John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh.” What is the meaning of flesh here? According to the context of the whole Gospel of John, the flesh in 1:14 denotes fallen, sinful man. God, the Word, became a fallen, sinful man but only in likeness. Paul makes this clear when he tells us in Romans 8:3 that God sent “His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin.” This proves that the flesh in John 1:14 is the flesh of sin. The meaning of the incarnation is that God became a sinful man in likeness. In his note on this verse, Dr. Ryrie says, “Jesus Christ was unique, for He was God from all eternity and yet joined Himself to sinful humanity in the incarnation.”
The type of the brass serpent (John 3:14; Num. 21:4-9) indicates that Christ did not have the flesh of sin but only the likeness of the flesh of sin. When the children of Israel sinned against God, they were bitten by serpents and were dying. Actually, in the sight of God, they were dead. God told Moses to lift up a brass serpent on their behalf for God’s judgment, that by looking upon that brass serpent they might be saved and live. The brass serpent was their savior. This is a type. In John 3:14 the Lord Jesus applied this type to Himself, showing that when He was in the flesh, He was, to use Paul’s words, in the likeness of the flesh of sin, which likeness was the form of the brass serpent. It had the form of the serpent but not the poison. Christ was made in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He had no participation in the sin of the flesh (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15). The brass serpent is a type of Christ as our Savior. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
In the Gospel of John three figures are used to describe Christ in His death: the Lamb of God (1:29), the brass serpent (3:14), and a grain of wheat (12:24). These figures describe three aspects of Christ as our Savior. In dealing with sin, He is the Lamb. In dealing with Satan, the old serpent, He is the brass serpent, the One in the likeness of the flesh of sin. In releasing the divine life to produce us as the many sons of God, He is the grain of wheat. Therefore, He is the Lamb-Savior, He is the Serpent-Savior, and He is the Grain-Savior. We have Him as our Savior in three aspects-to deal with our sin, to destroy the old serpent, and to produce us as the many sons of God.
I believe that Adam, the man created by God, was handsome. The Lord Jesus, on the contrary, had no comeliness or beauty and was not outwardly attractive (Isa. 53:2). He was a man exhausted from all kinds of sorrow (Isa. 53:3). Our Lord became a fallen man in likeness. However, when the Lord Jesus was on the cross, God counted that likeness as real.
The New Testament emphasizes the fact that Christ was crucified in the flesh and died in the flesh. He did not die in anything other than the God-condemned flesh. Romans 8:3 says, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” When the Lord Jesus was crucified in the flesh, God condemned sin in the flesh. Sin is not merely a matter; sin is a person, and this person needed to be condemned. Through the Lord’s death on the cross, God condemned sin in the flesh. This means that when the flesh was crucified, sin in the flesh was condemned.
Romans 6:6 tells us that our old man was crucified with Christ. Our old man is in the flesh. Because Christ was crucified in the flesh, our old man, who is in the flesh, could be crucified with Him. Our old man was crucified with Christ in the flesh.
Through the death of Christ not only was sin condemned and not only was our old man crucified, but also Satan, the Devil, was destroyed (Heb. 2:14). Furthermore, through the cross of Christ the world was judged and the ruler, the prince, of the world was cast out (John 12:31). Therefore, through the death of Christ on the cross four things were dealt with: sin in the flesh, the old man, Satan, and the world. This means that through Christ’s death in His flesh all negative things were dealt with.
We need to have this realization whenever we take Christ as our sin offering. The sin offering means that sin in the flesh has been condemned, that our old man has been crucified, that Satan has been destroyed, and that the world has been condemned and the ruler of the world cast out.
We all need to learn to take Christ as such a sin offering. When we enter into fellowship with the Triune God through Christ as the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering, then we need to apply Christ as our sin offering.
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