Gene Edwards – The Eternal Purpose – UCLA 1969

All right, now, hold on to your heart, because we’ve got to go back to that tree. Well, there’s so much we’ve got to go back to. Let’s talk about Jesus for a moment on this earth. Let’s just look at Him. He is in flesh, and that means He is quite limited, right? Quite limited. Okay. What did he do?

Just take the Gospels. We see the head. This is Christ as head. He has no body yet. This is Christ in headship. It’s just Him on this earth, no body, just one single new man. He has compassion over the multitudes, that’s Jesus. He heals the sick, that’s Jesus Christ. This is the new man. He teaches as no man ever taught before, but he doesn’t teach any dead doctrines. He presents himself as life. He comes into collision with this kingdom you heard about last night, and every time He comes in collision with it, He has the absolute power over it. And God is working out His eternal purpose now that he purposed in the garden that he never got done. He has upon this earth once more the tree of life for men to eat.

But Jesus keeps on wanting to get out of there. Have you ever noticed that? He wants to leave. Have you ever noticed this? Have you ever read it? How anxious He is to leave? He keeps saying, “I’ve got to go.” But he always says, “I’ve got to go so that someone else may come. I must leave you.” And the day that he knew he had to get out was the day the Gentiles came to him and began to ask their question. And at that moment, you can see the change. It’s time now. It’s time for something great, grand, and glorious. And he makes preparation for the cross and resurrection. And so, He is crucified and He dies. He rises again, and then he ascends into heaven, and we are left alone.

But listen, he had a fantastic purpose. And I’m going to have to leave this thing for a minute. I’m just too excited to stand still. I think you’ll hear me. I’m sorry. I just can’t stand it. But you know what he did? He brought his spirit, which is himself, and he brought His spirit, which is life. And He put His life in us. And He put His life in you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you. And He put his life in all of us. There wasn’t just a son of God now, in flesh now, as one life, one new man, but he put that life in you, and he put that life in you, and he put that life in you, and all of us. And then in the book of Acts, you got the tree.

Oh, wait, stop at Ephesians. You remember who the new man is? The new man is the Jew, and the Gentile with a wall pulled down, and the two are made one. And the book of Ephesians says this is the … Christ, this is the new man. This new man is not you. It’s you in the new man. The new man is all the believers of Christ, Jew and Gentile, put together.

You got the man, the corporate man. The man God was after in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. The new man, not the Adam who fell, that’s the old one. God raised up a new man. What about this man? There is nothing different from that man and the man of the gospels for they are the same life. It is Christ in you. It is Christ in his body. It is Christ in his believers. He’s not limited by a place with just a few being able to touch him and hear him. There’s a life in you and you and you.

But don’t think you’re so cotton-picking big, because it’s not you as an individual. Genesis said let THEM have dominion. Let THEM have dominion. God will never trust his power over Satan to an individual. His power over Satan and his image to be born upon this earth was given to the church.  Remember what we read a few moments ago? “He has made Him over the principalities and the powers of this world, of this earth.” He is over them. And he has given all that power and all that authority unto what – the new man. This man has power over the enemy and dominion over the enemy and dominion over the creeping things. And this man looks just like the man in the gospel. This man looks just like the man in the gospel. This man, this new man, the church, the body, has compassion, teaches as none has ever taught. It is a life that draws men. It is now not just the head, but the head and the body. And this new man faces the demons and Satan, and they cast them out. And the church, as a built-up corporate body of believers, has dominion over the creeping things and Satan; it has dominion over all the earth. And bears the image of Jesus Christ.

Brothers, say hallelujah. Well, I want to stop here, and I’m going to turn right around. Are you tired yet? I don’t want to wear you out, but listen, there’s a lot here. There’s a lot here.

I’m going all the way back to the old man. All the way back. Can you go back with me? Can you pick this up? Let’s go back to the old man. There was a man whom God designed to bear his image and have his authority, and that man was none other than man himself, who fell. Now, there is no life of Christ in this man. He never ate of the tree. He does not have the life. Do you remember when we said this a few moments ago? He does not have in him the life that can subdue the enemy. He does not have the life that can bear the image of Christ. And from this day on, fallen in his nature, he is the old man, and he has his ways. And he is still on this earth. And my friend, I’m fighting for you who see a little bit of the church, that you will not build what the old man has built, even when you’re trying to build what the new man is.

Because men do not build at all, not if it is God’s building. God alone builds. I just want to tell you that this old man does build. And I have completely gotten off the subject again, and I’ll be back in a few minutes. But here we go.

Let’s talk about man, the old man, and what he does. Okay. Would you like to stand up for a second? Let’s stand up. I like that song.

Let’s sing it again.