The Apostle Paul begins a discussion concerning the Resurrection as being an essential element in our faith experience. He said, "1 Corinthians 15:14 and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." Most Christians put the emphasis on the Death of Christ but Paul made the resurrection to be a key issue for us today. He continues saying, "Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not." To consider that we died in Christ which is true, but there is no resurrection, leaves us in a state of "Limbo." So Paul continues, "For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." The death of Christ on the cross is not effective if there is no resurrection, which speaks of a transformation that now energizes the body. The resurrection of Christ provided a clear example of the transforming power of this new life, which can only be obtained through this three-day experience.
"Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Without the resurrection our loved ones who have passed on have no hope of life beyond the grave, for if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. Paul now spells out the essential nature of the resurrection of Christ as it relates to all those who have died physically before the Cross of Jesus Christ. If all men were incorporated in Christ in his death, then of course they must also be incorporated in him in his resurrection. The Apostle Paul applies an old Testament concept to the resurrection of Christ from the dead stating that he has become the "FIRST-FRUITS" of all those who fell asleep. The "First-Fruits" is a phrase relating to the "Wave Offering," that applied to Israel and their harvest. Before the grain crop was to be harvested, Israel was told to pick some of the already mature heads of grain from the field that ripened before the main harvest, and wave them before the Lord in the temple. This signified that whatever these "First-Fruits" are, that is what the whole harvest will be.
In the resurrection, Christ has become like the mature grain of the first fruits offering, declaring that the entire harvest of the world will be exactly what he is through resurrection. The Apostle John made this declaration, "1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is (NOW), so are we in this world." Not as he was in his death, but as he IS today through his resurrection. Could this truth concerning his resurrection be the missing ingredient in our present day spiritual experience? Many now know that we died in Christ on the cross, but then the following two days are simply a blur in our understanding. Jesus Christ stated clearly that it would require THREE DAYS to produce the Temple of God, beginning with the death of the old. John 2:19. It is most evident that the TRUE Temple of God is not the OLD TEMPLE with a few modifications, but a NEW Temple suitable for the manifestation of the Glory of the Lord.
In Matt 24 the disciples took Jesus to show him the beautiful temple that they had built for him. His response was that there would not be one stone left upon another that shall not be thrown down. This was a prophecy concerning the end of an era, in which the temple in Israel’s history that had been central to their spiritual life would no longer be the dwelling place of God. But this was no longer to be so for Jesus Christ told the people of his day, that they could destroy "This Temple," speaking of his body, and in three days he would raise it up. John 2:19. This was a direct reference to his death burial and resurrection, which he was to accomplish at Calvary. Two major issues would be involved in his death, and the first would bring to an end the authority of the carnal mind, in the death of the OLD MAN, and therefore the Adamic consciousness. According to Romans 6:6 this also indicated that the "Body" would no longer be a body of sin under the control of the natural mind, but would become the Body of Christ under the control of the Christ mind. This is the first step in the divine program that would bring about the transformation of mortal man to become a NEW CREATION in Christ Jesus.
The first day represents the death of that which is the product of our first birth having come from our parents who could only produce a mortal human being. This is the reason why our body is subject to every kind of disease, sickness, pain and suffering finally ending in death. However, the Apostle Paul challenges us in 1Cor 6:19 by saying,
There were aspects of our being such as skin color and health issues to name just a few that we would inherit from our parents. We inherit tendencies towards certain health issues that are passed on to us from birth and imperfections for which we are not personally responsible. Many people are born blind or deaf and with other debilitating defects that come through our birthing into this world, some of which may be a result of life style issues involving the parents. When Jesus Christ came into this world he demonstrated a power over sickness and diseases and even over health defects direct from birth. After demonstrating this ability he told us that we also could do everything that he did, and that was demonstrated on the day of Pentecost. But only a few people since then have believed the Lord and proved that what he said was true, so sickness and disease have continued to plague mankind all over the earth.
The Ministry and work of Jesus Christ on the earth culminated in a divine encounter, which he had with his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is recorded in Matt. 26:36-44, where he is commissioned to accomplish redemption for all mankind that would include his crucifixion at Calvary. The disciples could not share in this conversation between Jesus Christ and his heavenly Father, for they did not understand the depth of what was involved in the redemption of all mankind. He begins by saying, "MY SOUL is exceeding sorrowful even unto death." To understand what is involved here, we must go back to the time in Gen 2 when the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he took from him the female aspect of his being and produced a woman. In creation, that first man was the only son of the living God, Jesus Christ and we are told that he is MALE and FEMALE functioning as one. But now in this "allegory" in Gen 2, we find the female part is removed and becomes a separate entity that is introduced to Adam. Adam says to her," You are bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh so I will call you Woman, because you were taken out of me." Remember this is an allegory because it cannot be literal, for spirit has no gender, and so there is no such thing as a female spirit or a male spirit, but in creation they were united and functioned as one.
In this allegory that now demonstrates the function of the female that represents the SOUL of man, the woman goes out to express life on her own without any help from Adam, the SPIRIT. She begins with a conversation with a talking snake, discussing the one tree in the Garden of Eden they were told not to eat of the fruit. The snake said, "Did God say you were not to eat the fruit of that tree?" Eve answered the question just as God had said, including the fact that if they did eat of that tree they would die. The response from the snake was, "YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE, because God knows that the day that you eat of the fruit of that tree that your eyes will be opened and you will be as gods knowing good and evil." Gen 3:4-5. The deception had taken root in Eve, and believing what the snake told her she took and ate the fruit. Now she gives the fruit to Adam, who has never spoken to the snake nor was he deceived, but he knew that there would be a time when this situation could be reversed, but only if he became one with the woman. So he took the fruit and with his eyes wide open knowing the consequences, and not in rebellion towards God, he ate the fruit. This resulted in their eyes being opened and they knew that they were naked.
