resurrection

The Lord has Spoken

“The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 40:5)

From the day Adam chose to believe Satan’s lie the majority of people have also chosen to believe his lies and not the revelations from God. Only those who have chosen to believe the word of the Lord have seen that the Lord is faithful and accomplishes things exactly as He said He would.

When the women came to Joseph’s tomb in which Jesus’ body had been placed they were met by an angel who said to them, “He is not here, for He is risen, as He said, come and see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6). Jesus had told His close followers on four occasions that He would die and rise again but they had taken no notice. As a result they were full of grief and sorrow, and were confused.

In Isaiah chapter 39 the Lord had told King Hezekiah that after he died Judah would be almost stripped bare and some of his own sons would serve the king of Babylon as eunuchs. For the people of Judah this would be contrary to expectations. They were anticipating that a descendant of David would reign forever. Being taken captive as eunuchs did not fit their expectation.

 “To whom will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?” (40:18). To some degree we all have a view of Jesus that falls short and others have a Jesus who is quite unlike the Jesus of the Bible. Their Jesus is manufactured out of their imagination and does not resemble the revelation from the Bible. Satan has molded them in his likeness so they want their Jesus to worship them for their good works.

Israel’s future looked bleak but Isaiah told them of a glorious time ahead when the Anointed One of God would reign just as He said. For the present Israel is still generally deaf to the word of God just as Jesus’ disciples were deaf to Him. Israel doesn’t hear what the Lord is saying for the same reason that the disciples didn’t take notice of what Jesus said; they had different expectations.

Isaiah told Israel of a future day when all would be restored. To encourage them to believe what He had said Isaiah recorded the Lord’s words, “For the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (v5) and “The word of the Lord stands forever” (v 8). In other words, if you will take the Lord at His word your sorrow will not be as those without hope.

The same is true for us. If we will take Jesus at His word we will not grieve or have sorrow over the condition of our world or our circumstances as those who have no hope. The disciples of Jesus would certainly have sorrowed over the suffering of Jesus but they would have had a glorious expectation if they had listened to Jesus when He told them He would rise again. When Christians take Jesus at His word they will have this glorious expectation and their lives will reflect hope as they look for the day when Jesus returns.

Death Comes Before Life

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20)

In the above verse Paul is writing of his personal experience and testimony concerning resurrection life. Resurrection life by definition demands that death has first taken place. Jesus could not rise from the dead if He did not first die and we cannot experience resurrection life unless we first die to ourselves. When a person says they are “trying” to live the Christian life it may be that they do not realise that they must first die. It may also be that some of us presume that we are living resurrection life just because we are Christians.

In the above verse it is clear that Paul is not saying that he has experienced bodily death and bodily resurrection and neither is he speaking merely of identification. Further, he is not speaking solely of a past experience. He is speaking of a present reality.

When a person comes to Jesus for salvation there are two essential aspects that occur. On our part we must die and God’s part is to give life. The life that Jesus gives, which I have called resurrection life, is a continuance of those aspects. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

He also said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). To take up one’s cross is a deliberate act from choice to die to my ambitions and all things self-centred. This is not a once off act but obviously there is a starting point. It is a continuous choice that is reasonable and logical flowing out of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Resurrection life is one of absolute surrender to Jesus Christ to do with me as He pleases. The imagery of the Potter and the clay comes to mind. The clay has no idea of the process or end product that the potter has in mind. In connection with this Paul wrote, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Who can live the Christian life? The only Person who is able to live the Christian life is Jesus Christ. This is why Paul wrote “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), John wrote, “This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11, 12) and Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Prior to the cross Jesus said to the Father, “not as I will but as You will” and in the model prayer that He gave to His disciples He said to pray, “Your will be done.” When we can say from a fully surrendered heart, “Your will be done,” with no reservations or conditions, then we are experiencing resurrection life. Resurrection life is Jesus living His life through us with our voluntary, continuous and willing consent. It is another way of expressing “being filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), “fellowship” with Christ (1 John 1:3, 6) and “abiding” in the Christ (John 15:4).

Religious Activity or Resurrection Life

“Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” Matthew 23:33

Religious activity and resurrection life cannot coexist. When the resurrection life of Jesus Christ comes religious activity ceases. Likewise, when one indulges in religious activity, resurrection life will be lost. Matthew 23 is one of a number of passages that record Jesus words to men who chose religious activity over life.

