The Pattern Man
From Eden to redemption

by Philippa Baka Boamah

The true meaning of redemption and the gospel

For years we have celebrated Easter, a long weekend full of church activities and family time with the repeated message of the cross but one would wonder, has the cross been beneficial to us? Have we allowed this powerful message to work in our lives beyond professing to be Christians?

Let’s throw our minds back to the beginning. God did not create man to struggle with identity, meaning and authority but to be aligned, whole and connected to Him. He wanted a relationship with man. This is why He would visit Adam and Eve in the garden, and they were extension of His authority here on earth. However, when man allowed Satan to deceive him and distorted man’s perception which led to deviation of God’s plan for man. We lost this wholeness, authority, alignment and ultimately our inner nature got broken. We no longer bore the image of God. We got disconnected and our soul became disordered. We lost the presence of God which assured absence of problems we now suffer in the world.

This was the beginning of the struggles of man till date. We try to solve this issue which is internal with external solutions; religion, morality and laws but none has been able to successfully eradicate the evil on this earth. They cannot solve what has been broken inside; it’s now the default of man to sin, the flesh has taken over the soul and the spirit buried. Now how do man survive without the presence of God. God being a relational and loving God in His wisdom introduced animal sacrifice. God said the day you eat of this tree you will surely die, Genesis 2:17. Death is the result of sin but He introduced this sacrifice for the blood to atone for our sins. Life is in blood hence the life of the animal in exchange for that of man. Which meant judgement has taken place and for God to continue to relate with man.

This blood served as a covering for man, preservation and substitution (innocent life exchanged). This was a temporal fix for divine justice for man to continue to exist. This is why this practice was passed down over centuries and formalized during the time of Moses. It served as legal atonement, national covering and covenant maintenance under the law of Moses. However, this system could not solve the problem of man. We still bore guilt and our true nature still destroyed. Man continued to live in sin and sacrifice an animal for judgement to stall. There was no change of heart and mind. Throughout the journey of Israel, they continually rejected God irrespective of the numerous times God revealed Himself through miracles performed among them. This was clear evident of the distortion in man and the failure of this system to permanently remove sin, transform human nature and restore our inner name (the spirit within us).

Without the Spirit of God, man cannot live a sinless life for it is our nature after the fall to sin. And the blood of animals could not give us this. We needed a divine life to be exchanged for man to be reborn and fully restored back to the true nature we were created with. And this divine life could only be found in Jesus Christ. The cross was eternal judgement being pardoned for the sin of man. And the divine life of Christ exchange to enable the rebirth and repair of man. The work of Christ addressed the nature of man, not our works or efforts; the problem of man was never what we do but who we are. When our nature is restored to the original, all other things will eventually be affected. We will not exhibit the results of the sinful nature. We will be abhorred by it.

Before recreation, there had to be redemption and before redemption there had to be shedding of blood, an innocent life and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin for rebirth to take place. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are called to be reborn. His blood ensured the permanent removal of sin, brought an end to animal sacrifice because we no longer had the nature of sin, destroyed legal accusation, cleansed our conscience and restored our access to God. By accepting the work of the cross in our lives we need to surrender unto the Spirit of God to reconstruct our inner man. The dormant spirit in us has now been rekindled and must be empowered to rule over the flesh. If we accept Christ but still exhibit the nature of sin, then what’s the evidence of our redemption. Being born again goes beyond confessing with our mouth; Romans 8:12, 12:2…. It’s when we allow the Spirit to take over, damage done during the fall repaired and a new nature born in us. We now live the life of the pattern man Christ, and this completes the work on the cross.

If the body of Christ will allow reconstruction to take place and rise to take our rightful place, there will be a transformation in our families, communities, societies and the world. The devil will always contend but we will be triumphant not only at the afterlife but this current life we live, and the glory of God manifested.