Their relationship with God was broken and now instead of fellowshipping with God they were afraid of him and hid behind the trees. God called to Adam for he never recognized Eve as a separate entity but called THEIR NAME ADAM, as they were one in creation. So the word records that Adam became a LIVING SOUL which was not how he was created. As a living soul Adam lost his contact with God, and now functioned out of his soul life controlled by the carnal or natural mind, that has no concept of true reality. From that time man determined his own reality through his five natural senses, sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. None of these natural senses can reveal true reality, for they can only be known by the spirit. Adam now sees himself living outside the Garden of Eden and has to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow as he competes with the thorns and thistles. All of mankind functions as a living soul until God moves upon the man drawing him unto himself." Scripture says,
In order to be born from above there must be a death to the soulish life we had been living for we can only live one life at a time, which must be either mortal or immortal for it is impossible for these two different lives to function together. The divine method instituted by God that would see our soulish life of unreality terminated, was given into the hands of his Son Jesus Christ on the Mount of Olives. He begins by saying, "My SOUL is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." In order for him to accomplish Redemption he was made to be the MAN OF SIN, which is ADAM (2Cor 5:21). So in his death he became the LAST ADAM, which means the very last person of a race of people that descended from Adam in the Garden of Eden. From Calvary there has never been another "ADAM" born into this world, for he was the very LAST ONE. When Jesus Christ was born into the world of a VIRGIN, which was FROM ABOVE all of mankind was birthed in him.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ recognized all of the consequences of the woman’s deception in the Garden of Eden, and her eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All the sickness, pain, suffering and death of people down through the ages now brought the sorrow of it all upon him, for remember the woman was taken out of him, and he recognized that she was a part of himself. Now his Father asked him to purchase the redemption of all mankind by laying down his own mortal life, and by so doing he would taste death for every man. This agreement was sealed by his drinking of the cup containing his Father will and purpose. This is a part of the COMMUNION service that the Church holds for God’s people. In 1 Cor 11:23, Paul says, "I have received on the Lord that which I am delivering unto you, that the same night in which he was betrayed took bread, and when he had broken it (His body) he said, Take eat, for this is my BODY that is broken for you, this do in REMEMBRANCE of me. He did the same with the CUP saying, "This CUP is the New Covenant represented in my blood, drink it in REMEMBRANCE of me every time you drink it." So we in the communion service basically sign the same Covenant Jesus made with his Father at the Mount of Olives, that we would gladly lay down our own life so that we might bring LIFE to all mankind.
It is important to know that the word "Remember" in connection with the Communion service is not just to keep Christ’s death in our memory and think about it once in a while, but comes from the same Greek word as TRUTH which means a NOT FORGETTING, and Jesus Christ said, "I AM THE TRUTH." As soon as Jesus had signed the covenant with the Father he woke up the disciples and told them the one who would betray him was approaching with the armed guards. So Judas approached and Kissed Jesus which was the sign that this was the one they were looking for. So Jesus was arrested and led down the road like a common criminal, for now he had become what we are and for the time being could no longer live as a son of the Living God. They stripped him and put a purple robe on him and beat his back until it was raw, yet he answered not a word. He was as a lamb led to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth. He was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was a man on a mission and he would not allow anything to prevent him doing the Father’s will. Even to Pilate the supreme Judge, who tried to release Jesus, he said, "You have no power over me except my Father gives it to you."
So they crucified him, willingly laying down his natural life, and thereby tasting death for every man. His final word was, "It is finished, and into thy hands I commend my spirit." At that moment life left his body and his death was complete. The soldiers were amazed that he had died so quickly for crucifixion was a very slow and agonizing death. The thieves who were crucified with him were not dead so they broke their legs as the bodies had to be taken down from the cross before sundown. Joseph had arranged to take care of the body of Jesus; so having prepared the body for burial it was placed in the tomb, which was sealed with a large stone. From the Old Testament came prophecies concerning his burial especially, Psalm 16:10 "For thou wilt not leave my soul life (Nephesh) in SHEOL or the grave; neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption." So his body never deteriorated in the grave, as there was nothing wrong with it except that as the LAST ADAM the Soul life desired to express itself, and this is the life that died there on Golgotha’s Hill. Romans 6:5 "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."
If we are of joint origin or planted together with him in the likeness of his death, Paul tells us that "We shall also be in the LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION." So the death we died in Christ at Calvary is linked together with his resurrection, so the changes that occurred over those three days in Jesus Christ must also be linked to us who believe that we shared that same experience with him. Death is the end of conscious life on this earth, which is the product of the LIVING SOUL. So in our death IN CHRIST is the destruction of our human consciousness, in which the carnal or natural mind used its natural faculties to establish the realities out of which we lived. Now a new faculty of consciousness is established by the SPIRIT OF OUR TRUE IDENTITY that was created in the beginning, producing the NEW CREATION MAN. Nothing of this transformation is visible to our natural sight and neither were we in any way involved in this change. We are aware that the change of the caterpillar into the butterfly, which is the same process, as expressed here in the resurrection, was carried out in secret with no human eyes being privy to the process until it was complete. To even attempt to explain the process apart from the issues that have been made plain to us by the Spirit of God is futile.
The evidence of a change that took place in Jesus Christ himself, as he stepped out of the tomb is all we need to know. First of all the stone had to be removed, but not to let Jesus Christ out but to make public the evidence within the tomb itself for the disciples to see. The stone that sealed the tomb denying access to the burial place as well as sealing in side whatever had been placed in there, represents the LAW OF GOD given to Israel written on pieces of stone. The Law stated, "The soul that sins, IT SHALL DIE." So no one could ever leave the tomb because of the consequences of sin, for it was sealed with that stone, which represented LAW until Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ, to remove the stone and make a pathway THROUGH DEATH into LIFE. We need to note what the Apostle Paul said concerning the resurrection. In Rom 6:4 he reminds us concerning Baptism saying, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of Life. In water Baptism, although the symbolism of the water represents the grave and being buried with him, it would seem that as in Peter’s statement in Acts 2:38, Water Baptism at that time was associated with the forgiveness of sins.
