LESSON 18 - The Superman |
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The whole world has been expecting a superman. The first superman came as a root out of dry ground, no one recognized him. No one knew that God was manifested in the flesh. They didn't know that the Logos of God Who had been with God, and Who was God, was with them. They didn't know that the quiet child who was growing up was the One of whom it was said that all things were made through Him and without Him was not anything ma.de that has been made; and that in Him was Life (Zoe) and that that life was the light of men.
The world has not known that there is a superman in their midst today.
They don't know that every new creation is a superman in the embryo, that all that embryo needs is to know what it is, what it can do, what the Father expects it to do, and what the Father has empowered it to be and to do in the world.
Hebrews 2:14 tells us what the first superman did to Satan: "Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."
Hebrews 9:12, "Nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption, (or an eternal defeat of Satan)."
They haven't noticed Revelation 1:18, "Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living ones and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, p„nd I have the keys of death and of Hades."
That is the message from Satan's conqueror.
The First Superman
Let us look for a moment at Jesus, the Superman.
The superman is a faith man.
Jesus was peculiarly the faith Man. In Him faith came to the world. Everything was waiting for Faith.
Matt. 19:26, Jesus says here, "But with God all things are possible.”
John 17:2, "Even as thou gave him authority over all flesh." — Master of all flesh, as well as of demons.
Luke 4:1-13. Here we see Jesus meeting the adversary, Satan, and conquering him in every temptation.
In Matthew 4:23-25 we see Jesus casting out demons, healing all manner of disease, all manner of sickness, and setting men free who were in bondage with divers diseases and torments, palsy and epilepsy. He healed them all. Jesus was a Superman.
Matthew 8:23-27, we read, "And the men marveled, saying, what manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"
He was crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat, and the adversary brought a storm upon Him. The disciples cried, "Lord, save us! We perish." He replied, "Why are ye fearful, oh ye of little faith?"
Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
John 11:43-44 shows Him standing at the tomb of Lazarus. He had told them to take away the stone, and Martha, the sister, had said, "Lord, by this time the body decayeth for he hath been dead four days."
Jesus said unto her, "Said I not unto thee, that if thou believest, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"
Then they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hearest me always."
Here was a Man Who dared to thank God that He was heard whenever He spoke. And then He cried, "Lazarus, come forth."
"And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face bound around with a napkin. Jesus said, Loose him and let him go."
Here is the Master of death. The body was decaying; the flesh loosened from the bones. He came forth from the tomb with the flesh of a child. They were standing in the presence of a Superman.
Not only was He a Superman in His earth walk, but He is the head of the super-race. This has never been believed by the Church. She has had the theories of it. She has had more philosophy than reality. Her philosophers have been her enemies. They have given an interpretation of the Word that has robbed it of its reality.
Colossians 1:15-18, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him were all things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in call things he might have the preeminence."
What Jesus Said About This New Race
Mark 9:23, "And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth."
The word, "believeth", means a "believing one". The Jews were not believers of the Word. They had Sense Knowledge faith. They believed that which they could see and hear and taste and feel. The superman believes in the Word of God independent of the senses.
Matthew 17:21, "And nothing shall be impossible unto you." Jesus is not tantalizing us. He is not giving us a hyperbole. He is telling us the truth. He is laying down the law for the New Man.
You remember 2nd Corinthians 5:17, "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a now creation. The old things are passed away; behold, they are become new, and all these things are of God."
Wherefore, if any mean is in Christ, there is a new species – something new that has come into being.
The old creation was a failure, a subject of Satan. This new creation, this new man, is a master of Satan and demons.
The old creation lives in the realm of fear and doubt. The new creation lives in the realm of the new kind of Life (Zoe).
Jesus spoke to Martha, "If thou believest, thou shouldest have seen the glory of God."
But Martha didn't believe. All she saw was her brother, who had been dead four days, come out of the tomb. If the eyes of her understanding or heart had been illumined, she would have seen the glory of God.
Mark 11:23, 24 shows the limitlessness of the faith-life as illustrated by Jesus: "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea: and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass, he shall have it."
That leads you into the realm of creative faith.
Heb. 11:3 illustrates it: "By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that "what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear,"
The New Superman
Christianity is not a religion. It is not a system of ethics. It is not a set of rules to guide man's conduct, but it is union with Deity.
One day I caught a glimpse of what the new Creation meant, I asked my heart, "Why should we not be supermen?"
John 4:24, "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that hearth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath Eternal Life."
What is this Eternal Life? It is the Nature of God.
Well, if I have the Nature of God, why can't I do God's works? That led me to study the New Creation fact.
We have just quoted that great scripture, "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a New Species (a new kind of man)." A new man has come on the scene. He is a partaker of God's Nature.
Colossians 1:13, 14, "Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love; in whom we have our redemption, the remission of our sins."
