The Purpose of Mankind Through the Christ: Pt. I

The State of the Church

The Christ, Jesus, as one man with one purpose, changed the face of the entire world for all time.  Because of His life, ministry, death, and subsequent resurrection, the little known nation of Israel, still just a regional entity with what was considered a regional Deity, became an influence on the future of society that affects us even to this day.  Our justice system in the United States, and for that matter most of the Democratic world, is based on Mosaic Law, even to the seven year disbursement of a Bankruptcy being reported on ones Credit Analysis.[1]  Based on the concept of the “Jubilee Year,” and only adapted to a ten year period in the waning years of the Twentieth Century, it parallels the “Sabbath” effect on the forgiveness of and canceling of debts as set forth in the Torah.

But, this was not God’s principle purpose in the sending of His Son into the world.  It was to reestablish the bond between man and God; never truly reforged “in toto” after the disobedience of Eden, and again place mankind in the proper position of Dominion[2] (authority) over the earth and all therein, a Dominion abdicated by Adam for all mankind by His sin.[3]  Jesus, by His words first, but mostly through His actions, gave us a step by step example to follow.

Quickly, a look at His words, using the Olivet Discourse, or as it is more commonly known, the Sermon on the Mount, as a starting place.  The lessons imparted here were so impacting on the followers of Jesus that it consumes three chapters and over one hundred verses of Matthew’s Gospel.[4]  Much commentary has been written on these well known passages, and there is probably not a Sunday goes by that one or another portion isn’t expounded at length from numerous pulpits across the nations.  But, do we really absorb the message in these verses?  Do we truly understand the impact of these words?

Look to the life of the Christ for the answer.  Everything He said and did reflected results found in these words.  Nothing better expresses the Christ than these passages.  Nothing identifies the character of the Christ better than this group of lessons; or does it?  The Beatitudes, Parables, and instructions found here, and, of course, through out the record of the Gospels, are not the character of the Christ, nor are they even the character of the believer.  In fact, they define the character of God, a God so compassionate that He sent His Son as a sacrifice for wretched mankind in its depths of sin.  The evidence of these attributes in the life and ministry of Jesus and, through Him, that evidence in us, is the measure of the character of God in us and the measure of the saturation of His Spirit in the believer.  By this, God expects us to be the visible hand of the invisible God, reaching out to restore us to Dominion and power in the earth.

God’s multiplication is logarithmic in its function.  The Christ passed the mantle to the twelve, who, in turn, passed it to thousands.  Unfortunately, many of those were corrupt, who, in turn, passed that corruption, logarithmically, to their thousands.  When, in 325 A. D. the leadership of the church passed from anointed men to greedy men, much of the true fire of the Spirit was lost, as operation in the Spirit became heresy.  Those who were not spiritual could scarce allow that to be identified by comparison, so persecution was still the bane of the true believer, as it, in many cases today still is, leaving the Power inherent in the body of the Christ dormant for almost 2000 years.

Paul warns us as to the possibility and dangers of this type of corruption through out his letters, specifically in his letter to the believers in Rome,[5] and again in his letter to a young Bishop named Timothy.[6] He warns us that, just as was done in times past, before the Second Advent of the Christ, men would again turn away from the purity of the Gospel and focus worship on things rather than God.  In the case of Timothy, he warns that this will take place from the very pulpits of the church, as is being done today .

Without going very far, we can see the parallel with Romans by the admission of homosexuals to the clergy, but there are many more, and by far, much more subtle methods used to weaken the power of the church.  Look at the “meditation” classes held in many churches, asking us to seek our “inner beings” for guidance.  Sounds a lot like Buddhism, doesn’t it?  Strange how it became the “vogue” around the same time that “Transcendental Meditation” became the darling of the “New Age” movement. 

[1] Leviticus 25:8-10

[2] For the purpose of this work, and for clarification, the use of “dominion” is chosen to reflect that which was lost in Eden and restored at the cross.  By no means does the author subscribe to the theory of “Dominion Theology” that requires belief in a “super-chosen” or “elect” that indicate a limit already set by God for who will and will not be saved.  Salvation is open to “whosoever will” and is only limited by the sounding of the trumpet.

[3] Genesis 1:26-28

[4] Matthew 5:1-7:28

[5] Romans 1:17-25

[6] 1 Timothy 4:1-3