Remember that the Apostle Paul only recognized one Baptism in Eph.4:5, and that one he mentions in Gal. 3:27-28 which seems to resonate with the truth revealed in the resurrection. "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
After the resurrection not even Mary knew whom he was, thinking she was speaking to the gardener, until he spoke to her. Jesus made it clear that his "Sheep" would HEAR HIS VOICE, not with natural ears but by the spirit voice within, but he never said we would recognize him with our natural eyes.. Later when two of the disciples were walking together on the road to Emmaus they met a man travelling on the same road who joined in with their conversation as they spoke about Jesus, how they thought he was the Messiah of the Old Testament until he was crucified. Now all their hopes were gone as this was the third day. But this man who was Christ began at Moses and the Prophets and began to expound unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning him. That was how he knew his own true identity at the age of 12 because he saw himself in the Old Testament Scriptures. When they came to the place where they were to stay they asked the man to come and join them, which he did. As he sat at the meal table with then he broke the bread just as he had done in the upper room, and their eyes were opened and they knew who he was and then he vanished out of their sight.
It was only then that the two disciples recalled how they had been deeply affected by what Christ said to them as they walked together, but they never realized who he was then. So physically he still looked like a man but could not be identified as Jesus who they knew so well. After the resurrection he could walk through the walls as he did to enter if to the private discussion with the disciples, who had locked the doors and windows. But there was another issue associated with the resurrection and that was that at the same time that Christ left the tomb. Matthew 27:52
The Apostle Paul had divine revelation concerning the Cross and the Resurrection making the plan of God very plain. He uses the Laws of nature to help us understand about the DEATH and the BURIAL of Jesus Christ in 1Cor 15:35. "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die: And that which you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God gives it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body" According to nature the SEED that you sow is not the new plant that grows, for the seed in order to reproduce must DIE and disappear. But out of that death of the seed a NEW PLANT is birthed. The principle of LIFE out of DEATH denies the concept that is becoming popular today, of REINCARNATION. The seed is not reincarnated, because it must die if there is to be a harvest from that seed. Jesus Christ was a man of flesh and blood and he was mortal because he could die but according to Gal 3:16 he is THE SEED OF GOD. So at the cross Jesus laid down his life so there could be a harvest unto God out of the death of that seed. Christ being spirit could not die so Jesus said at the end, "It is finished," and then he said, "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit." At that moment the spirit departed from his body and he was DEAD.
However it was prophesied in Psalm 16:10. "You will not leave my soul in hell (sheol or the grave) neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption." So the body that was put in the tomb saw no corruption, but out of the death of that seed a new life sprang up and Father gave it a new BODY, as it pleased him. This BODY is the true TEMPLE OF GOD, (John 2:19) that is under the control of the HEAD which is CHRIST, and all those who are IN CHRIST are incorporated into that BODY and function under the same head which is Christ. For our body to be the true body of Christ it must have been incorporated into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for only then can the transformation take place. Until then our body remains under the authority of the carnal mind and so remains subject to every sickness and disease. The true Body of Christ cannot be sick for Christ is the head having control over every cell in our body. To even think that our body is the Temple of God which is his dwelling place, and yet be subject to sickness and disease that puts a limitation on what it can do, surely cannot be much of an advertisement for God’s dwelling place. It appears to me that the whole concept of what the Cross represents for us together with his burial and resurrection, needs a lot more consideration than we have given to it up to now.
Our consideration of the resurrection would not be complete without taking notice of what Paul shares with us in 1Cor 15 about the kind of Body that Father supplies for the New Creation Man. It begins in Verse 39 by saying that there are different types of FLESH, one for the man, another for the beasts, and another for the fish and another for the birds. In the same way there are celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial is different to the glory of the terrestrial. There is also a glory of the sun, and another for the moon, and another glory for the stars, which is different for each one. In exactly the same way it is so for the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in Corruption, but it is raised in Incorruption. It is sown in dishonor but it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness but it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body but it is raised a Spiritual Body, because there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. That is why it is written, "The first man ADAM was made a LIVING SOUL, while the LAST ADAM was made a LIFE GIVING SPIRIT, but remember that was not first which is SPIRITUAL but that which is NATURAL, and then later that which is SPIRITUAL.
The first MAN is of the earth, earthy, but the SECOND MAN is THE LORD FROM HEAVEN. What the earthy man is, so are all those who are earthy, and as is the HEAVENLY, so are those who are HEAVENLY. In this statement is a very vital truth that we need to consider carefully. The first man speaks of Adam in the Garden who ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and found himself on the outside of the Garden of Eden. He is the first man who became the man of the earth. Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary is the second man who becomes the Lord from heaven through his death burial and resurrection. We become the earthly man through our first birth being born of a woman in the likeness of that first man from the Garden of Eden. To become that second man, who is the LORD FROM HEAVEN, requires that we must submit to death, and recognize that we died in Christ on the cross at Calvary. After this we must be buried to release the heavenly life of the seed of God planted within every man. As the divine seed yields up its life through death, the man of the earth becomes the Lord from heaven, now possessing a life that is eternal allowing him to walk out of the tomb as the NEW CREATION MAN.
AND AS WE HAVE BORNE THE IMAGE OF THE EARTHLY, WE SHALL ALSO BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY.
Now this I say unto you brothers, that FLESH AND BLOOD cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit Corruption. Behold I show you a MYSTERY, We shall not all sleep (Die), but we shall all be changed in a "Moment." This is not a TIME Word but is from the Greek word ATOMOS, and indicates that the change in our body is to take place in the ATOMS that are the building blocks from which our body is made. These atoms are protons and neutrons rotating around a nucleus and to change them simply requires that they be speeded up to function as they did before Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the twinkling of an eye, for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this MORTAL must put on IMMORTALITY.
The religious authorities in this world have convinced us that this resurrection is an event that will take place after the millennium etc at the end of the world. What would be the point of such an idea, for if the resurrection of Jesus Christ has not taken place 2000 years ago no one would have believed the Gospel? The resurrection was proof of the power of the Gospel to break the power of death over all mankind and it is the evidence that man needs to see in this our day. In John 11 we have the account of Lazarus who was sick and who finally died. When Jesus was told about his sickness the scripture says that he remained where he was for another two days. These two days are significant in that they indicate that they were a part of the THREE-DAY experience of the death burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus told Mary and Martha that this sickness was not to be "Unto DEATH" or consummated by death, but for the glory of God. Then he told his disciples that he wanted to go into Judea again, but they argued with him that the people there had tried to kill him the last time he visited that place. But Jesus was not persuaded by the disciples for he was about to demonstrate the fact that death had no power over him or anyone else if they could believe it.
