This is part 6 of a series; The Selves is part 1.
People commonly think that Antichrist is a baby-eating cult that teaches devil worship or some such, but Antichrist is a deception (2 John 1:7), and a deception must look a lot like the real thing! Has anyone ever been deceived into buying fake gold made of cheese?
No, they buy fake gold made of lead, painted to look like gold! Something similar, which looks and feels like the real thing but with a different internal structure! Something so similar, only someone who really KNOWS how gold feels can tell the difference!
2 Corinthians 11:4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different “good news”, which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough.
Even while the apostles lived, there were false prophets in the NT church spreading a false doctrine, and a false spirit, about another Jesus. Understand, these were Christians, in the Christian church, spreading misunderstanding about Jesus and portraying Him as different than He really was.
And these false prophets had been so successful, Antichrist was sometimes running the church by the end of the first century!
3 John 1:9-11 I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn’t accept what we say… not content with this, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those who would, he forbids and throws out of the assembly.
Again, I want to stress that these were men and churches that worshipped Christ – not a Satan worshipping cult, but a church that seemed God-fearing, Jesus-loving, well-doing.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness…
Who would follow Satan if he appeared like a devil? So he appears as a righteous angel, worshiper of God! His servants don’t try to get you to worship the devil! They seem like ministers of righteousness, apostles of Christ, doers of good deeds!
Matthew 24:24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
Jesus said these other Jesuses would be deceptions so close to the real thing that only someone who REALLY KNOWS Jesus can tell the difference! Such a good fake, that even those who know Him best, those He chose, might almost be deceived!
So Antichrist is not trying to seduce people into joining his compound! Antichrist doesn’t teach you to sacrifice little children, drink blood, or bay at the moon. Antichrist teaches you to worship Jesus!
But the WRONG Jesus! A Jesus who is in some subtle way different from the true Jesus of the Bible.
THE TEST
God knew it would be hard for people to tell the difference between people who were teaching the truth, and people who were just spreading misinformation. And so He gave us a way to tell a reliable source from a deceiver. The test of antichrist.
1 John 4:2-3 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.
Here, John gives us a simple test so we can challenge any Christian and immediately know if they are our brethren or our enemies! If they believe Jesus came “in the flesh”, they are of God; if they deny that, they are not. Simple. But is it, though?
Think about it; of all these bickering churches in the world, can you find a single person who doesn’t believe Jesus “came in the flesh”? I mean, what sort of Christian doesn’t believe in Christ?? And if every Christian, no matter their beliefs, believes Jesus came in the flesh, how exactly is this test supposed to work?
Remember, John wasn’t giving his disciples this test so they could differentiate Christians from Pagans; any idiot could do that. The test was given to help us separate true Christians from false Christians! Something that the church desperately needed then – and SO MUCH MORE TODAY!
…but it doesn’t seem to work very well when literally every Christian, by definition, then as now, believes that Jesus came in the flesh!
…at least, all Christians believe what they think those words mean.
…But only a true Christian believes what the words actually mean.
IN THE FLESH
The problem comes from the assumption that “in the flesh” means “appeared to be a man”. And while that’s an understandable misunderstanding, it’s not what the verse means.
1 Peter 4:1-2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
The word “flesh” is translated from the Greek word sarx and means… well, flesh, like you’d expect. The mistake is assuming it meant flesh in the most literal, boring sense – when, as you learned in the last article, “flesh” refers to the selfish human heart and the lusts of the body!
Galatians 5:16-24 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfil the lust of the flesh… the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness [etc.]… Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
This is huge! Because it means that confessing that “Jesus came in the flesh” doesn’t simply mean admitting that Jesus existed, nor even that Jesus is Lord…
…It means admitting that Jesus had a human heart with human nature, with all of its weaknesses, passions, and lusts!
Hebrews 4:15 (Phi) For ours is no High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses – he himself has shared fully in all our experience of temptation, except that he never sinned.
…And that despite that huge handicap, a handicap which made Him just as weak as us, He managed to never sin! To show us how it’s done!