The men that Jesus says are still under condemnation were men who taught the Scriptures (vv 3); were present at all the religious functions (v 6); were active in and well respected by the community (v 7); they were enthusiastic in evangelism (v 15); they respected the house of God (v 16f); they were meticulous in giving the tithe (v 23) and in righteousness (vv 25-28); and they honoured the former prophets of God (v 30). They were also regular in prayer and fasting (9:14; 23:14) yet for all this, Jesus says, they remained condemned. The answer is in verse five, “they do to be seen of men.” These people believe that spiritual life is obtained through performance and so that is where their focus lay, in themselves and in others.

People who are interested in religious activity will express it in criticism, obstruction and a superior attitude toward those who are truly living resurrection life. They will be critical as the Pharisees and scribes were of Jesus and His disciples because Jesus and His disciples did not act in accordance with their understanding of the Scriptures. They believe they are superior to those who are humble before the Lord (Luke 18:9-14).

Religious activity does not only apply to false religions but sadly it is also in the Christian church. In John 10:10 Jesus is recorded as saying, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” He says “life” not activity. We must not confuse activity and life. The difference lies in the motive of the heart.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25) and, “I am the true vine … abide in Me and I in you … without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:1, 4, 5). Apart from this life we may exhaust ourselves with activity for no spiritual fruit. When the Lord’s assessment of our works is revealed it would be immeasurably sad to discover that all we have produced is wood, hay and straw that will be destroyed by fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

When we complain about the structure and administration of the church and make no comment about the lack of resurrection life are we not merely practicing religious activity? Do we grieve over the lack of people receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and being discipled? Do we complain that the baptistery remains dry? Do we mourn for the lost?

We cannot change others by coercion or manipulation. That is not God’s way. It is a work of the Holy Spirit within the heart. We are able to ask and let Him change ourselves. Let us not mistake religious activity for resurrection life. If we do we will rob ourselves and our children of that which Jesus freely offers. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:14). “I am the bread of life” “I am the … life” (John 6:48; 14:6).

A Place Prepared

“I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3)

It appears that the place we call heaven is seen by many people a bit like they see Father Christmas. We know he isn’t real but it makes the children happy. People will often speak of heaven in that way to children regarding a dead pet or loved one. Saying that a loved pet or person has gone to heaven somehow brings comfort to the child and relief to the parent. For the unbelieving parent it is an escape from a horrible reality for which they have no answer to offer their child. For some, there may be a vague hope that their loved one has found peace. R.I.P. may appear on many tombstones and monuments but it is probably more often wishful thinking than reality.

For the one who has trusted Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin and a new life sourced in Him there is a sure expectancy of heaven. God has not chosen to give us a detailed description of heaven but He has given some information.

In the words of Jesus stated at the head of this article Jesus informs us that heaven is with Him and it is a place especially prepared for us to co-habit with Him. The apostle Paul wrote the same thing like this, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Heaven is being with Jesus.

Since we are to be with Jesus forever in a place He has prepared, has God revealed anything about this place? Yes He has and it is in the Bible.

Ultimately, but not immediately, God will create a new earth on which we will have our home (Revelation 21:1). This will be a physical earth as we have now but without the corruption sin brought. It has to be physical because we are told that we will rise in physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15) and that Jesus rose in a physical body. The new earth is described in physical terms.

Jesus Christ came to redeem the world including the physical realm (Romans 8:20-22). He will bring about that which He intended in the original Creation, namely, God dwelling with men. Throughout the Bible God reveals His desire to make His home with the one and only being He created in His own image (Genesis 1:26).

Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, He will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). This is the fulfilment of God’s plan in redemption but it is much more than both Father and Son indwelling believers by the Holy Spirit now. It is also prophetic, speaking of that time when God will dwell with redeemed people on the new earth (Revelation 21:22, 23).  Job saw that day when he said, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27). In this passage we see that Job believed that his body would physically die and that in a new resurrected physical body he would see God in a physical body. Through the eyes of faith he saw the incarnate Son of God born, crucified and risen and himself raised and in God’s presence.

