the believers and the rest will remain in the Land of Darkness? I do not believe this is the case. I believe our present life is but the barest introduction, for most of us, to the Kingdom that God has in mind. If that is the case, then our lives in the spirit world, after we die, will consist largely of continuing instruction in the nature of the Kingdom of God. Can people change from living souls to life-giving spirits while resident in the spirit world? Why not? I suspect, however, that the inner strength by which the victorious saints will govern the world may be formed only during the fires of life in the present world.

I do not see why other aspects of the new creation, such as the fruit of the Spirit, cannot be acquired during life in the spirit world. Of course, this implies that our lives after death will consist of instruction and growth, and not, as presently imagined, of reclining in mansions doing nothing of significance for eternity.

Our new lives, the life of the life-giving spirit, may not include many aspects of our present physical, mental, and emotional personalities. If it does contain some of these aspects, they may be in a vastly superior form. For example, the various talents that people have today, such as art, music, drama, or other innate abilities such a mathematical proficiency or teaching, may continue in our new humanity. However, I rather suspect they will be purified in some manner and lifted to a much higher level.

Since our present world was created from the spirit world, it is likely that the two worlds may be similar in many respects. We will be eternally happy only when we are doing what we have been created for. To do what we have been created to do, freely and without coercion, requires that money not be used as a means of commerce. We give freely what we produce and receive freely what we need or desire.

Such an unhindered transfer of goods and services will be possible only as greed, selfishness, laziness, covetousness, and other destructive attitudes have been removed from us. The Paradise we all are hoping for is not possible as long as one self-seeking, self-centered person is present. Such people will be held in areas of instruction until they are able to be part of a loving, peaceful, joyous, righteous society.

Many of our attitudes and emotions may be part of the adamic nature, and often are inflamed by demons, and no longer will be present in the new world of righteousness.

The spirit of romanticism will no longer be present, I believe. Romanticism presents itself as true love. It is not. True love comes from God and is permanent. Romanticism is temporary and fragile, depending on appearances and situations. Romantic love, or infatuation, can change in a moment to murderous hatred. Such “love” has no place in the new world of righteousness. One of the prominent characteristics of our original nature is that of “falling in love.” This may include crushes, infatuations, love at first sight, flirtation, love-sickness, poetic fancies and dreams, and similar elements of romanticism. Such attractions are not rational. They often are based on the reproductive urge, although this fact may not be evident. The spirit of romanticism is illusory and deceiving. The reproductive urge is of God. It is honest, although in our day, it often is influenced by demons and may lead to perverse or even criminal acts. What seems beautiful and ethereal can prove to be destructive, morally filthy, and a habitation of unclean spirits.

There are many other forms of love, such as the love of the mother and father for their children. What forms love will take in the new world of righteousness I am not prepared to say. But they will be of God in every instance, accompanied by genuine righteousness, joy, eternal peace, and every other desirable feature.

There will be no lying in the new world. God does not lie, and there will be nothing in the Kingdom of God that is not in the image of God.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:14,15)

If accepting Christ as our Savior does not lead us in paths of righteousness, then the Lord is not truly our Shepherd and the promises of Psalm 23 do not apply to us.

A Christian is a saint, a holy one. If we are not pursuing holiness of being and righteousness of behavior, we are not a genuine saint, not a genuine Christian, regardless of our profession of belief or our religious affiliation. All of God’s elect, His people, are commanded to be holy. Then there is holiness of rank, which concerns our calling as members of the royal priesthood and our placement in the Kingdom of God.

All saved human beings are to be made in God’s image, to be free from all uncleanness, and to behave righteously. But some are called to a higher rank in the Kingdom, and on this basis, possess more Divine Life and more holiness of personality.

We now are in a period in the Kingdom of God when God is judging us concerning the darkness that is in us. Divine judgment reveals to us what is spiritually clean and what is spiritually unclean. We are to press forward in God until our new personalities have been perfected in holiness.

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13:41-43)

When Divine fire burns away the uncleanness, and the Life of Jesus Christ enters, then righteousness shines forth as the sun.