Jesus told the disciples that Lazarus was "ASLEEP," but they misunderstood what he said suggesting that he would wake up out of normal sleep if that was so. Only then did he used the terminology they understood by saying Lazarus is DEAD. Then he said, "I will go and awake him out of his sleep." By the time he arrived Lazarus had been dead four days, one day more than Jesus Christ had been dead. Martha made her feelings of resentment known when she told Jesus, "If you had been here my brother would not have died, but even now I know that whatever you ask God for he will give it to you. So Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Paul makes it clear that "Flesh and blood" cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, so it is obvious that our involvement in the cross of Jesus Christ is not optional, but is demanded by God if our body is to be the his TEMPLE. The body that was born of a woman could never be the true Temple of God as it is subject to sickness pain and disease and to all kinds of limitations of the flesh including age. The life governing that body must be brought to an end, for it has no capacity to bring forth a manifestation of a true son of the living God. Most Christians continue to live out of their mortality just as the rest of the world does so that they are indistinguishable from the people of the world about us. It is only in death that a new life can be generated. Nature teaches us this principle Life, for as we plant a seed we are looking beyond the present life that is apparent to us, to a new life that will be birthed out of the old. Paul uses this law of nature to help us understand the principle of resurrection. He says that some will ask, "How are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?" Obviously the majority believes that they are simply raised up with the same body that they had before. Lazarus was simply brought back to life but not in the truth of resurrection, because he died again later. Jesus Christ never died again but he ascended into the spirit world back to the Father, in which he completed his journey returning from whence he had come.
Paul responds to those who would question what is the body that is raised up in resurrection, "Thou fool, (because everyone should have known the process in nature of a seed planted in the earth), that which you sow is not quickened except it dies, and the SEED which you sow is NOT that body which grows, but is simply bare grain of wheat or some other grain, BUT GOD gives it a body as it pleases him, and to every seed his own body." So the principle of the seed from nature explains the process of resurrection very clearly, for the seed planted MUST DIE or there will be no resurrection. The principle revealed in Nature concerning New Life is that it must come out of a death. When we plant a seed of wheat and the conditions are right, as the new life emerges from the earth if you dig up that small plant you will not find the original seed that was planted. It has yielded up the life that it contained to be vested in the new plant and therefore to result in a harvest, and for this it gladly embraces death to itself.
While we can see the principle involved it seems not so easy for us to lay down our own life, having not yet appreciated the wonderful Life that is available to us when we lay down our mortality. But it is said of Jesus Christ, "Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." He was willing to endure the cross, not for himself but for the salvation of the world regardless of the cost to himself. Very few Christians seem to have a sense of responsibility to God for the world, being concerned only for their own salvation. It is this selfish concept that causes us to deny the purposes of God for all mankind. When God expressed his love it was not just for the few, but for the whole world, "For God so loved the world that he gave us his son." The Apostle Paul testified, "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Gal 1:15-16. Here was the cry of his heart expressed, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you."
Jesus made the way plain when he said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." To recognize that the man born of a woman can never be the vessel in the hand of God through which he can manifest himself, will cause that one to take up his cross so as to divest himself of his humanity as a LIVING SOUL, in order to become a NEW CREATION MAN. There is no substitute for the death, burial and the resurrection if we are to fulfill the divine potential that was placed within us in creation. In this we have overcome the last enemy to be destroyed and that is death itself. Jesus Christ declared,
I AM HE THAT LIVES AND WAS DEAD AND NOW I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE, AND IN MY HAND I HOLD THE KEYS OF THE GRAVE AND DEATH. Rev 1:18
May the Lord give you knowledge and understanding of these things that your life may be blessed and fruitful for his glory Amen?
Des Walter July 2007
"Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Without the resurrection our loved ones who have passed on have no hope of life beyond the grave, for if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. Paul now spells out the essential nature of the resurrection of Christ as it relates to all those who have died physically before the Cross of Jesus Christ. If all men were incorporated in Christ in his death, then of course they must also be incorporated in him in his resurrection. The Apostle Paul applies an old Testament concept to the resurrection of Christ from the dead stating that he has become the "FIRST-FRUITS" of all those who fell asleep. The "First-Fruits" is a phrase relating to the "Wave Offering," that applied to Israel and their harvest. Before the grain crop was to be harvested, Israel was told to pick some of the already mature heads of grain from the field that ripened before the main harvest, and wave them before the Lord in the temple. This signified that whatever these "First-Fruits" are, that is what the whole harvest will be.
In the resurrection, Christ has become like the mature grain of the first fruits offering, declaring that the entire harvest of the world will be exactly what he is through resurrection. The Apostle John made this declaration, "1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is (NOW), so are we in this world." Not as he was in his death, but as he IS today through his resurrection. Could this truth concerning his resurrection be the missing ingredient in our present day spiritual experience? Many now know that we died in Christ on the cross, but then the following two days are simply a blur in our understanding. Jesus Christ stated clearly that it would require THREE DAYS to produce the Temple of God, beginning with the death of the old. John 2:19. It is most evident that the TRUE Temple of God is not the OLD TEMPLE with a few modifications, but a NEW Temple suitable for the manifestation of the Glory of the Lord.
In Matt 24 the disciples took Jesus to show him the beautiful temple that they had built for him. His response was that there would not be one stone left upon another that shall not be thrown down. This was a prophecy concerning the end of an era, in which the temple in Israel’s history that had been central to their spiritual life would no longer be the dwelling place of God. But this was no longer to be so for Jesus Christ told the people of his day, that they could destroy "This Temple," speaking of his body, and in three days he would raise it up. John 2:19. This was a direct reference to his death burial and resurrection, which he was to accomplish at Calvary. Two major issues would be involved in his death, and the first would bring to an end the authority of the carnal mind, in the death of the OLD MAN, and therefore the Adamic consciousness. According to Romans 6:6 this also indicated that the "Body" would no longer be a body of sin under the control of the natural mind, but would become the Body of Christ under the control of the Christ mind. This is the first step in the divine program that would bring about the transformation of mortal man to become a NEW CREATION in Christ Jesus.
