On page 188 God’s right “to create Jesus higher than the angels, and then further to exalt Him to the divine nature” is spoken of. Thus, according to this book, Jesus is a created being, while Scripture assures us that He existed in the beginning with God, and that He is the Creator of all things. “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:33All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)). So in Colossians 1:16-1716For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16‑17), it is said, “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” In Hebrews 1, also we are told that by Him God “made the worlds,” and that He is “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.” And in Philippians 2:66Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (Philippians 2:6) it is said of Him, “being in the form of God.” These and many other Scriptures give overwhelming testimony to His being God, uncreated, equal with the Father, the Creator and upholder of all things. And yet this man blasphemously speaks of Him as a creature, first higher than the angels, then lower, then in resurrection exalted to the divine nature. Note the following: “When Jesus was in the flesh, He was a perfect human being; previous to that time He was a perfect spiritual being; and since His resurrection He is a perfect spiritual being of the highest order. It was not until His consecration even unto death, as typified in His baptism — at thirty years of age (manhood, according to the law, and therefore the right time to consecrate Himself as a man) — that He received the earnest of His inheritance of the divine nature (Matt. 3:16-1716And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:16‑17)). The human nature had to be consecrated to death before He could receive even the pledge of the divine nature. And not until that consecration was actually carried out and He had actually sacrificed the human nature, even unto death, did our Lord Jesus become a full partaker of the divine nature. After becoming a man He became obedient unto death; wherefore, God hath highly exalted Him to the divine nature (Phil. 2:8-98And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (Philippians 2:8‑9)). If this scripture be true, it follows that He was not exalted to the divine nature until the human nature was actually sacrificed-dead.” Page 179.
He says, “If this scripture be true,” but he deliberately misquotes it, and thus brands himself a liar and a false witness, in no way to be trusted. The passage says not one word about being “exalted to the divine nature.” It says, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name,” etc. Nothing is said about “the divine nature” at all, nor of a transition from the human to the divine. The whole thing is a false and wicked perversion of Scripture, and of the truth as to the Person of our blessed Lord.
But this wretched doctrine is further and deliberately stated and developed. He says: “We are told that our Lord before He left His glory to become a man, was ‘in a form of God’ — a spiritual form, a spirit being; but since to be a ransom for mankind He had to be a man, of the same nature as the sinner whose substitute in death He was to become, it was necessary that His nature be changed, and Paul tells us that He took not the nature of angels, one step lower than His own, but He came down two steps and took the nature of men — He became a man; He was `made flesh.’ “
“Notice that this teaches not only that angelic nature is not the only order of spirit being, but that it is a lower nature than that of our Lord Jesus before He became a man; and He was not then so high as He is now, for ‘God hath highly exalted Him, because of His obedience in becoming man’s willing ransom’ (Phil. 2:8-98And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (Philippians 2:8‑9)). He is now of the highest order of spirit being, a partaker of the divine (Jehovah’s) nature.”
“We have no record of any being, either spiritual or human, ever having been changed from one nature to another except the Son of God; and this was an exceptional case, for an exceptional purpose” (Pages 177, 178, 182).
Again speaking of Jesus being anointed with the Holy Ghost at His baptism, he says: “This filling with the Spirit was the begetting of a new nature — the divine — which should be fully developed or born when He had fully accomplished the offering — the sacrifice of the human nature. This begetting was a step up from human conditions.... On this plane Jesus spent three and one-half years of His life — until His human existence ended in the cross. Then, after being dead three days, He was raised to life — to the perfection of spirit being, born of the Spirit — ‘the firstborn from the dead.’ That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’ Jesus, therefore, at and after His resurrection, was a spirit — a spirit being, and no longer a human being in any sense” (Pages 230-231).
These shocking statements about our blessed Lord and Savior may well make the true believer shudder. They show beyond all question that this man is a “false prophet” and an “antichrist,” and to be shunned as a “deceiver” (1 John 4:11Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1); 2 John 77For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 7),11). The deity of Christ is denied; He is represented as a created spiritual being, higher than the angels; then He came “two steps” down, and became a man, and in doing so ceased to be a spiritual being; and when He died His humanity came to an end; and in resurrection He became a spiritual being of the highest order, and was no longer human in any sense. Query: What was He during the three days when His body was in the sepulcher? His humanity ended in the cross, and He became a spiritual being in resurrection. What was He in the interval between? Alas! this is left a blank. And, of course, according to this system, He had no existence at all during those three days. But every point is utterly false. Scripture speaks of Him as “God,” and “with God,” “God manifest in the flesh,” “the Word,” “the Life,” “the I AM,” “the Word made flesh,” “God over all,” “the man Christ Jesus,” God and man in one Person, addressed as “God” in Hebrews 1:88But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8), spoken of as “the true God and eternal life” in 1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20), and as “the Man Christ Jesus,” who is the “one mediator between God and men” in 1 Tim. 2:55For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5). And when He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection He said to them: “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have” (Luke 24:3939Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. (Luke 24:39)). And yet this man denies His deity prior to His resurrection and His humanity after it, and speaks of His being changed from one nature to another at two different times, and no divinity till resurrection. His sealing, too, by the Spirit, is spoken of as a begetting to the divine nature, and then He was fully born at resurrection, and thus the Holy Ghost in Christ is reduced to a mere nature, and the resurrection of Christ is new birth. Thus the whole truth is falsified, and every true thought of the believer about Christ, with every holy feeling and affection, is shocked and outraged by this wicked and Satanic system.
