THE CREATION OF THE NEW MAN
From Genesis chapters ten and eleven we must go on to Acts 2. By the time of Acts 2 the Triune God had passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The God-man Jesus had been enthroned in the heavens to be the Lord of lords. Now something further happened in Acts 2. After creation and the fall of man this wonderful One who was incarnated, who was God living a life in humanity on this earth, and who was crucified, resurrected, ascended, and enthroned, came down. His coming down was a wonder among all wonders. This coming down of such a wonderful One brought forth the church.
The church was brought forth not just with one people, but with many peoples. In Acts 2:9-11 at least fifteen nationalities speaking at least fifteen dialects are represented. Although all these were Jews (v. 5), under God’s sovereignty all these Jews were not of one language. They were people of many different dialects. They were Jews, but they were divided and scattered. However, when the time came for the church to be brought forth, they were all gathered together, and in that gathering the church was produced. This indicates that what was divided and scattered in the old man was fully recovered in the new man. In the old man, man was divided and scattered, but in the new man, man is gathered and made one.
Without Paul’s Epistles, we could not see the light concerning the one new man. Ephesians 2:13 says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near in the blood of Christ.” To become near is to become near not only to God but near to the believers. Verse 14 says, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity.” The middle wall of partition is the division, the dividing factor between different peoples. This factor was torn down by Christ on the cross. By this, Christ has created one new man of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles. Ephesians 4:22 says, “That you have put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.” To put off the old man is to put off the divided and scattered man. To put on the new man (v. 24) is to put on the gathered and one new man, “which according to God was created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (v. 24).
Colossians 3:10-11 reveals something further. In this new man the Greek and the Jew, the circumcision (the religious ones) and the uncircumcision (the unreligious ones), the barbarian and the Scythian, and the slave and the freeman all have no place. Christ is all the members and in all the members (v. 11). God’s eternal purpose is to have this one new man for His full expression.
Paul saw this vision and wrote the two Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians. However, he could not have realized that a part of the globe was still undiscovered. He did not realize that at that time there were Indians in America. Acts 2:5 refers to “men from every nation under heaven.” However, the “heaven” was only that which covered the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian area. It did not even cover China, India, or Japan. We, however, are not in the first century but in the twentieth century. Now we can realize God’s purpose to a further extent. At that time Paul did not know of America, but now we are in America. His heaven only covered the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian lands; our heaven today covers all the continents, the entire globe.
FOUR MAJOR EVENTS OF HISTORY
Human history spans almost six thousand years—four thousand years before Christ and two thousand years after Christ. In the last two thousand years there have been four great events. To accomplish His purpose on this earth, God needs to direct the political situation. The entire political situation on this earth is under God’s sovereignty.
(The One New Man, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