The first day represents the death of that which is the product of our first birth having come from our parents who could only produce a mortal human being. This is the reason why our body is subject to every kind of disease, sickness, pain and suffering finally ending in death. However, the Apostle Paul challenges us in 1Cor 6:19 by saying,
"Don’t you know that your body is the temple of God that isBecause we were created in Christ Jesus in the beginning, we are a spirit being that resided in the Father throughout all the generations of man, until we were sent to the earth to fulfill our divine commission. Ps 90:1. At this point in time Father formed a body for us in our mother’s womb and we were born into this world. God had set in motion a law in all nature that states whatever the parents are, is what the offspring would be. Because our parents were mortal human beings, that is what we were in our birthing.
in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own. For you are bought with
a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are
Gods."
There were aspects of our being such as skin color and health issues to name just a few that we would inherit from our parents. We inherit tendencies towards certain health issues that are passed on to us from birth and imperfections for which we are not personally responsible. Many people are born blind or deaf and with other debilitating defects that come through our birthing into this world, some of which may be a result of life style issues involving the parents. When Jesus Christ came into this world he demonstrated a power over sickness and diseases and even over health defects direct from birth. After demonstrating this ability he told us that we also could do everything that he did, and that was demonstrated on the day of Pentecost. But only a few people since then have believed the Lord and proved that what he said was true, so sickness and disease have continued to plague mankind all over the earth.
The Ministry and work of Jesus Christ on the earth culminated in a divine encounter, which he had with his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is recorded in Matt. 26:36-44, where he is commissioned to accomplish redemption for all mankind that would include his crucifixion at Calvary. The disciples could not share in this conversation between Jesus Christ and his heavenly Father, for they did not understand the depth of what was involved in the redemption of all mankind. He begins by saying, "MY SOUL is exceeding sorrowful even unto death." To understand what is involved here, we must go back to the time in Gen 2 when the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he took from him the female aspect of his being and produced a woman. In creation, that first man was the only son of the living God, Jesus Christ and we are told that he is MALE and FEMALE functioning as one. But now in this "allegory" in Gen 2, we find the female part is removed and becomes a separate entity that is introduced to Adam. Adam says to her," You are bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh so I will call you Woman, because you were taken out of me." Remember this is an allegory because it cannot be literal, for spirit has no gender, and so there is no such thing as a female spirit or a male spirit, but in creation they were united and functioned as one.
In this allegory that now demonstrates the function of the female that represents the SOUL of man, the woman goes out to express life on her own without any help from Adam, the SPIRIT. She begins with a conversation with a talking snake, discussing the one tree in the Garden of Eden they were told not to eat of the fruit. The snake said, "Did God say you were not to eat the fruit of that tree?" Eve answered the question just as God had said, including the fact that if they did eat of that tree they would die. The response from the snake was, "YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE, because God knows that the day that you eat of the fruit of that tree that your eyes will be opened and you will be as gods knowing good and evil." Gen 3:4-5. The deception had taken root in Eve, and believing what the snake told her she took and ate the fruit. Now she gives the fruit to Adam, who has never spoken to the snake nor was he deceived, but he knew that there would be a time when this situation could be reversed, but only if he became one with the woman. So he took the fruit and with his eyes wide open knowing the consequences, and not in rebellion towards God, he ate the fruit. This resulted in their eyes being opened and they knew that they were naked.
Their relationship with God was broken and now instead of fellowshipping with God they were afraid of him and hid behind the trees. God called to Adam for he never recognized Eve as a separate entity but called THEIR NAME ADAM, as they were one in creation. So the word records that Adam became a LIVING SOUL which was not how he was created. As a living soul Adam lost his contact with God, and now functioned out of his soul life controlled by the carnal or natural mind, that has no concept of true reality. From that time man determined his own reality through his five natural senses, sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. None of these natural senses can reveal true reality, for they can only be known by the spirit. Adam now sees himself living outside the Garden of Eden and has to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow as he competes with the thorns and thistles. All of mankind functions as a living soul until God moves upon the man drawing him unto himself." Scripture says,
"No man can come to the son except the Father draws him.ABOVE he cannot see the Kingdom of God." However, man is living out of a life that functions as a mortal man being born of a woman.
In order to be born from above there must be a death to the soulish life we had been living for we can only live one life at a time, which must be either mortal or immortal for it is impossible for these two different lives to function together. The divine method instituted by God that would see our soulish life of unreality terminated, was given into the hands of his Son Jesus Christ on the Mount of Olives. He begins by saying, "My SOUL is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." In order for him to accomplish Redemption he was made to be the MAN OF SIN, which is ADAM (2Cor 5:21). So in his death he became the LAST ADAM, which means the very last person of a race of people that descended from Adam in the Garden of Eden. From Calvary there has never been another "ADAM" born into this world, for he was the very LAST ONE. When Jesus Christ was born into the world of a VIRGIN, which was FROM ABOVE all of mankind was birthed in him.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ recognized all of the consequences of the woman’s deception in the Garden of Eden, and her eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All the sickness, pain, suffering and death of people down through the ages now brought the sorrow of it all upon him, for remember the woman was taken out of him, and he recognized that she was a part of himself. Now his Father asked him to purchase the redemption of all mankind by laying down his own mortal life, and by so doing he would taste death for every man. This agreement was sealed by his drinking of the cup containing his Father will and purpose. This is a part of the COMMUNION service that the Church holds for God’s people. In 1 Cor 11:23, Paul says, "I have received on the Lord that which I am delivering unto you, that the same night in which he was betrayed took bread, and when he had broken it (His body) he said, Take eat, for this is my BODY that is broken for you, this do in REMEMBRANCE of me. He did the same with the CUP saying, "This CUP is the New Covenant represented in my blood, drink it in REMEMBRANCE of me every time you drink it." So we in the communion service basically sign the same Covenant Jesus made with his Father at the Mount of Olives, that we would gladly lay down our own life so that we might bring LIFE to all mankind.
