In order to fully understand what Jesus accomplished during His brief stay here on earth, you must understand that He came here as the second Adam, the second man on this earth to be given life directly by God. God was Adam's Father and God is Jesus' Father! The only difference between Adam and Jesus is that Jesus was begotten by God, that is, God begot Him in Mary's womb and thus He became the only begotten Son of God. Adam wasn't born of a woman but Jesus was. All of mankind has been given life by our Father. Jesus said in Matt. 23:9,

"Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." 

We were born children of God because He is the one who gave us life. This is why Jesus said in Matt. 18:3,

"Except you be converted, and become as  little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

However, we were never taught as children that He gave us life and we were children of God but we were taught that we were born in sin and as a result we were separated from God in our minds until the seed of the Gospel penetrated our minds and we confessed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. When this happens our spirits were awaken as to who we really are and this is the process that Jesus talked about in John 3:5-7,

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again."

Paul said in Col. 1:20-23,

"And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.   And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled i  n the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:   If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel",

Because Jesus was begotten by God, He was the second Adam and as such represented all men, even as the first Adam did and yet He remained without sin and was obedient even to death on the cross and as a result set all of mankind free from the bondage of sin. Paul said in Rom. 5:17, (NIV)

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, (Adam) death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!"

Adam and Jesus were one with God because He was their Father. As a result of this they represented all of mankind. Therefore, when Adam disobeyed God, it subjected all of his seed to come under the control of sin. However, when Jesus came as the second Adam, born of a woman, He represented all of mankind and fulfilled the Law by living a sinless life and offered Himself up on our behalf and took upon Himself the sins of all mankind and fully paid the price for those sins. As a result, it set all of mankind free from the bondage of sin and Jesus took the Law, that we couldn't successfully obey, and fulfilled it and did away with it nailing it to the cross. He fulfilled the Law by being obedient to it.

As a result of His obedience, righteousness was imputed to Him and because He was the representative of all of mankind, righteousness is now available to all who will accept it by faith. We no longer have to depend on our righteousness. Jesus said in Matt. 6:33,

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

We do not have to depend upon our ability to keep Law today but by faith we can trust in the righteousness of Jesus. The promises that came by obeying the Law were but a shadow of the promises that come by faith in what Jesus has done. The Gospel that Paul taught the Gentiles bypassed the Law and went all the way back to Abraham who had the gospel preached to him. Paul said in Gal. 3:6-9,

"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Paul also said in 2 Cor. 3:6-11, (NIV)

"He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant;not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious." Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!""

Peter said in Peter 1:3-4, (NIV)

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

Paul also said in 2 Cor. 1:18-22, (NIV)

"But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes"and"No, but in him it has always been "Yes." For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

No matter how many promises God has made, they are Yes in Christ! Paul said in Eph. 1:3,

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

Did you know that God can not give you any more spiritual blessings than He gave you in Jesus Christ? Why not! Because He gave them all to you in Jesus Christ! Under the Law, man had to be obedient in order to receive the blessings God promised! However, today, those who by faith receive the righteousness of Christ by faith have access to all the blessings of our Father!

What is the greatest commandment according to Jesus. He said in Matt. 22:27-30,

"Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.    This is the first and great commandment.    And the second is like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.    On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

When was the last time you told the Lord that you love Him? And when was the last time you told some friend of yours that you love them? Is this something that you are comfortable doing? A long time ago I was encouraged by the Lord to sing at Church a little chorus called, "I Love You With The Love of The Lord" just before we would stop our worship service to either have communion or take up the offering!" And I would have everyone go around and greet each other and tell them they loved them.

Why is this so important to tell the Lord that you love Him and to tell others that you love them? John made a very profound statement in John 1:11-13,

"He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 

Also Jesus said in Mark 11:24,

"What things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them." 

And Paul said in Rom. 10:8-10,

"The word is nigh thee, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

What these three scriptures have in common is the word 'believe'. John said that the ones who believed on His Name, He gave the power to become the sons of God. The word, 'name' and 'power' both mean authority. In other words, to those who believed that Jesus had the authority of God and was the Son of God or the Messiah, Jesus gave them the authority to become sons of God. What was this authority that Jesus gave to those who believed? It was the authority to prophesy!! To prophesy is to speak forth the word of God. Paul told us in 1 Cor. 13:1, that we should desire to prophesy!

Paul said that it is with your heart that you believe and are made righteous in God's sight and it is with your mouth that you confess what you believe and are saved. The authority that Jesus gave to us when we believed was the authority to speak with power! Are you aware that the world was formed by the power of the spoken word of God. Have you ever wondered why in the first chapter of Geneses it continually says, "And God said, and God said....let there be and there was!"

As a result of this, it is so important for us to guard what comes out of our mouth. James addresses this in Ja. 3:9-12, (NIV)

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Also Jesus said in Luke 6:45,

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

I have found that most Christians really don't have a proper understanding of the Love of God. Love is not an attribute of God! Love is a description of God. Love is who He is! Paul said in Eph. 3:14-19,

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,    Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,    That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;    That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,    May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;    And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God."

The point I am making is that if the greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all your heart then we should prophesy this out of our mouths by telling the Lord how much we love Him. When we do this our ears hear what we are saying and our subconscious mind records it. So it becomes very natural for us to say, "Father, I love you!" Not only that, but the same is true as we learn to tell our relatives and friends that we love them. We should be able to tell others that we love them without being shy about it.

It should be very easy for us to tell one another that we love each other. It should be the most natural thing in the world. However, so many times we get caught up in the ways of the world that we fail to express the love of God to one another. Paul said in 1 Cor. 16:20,

"Greet ye one another with an holy kiss!"

Well, in our culture we don't do that but there are still culture's that do that. When I was in Rome, the Italians kiss one another on both sides of the check. Men and women alike. It's very common for them to do this.

Since Jesus said in John 13:34-35,

"A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.    By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another."

As I was writing this the Lord said to me that this coronavirus is an attempt of satan's to separate all mankind from His command through both Paul and Peter,

Paul in 1 Cor. 16:20,

Great ye one another with an holy kiss."

Peter in 1 Pet. 5:14,

Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity."

This plague is one of the signs Jesus spoke of in Matt. 24:6-8,

"And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Kingdom shall rise agenst kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."

This conoravirus is just one of the pestilences that is coming our way as this age winds up. The disciples had asks Jesus in Matt. 24:3,

Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

The proper interpretation of the word 'world' is 'age'. These signs are coming about because this age we are living in is coming to a close and a new age is coming soon. Jesus said, "All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Paul said in Eph. 2:7,

"That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."

There are ages to come and we are approaching the end of this age, commonly known as The Age of Grace, we are living in. We are experiencing weather changes, an increase and severity in tornados, earth quakes and the Lord told us not to be troubled. However, the world does not know God and therefore don't listen to Him and their first instinct is to panic. However, we who have walked all our life by faith in the Lord's word, have nothing to fear because we know in whom we have believed and are confident that when He appears we will be found to be exactly like Him.