It is not enough that we be delivered from unclean attitudes and motives. Such deliverance alone would leave us neutral, a house swept and decorated. Rather, the Life of Christ must be formed in us. Such power is necessary if we are not to fall back into uncleanness of attitude, and the resulting unrighteous, sinful behavior.

The raising of Lazarus is a picture of someone who has been called forth from the dead but is still bound with the grave clothes of unclean attitudes and motives. God does not condemn us because of our grave clothes. But God does condemn us if we do not cooperate with the Spirit of God in putting our uncleanness of motive and behavior to death through the Spirit.

Our inner bondages, the spiritual darkness in us, are not our fault until we refuse to obey the Spirit of God as He invites us forward to full deliverance. In fact, deliverance from unclean spirits is our reward for seeking Christ’s help in obeying the commandments found in the New Testament.

In the Day of Judgment, we will not be judged based on being born with an unclean, rebellious personality, but on the basis of our faith and diligence in responding to the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Our inner spiritual darkness is a destructive, corrupting bondage. If we are wise, we will come to Christ that we may be delivered, that Christ may destroy the works of Satan that are part of our personalities.

A treacherous, faithless spirit, and lack of integrity, are characteristic of our first personality. The Lord Jesus Christ is faithful and true. We must receive His integrity if we are to be in the image of God. Self-centeredness, self-love, self-will, also abound in the adamic nature. If we are to find love, joy, and peace, we must become an eternal part of God through Jesus Christ. God has given us our personal cross so our self-centeredness will be destroyed, releasing us into the ability to emphasize what will benefit the Lord and mankind.

An ungrateful attitude will be converted to thanksgiving when Christ is in us. The Lord Jesus does what is pleasing to God whether or not it is enjoyable to do so. He will help us adopt this attitude.

A gossiping, slandering spirit must be replaced with speech that builds up the believers. Christ formed in us will accomplish this. An undisciplined tongue is not part of the image of God. The Spirit of Christ will help us overcome this sin.

The spirit of fear, cowardice, timidity, is unclean and must be replaced with the courage of Christ. The fear of change is not holy. We are to be filled with the confidence of the Lord Jesus Christ when faced with change. If we will ask the Lord Jesus, He will replace our fear of success or fear of failure with His confidence in His Father. Christ always is ready to receive favor and glory — whatever the Father has chosen for Him.

A man-pleasing spirit, seeking the approval of people, must be done away, giving place to Christ’s attitude, who speaks and acts to please the Father.

Fear of a lack of money or of material provisions must be replaced with Christ’s absolute confidence and trust in God to provide all His physical needs.

An indulgent, weak nature must yield to the iron righteousness of Christ. How can we sit on the throne with Christ and govern with Him if we are indulgent and weak?

The suspicious spirit must be filled with the knowledge of Christ — knowledge that is gained through constant prayer to God.

A jealous, envious spirit must be replaced with Christ’s contentment — contentment based on His understanding of His secure place in God’s Person.

All forms of witchcraft, fortune telling, tea leaves, astrology, seeking to bring something to pass by imaging it or believing or speaking it into existence, must be driven from us until we depend on prayer and faith in Christ. This includes the current “faith,” “prosperity,” and “imaging” practices.

This also includes astrology-type personal prophecies. Believers become addicted to these in place of finding God’s will by presenting their bodies a living sacrifice. There is, however, a proper place for personal prophecies, but only under the supervision of godly elders.

A desire to be seen as mysterious or as having occult powers is unclean. The idea of being a sorcerer or magician can be appealing to Christians. They may desire to bring other believers into bondage by directing them with prophetic words. When we are filled with Christ, we move in the supernatural realm, but we make the supernatural natural.

Grandiose prophecy usually is not of the Lord. Sometimes God does speak to us of marvels, but much of the prophecy we are hearing today tends to glorify us and not the Lord Jesus. It is unclean. When Christ has become our life, God deals with us in simple, unpretentious terms. We do not hear how great we are, how we are going to be revealed as all-powerful sons of God before the return of the Lord Jesus.