It is important to know that the word "Remember" in connection with the Communion service is not just to keep Christ’s death in our memory and think about it once in a while, but comes from the same Greek word as TRUTH which means a NOT FORGETTING, and Jesus Christ said, "I AM THE TRUTH." As soon as Jesus had signed the covenant with the Father he woke up the disciples and told them the one who would betray him was approaching with the armed guards. So Judas approached and Kissed Jesus which was the sign that this was the one they were looking for. So Jesus was arrested and led down the road like a common criminal, for now he had become what we are and for the time being could no longer live as a son of the Living God. They stripped him and put a purple robe on him and beat his back until it was raw, yet he answered not a word. He was as a lamb led to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth. He was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was a man on a mission and he would not allow anything to prevent him doing the Father’s will. Even to Pilate the supreme Judge, who tried to release Jesus, he said, "You have no power over me except my Father gives it to you."
So they crucified him, willingly laying down his natural life, and thereby tasting death for every man. His final word was, "It is finished, and into thy hands I commend my spirit." At that moment life left his body and his death was complete. The soldiers were amazed that he had died so quickly for crucifixion was a very slow and agonizing death. The thieves who were crucified with him were not dead so they broke their legs as the bodies had to be taken down from the cross before sundown. Joseph had arranged to take care of the body of Jesus; so having prepared the body for burial it was placed in the tomb, which was sealed with a large stone. From the Old Testament came prophecies concerning his burial especially, Psalm 16:10 "For thou wilt not leave my soul life (Nephesh) in SHEOL or the grave; neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption." So his body never deteriorated in the grave, as there was nothing wrong with it except that as the LAST ADAM the Soul life desired to express itself, and this is the life that died there on Golgotha’s Hill. Romans 6:5 "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."
If we are of joint origin or planted together with him in the likeness of his death, Paul tells us that "We shall also be in the LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION." So the death we died in Christ at Calvary is linked together with his resurrection, so the changes that occurred over those three days in Jesus Christ must also be linked to us who believe that we shared that same experience with him. Death is the end of conscious life on this earth, which is the product of the LIVING SOUL. So in our death IN CHRIST is the destruction of our human consciousness, in which the carnal or natural mind used its natural faculties to establish the realities out of which we lived. Now a new faculty of consciousness is established by the SPIRIT OF OUR TRUE IDENTITY that was created in the beginning, producing the NEW CREATION MAN. Nothing of this transformation is visible to our natural sight and neither were we in any way involved in this change. We are aware that the change of the caterpillar into the butterfly, which is the same process, as expressed here in the resurrection, was carried out in secret with no human eyes being privy to the process until it was complete. To even attempt to explain the process apart from the issues that have been made plain to us by the Spirit of God is futile.
The evidence of a change that took place in Jesus Christ himself, as he stepped out of the tomb is all we need to know. First of all the stone had to be removed, but not to let Jesus Christ out but to make public the evidence within the tomb itself for the disciples to see. The stone that sealed the tomb denying access to the burial place as well as sealing in side whatever had been placed in there, represents the LAW OF GOD given to Israel written on pieces of stone. The Law stated, "The soul that sins, IT SHALL DIE." So no one could ever leave the tomb because of the consequences of sin, for it was sealed with that stone, which represented LAW until Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ, to remove the stone and make a pathway THROUGH DEATH into LIFE. We need to note what the Apostle Paul said concerning the resurrection. In Rom 6:4 he reminds us concerning Baptism saying, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of Life. In water Baptism, although the symbolism of the water represents the grave and being buried with him, it would seem that as in Peter’s statement in Acts 2:38, Water Baptism at that time was associated with the forgiveness of sins.
Remember that the Apostle Paul only recognized one Baptism in Eph.4:5, and that one he mentions in Gal. 3:27-28 which seems to resonate with the truth revealed in the resurrection. "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
Paul made a similar statement to the Church in Corinth inPaul says this Baptism BY THE SPIRIT, causes us to PUT ON CHRIST, as we would put on our clothes. Here he is speaking about the body that in resurrection has under gone a transformation so that it is no longer mortal but immortal. Likewise we no longer have ethnic or national identity, and also we lose our "Gender," as there is no more male and female. As we contemplate these things we realize that the resurrection produces the most radical change that is possible on this earth. However, such a change is not possible without our participation in the DEATH of Jesus on the cross. Religion has devised its own formula for "Salvation," that allows a person to remain basically the same with only a slight modification to their thinking. So that those people remain the same but never become a NEW CREATION in Christ. They face the same problems of unrighteousness as they had before and also sickness continues to plague their bodies. Jesus Christ made it clear that if any man desired to come after him, he has to deny his old identity of "Self" and take up his cross and follow him to Golgotha. Paul’s concept of that transformation is summed up in the statement, "If any man be IN CHRIST he is a new creation."
1Cor 12:13, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be
Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit." The first thing that Paul mentions is that we are ALL Baptized
into ONE BODY and that body is CHRIST. The truth is that the only BODY that
walked out of the tomb in resurrection was CHRIST and not JESUS. Once the "Old
Man’ or the Adamic consciousness was taken into death the body, was released
from its mortality and its connection with this world.
After the resurrection not even Mary knew whom he was, thinking she was speaking to the gardener, until he spoke to her. Jesus made it clear that his "Sheep" would HEAR HIS VOICE, not with natural ears but by the spirit voice within, but he never said we would recognize him with our natural eyes.. Later when two of the disciples were walking together on the road to Emmaus they met a man travelling on the same road who joined in with their conversation as they spoke about Jesus, how they thought he was the Messiah of the Old Testament until he was crucified. Now all their hopes were gone as this was the third day. But this man who was Christ began at Moses and the Prophets and began to expound unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning him. That was how he knew his own true identity at the age of 12 because he saw himself in the Old Testament Scriptures. When they came to the place where they were to stay they asked the man to come and join them, which he did. As he sat at the meal table with then he broke the bread just as he had done in the upper room, and their eyes were opened and they knew who he was and then he vanished out of their sight.