Hebrews 2:14-18 Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same… he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest… For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Many people will tell you that this doesn’t mean tempted¸ because James tells us God cannot be tempted (James 1:13-15). And they’re absolutely right! God cannot be! But Jesus gave up His Godhood to become in all things like His brethren SPECIFICALLY so that He COULD be tempted!
Philippians 2:5-7 …Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
Jesus had been God; but He didn’t consider that Godhood something worth clinging to in comparison with the good that He could do on Earth! So He emptied Himself of that Godhood and became fully like you and me in every sense of the word – with all of our weaknesses, frailties, and most especially… our selfish heart and stubborn spirit!
SINFUL FLESH
Jesus didn’t simply appear like us, similar to us, yet somehow better, somehow special, half-man, half-God. He had the same NATURE that we have, the one that desperately desires to sin (Jeremiah 17:9), yet He did not sin!
And it was this accomplishment, this overcoming and convincing and converting of His fractions while leading a perfect life, that condemned sin in His flesh and allows us all the possibility of salvation despite our… occasional failures in the fraction department.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of SINFUL flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
It wasn’t enough to come to Earth as an inherently incorruptible and untemptable God in a human suit and condemn sin by not sinning! This is what almost the entire Christian world believes, but that wasn’t enough!
In the name of honoring and worshiping Him, nearly every Christian says Jesus wasn’t truly human; that He was too holy to be tempted; too powerful to die; that He was so holy, He never even wanted to sin or thought about doing something bad!
But by exalting Him in this unscriptural way, they set Him up on a pedestal so high they in fact deny the greatest part of His accomplishment – overcoming a selfish, lustful nature while not being on a pedestal! Conquering the same lusts we face when He was just as weak as we are!
He came to this Earth to RULE His nature, the same selfish nature we have, the same carnal mind He commanded us to rule, to prove that it CAN be done! But to do that, to prove we could have done it, He had to be no different from us – otherwise, what would He have proven? Nothing!
How could He condemn sin in the flesh if He were not completely and fully MADE of flesh! And not perfect and holy flesh, but made of SINFUL, selfish flesh! The same flesh He made Adam and you and me out of!
And the fact that He succeeded in living a perfect life… proves that we could have done the same.
ANTI-CHRIST
When I was much younger, I used to juggle a lot, and I got pretty good. And whenever someone would see me, they would say “Wow, you’re so talented!” And that really ticked me off! Why? Because I wasn’t talented! Talent implies it came easily to me, and I worked hard to get good at juggling!
I was the last in my class when I learned how to juggle; the only reason I can juggle better than anyone in that class today is that I spent thousands of hours practicing. And calling me talented robs me of the praise for my hard work by saying I was just gifted and trust me – it was NOT a gift, I earned it!
So people thought they were paying me a compliment by calling me talented; but in fact they were insulting my hard work… and ever so subtly justifying the fact that they couldn’t juggle because they were not talented like me!
And that’s exactly how Jesus feels when people say He was talented, He didn’t have to deal with a carnal nature, He was God, it was easier for Him! It sounds like people are paying Him a compliment, but it actually cheapens His sacrifices and robs Him of the richly deserved, hard-earned glory for literally working Himself to death to conquer His human nature!
Jesus gave up His Godhood to become a man to prove that He had not asked too much of us; that the job of breaking our spirit and changing our heart can be done. No one ever said it was easy, but we have proof it was possible.
At least… we have proof it’s possible if Jesus came in the flesh. That He had a nature that lusted to do evil which He never permitted to do evil.
But if Jesus was talented, special, had a leg up, was some human-divine hybrid, then we don’t have any proof that it CAN be done, and that would mean God is unfair to criticize us for failing to do something not even He can do!
The word “anti-christ” literally means against Christ. Because the whole point of antichrist is to deny the accomplishment of Christ in ruling His carnal nature. In the name of exalting and worshipping Him, antichrist degrades the most impressive feat any Being in the universe has ever done:
Converting a selfish heart to an unselfish one, while teaching a spirit who believes itself to always be right to admit when it’s wrong – and doing so without ever making a single mistake!
