Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a 2018 message shared at a gathering of house church pastors in China. This is the third part of a multi-part series focusing on discipleship from the point of view of the end times. Here are links to parts one and two.

Jesus is the perfected final Adam. He has defeated death, and he rules and reigns in the heavenlies. Because we are united with Christ, although our physical bodies are still on earth, our inner person also rules and reigns with Jesus.

Jesus is from Above

“Though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Christ had a different nature than Adam. Adam belonged to the earth; he was created from the dust of the earth, and God breathed living breath into his nostrils. But when God sent his Son to redeem us and execute the new creation, he did it in an entirely different manner. God did not do this through someone with the same nature as the first Adam. Jesus, the second Adam, was always heavenly. He was God incarnate, conceived by the Spirit, come down from heaven. He humbled himself by taking up humanity.

One day, we will receive something far surpassing Adam’s initial, created human nature. Instead, one day we will share the humanity of Jesus, the second Adam.

This is the opposite of Adam, who was elevated from earthly existence by receiving the breath of God. But Jesus has the form of God. As the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus is the perfect image and likeness of God. He humbled himself to take up insignificant human nature, becoming human. Jesus said, “You are from below; I am from above.” God is always above, preparing the eternal city. One day, we will receive something far surpassing Adam’s initial, created human nature. Instead, one day we will share the humanity of Jesus, the second Adam.

Jesus, the Victorious Last Adam

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Christ founded a perfect new creation, a humanity which surpassed Adam’s. in this new creation, Jesus granted us God’s eternal presence in the New Jerusalem. Jesus accomplished redemption and built this new human creation, completely fulfilling God’s plan. Where Adam failed to be a disciple and keep the covenant, Jesus fulfilled the covenant and carried out God’s intention. After Adam was expelled from Eden, he never again saw God’s face. Humanity was cut off from the tree of life. But Jesus died on the cross and rose again, defeating death. Christ did more than bring us back to Eden; he brought the river of life to us and reversed the events of Eden.

How? God told Adam that all the trees in the garden were fit for food, but the fruit of a particular tree was forbidden. Adam failed to respect this boundary. But God told Christ, the last Adam, that “all the trees in the world” – all the goodness, luxury, blessings of earth – were not prepared for him. Only the tree on Golgotha was prepared for that Adam. God told Jesus he was to walk the path of death, hang on the tree, and enter death. The first Adam also entered death, but Jesus did this willingly, so he might reverse death and win the victory. Where the first Adam ate the forbidden fruit, the last Adam obeyed and ate the fruit of the only tree prepared for him. Jesus accomplished for us what the first Adam could not.

If Adam had not sinned, this world would be a holy Eden – but Eden would still be on earth. But after Jesus came to earth, died, descended into hell, and rose again, God highly exalted him. We will be raised with him.

The new heavens and the new earth are different from Eden, not only in nature, but also in detail. In the New Jerusalem, we no longer need the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because the Lamb is victorious over the tree. In Eden, it was possible for humanity to fall into corruption and turn from God’s presence. But Jesus has accomplished everything for us, and has defeated all temptations and trials. In Christ, we will never taste corruption.

If Adam had not sinned, this world would be a holy Eden – but Eden would still be on earth. But after Jesus came to earth, died, descended into hell, and rose again, God highly exalted him. Jesus is above all things. We will be raised with him and lifted to the heavenly Jerusalem God is preparing. Eventually, that New Jerusalem will come down from heaven.

Jesus, Seated in the Heavenlies

How is Jesus completing his work of preparation in our lives today? After Christ ascended, the Holy Spirit descended. The Holy Spirit came to continue to minister together with Christ. Before Jesus left, he said: “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

The redeeming and re-creating work of the church today belongs to Jesus. Through the Spirit, Christ continues to work on earth.

The resurrected Christ now sits at the right hand of God the Father, but he sent us the Holy Spirit. On earth, the Spirit continues the work of resurrecting the dead. Throughout the New Testament, the acts the apostles did, like making disciples, were also the acts of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is risen, and he has a real, immortal, incorruptible, resurrection body. In some ways, his resurrection body is like ours; Thomas put his fingers in Jesus’s side, and Christ ate fish. But in other ways, Christ’s body is different; he walked through walls and was able to appear in an instant.

The redeeming and re-creating work of the church today belongs to Jesus. Through the Spirit, Christ continues to work on earth.

Jesus’s body is not the same as our bodies, but it is a real body. Christ’s body was the first body to be resurrected in the last days. After we are resurrected, we will have bodies like his. Jesus, in bodily form, now sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. He sits in a real space, not an abstract conception.

Do you truly believe Jesus sits above, reigning in real space? Your nature is also a heavenly, resurrected nature. Your inner person has already been raised. When Jesus comes again, our bodies will be raised and will become like Christ’s body. But right now, our inner person is already seated with Christ in heaven.

Muxi Zhang is a pseudonym for a China ministry veteran who has in-depth and extensive ministry experience.

Pray for Christians to believe in the risen, ruling, reigning Christ.