And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world (John 8:23).
When the Lord Jesus said to the Jews in the verse above "I'm from above," He was referring to His divine origin; He's the Lord from heaven: "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:47). He was the result of the Word that God spoke to the virgin Mary, through the Angel Gabriel (Luke 1:31). So when He said, "I'm from above," He meant His life was not of this world. His life is the life of the Word; and since the Word is God, it means His life is the life of God.
The Lord Jesus made this distinction because everyone on earth received life through their earthly parents, but His life came from God-He is the Word made flesh. Every human person born into this world has the natural human life. That life, however, is corruptible life; it is mortal. This became man's lot when Adam sinned against God, obeying Satan instead, thus, losing His authority to Satan at the Garden of Eden. As a result, death came into the world: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).
Sin came into the world by Adam's disobedience, and death followed. "Death" here is separation from God: a life of darkness and spiritual blindness. That's the life of the unregenerate man, whom the Word describes as alienated from the life of God, and a stranger from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).
However, having been born again, you're not born after the image of the first man Adam, but after Christ, who is the Lord from heaven; you bear the image of the "heavenly": as He is, so are you in this world (1 John 4:17). 1 Corinthians 15:48 explains, "...as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." 1 Peter 1:23 declares, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."
You're the offspring of the Word, just as Jesus is the Word made flesh. Like Him, you're from above; born from heaven. Glory to God!
CONFESSION
I live in victory, daily making progress, and walking in the dominion of the Spirit! I'm conscious of the indestructible life of Christ in me, and as He is, so am I-full of grace, power, and the glory of God! The Name of the Lord is glorified in me today, and forever. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY
John 3:31
Living Bible (TLB)
31 “He has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of earth.
1 Corinthians 15:47-49
Living Bible (TLB)
47 Adam was made from the dust of the earth, but Christ came from heaven above. 48 Every human being has a body just like Adam’s, made of dust, but all who become Christ’s will have the same kind of body as his—a body from heaven. 49 Just as each of us now has a body like Adam’s, so we shall some day have a body like Christ’s.
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
1 Year Reading Plan : Mark 3:13-35 Leviticus 13-14
2 Year Reading Plan : Acts 19:21-29 Psalm 27-28
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