Because of the use of the above terms in the
prophecies which appeared in the previous issue of
"The Manifested Sons", we have written this article
to help clarify their meaning. The word "mortal"
means "dying" - that is, the forces of
corruption and decay are at work in the physical
body, eventually making that body subject to
death. The word "immortal" means simply not mortal,
or not dying. In such a body the forces of
corruption and decay are not at work, therefore the
body would not be subject to death but would
continue to live on indefinitely in perpetual youth.
Such a body would not "wear out" under the
stress of time as a mortal
body does. If Jesus had not voluntarily given up His
life as a ransom for sinners. He could have
continued to live indefinitely, and could be
living today in the same physical body that walked
in Palestine over nineteen hundred years ago. The
Bible says that the "wages of sin is death" (Rom.
6:23). How can we say that Jesus was subject to
death (sin's wages) when He never sinned? Also, if
He were mortal, or subject to death Himself, He
could not have given His life a ransom for
others!
Since Jesus was born of mortal woman (even
though virgin born) He had a physical body which was
potentially capable of corruption and death
if He had followed in the path of other men. Paul
says that the result of Adam's sin passed
to all men, because all
sinned (Rom. 5:12). All except Jesus! He
fully overcame the world, the flesh, and the devil.
He was tempted in all points like as we are yet
without sin. (Heb. 4:15). After His final contest
with Satan in the wilderness following His baptism,
He strode forth completely victorious,
beginning His ministry as a fully manifested
Son of God. He was the first human (He constantly
referred to Himself as the "son of man") to manifest
deathless life in the flesh since Adam and Eve,
completely undoing the effects of their fall, and
opening up the way for restored deathless paradise
on earth, by yielding up His own sinless life as a
perfect ransom. (I Tim. 2:5-6). We do not mean to
imply that Jesus was not also fully divine by reason
of the God-spirit incarnated within. If Jesus had
been just a human, His life's blood could not have
atoned for the sins of the world. It was the
God-life coursing through His veins that availed
unto the cleansing of all when vicariously spilled
on the cross. But of necessity it had to be a
sinless life that was yielded up; a life not subject
to death.
The Bible says that the life is in the blood.
(Lev. 17:14). But in fallen man that "life" in the
blood can sustain the physical body only a certain
number of years, and then it yields to death working
through corruption and decay. But when Jesus fully
overcame all the temptations of the enemy, and had
proved Himself complete master, His blood stream was
changed from potentially corruptible to
incorruptible—not yielding to decay and death. How
do we know this? Jesus demonstrated this in symbolic
form by the first miracle which He performed
after beginning His ministry; a miracle by which He
manifested forth His glory - the turning of
the water into wine. (John 2:1-11). Jesus identified
wine with His blood. At the last supper He took the
cup of wine and said, "This is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins." (Matt. 26:27-28). There is no doubt but
that Jesus was referring to a matured wine when
speaking of His blood. Fresh grape juice or NEW wine
is subject to souring, fermentation and
spoilage. It has no keeping qualities of its own;
neither can it preserve anything immersed in it.
However, a fully matured wine has been completely
changed; its sugar content has been transformed into
spirit. Such a wine has indefinite keeping
qualities, and can also preserve that which is
immersed in it.
Thus we see that fresh grape juice, or NEW
wine (beginning to ferment), is a type of the
blood in a mortal which is subject to
spoilage, putrefaction and death. Common human blood
courses with the lusts of the flesh, which are
typified by the natural sugars in the grape juice.
But the blood of an immortal is typified by a fully
matured wine. The blood of Jesus did not course with
sin, neither was it subject to corruption and death.
His blood, like matured wine, had keeping, cleansing
and preserving
qualities.
Some have felt that Jesus was using fresh
grape juice at the Passover supper when speaking of
His blood. However, we find that in Palestine the
grapes are harvested in September. When we
consider that Palestine is a semi-tropical
climate, and that the Passover was in the
spring, about six months after the vintage,
it becomes evident there could be no fresh grape
juice at the time of the Passover. If kept at all it
would be fermented and well on its way to being a
matured wine. Thus Jesus used a matured wine as a
symbol of His blood.
Now let us consider further the miracle in
John, Chapter 2. Jesus not only performed this
miracle first to show in symbolic language that
which had taken place in his own physical body, but
also to show that which would be available to
others through His vicarious atonement. You will
notice that the miracle (which was actually a
parable in living drama) took place on the
third day. (John 2:1). With God, a day is a thousand
years (II Peter 3:8). Because the generation to
which Jesus came failed to fully
believe in His finished redemption, and
failed to appropriate the deathless immortality
for the physical body then available, a period
of "wilderness wandering" was decreed. This is
pictured to us a number of places in the Bible as
approximately two days or two thousand years. But
the miracle shows us that on the third day, after
two thousand years, the way would again be opened up
for an entrance into the promised land of
immortality in human
flesh.
It should be pointed out at this point that
the two thousand years are not necessarily to
be reckoned according to our solar years of 365 days
a year. The Lord's perfect time may be reckoned
according to the earth's original sin free orbit of
360 days a year. This would result in a
shortening of the time from the present solar
reckoning. If figured out according to this
reckoning you will find that the 2 days (2,000
years) are almost up and we are near the inception
of the 3rd day.
There are some details in this
miracle-parable that we will not take the time to go
into. But notice briefly. There were six waterpots
which Jesus commanded to be filled with water. Six
is man's number, and the physical body is
referred to by Paul as an earthen vessel (II
Cor. 4:7). Water is a type of the soul within the
physical body. Water is also a type of the cleansing
of the Word (John 15:3, Ephes. 5:26), and the
working of the Spirit (John 7:37-39). The earthen
vessels (waterpots) were filled to the brim
with water, indicating a complete work of the Word
and the Spirit reaching into the depths of
the human soul until every taint of sin and
uncleanness is removed, and the full fruit of the
Spirit has been imparted. When this point is
reached, and the individual in question has fully
understood and met the requirements, fully believing
that death is no more, then is the water turned to
wine. This speaks to us of a transformation of the
soul elements (water) in the human (6) bodies
(earthen waterpots) to that of an incorruptible
blood stream (wine). The result is immortality in
human flesh.
Since there is yet so much to be revealed on
this subject, and since we are just beginning
to get our "sleepy eyes" open to a few glimmers of
light in this new day, it is best not
to go deeper or into greater detail at the present
time. We do, however, need to consider this question
from one further perspective. Although an immortal
in human flesh cannot die (in the sense that mortals
do), yet the life of an Immortal can be yielded up
for a certain purpose if God so decrees it. Remember
that Jesus said, "No man takes my life, but I lay it
down of myself" (John 10:18). An immortal is
under the absolute protection of God and nothing can
happen to him unless permitted by God. It would have
been impossible for anyone to have killed Jesus if
He had not willingly yielded up His life. Even on
the cross you will notice that He did not die until
He personally dismissed His Spirit into the hands of
the Father (Luke 23:46). When His body was in the
tomb it did not suffer corruption (Psalm 16:10). In
Acts 2:24, Peter states that Jesus' physical body
was loosed from the "pains of death" because it was
"not possible that He should be held by it."
Death had no dominion over Him, in the sense
that it could hold Him. Not just because He
was divine, but because He was a sinless human not
subject to
death. He was humanity's first manifested son with a
physical body that "tasted death" (Heb. 2:9) only
because He "laid down" the life thereof as a ransom
for sinners.