God’s intention in creating man is for man to express Him. In order to do so, God must enter into man’s spirit to be his life. God’s life is signified by the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). Before man received God into his spirit, man was deceived by Satan to receive his evil life into his body (Gen. 3:1-6). Satan’s life is signified by the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen.2:9).
[On that day, Adam, deceived as he was by Satan, ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Henceforth, Satan’s life entered into man, causing him to become corrupted. Thus, besides his own original created life, man also obtained the fallen life of Satan.
After Adam sinned and fell, man not only offended God in behavior, which resulted in a sinful situation, but, worse still, he was poisoned by Satan in life, which caused his life to become defiled and corrupted.]
Romans 5:12 tells us that “through one man [Adam] sin [the evil life of Satan] entered into the world.’’ Men were then constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19). Man now sins because he is a sinner and is fully under the condemnation of God (Rom. 5:16).
Praise the Lord, not all is lost. Though man’s condition seems so dismal, God is wise and mighty to save. God in the Son became flesh, a genuine man (John 1:1, 14; Heb. 2:14a), and His name was called Jesus (Matt. 1:21). He lived a perfect human life without sin (Heb. 4:15). Then He went to the cross to die for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3) and to crucify the evil life of Satan in us on the cross (John 3:14; Heb. 2:14b). Now, we who have believed, have received this divine eternal life into our spirit (John 3:15).
Through Adam’s sinful act in the garden of Eden, we all were injected with the evil life of Satan into our flesh. But through the righteous act of Christ, we who believed are unto justification of life (Rom. 5:18). We are no more unto condemnation, but unto life. Though we were spoiled by Satan’s evil life, now we are saved in the divine eternal life of God (Rom. 5:10b).
[Thank the Lord, today we who are saved not only have the lives of man and the devil, but also the life of God. Just as Satan, through his corruption, injected his life into us and caused us to be united with him, gained by him, and possessed of all the evils of his nature; so also God, through His deliverance, puts His life into us and causes us to be united with Him, gained by Him, and possessed of all the divine goodness of His nature. Therefore, just as the crucial point of the fall was life, so also the crucial point of salvation is life.]
We are more complicated than the unbelievers, because they only have two lives, but we have three-man’s, Satan’s and God’s. We are like a miniature garden of Eden, because we have the same three things in us. We must choose to enjoy and live by the divine eternal life of God in our spirit all the time and must not choose to live by the evil life of Satan in our flesh. Every time we choose to live by the divine eternal life, we will experience life and grow in life. Young brothers and sisters, choose life.
We are more complex than we ever expected. Besides the three lives we Christians have, there are four laws related to us. [Each of the three lives within us who are saved has a law. Therefore there are not only three lives within us, but also three laws which belong to the three lives. Besides these, there is the law of God outside of us. Therefore, within and without us, there are all together four laws. This is revealed to us in Romans 7 and 8.] Other than the law of God which is outside of us, the three laws within us are not regulations, but operating principles and the automatic function of the various lives.
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