So antichrists don’t deny that Jesus existed, that He was a good person, nor even that He was the Son of the God! They don’t even, necessarily, deny a single word Jesus taught us about His Father! In fact, those who are Antichrist worship and exalt Him, and call themselves Christians!
But they deny the very purpose of His human existence – which was to prove mankind CAN obey God! Which is why no spirit or Christian who is “not of God” can admit that Jesus came in the flesh. That He had human nature, and was tempted by that nature just as we are!
Can you?
THEIR LIPS HONOR ME…
Antichrist – read: most Christians – argue so ferociously for the untouchable purity of His not-really-human nature because they don’t believe He could have kept His nature pure if He had to battle the nature He gave us! And that’s what makes them Antichrist!
The ultimate anti-Christ, Satan the devil, justifies his own failures by saying that Jesus cheated, and failed to condemn sin in the flesh. Because if He didn’t overcome a carnal nature, then Jesus is not the Christ!
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
The word Christ literally means “the anointed one”; because it was the overcoming of a selfish nature by loving righteousness more than His fellows which caused His Father to anoint Him, which literally means “make Him the Christ”! (Hebrews 1:9, Acts 10:38)
And Satan and his minions, human or otherwise, dare not admit, even in a lie, even in jest, that Jesus had a human nature, at the risk of losing their last hope of proving Satan’s point that God asked too much of him, and too much of mankind, for it is his firm belief that no one could rule the selfish nature and prideful spirit God gave us all!
Which is why after Jesus did exactly that, after He lived a perfect life, one of the last things He said was “the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:11). Because He had proven the devil wrong, proven that a fully human man can fully obey God.
Which means anyone who failed, like you and me and the devil himself, only failed because they didn’t want to obey God enough!
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Now let me ask you a question; when you’re struggling to pick up something heavy, and some bodybuilder comes along twice your size and says “let me show you how it’s done”, do you really learn how it’s done? Or did you just learn that yeah, if you were a foot taller and lived on steroids that you could have done that too?
But when you’re struggling with something heavy, and an old lady comes along and picks it up, you’d be pretty embarrassed wouldn’t you? Because if she could, why couldn’t you? What were you doing wrong? Not lifting with the legs? Spending too much time on the couch?
So the success of an equal or an inferior condemns you, and embarrasses you, and should inspire you to work harder. But the success of someone inherently better than you does not.
1 Peter 4:1 …as Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;
1 Peter 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,
Jesus came to Earth for quite a few reasons, but one of the big ones was to give us an example so we should know how to walk. If He were the hulky bodybuilder from our metaphor… we learn nothing except that people bigger than us can pick up things we can’t. Which we already knew!
But if He were made in the likeness of sinful flesh; if He were as short or shorter than we; as weak, or weaker than we; with the same nature as we or worse; and yet still managed not to sin… then we have to ask what is wrong with us??
Antichrist doesn’t want to ask that question; doesn’t want to think about how far short they’ve fallen of God’s expectations and work to do better. So they concluded that Jesus came “in the appearance of flesh”, but not with a selfish heart like every other being made of flesh!
For if He didn’t have a fleshly heart, He did not condemn sin in the flesh, for HE HAD NO FLESH! It was easier for Him – He was, after all, God; these were His own laws He was keeping… big deal! I can make up rules I can live by too!
And this is how you can recognize the false Jesus, and the spirit of Antichrist, and the false Christian who is opposed to honoring Christ’s greatest accomplishment. They worship a Jesus beyond temptation, beyond humanity, beyond comprehension, beyond reality.
But the real Jesus was a man, just like us; He had been a God, but it would have defeated His purpose to come to Earth as a God. So He EMPTIED Himself of power, of authority, even of divinity. He became a MAN, just like you and me.
Made in the likeness of sinful flesh, with the same selfish nature you and I must battle. The difference is, He never gave into it as you and I have. Because He truly loved the law, and ruled His selfish nature.
That’s why He is our Savior, and why you and I need saving.
Continue to Part 7: Why Didn’t Jesus Sin?