Your New Identity (Victory Series Book #2): A Transforming Union with God by Neil T. Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11, emphasis added). “We are his people, the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3). “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
    What does the name “I AM ” imply?
        
    What kinds of similar statements did Jesus make about His nature? How do these statements show that He and the Father are one?
      
    What does the statement “unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins” say about cults and salvation?
      
    How does knowing that “I AM ” is an all-encompassing concept (time and space) affect you personally?
      
    How should you live knowing that your soul is in union with I AM ?
        

    Analyze the idea of mutability and you will find was and will be: contemplate God, and you will find the is where was and will be cannot exist. . . . And so, by these words, “If you do not believe that I am,” I think our Lord meant nothing else than this, “If you do not believe that I am” God, “you shall die in your sins.” Well, God be thanked that He said, “If you do not believe” and did not say: If you do not comprehend. For who can comprehend this?
    Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430)

3 The Last Adam
    1 Corinthians 15:45–54
    Key Point
    Jesus not only came to give us life; He is our life.
    Key Verse
    In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
    John 1:4
    T he first Adam was born both physically and spiritually alive. Because Adam sinned, he died spiritually and was separated from God. Physical death was also a consequence of sin, although Adam did not physically die until many years after the Fall. From that time on, every descendant of Adam and Eve has been born physically alive but spiritually dead (see Ephesians 2:1).
    Yet God had a plan for restoring life and giving His people a new identity and position in Christ. He promised that redemption would come through the seed of a woman (see Genesis 3:15; 17:19; Galatians 3:16). As the yearspassed, the Israelites became impatient and wondered how they would know the Messiah when He finally did come. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
    The last book of the Old Testament was written 400 years before “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). The prophecy was fulfilled concerning Immanuel, which means “God is with us,” and the Virgin Mary was greatly amazed (see Luke 1:34–35).
    Nobody can fully explain the mystery of the Incarnation, but Scripture clearly teaches that the eternal Son became flesh. So critical is the doctrine of the Incarnation that Scripture makes it a primary test of orthodoxy (core Christian doctrine): “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4:2–3).
    The Incarnation is what sets Christianity apart from the cults and all the other religions of the world. They may believe in the historical Jesus, but they do not believe that God became man. They believe that God could appear as a man—like an apparition—and suffer in appearance only, but unless they have the Holy Spirit they will not say that Jesus was fully God while also fully human.
    This union between divinity and humanity was necessary in order to bring us spiritual life. “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” (John 1:4). Notice that light does not produce life. The light of believers is the radiation of the eternal life of God. The last Adam—Jesus—like the first Adam, was also born physically and spiritually alive. But