Gary Carpenter Ministries
Monthly Partner Letter

Email Page    Print Page

Dear Partner,

I was recently asked a very good question, "Is Jesus still the only begotten of the Father or are we also included in the begotten process?" That is a very good question. What I didn't understand for years is this astonishing truth: God Himself has only ever made two men. He made the first man Adam and He made the last man Adam, Jesus Christ. [1 Cor 15:45] God told Adam and Eve that they were to be fruitful and replenish the earth. All of the people on earth were produced from the loins of Adam and Eve. The problem with that scenario was the fact that every single person produced that way was born spiritually dead. The law of sin and death had passed on to all men through the transgression of Adam.

Rom 5:12   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:

I will never forget the first time I heard my pastor Dave Roberson say, "Satan thought he had mankind forever locked into spiritual death because every new human born on planet earth was born spiritually dead. You cannot get a Savior from a spiritually dead gene pool." In his wildest dreams Satan never thought that God could devise a way to get a spiritually "alive" man born of woman on planet earth. He never dreamed the second member of the Godhead, the Word Himself, would be "begotten" of God through the womb of the mortal woman Mary.

Luke 1:34-35   Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

John 1:14   And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The Savior had been born. The first man since the fall of Adam to be born of woman spiritually alive. Truly the only "light" in a world of darkness. Jesus was standing on planet earth as the only begotten of the Father because He was the only man with the very life of God residing in His spirit. But did you know that Jesus was begotten of God two times, not just once? Here is a passage that is seldom preached about because it is so little understood:

Act 13:32-33   And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, 33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

It is so important to notice that the verse says, "THIS DAY" I have begotten thee. What Day? Is it talking about the day the infant Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary? No, the verse itself tells us what day is being referred to here … the day that Jesus was raised from the dead! Most people speak of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead as pertaining only to a "physical" resurrection from the dead. But notice this scripture:

Col 1:18   And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

That phrase "the firstborn from the dead" CANNOT be speaking of merely a physical resurrection from the dead. He was not the first to be raised from physical death. Lazarus had already been raised from physical death. The widow's son at Nain had already been raised from physical death. Several people in the Old Testament had been raised from physical death. So what does the bible mean when it says Jesus is "the firstborn from the dead?" Remember what I wrote earlier how all of the descendants of Adam are born spiritually dead with no way out? Jesus is the door … Jesus is the way out of spiritual death. He literally became sin so He could enter into the spiritual death of man. Notice carefully the wording of scripture:

2Co 5:21   For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The italicized words "to be" in that verse are not in the actual Greek language the New Testament was written in. The true scripture declares "For he hath made him sin for us …" The human spirit of Jesus suffered spiritual death. He literally became like Aaron's rod that was thrown down in Pharaoh's court. That wooden rod was a type of the cross, and on the cross Jesus became like the serpent that swallowed up all the other serpents. He took all of the sin of mankind into Himself and bore the punishment that we so richly deserved. He suffered in our place, but when the price had been fully paid, then the Father looked down from heaven and declared, "Enough! The price is paid in full. This day I beget thee again. This day I quicken your spirit from death to life. This day thou art my Son."

When the spirit of Jesus was quickened from death to life, He is called "the firstborn from the dead." He was the first man to be quickened from spiritual death unto spiritual life. He is not called the "only born" from the dead. He is the "firstborn." If there is a firstborn, there is a second born, a third born … and our number is in there somewhere. We also now are begotten of God:

1Peter 1:3   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Sue and I love you and appreciate you.   We thank God for your generous and giving heart.   God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Back « to the Resource page or on to the Next letter » Apr 2015