This New Creation has been delivered out of the authority of Satan by the New Birth, has been translated into the kingdom of the Son of God's love. He has a perfect redemption from the hand of the enemy.
Satan's dominion over him has been broken.
You remember that Satan is eternally defeated. He is eternally conquered, and that the New Creation has dominion over him.
Mark 16:17-21, "In my name they shall cast out demons... They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
He is a master of Satan, a master of demons. This New Creation is not a subject of demoniacal dominion. He has passed out of the realm of Satan into the realm of God. He is superior to Satan and demons.
Philippians 4:11 (Way's Translation) says that he becomes "independent of circumstances." He lives above want; he lives where affluence cannot sway him. In all things and in everything he is a master. He is a partaker of the Divine Nature, 2 Peter 1;4.
1st John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God."
By your acting on that Word you pass out of the realm of Satan, out of weakness, into the realm of God.
God's Life becomes your Life.
Here are a few snapshots of this New Creation, this new man: He shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. He shall cast out demons.
Romans 5:17, "For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even Christ Jesus.”
We reign as kings right here in the earth surrounded as we are with the work of the adversary, within the influence of the adversary. We are victors.
Can you understand what it would mean for a group of men and women to be "independent of circumstances", to know their Father-God so intimately that they never thought of the need of faith or the need of ability, or the need of power? Can you conceive of men to whom the Word is a living reality? Then you conceive of men who are masters, who are dominant.
Jesus said to the disciples, "I want you to tarry in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high." Acts 1:8; Luke 24:49).
The word, "power", is "dunamis", and means ability. This is thrilling. "I want you to tarry in Jerusalem until you receive God's ability.”
God's ability comes to man through the New Birth. You receive God's nature, God's very Life. It sets you free from the dominion of Satan.
Jesus Christ becomes your wisdom, wisdom is God's ability to utilize circumstances, to utilize knowledge, to take advantage of opportunities, to see the mind of God where others can only see impossibility.
2nd Corinthians 3:4, 5, "And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God? who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit."
God becomes your sufficiency. He renews your mind after you receive Eternal Life so that you can grasp the significance of His Revelation in the Word.
You can see yourself as a New Creation, a new species with the ability of God, with the great and mighty Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead actually living in you. (Romans 8:11.)
You can see yourself utilizing the authority that is invested in the Name of Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth."
Then He gives to us the power of attorney to use His Name.
John 14:13, 14 and 16:23, 24 show us the power of attorney to use the Name that has back of it all authority in heaven and on earth.
That Name heals diseases, breaks the dominion of Satan, conquers the very forces of the devil, makes the believer more than a conqueror in every field, takes him out of the realm of doubt and fear and gives him the courage of the faith of God. It takes him out of the realm of inefficiency and gives him the efficiency of God. It takes him away from the inefficiency of the word of man and gives him the efficiency of the Word of God.
You begin to see now that this New Creation is no common being.
However, if he has no instruction to show him what he is in Christ, and what his rights and privileges are, he lives as a common man.
1st Corinthians 3:1 gives us a pathetic picture: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal (or sense-ruled), as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able; for ye are yet ruled by your senses: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not ruled by your senses and do you not walk as mere natural men?"
Because you are the sons of God, you could be masters of circumstances, and here you act like slaves!
Jesus was the Master of the laws of Nature. He intended that the believers should be the masters of the laws of Nature.
If there were more space, I would give you many illustrations of how prayer has mastered circumstances, how the faith of one individual has changed the very course of history.
Once more let us consider Romans 8:11, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
Do you know Who the Holy Spirit is? He raised Jesus from the dead. He is Omnipotence. You have Omnipotence abiding in you.
What He did in the dead body of Jesus, He can do in your life. He can take your lips with God's Words filling them, and lead men to Christ, heal the sick, cast out demons, break the dominion of sin and fear over the minds of men and women.
His Words in your lips make you a master of demons. That is a Superman!
Hear Him whisper, "If God is for you, who can be against you? I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth me. Lo, I am with you always. nothing shall be impossible to you. God is the strength of your life. Who can condemn you? You are reigning with Him as the master of the laws of nature."
QUESTIONS
1. Who was the first Superman, master of all flesh, and demons?
2. What is referred to in our lesson as a "superman in embryo"?
3. Give four scriptures showing Jesus' authority over demons and disease and sickness.
4. Give a scripture proving His mastery over the elements of nature.
5. Why did Martha feel sure that Jesus could not raise Lazarus from the dead?
6. What was Jesus’ answer to Martha’s unbelief?
7. Quote two scriptures which show that the church may be supermen and masters today, if they but will.
8. What is your version of the possibilities wrapped up in the term "independent of circumstances"?
9. What other meaning may be given to the word "power" found in Acts 1:8 and Luke 24:49?
10.What is your confession today after reading about what God has made you through His Son?