Why does this blasphemer speak of Christ having been “in a form of God” before He became man? Why does he introduce the little word “a” and leave out “the,” as if there were different forms of God? If he says the article “the” is not in the original, I reply, neither is the article “a” and then it would simply be “in form of God,” which is equivalent to “in God’s form.” The translators have given the right meaning, and this man gives a meaning which degrades the Person of the Son of God, and falsifies the testimony of this Scripture, which speaks of the equality of Jesus with God. Being equal with God He did not need to seek this equality by robbery, as Adam had done; but, on the contrary, He humbled Himself in taking a servant’s form and the likeness of men, and submitting to the shameful death of the cross, for God’s glory and the salvation of men. For this reason God exalted Him and gave Him a place as Man above all created intelligences. “At the name of Jesus” — His name as man — “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Heavenly, earthly and infernal beings must own the authority of that MAN. He is now man, though exalted to the highest glory; and in becoming man He never ceased to be God, though He “made Himself of no reputation,” and “humbled Himself” to accomplish God’s will. “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:1616And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)). His incommunicable glory, no doubt, was veiled, but all that God is in light, and love, and infinite grace and goodness to man shone out in that blessed, lowly One who died on the cross. He who was God, equal with the Father, became man in grace, and having died on the cross to put away sin, and bearing the sins of His people, was raised again from the dead as man, and will be a man, though God withal, forever — a glorified man, exalted “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:2121Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (Ephesians 1:21)). Such is the Christ of God, our blessed adorable Savior, “who is over all, God blessed forever” (Rom. 9:55Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:5)), who is also “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:55For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5)), as it is also written, “this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:12-1412But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:12‑14)). Why should we give up this blessed Savior, the true Christ, for a Christ of the imagination, a myth, a something that has no reality? To do so is fatal. “‘Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2 John 99Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. (2 John 9)). May God preserve souls from giving up the truth as to Christ through the “smooth words and fair speeches” of this deceiver.
We have seen how the Person of the Lord Jesus is degraded by this false and wicked system. We will now see, in the third place, how it and thus places before man the same bait as that by which our first parents were tempted in Eden, when the serpent said, “Ye shall be as gods.” Two or three extracts will suffice.
“Some may be a little startled by this expression, a divine body; but we are told that Jesus is now the express image of His Father’s Person, and that the overcomers will be like Him and see Him as He is. (1 John 3:22Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2).) ‘There is a natural [human] body, and there is a spiritual body’ (1 Cor. 15:4444It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:44)). We could not imagine either our divine Father or our Lord Jesus as merely great minds without bodies. Theirs are glorious spiritual bodies” (Page 200).
“In fact, immortality may be used as a synonym for divinity” (Page 208).
“Further, we learn that Jehovah, who alone possessed immortality originally, has highly exalted His Son, our Lord Jesus, to the same divine, immortal nature; hence He is now the express image of the Father’s Person.... Since the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, then, two beings are immortal; and, amazing grace! the same offer is made to the bride of the Lamb, being selected during the gospel age. Yet not all of the great company who are nominally of the church will receive this great prize, but only that ‘little flock’ of overcomers who so run as to obtain it; who follow closely in the Master’s footsteps; who, like Him, run the narrow way of sacrifice, even unto death. These when born from the dead in resurrection will have the divine nature and form. This immortality, the independent, sell-existent, divine nature, is the life to which the narrow way leads.
“This class is not to be raised from the tomb human beings.”
“In the beginning of the millennial age, those who now walk the narrow way will have gained the great prize for which they ran, immortality; and being thus clothed with the divine nature and power they will be prepared for the great work of restoring and blessing the world in the age to come.” (Pages 208, 210, 211, 212).
There is much more to the same effect, but it is needless to multiply quotations. These are sufficient to show the Satanic character of the book and its teaching.