It was only then that the two disciples recalled how they had been deeply affected by what Christ said to them as they walked together, but they never realized who he was then. So physically he still looked like a man but could not be identified as Jesus who they knew so well. After the resurrection he could walk through the walls as he did to enter if to the private discussion with the disciples, who had locked the doors and windows. But there was another issue associated with the resurrection and that was that at the same time that Christ left the tomb. Matthew 27:52
"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saintsHistory records that the Priests sewed up the veil in an attempt to re-establish their priesthood and authority, but of course the Temple itself was destroyed along with the city of Jerusalem in AD70, just as Jesus had prophesied in Matt 24. There has been much talk about Israel building another temple but it will never be recognized by God, who since the Cross and the resurrection has his own TEMPLE just as he said, in John 2:19. This Temple that has NOT been made with HANDS, for now CHRIST is the head of a new living BODY that incorporates all those who are IN CHRIST. Paul reminds us that when we are IN CHRIST, our bodies also become the Temple of God through the death burial and resurrection, now functioning under the HEAD, which is Christ. This is what produces the transformation in our body, because it is no longer governed by the Carnal mind that has been affected by the snake, for it cannot survive the Cross. Our humanity and mortality are put to death in the Cross to release us from its bondage and authority and the government of our life is now upon his shoulder, which will continue to increase until all mankind bows the knee to the King.
which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went
into the holy city, and appeared unto many." This was a testimony to the
resurrection of Christ, just as the Veil in the Temple was rent in Matthew 27:50
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and
behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. At the very moment that he died the
veil was removed, and access into the Most Holy Place was opened to whosoever
will to enter in. Once the veil was removed the temple could no longer function,
and the Priesthood under Aaron had become obsolete. So many changes took place
as a result of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, many of which
have remained even to this day.
The Apostle Paul had divine revelation concerning the Cross and the Resurrection making the plan of God very plain. He uses the Laws of nature to help us understand about the DEATH and the BURIAL of Jesus Christ in 1Cor 15:35. "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die: And that which you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God gives it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body" According to nature the SEED that you sow is not the new plant that grows, for the seed in order to reproduce must DIE and disappear. But out of that death of the seed a NEW PLANT is birthed. The principle of LIFE out of DEATH denies the concept that is becoming popular today, of REINCARNATION. The seed is not reincarnated, because it must die if there is to be a harvest from that seed. Jesus Christ was a man of flesh and blood and he was mortal because he could die but according to Gal 3:16 he is THE SEED OF GOD. So at the cross Jesus laid down his life so there could be a harvest unto God out of the death of that seed. Christ being spirit could not die so Jesus said at the end, "It is finished," and then he said, "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit." At that moment the spirit departed from his body and he was DEAD.
However it was prophesied in Psalm 16:10. "You will not leave my soul in hell (sheol or the grave) neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption." So the body that was put in the tomb saw no corruption, but out of the death of that seed a new life sprang up and Father gave it a new BODY, as it pleased him. This BODY is the true TEMPLE OF GOD, (John 2:19) that is under the control of the HEAD which is CHRIST, and all those who are IN CHRIST are incorporated into that BODY and function under the same head which is Christ. For our body to be the true body of Christ it must have been incorporated into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for only then can the transformation take place. Until then our body remains under the authority of the carnal mind and so remains subject to every sickness and disease. The true Body of Christ cannot be sick for Christ is the head having control over every cell in our body. To even think that our body is the Temple of God which is his dwelling place, and yet be subject to sickness and disease that puts a limitation on what it can do, surely cannot be much of an advertisement for God’s dwelling place. It appears to me that the whole concept of what the Cross represents for us together with his burial and resurrection, needs a lot more consideration than we have given to it up to now.
Our consideration of the resurrection would not be complete without taking notice of what Paul shares with us in 1Cor 15 about the kind of Body that Father supplies for the New Creation Man. It begins in Verse 39 by saying that there are different types of FLESH, one for the man, another for the beasts, and another for the fish and another for the birds. In the same way there are celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial is different to the glory of the terrestrial. There is also a glory of the sun, and another for the moon, and another glory for the stars, which is different for each one. In exactly the same way it is so for the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in Corruption, but it is raised in Incorruption. It is sown in dishonor but it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness but it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body but it is raised a Spiritual Body, because there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. That is why it is written, "The first man ADAM was made a LIVING SOUL, while the LAST ADAM was made a LIFE GIVING SPIRIT, but remember that was not first which is SPIRITUAL but that which is NATURAL, and then later that which is SPIRITUAL.
The first MAN is of the earth, earthy, but the SECOND MAN is THE LORD FROM HEAVEN. What the earthy man is, so are all those who are earthy, and as is the HEAVENLY, so are those who are HEAVENLY. In this statement is a very vital truth that we need to consider carefully. The first man speaks of Adam in the Garden who ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and found himself on the outside of the Garden of Eden. He is the first man who became the man of the earth. Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary is the second man who becomes the Lord from heaven through his death burial and resurrection. We become the earthly man through our first birth being born of a woman in the likeness of that first man from the Garden of Eden. To become that second man, who is the LORD FROM HEAVEN, requires that we must submit to death, and recognize that we died in Christ on the cross at Calvary. After this we must be buried to release the heavenly life of the seed of God planted within every man. As the divine seed yields up its life through death, the man of the earth becomes the Lord from heaven, now possessing a life that is eternal allowing him to walk out of the tomb as the NEW CREATION MAN.
AND AS WE HAVE BORNE THE IMAGE OF THE EARTHLY, WE SHALL ALSO BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY.
Now this I say unto you brothers, that FLESH AND BLOOD cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit Corruption. Behold I show you a MYSTERY, We shall not all sleep (Die), but we shall all be changed in a "Moment." This is not a TIME Word but is from the Greek word ATOMOS, and indicates that the change in our body is to take place in the ATOMS that are the building blocks from which our body is made. These atoms are protons and neutrons rotating around a nucleus and to change them simply requires that they be speeded up to function as they did before Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the twinkling of an eye, for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this MORTAL must put on IMMORTALITY.
