Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26; 3:15; Rom. 8:3; John 3:3, 5-6, 14-16, 29a, 30
Ⅰ
The man who was created by God according to His kind fell and became mankind and also Satan's kind—Gen. 1:26; John 8:44; 1 John 3:10:
A
Man was created according to God's kind, not according to his own kind; in God's creation there was no mankind, only man as God's kind—Gen. 1:26.
B
After the fall man separated himself from God and became mankind; thus, it was through the fall that mankind came into existence—3:24.
C
The fall caused man to become another kind of creature—a creature no longer according to God's kind but according to Satan's kind—John 8:44; 1 John 3:10:
１
Man's fall opened the gate for sin, which is the nature of Satan and even Satan himself, to come into our being—John 8:44:
ａ
Sin is the evil nature of Satan, the evil one, dwelling, acting, and working in fallen mankind—Rom. 7:11, 17, 20.
ｂ
Sin came from Satan as the rebel against God (Isa. 14:12-15), entered into man, and made man not only a sinner but sin itself under God's judgment—1 John 3:8a; Rom. 5:12, 19.
２
In the sight of God, fallen human beings are serpents full of the poison of the devil, the old serpent—Matt. 3:7; 12:34; 23:33.
Ⅱ
God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh—Rom. 8:3; John 3:14:
A
Christ as the Son of God became a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin—Rom. 8:3:
１
The phrase the likeness of the flesh of sin contains three important words: likeness, flesh, and sin.
２
When God the Father sent God the Son concerning sin and to deal with sin, He sent Him in the likeness, the appearance, of the flesh of sin.
３
God sent Christ in the likeness of the flesh that had become sin's incarnation.
B
In His death Christ as a man in the flesh caused sin in the flesh to be condemned by God; God condemned indwelling sin through Christ's work on the cross—Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21:
１
When Jesus went to the cross, He brought Satan and sin, which are in the flesh, to the cross also and put the entire sphere of the flesh to death.
２
Christ put on the likeness of the flesh in which sin, the nature of Satan, dwelt, and then He took this flesh to the cross and crucified it; in this way God condemned sin in the flesh through the death of Christ in the flesh.
C
By being crucified as a serpent in form, the Lord Jesus destroyed the devil, crushing the head of the old serpent—John 3:14; Heb. 2:14; Gen. 3:15:
１
The Lord Jesus was crucified as the bronze serpent in order to deal with Satan, the devil, who has the might of death—Heb. 2:14.
２
When fallen man was put to death on the cross, Satan within fallen man was also put to death; thus, by His death on the cross Christ destroyed the devil.
３
Matthew 27:51-56 describes the effectiveness of the Lord's crucifixion:
ａ
"The earth was shaken"—the base of Satan's rebellion was shaken.
ｂ
"The rocks were split"—the strongholds of Satan's earthly kingdom were broken.
ｃ
"The tombs were opened"—the power of death and Hades was conquered and subdued.
Ⅲ
Through believing into Christ as the One lifted up on the cross in the form of a serpent, we receive eternal life and are thereby regenerated to become a part of the bride of Christ—John 3:15, 3, 5-6, 29a, 30:
A
The word that at the beginning of John 3:15 indicates that the result of the Lord's being lifted up on the cross in the form of a serpent is eternal life for every one who believes into Christ:
１
Christ was lifted up as our Substitute, bearing the judgment of God for us, so that eternal life could be imparted to us in order to regenerate us and make us a new person—vv. 3, 5-6; 2 Cor. 5:17.
２
The only way for us to be saved and regenerated is to believe into Christ—John 3:15-16, 18, 36:
ａ
By believing into Christ, we are identified with Him in all that He is and in all that He has passed through, accomplished, attained, and obtained.
ｂ
By believing into Christ, we partake of Him as life and are regenerated in Him.
B
Regeneration means that our serpentine being is put aside and that we receive the divine life to become a new being as a part of the bride of Christ—vv. 3, 5-6, 29a, 30:
１
Regeneration is for producing the bride of Christ—vv. 3, 5-6, 29a.
２
Through His redemption Christ imparted Himself as life into us to make us His increase—vv. 14-15, 30.
３
In this way serpentine people as the increase of Satan become the bride as the increase of Christ—Rev. 20:2, 10; 21:2, 10-27.