Joy Ahead

“looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

At Easter we rightly give special focus on the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ without which we would be without hope. The Gospel writers make it clear that Jesus was in no doubt that He came to earth for the cross. Without His substitutionary death for the sin of mankind we should all perish. Without His bodily resurrection we would have no assurance or expectation resurrection for ourselves. Jesus came to reconcile people to Himself. Why would He endure such pain and humiliation at the hands of His creation?

The answer is in Himself, in His Divine Nature. To say that He came solely out of love is inadequate and falls short. Jesus came to glorify God. To glorify God means to reveal His majesty, beauty, wisdom, power, in short, His Divine Nature, within the Creation. Love is an aspect of God’s glory but not all.

The Lord had made a prophetical statement to Satan in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15), an unconditional Covenant with Abraham (12:1-3; 15) and King David (2 Samuel 7:16) and He will show Himself faithful to His word including His word that came through the prophets. When the whole creation is restored and God dwells with men on the earth then His glory will be revealed for all to see.

“And I [John] heard a voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).

Paul writes, “He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” “Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:25, 26, 28).

God will finish what He began in the Garden of Eden. He will have His Creation in perfect harmony with Himself and He will make His home with men (Revelation 21:22-23:5).

When the writer of Hebrews wrote concerning Jesus Christ, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” it was the consummation of the victory over sin, the devil and death when God in all His holiness dwells with men that He had in mind. That is when He is seen face to face by His creation in all His glory (Revelation 22:4). That which Peter James and John saw on the Mount of Transfiguration was a foretaste of what all people who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ shall see.

Likewise when we have our focus on that same glorious future we will gladly endure the cross by laying down our lives for Him and the brethren (1 John 3:16). As Jesus is in resurrected humanity so shall we be in the resurrection (1 John 3:2). We shall never have the distinctive of the Divine Nature but we shall be perfect in humanity just as Jesus is.

God’s goal is to finish what He began and dwell with men. In Jesus Christ, we can begin enjoying His presence or continue enjoying His presence today.

Ancestral Lines

“For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

No ethnic group has been more particular with their ancestral family tree than the Jews but these days many others seem interested in their family roots. There are websites that will help a person to discover their ancestral line in detail.

The Bible does not give us our detailed ancestral line but it does give all we need in order to discover our roots. Every human is descended from Noah and one of his three sons; and Noah was a descendant of Adam. Therefore we are all descendants of Adam and Eve.

Through just one man, Adam, sin entered the world bringing death with it – and death spread to all his descendants. It was our father who brought sin and death into the world. He had a choice but we had no choice. We do have a choice as to what we do about that situation.

The world considers death to be an enemy which, though it cannot be avoided, must be delayed as long as possible. But death is an act of God’s mercy, love and kindness. If there were no death there could be no substitutionary death and no resurrection. If there was no death for sin how could God “demonstrate His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)? If there was no death we would remain in our sinful state for eternity without hope.

Through death and resurrection life we who have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour have had our ancestral line miraculously changed. Our father is no longer Adam but is now our Father in heaven through Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” and “The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” Also, “As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man” (1 Corinthians 15:22, 45, 49).

Many a saint has testified at the time of their bodily death of the joy of passing into the Lord’s presence and saints today look forward with great expectation of the moment when we depart this body through bodily death and see Jesus face to face in resurrection bodies “raised in incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15: 42).

We may not have had a choice of being born in Adam’s line but we do have a choice as to whether we remain in it. With Adam as our father we die as a result of sin but if we accept God’s Gift of resurrection life in Christ Jesus our Lord we have a new ancestral line imputed with our Heavenly Father as our ancestral Father. No wonder Jesus told His disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven …” (Matthew 6:9).

This Fathers’ Day rejoice in and worship your heavenly Father.

The First to Rise from the Dead

“… to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”  Acts 26:18

The revelation that Jesus gave to Paul at and following his conversion is personal but not unique. The verse quoted above is in full accord with the Great Commission and all other occasions that Jesus spoke of the ministry of His disciples until He returns.

The Bible reveals that Jesus healed a number of people who were physically blind. This was testimony to His deity but was also a declaration that He could give spiritual sight to the spiritually blind. All of us who are born of God know the reality of this. We were blind but now we see and our joy will move us to want to see Jesus open the spiritual eyes of others.

Jesus said that He didn’t come to condemn people (John 3:17) but the next verse makes it clear that this is because people are already condemned. All people were brought under Satan’s jurisdiction in the Garden of Eden and Jesus came to deliver us from that authority into God’s authority. For this to happen, we must die and be created new.