The religious authorities in this world have convinced us that this resurrection is an event that will take place after the millennium etc at the end of the world. What would be the point of such an idea, for if the resurrection of Jesus Christ has not taken place 2000 years ago no one would have believed the Gospel? The resurrection was proof of the power of the Gospel to break the power of death over all mankind and it is the evidence that man needs to see in this our day. In John 11 we have the account of Lazarus who was sick and who finally died. When Jesus was told about his sickness the scripture says that he remained where he was for another two days. These two days are significant in that they indicate that they were a part of the THREE-DAY experience of the death burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus told Mary and Martha that this sickness was not to be "Unto DEATH" or consummated by death, but for the glory of God. Then he told his disciples that he wanted to go into Judea again, but they argued with him that the people there had tried to kill him the last time he visited that place. But Jesus was not persuaded by the disciples for he was about to demonstrate the fact that death had no power over him or anyone else if they could believe it.
Jesus told the disciples that Lazarus was "ASLEEP," but they misunderstood what he said suggesting that he would wake up out of normal sleep if that was so. Only then did he used the terminology they understood by saying Lazarus is DEAD. Then he said, "I will go and awake him out of his sleep." By the time he arrived Lazarus had been dead four days, one day more than Jesus Christ had been dead. Martha made her feelings of resentment known when she told Jesus, "If you had been here my brother would not have died, but even now I know that whatever you ask God for he will give it to you. So Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
And Martha replied.” I know Lord that he will rise again in the greatWhat a difference this makes to us today, if we can believe it. Christ is in every man and so in truth every man has the resurrection provided that the Christ is activated in that man. In the statement Jesus made concerning resurrection, provision is made both for those who have passed on and for those who are still living today. Christ living in us today means that we can enjoy resurrection life now and we can embrace immortality and the body can no longer be affected by sickness, for Jesus said, "Whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die." The Death, Burial and Resurrection deal with our humanity and our mortality, which in turn vitally affect the body. In truth, there is nothing wrong with our body but it has been functioning under the authority of the Adamic man who became a LIVING SOUL. The "Living Soul" can never know God for it functions apart from God, and so has no input from God but functions out of the "SOUL LIFE." This life of the soul operates through the Mind, the Emotions and the Will, with the Mind in control, functioning out of the deception of the serpent that remains from Eve’s experience in the Garden of Eden.
resurrection at the last day." This is the common belief among Christians today,
but listen to the reply Jesus spoke to her,
"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE
LIFE, HE THAT BELIEVES IN ME THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE, AND WHOEVER
LIVES AND BELIEVES IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE."
Jesus was telling us that the
resurrection is NOT AN EVENT but a PERSON Jesus Christ!
Paul makes it clear that "Flesh and blood" cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, so it is obvious that our involvement in the cross of Jesus Christ is not optional, but is demanded by God if our body is to be the his TEMPLE. The body that was born of a woman could never be the true Temple of God as it is subject to sickness pain and disease and to all kinds of limitations of the flesh including age. The life governing that body must be brought to an end, for it has no capacity to bring forth a manifestation of a true son of the living God. Most Christians continue to live out of their mortality just as the rest of the world does so that they are indistinguishable from the people of the world about us. It is only in death that a new life can be generated. Nature teaches us this principle Life, for as we plant a seed we are looking beyond the present life that is apparent to us, to a new life that will be birthed out of the old. Paul uses this law of nature to help us understand the principle of resurrection. He says that some will ask, "How are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?" Obviously the majority believes that they are simply raised up with the same body that they had before. Lazarus was simply brought back to life but not in the truth of resurrection, because he died again later. Jesus Christ never died again but he ascended into the spirit world back to the Father, in which he completed his journey returning from whence he had come.
Paul responds to those who would question what is the body that is raised up in resurrection, "Thou fool, (because everyone should have known the process in nature of a seed planted in the earth), that which you sow is not quickened except it dies, and the SEED which you sow is NOT that body which grows, but is simply bare grain of wheat or some other grain, BUT GOD gives it a body as it pleases him, and to every seed his own body." So the principle of the seed from nature explains the process of resurrection very clearly, for the seed planted MUST DIE or there will be no resurrection. The principle revealed in Nature concerning New Life is that it must come out of a death. When we plant a seed of wheat and the conditions are right, as the new life emerges from the earth if you dig up that small plant you will not find the original seed that was planted. It has yielded up the life that it contained to be vested in the new plant and therefore to result in a harvest, and for this it gladly embraces death to itself.
While we can see the principle involved it seems not so easy for us to lay down our own life, having not yet appreciated the wonderful Life that is available to us when we lay down our mortality. But it is said of Jesus Christ, "Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." He was willing to endure the cross, not for himself but for the salvation of the world regardless of the cost to himself. Very few Christians seem to have a sense of responsibility to God for the world, being concerned only for their own salvation. It is this selfish concept that causes us to deny the purposes of God for all mankind. When God expressed his love it was not just for the few, but for the whole world, "For God so loved the world that he gave us his son." The Apostle Paul testified, "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Gal 1:15-16. Here was the cry of his heart expressed, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you."
Jesus made the way plain when he said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." To recognize that the man born of a woman can never be the vessel in the hand of God through which he can manifest himself, will cause that one to take up his cross so as to divest himself of his humanity as a LIVING SOUL, in order to become a NEW CREATION MAN. There is no substitute for the death, burial and the resurrection if we are to fulfill the divine potential that was placed within us in creation. In this we have overcome the last enemy to be destroyed and that is death itself. Jesus Christ declared,
I AM HE THAT LIVES AND WAS DEAD AND NOW I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE, AND IN MY HAND I HOLD THE KEYS OF THE GRAVE AND DEATH. Rev 1:18
May the Lord give you knowledge and understanding of these things that your life may be blessed and fruitful for his glory Amen?
Des Walter July 2007
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