Rich Raphael

Today's INspiro ✨
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“This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!

He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved!

Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation.

Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us.

And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!”

[Colossians 2:13-15, TPT]⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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GOD DID NOT BECOME THE WORD HE SPOKE; THE WORD HE SPOKE BECAME FLESH

One way to understand the coming of Christ is through the pattern of God's creative power.

In the beginning, God said, "Let there be light," and light came into existence. God Himself did not become light; rather, light was the manifestation of His spoken word. The spoken word carried the intent, purpose, and power of God, and what God declared became a reality.

The same pattern can be seen in redemption.

Before Christ was manifested in the flesh, redemption existed in the mind, purpose, and counsel of God. God had already determined His plan to save humanity. When the fullness of time came, God brought that redemptive purpose into visible existence through His Word.

Just as God called light forth and light appeared, God spoke forth His redemptive purpose, and that purpose appeared in the person of Jesus Christ.

This perspective sees Jesus not as God becoming Himself into another form, but as the fullest manifestation of God's spoken Word and redemptive intention. The Word that proceeded from God became flesh and dwelt among men. God's Word took on human existence and fulfilled the mission for which it was sent.

Throughout Scripture, God's Word is portrayed as accomplishing what God sends it to do.

"As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven... so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void" (Isaiah 55:10-11).

The Word carries God's purpose and accomplishes God's will.

Therefore, Christ can be understood as the embodiment of God's redemptive Word the living expression of God's plan to save mankind. He is the means through which God accomplished redemption, the One sent by God, empowered by God, and raised by God.

God did not become the redemption He provided; He provided redemption through the One He sent.

God did not become the sacrifice; He gave the sacrifice.

God did not become the mediator; He appointed the mediator.

God did not become the Son; He sent the Son.

In this understanding, Jesus is the manifestation of God's redemptive Word in human form the visible expression of God's invisible purpose.

The same God who said, "Let there be light," also spoke forth salvation. And when the appointed time arrived, that salvation appeared among men in the person of Christ Jesus, the Son of God.

Thus, the incarnation can be viewed not as God transforming Himself into flesh, but as God's Word, purpose, and redemptive counsel being brought into human existence for the salvation of the world.

Selah!