第四週■週二

w04d02-ch

晨興餧養

來二 14『兒女旣同有血肉之體，祂也照樣親自有分於血肉之體，爲要藉着死，廢除那掌死權的，就是魔鬼。』

羅八 3『…神，旣在罪之肉體的樣式裏，並爲着罪，差來了自己的兒子，就在肉體中定罪了罪。』

〔在希伯來二章十四節，『廢除』的意思是〕使之歸於無有，使之失效，廢掉，消除，取消，棄絕。魔鬼，蛇，引誘人墮落後，神應許女人的後裔要來傷蛇的頭（創三 15）。及至時候滿足，神的兒子就爲童女所生（加四 4），來成爲肉體（約一 14，羅八 3），好在十字架上藉着肉體受死，廢除在人肉體裏的魔鬼。…這是要將撒但廢掉，使他歸於無有。阿利路亞！撒但已經被廢掉、被除去了！（聖經恢復本，來二 14 註 1）。

信息選讀

有三個大的、醜陋的東西與肉體有關聯：…罪、撒但和世界（撒但的系統）。…罪和世界來自撒但，而撒但今天是在我們的肉體裏。…基督在罪之肉體的樣式裏成了一個人〔羅八 3〕。這事實指明，祂間接的與罪、撒但和世界有關聯，但不是在實際上，只是在樣式上。

保羅…在林後五章二十一節說，『神使那不知罪的，替我們成爲罪，好叫我們在祂裏面成爲神的義。』約翰說，基督是神成了肉體；而保羅有膽量說，神使基督成爲罪。基督是不知罪的。祂與罪無關；但神使這位與罪毫不相干的，成爲罪。從民數記二十一章四至九節，在曠野以色列子民的身上，我們能看見這事的一幅圖畫。他們得罪神，神就差蛇到他們中間咬他們。當他們向神呼求時，祂就吩咐摩西製造一條銅蛇，用杆子舉起。凡望這銅蛇的，就活了。…這樣一條有蛇形而無蛇毒的蛇，就成了他們的拯救者。…主耶穌在約翰三章十四節啓示，祂是那在曠野之銅蛇的實際。這指明祂在肉體裏時，乃是在罪之肉體的樣式裏；這樣式等於那沒有蛇毒之銅蛇的形狀。十五節繼續說，一切信入祂的必得永遠的生命。…基督之成爲罪，乃是包含了一切的罪。當祂死在十字架上的後三小時中，祂在神眼中成了罪，所以祂受神審判，甚至被神棄絕（太二七45 ～ 46，與 45 註 1）。神使祂在蛇的形狀、樣式上成爲罪，卻沒有蛇毒，爲我們罪人而死。如果祂有蛇毒，祂就不能作我們的救贖主。如果祂沒有蛇的樣式，祂也不能作我們的救贖主。祂必須是有蛇的樣式而無蛇毒的蛇〔參羅八 3 上〕；這樣，祂纔能作我們的救贖主。

盼望藉着這簡單的解釋，我們能看見，基督成爲肉體，間接的與罪有關聯；這只是在罪之肉體的樣式上，而不是在實際上。…就這意義說，祂成了肉體，使祂間接的與罪、撒但和世界有關。祂與罪有關，可見於林後五章二十一節。…希伯來二章十四節…告訴我們，基督藉着有分於血肉之體，廢除了撒但。藉着成爲肉體，基督在十字架上釘死、廢除了撒但。…然後約翰十二章三十一節告訴我們，當基督在十字架上被神審判時，世界也被審判了。藉着那一次的死，那一次在十字架上的釘死，四件東西被清除了：肉體（墮落的人）、罪、撒但和世界（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第一册，四八六至四八八頁）。

參讀：羅馬書的結晶，第一、十八篇。

WEEK 4 — DAY 2

Morning Nourishment

Heb. 2:14 Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil.

Rom. 8:3 …God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

[In Hebrews 2:14 destroy means to] bring to nought, make of none effect, do away with, abolish, annul, discard. After the devil, the serpent, seduced man into the fall, God promised that the seed of woman would come to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). In the fullness of the time the Son of God came to become flesh (John 1:14; Rom. 8:3) by being born of a virgin (Gal. 4:4), that He might destroy the devil in man’s flesh through His death in the flesh on the cross…This was to abolish Satan, to bring him to nought. Hallelujah, Satan has been abolished and done away with! (Heb. 2:14, footnote 1)

Todays Reading

There are three big, ugly things involved with the flesh:…sin, Satan, and the world, the cosmos, the satanic system…Sin and the world came from Satan, and Satan today is in our flesh…Christ became a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin [Rom. 8:3]. This fact indicates that He was indirectly involved with sin, Satan, and the world, yet not in reality, just in the likeness.

Paul…said in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” John said that Christ as God became flesh, and Paul had the boldness to say that God made Christ sin. Christ is the One who knows no sin. He had nothing to do with sin, but God made this One, who had nothing to do with sin, sin. We can see a picture of this in Numbers 21:4-9 with the children of Israel in the wilderness. They offended God, and He sent serpents among them to bite them. When they cried out to God, He told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole. Everyone who looked upon this bronze serpent would live…Such a serpent in the form of a serpent but without the poison became their savior, their deliverer. In John 3:14 the Lord Jesus revealed that He was the reality of that bronze serpent in the wilderness, indicating that when He was in the flesh, He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin, which likeness was equal to the form of the bronze serpent, which did not have the poison of the serpent. Verse 15
goes on to say that whoever believes into Him will receive eternal life. [Christ’s] being made sin includes all sins. During the last three hours of His death on the cross, in the eyes of God Christ was made sin, so He was judged by God and even forsaken by God (Matt. 27:45-46 and footnote 451…). God made Him sin to die for us sinners in the form, the likeness, of the serpent, without the poison of the serpent. If He had had the poison, He could not have been our Redeemer. Also, if He had not been in the likeness of the serpent, He could not have been our Redeemer. He had to be a serpent in the likeness of a serpent but without the poison [cf. Rom. 8:3b]; then He could be our Redeemer.

I hope that by this simple explanation we can realize that Christ became flesh to be indirectly involved with sin only in the likeness of the flesh of sin but not in the reality…In this sense, His becoming flesh caused Him to be indirectly related to sin, Satan, and the world. His becoming related to sin is seen in 2 Corinthians 5:21…[Hebrews 2:14] shows that Christ destroyed Satan by partaking of blood and flesh. By becoming the flesh, Christ crucified, destroyed, Satan on the cross…Then John 12:31 tells us that when Christ was judged by God on the cross, the world was also judged. By that one death, that one crucifixion on the cross, four things were cleared up: the flesh (the fallen man), sin, Satan, and the world. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 387-389)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” chs. 1, 18