This is why Jesus Christ came into the world, to die in the place of each person and “that He would be the first to rise from the dead” (Acts 26:23). In the process of the change of authority over the new believer, his sins are forgiven through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and in Christ resurrection he receives a shared inheritance with all who have trusted Jesus Christ.

It is inconceivable that anyone who has received this glorious Gift, at cost beyond measure and understanding to us, would not desire to have others also transformed by Jesus Christ. John wrote, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). If God is alive in us we will not have to try and artificially produce “love.” It is either there or it is not. If it is evident in our lives, then so is God, if it is not, then neither is God.

God’s love is the kind that gives what the other person needs (not necessarily their desires) no matter the personal cost. This is sacrificial and unconditional love. People need deliverance and forgiveness and this is only available in Jesus Christ.

Paul restated what Jesus and John had said before, that Jesus is the Light and we are witnesses of that light if indeed we have received it. In allowing His light to shine through us and not hiding it, He will open the eyes of people to the reality of their state in order for them to be delivered from Satan’s authority to God having their sins forgiven and gain an inheritance with all saints.

What a wonderful privilege we have! The Lord Jesus allows redeemed sinners to proclaim His Gospel. The love of God constrains us to tell others of the great salvation Gift available to them.

A Yearning Heart

“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8)

We too can have the same confidence as the Apostle Paul when we truly believe from the heart that we shall rise from the grave. Job expressed it most clearly when he said, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another” (Job 19:26, 27). Note the “I know” repeated.

How may one have such confidence? It can only come when the Father reveals it to us just as He did to Peter regarding the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:17). An unsaved person can never have this confidence. They may hope to rise and may even believe it is what the Bible teaches but they can never have the knowledge that they will rise as Job expressed. Job knew it as fact not a mere hope.

Jesus rebuked His disciples several times for their inadequate faith when faced with the normal tests of life that come. But even in the test faith is intended to grow just as it did for Job. The reason the Lord’s brings tests and trials our way are to reveal where we are in our walk of faith and to develop that faith further.

Satan would have us interpret our failures with finality and that we should give up trying. The first part of his accusation is false and should be renounced for the lie it is. The second part, though meant to discourage us has some truth in it. Perhaps we have been trying in the strength of the flesh instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to be our strength.

Yes, we may believe but without the special revelation of the Father, through the Word of God witnessed to by the Holy Spirit, we will never be as certain as Job. Do we really believe that absence from our body will really be our presence with the Lord? To be able to proclaim this with confidence we need to be refreshed in this truth by God’s Word and His Spirit from time to time.

Easter is a good time for deep reflection on this reality as is each time we meet for the Lord’s Table.

When a loved one passes to be with the Lord, we are tested in our belief that absent from this body of believers is present with all the body of believers who have gone on before. The test is so that we will be reaffirmed in that reality and be as Job who missed his first ten children and longed to see the Lord: “How my heart yearns within me” (Job 19:27).

Unprecedented

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac … concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead …” (Hebrews 11:17, 19)

It may be that many of us have more in common with Thomas, who would not believe without seeing, than with Abraham who believed without seeing – and without precedent. We speak and think of resurrection from the vantage point of hindsight. Not only can we read the accounts of Jesus raising to life three people, though all three died again, but we have four accounts of His own resurrection after being crucified and appearances to quite a number of people. He did not die again and this has been attested to by many people at the time but also through the centuries since.

Without death there can be no resurrection so we should be thankful to God for His marvellous plan of salvation that includes bodily death. It is true that some have passed on without bodily death (Enoch & Elijah) and many will pass on without bodily death (the living true church prior to His second coming) but these exceptions tend to prove the point that all others will die bodily. There are also some who have gone the other way, and others who will, without bodily death.

On this day more than any other through the year we give special attention to this wonderful fact and our glorious expectancy of resurrection into the presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Jesus Christ did not die then He did not rise. If He did not rise then our faith is futile and we are without hope. But Jesus did die for our sins and rise again and has promised to come again to receive us to Himself (John 14:3).

Abraham believed without sight or precedent. We have precedent, ample testimonies and the witness of Christ within. All that remains is to look ahead and live in the light of the fact firmly rooted in the faithful and true teaching of the Bible.