Notice the expression, “a divine body.” This is the kind of body we are to believe “our divine Father” has. And he tells us Jesus is “now” the express image of His Person; and so He now has a divine body, too. And since the overcomers are to be “like Him,” they will have divine bodies also! Who told him that the Father has a body? Certainly not Scripture, for it says no such thing. He says, “we cannot imagine,” etc. Well, imagination is rather a sandy foundation on which to build in such weighty matters, and it is sure to run wild when it enters a region outside of revelation. We may also ask, who told him that the body was in question when Scripture declares that the Son is the express image of God? And why does he say Christ is “now” the express image, etc.? The fact is, he denies that Christ was always this; for he holds that He is so only since His resurrection. There is no such expression in Scripture as a “divine body,” nor any hint of such a thing. Jesus took a human body, and His body is still a human body, though glorified; and our bodies will always be human, though they will be glorified, too, and fashioned like Christ’s body of glory (Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20)).
He tells us that “immortality may be used as a synonym for divinity.” Why so? He might as well tell us that holiness means the same as divinity, because God is holy. On this principle you could teach anything from Scripture. And, indeed, it would be difficult to teach anything worse than this man does. But he also tells us that “immortality, or the divine nature was originally the possession of Jehovah only,” but that Jesus got it in resurrection, and that now, “two beings are immortal.” What about the Holy Ghost? Is not He immortal? Alas! it is to be feared that in this system He has no personality at all. This system has no Trinity. And the truth as to every Person in the Godhead is attacked or nullified. It is true, God only has immortality. He only has it inherently (1 Tim. 6:1616Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16)). But the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, so that all three have immortality. But the writer tells us the “little flock” of overcomers are to reach this prize. And since divinity is the same thing, they attain to divinity as well as “self-existence” and “divine power.” They cease to be human beings, and each one is to have “a spirit body like the risen Jesus — `the express image of the Father’s Person’” (Page 233). In short, it is simply the deification of the saints, or, at least, those he calls the “little flock,” for he tells us, “the great mass of mankind saved from the fall, as well as the angels of heaven, will always be mortal” (Page 186). All this is serious error, without foundation in truth, and with nothing to support it save the boldness with which it is uttered. We have nothing to assure us except this man’s dictum. He writes in a false and unscriptural way about human beings and spiritual beings, assuming that a human being cannot have a spiritual nature, and that the Son of God could not take human nature into union with His divinity; and on his bold and unscriptural assumptions he builds his wretched system. This system has not one redeeming feature. It is a fabric of falsehood and blasphemy from beginning to end, degrading Christ and making gods of men — a system from which every right-minded Christian must shrink with abhorrence and loathing.
We may add that this book is the first one of a series, all of which bear the same character. In one of these he teaches “that our Lord will never again appear as a man; that at His second coming He will be invisible to mankind”; “that we are now ‘in the days of the Son of man’; that ‘the day of the Lord has come, and Jesus, a spiritual body, is present, harvesting the gospel age.’ “ Could there be greater folly? Is this anything better than a caricature of the blessed truth as to the Lord’s coming? He is coming, blessed be His name! but when He comes it will not be like this — a secret presence that nobody will know anything about, except an imaginary few perhaps. It is plain the author of these books had not yet seen Him when he wrote, for he says: “We think we have good solid reasons, not imaginations, nor dreams, nor visions, but Bible evidences, that we are now `in the days of the Son of man’; that ‘the day of the Lord’ has come, and Jesus, a spiritual body, is present.” This extraordinary statement and testimony to the presence now of the Son of man, doing the harvest work of the gospel age, is all based on the “we think” of a blasphemer of God’s Son. Let every one who reads these lines say how much weight such testimony will have in their souls. When the blessed Lord comes His people shall see Him, and be like Him, too (Phil. 3:2121Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21); 1 John 3:22Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)). The dead in Christ shall rise; the living saints shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and the raised dead and changed living shall be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so to be forever with Him, in incorruption and immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-5451Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:51‑54); 1 Thess. 4:16-1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17)). And is all this to take place, and we know nothing about it? And when the Lord comes “with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:1313To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:13)), “and all the holy angels with Him” (Matt. 25:3131When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: (Matthew 25:31)), He will come “with clouds and every eye shall see Him,” and what is more “all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” (Rev. 1:77Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)). All this is wickedly set aside by a system which reduces the Son of God to a mere “spiritual body,” invisible to men. He says, “Jesus, a spiritual body.” Could language be more shocking, used of His blessed Person? But the wicked know no shame. Let us drop the curtain and turn away from these books with their horrid blasphemies. There can be no possible edification in reading them. The whole system is corrupt and corrupting, and it is an unspeakable relief to one who has looked into it a little, for the sake of others, to be done with the task.
May the Lord graciously keep His own in these perilous times, when the very air seems thick and stifling with the deadly poison of soul-destroying doctrines.
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 20-2520But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. (Jude 20‑25)).
Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.