Self-justifying defensiveness is terribly destructive. If we are to have the peace of Christ and move forward in Him, we absolutely must let Him be the One who justifies our behavior. This He will do after He chastens us for any wrongdoing on our part.

Blaming other people for our troubles is the wrong way to respond to pain. Instead, we should go to the Lord for relief and not look at the tools the Lord is using to teach us His ways. A sensitive, easily offended spirit must be replaced with the buoyant attitude of the Lord.

The traits mentioned above, and others mentioned in my book, Perfecting Holiness, must be removed or brought into the Divine nature. They are part of the adamic creation. They never were meant to be permanent. They serve their purpose while we are moving to the true, eternal humanity.

Our natural courage must be transformed by Christ’s courage. Our natural kindness must be transformed by Christ’s kindness. The wood of the adamic nature must become permeated with the gold of the Divine Nature. Otherwise, our natural traits will not endure if sufficiently powerful evil comes against them.

Our adamic humanity is filled with various attitudes and motivations. Although we may attempt to cling to them, when they are not filled with Christ, they actually are chains that prevent eternal righteousness and genuine, lasting love, joy, and peace. The adamic race, its physical, emotional, and mental characteristics, are contrary to the best interests of God and us. These attitudes and passions work against righteousness, love, joy, and peace. Only the transcendent humanity will satisfy God and us.

In the new world, we will live as part of Christ, obeying Him in every detail rather than determining our own way.

Righteous behavior on the part of His creatures, which always is God’s ultimate goal, depends on an inward change. First, we strive to obey the commands in the New Testament, always going to the Throne of Grace to obtain wisdom and strength so we can indeed keep these commandments. As we keep these commandments, holiness is created in our inward nature. As holiness is created in our inward nature, our inward holiness governs our outward behavior so that we behave righteously.

The Divine Nature grows within us slowly but surely, if we keep on listening to Jesus and obeying Him diligently. It takes the place of the adamic nature. It is eternal life. It is the Life of God that comes to us as we feed continually on the body and blood of Christ. Line upon line, commandment upon commandment, we make the transition from the adamic humanity to the transcendent humanity. We receive the mind of Christ, bringing every thought into captivity to Him. We are transformed into His image, first, in our inward nature, and then, in the Day of Resurrection, in His outward appearance.

Also, equally or even more important than our transformation, is our state of being in the rest of God. We are to abide always in the very center of God’s Person and will. All that God, from the beginning of time, has determined to be our destiny will be totally fulfilled in us as we keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus and obey Him in every detail of our thinking, speaking, and acting.

We understand, therefore, that our keeping of Christ’s commandments is a scaffolding that holds us up until holiness is created in us. Inward holiness, the writing of the eternal moral law of God on our mind and heart, is itself the new covenant of salvation.

The Lord Jesus Christ is anointed with the fullness of the Spirit of God that He might transform His people, changing them from spiritually oppressed, defeated individuals, into oaks of righteousness. When this transformation has been accomplished, the oaks of righteousness will rebuild all that has been destroyed by sin.

We have been given the authority for character transformation by the blood atonement made on the cross of Calvary. We have been given the wisdom and power necessary for character transformation through the baptism with the Spirit of God.

Now the time has come on God’s calendar for the actual character transformation to take place. This era of redemption was prefigured in the seven Levitical observances, especially the annual Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement follows the feast of Pentecost. The twentieth century was the century of Pentecost. The twenty-first century will be that of the Blowing of Trumpets, of the Day of Atonement, and, finally, the feast of Tabernacles.

“Lord, I pray I always may think as Christ is thinking; speak as Christ is speaking; and act as Christ is acting. I pray I will be filled with all the Fullness of God. I pray that at His coming, I will receive a body like that of Christ. I pray there will be in me not one trait that is not found in the Lord Jesus Christ. May this be true of me, and all who hear me, for eternity.”

(“The Transcendent Humanity”, 3893-1, proofed 20211109)