In human history there was only one Person who was qualified to die such a death—the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He died such a death in His humanity. He was the Son of God, having the divine life (John 1:4; 14:6). He was God (John 1:1), even the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9), the aggregate of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit. In Him was life, and this life was released through His death. However, if He were only the complete God and not a man, He could not die for man. To die for man, to accomplish redemption for man, He had to be a man with a man’s blood (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:22) since only a man’s blood can redeem men. Therefore, He was not only the Son of God, but the man, Jesus Christ. God has the divine life, but He does not have the human blood. God, by Himself, is qualified for everything, but He is not qualified by Himself for man’s redemption. Man’s redemption needs the genuine blood of a genuine man.
Praise the Lord that there was such a mysterious, excellent, marvelous, and wonderful One who was both God and man. He had the divine life and He had the human blood. Our Savior, our Redeemer, was the complete God and the perfect Man. As the complete God, He had the divine life, and as the perfect Man, He had the human blood. Because He had the divine life, He could release the divine life for the divine dispensing, and His human blood qualified Him to be our Redeemer, to die a vicarious death for us. This God-man’s death takes away our sin and sins (John 1:29; 1 Cor. 15:3), and His blood cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). He accomplished His redemption for us, the sinful man, in His humanity, that is, in His flesh (Col. 1:22).
When God became a man, He did not become a new man. John 1:14 does not say the Word became a man, but it says the Word became flesh. When the Son of God became a man, man had become old and man had become flesh. In the Bible, especially in the New Testament, flesh denotes the fallen man. The Bible tells us that God created man, but God did not create the flesh. Genesis 1 tells us that after God created man, He “saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (v. 31), indicating that the man God created was very good. In Genesis 3, however, this God-created man fell and in Genesis 6 this fallen man became the corrupted, fallen flesh through sin (v. 3). Romans 3:20 says that by the works of the law “no flesh shall be justified before Him.” Flesh here refers to fallen man. In the eyes of God, fallen mankind is simply flesh.
Although John 1:14 says the Word became flesh, in our understanding, we always say the Word became a man. There is a big difference between the God-created man and the flesh, which denotes the fallen man. The reason God sent the flood in Noah’s time was because man had become flesh. Because the God-created man had become flesh, God’s will was to destroy him (Gen. 6:7).
Romans 8:3 says, “For, the law being impossible in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. Even though Christ was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin, we still must realize that this flesh was something related to sin. In John 1:14 only the flesh is mentioned. John does not give us any modifier for the flesh. Paul, however, uses the term “the likeness of the flesh of sin.” Three items are here in Romans 8:3—the likeness, flesh, and sin. If Paul said that God sent His Son to come in the likeness of an angel, this would not give anyone a problem. But God sent His Son to come in the likeness of the flesh of sin.
In John 1:14 we see the flesh and in John 3:14 we see the serpent. John 3:14 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” In this verse, Christ is typified as a serpent. Verse 15 says, “That everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” The Bible likens Christ to a serpent. In John 1:29 Christ is typified as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The Lamb is a type of Christ and the serpent is also a type of Christ. Numbers 21 tells us that Moses did not lift up a real serpent with poison, but he lifted up a brass serpent (vv. 4-9).
If there were a serpent in our bedroom, I do not think most of us would be able to sleep so well. Even if you gave me a golden serpent, I still would not put it in my room. Gold is precious, but I do not care for gold in the form of a snake. Have you ever realized that the Bible likens Christ to a serpent? The very flesh which Christ became is related to this serpent. The old serpent is in our flesh. Christ became flesh, and Satan, the serpent, is related to this flesh. In the eyes of God, when Christ was crucified on the cross, He was like a serpent only in form, in likeness, without the poisonous, sinful nature. For Christ to be in the form of the serpent is the same as saying that He is in the likeness of the flesh of sin.
Christ came in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and in this flesh was Satan. To say that Christ became flesh, and in His flesh was Satan is heretical. However, to say Christ became flesh, and in the flesh (not Christ’s flesh) was Satan is correct. To teach the truth we must learn of the attorneys. They use many modifiers in their speech, and they are very careful, cautious, and detailed. For example, the Bible says that the Word became flesh, but this does not mean the Word became something sinful. The Bible also likens Christ to a serpent, but it does not mean that the Bible likens Christ to something having the poisonous nature. In Romans 8:3 Paul modifies the flesh. He says that God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. Also, the serpent in John 3:14 is defined in Numbers 21. The very serpent lifted up by Moses was a brass serpent. It only had the form, the likeness, of the serpent, without the poisonous nature.
Christ as the Son of God became a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin. The fallen man had sin, but Christ did not have sin (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:21-22). He was in the likeness of the fallen man, but He did not have the fallen nature of the fallen man. When He became flesh, He became a part of the old creation since flesh is a part of the old creation. As a result, His death was the death of the old creation.
This wonderful One was qualified in three ways to die a marvelous, all-inclusive death. As the Son of God, He was qualified to release the divine life, as a man He was qualified to shed the genuine human blood, and as the flesh, the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) of the old creation, He was qualified to terminate the old creation including the old man (Rom. 6:6).
We also must realize that God’s enemy, Satan, got into man’s fallen flesh through the fall. In the fallen flesh of man there was Satan, and with Satan was the satanic system, the world. It was in the likeness of this fallen flesh that Christ died on the cross as a Man. Hence, through His death in the flesh He destroyed the Devil, Satan (Heb. 2:14), and judged his world (John 12:31-33).