25.2 The Resurrection
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
It is my intention in this lesson to place the Resurrection, the transformation of our physical bodies swallowed up by Life into the Covenant and to undergird that Resurrection by the Covenant. We are not speaking of the experience, but of the certain Word out from which that experience must come.
Declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). The Gate, typifying the resurrection of our bodies, is God’s final declaration regarding us – Declared to be sons of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness.
The Gate. Again, we are not concerned here with the experience of our bodies being swallowed up by life, but rather with the Word of that resurrection, Word that is continuously entering into us in all power, Word that is written as Jesus all through our hearts.
The Covenant.
This Gate, then, is the transition between Christ as us and our inheritance. In one sense, our physical bodies made incorruptible and immortal is the first part of our inheritance. Yet, at the same time and in another sense, this Gate is NOW inside of Jesus having become us in the present season.
The Redemption of Our Body. What I mean by that last line I have no idea whatsoever. Let’s place the verses of our Resurrection out to see if we can discover our present reality as well as our great hope – the full adoption of our bodies.
Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23). Look at where this line is placed, the incredible context of Romans 8:18-30 (read this passage specifically). Indeed, I have never explored this vital setting as one unit together. That has been our loss.
Eagerly Waiting. Paul first places the end goal that Salvation is, sons of God together setting creation free, and he positions creation as “eagerly waiting” for this wondrous Salvation. Then Paul places us into that same “eagerly waiting” specifically for the full experience of our physical bodies being swallowed up by life. Then Paul defines the present role of our Holy Spirit in this great transition of child birth, our groaning to be those sons walking in all glorious liberty.
Having presented this entire picture, Paul then lays out the HOW, the fulcrum, the reality of God in which we live and by which all of this happens, Romans 8:29, Symmorphy, and then concludes with “already glorified.”
Death Already Abolished. So it is Paul who puts the resurrection of our bodies into both our inheritance on the one hand and our present possession, already glorified, on the other hand. We still don’t know what that means, however, so let’s continue.
Purpose (pro-thesis – covenant) and grace… given to us… now revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:9-10 condensed). The word “appearing” is epiphany – the lights turning on for everyone to see what has been already true. The word “abolish” is about as strong of a word in English as you can get, and thus fully appropriate. Death is already abolished.
The Prize. So we can see what Paul is saying. Our immortality is already true, but there comes a moment when everyone sees what has been true all along. Yet our immortality already being true does not then mean that we sit back and “wait for the rapture.”
If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already completed; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. – I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God inside of Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:11-12 & 14). The completion, the prize, is our BODIES.
For God Far More. BUT – our bodies swallowed up by life are also God’s prize and God’s completion! In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22).
This Gate, this resurrection is for God FAR MORE than it ever could be for us. Yet, beyond all wonder, this Prize that belongs to God alone, this very COMPLETION of Father Himself, now made visible to all, is also our prize and our completion!
The Purpose and Meaning of Symmorphy. Know that I am IN the Father and you IN Me and I IN you. John 14:20 is endless and will increase forever, yet it is ALL right now.
Do You Believe This? I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26).
Do you believe this?
Let it be to me according to Your word – Let it be to you according to your faith.
Shall never die! Do NOT explain those three words away. Let them be what they are. Let them be literal. Let them be absolute. This is Jesus through whom all things are created and by whom all things are sustained speaking Father into you. Hear Him!
A Mystery. Let’s bring in the whole of 1 Corinthians 15:51-57.
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will 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. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Gives Us the Victory. This VICTORY is our present possession; this victory is the first part of our inheritance. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). This word “meek” in the Greek means “strength coming through gentleness.” It means sharing Hheart with God.
We understand “the first part of our inheritance”; what is harder to grasp is “our present possession.” God who gives us the Victory. “Gives” in the Greek is present active participle, that means an all-here-now continuous action. It means Jesus connecting us with Father every moment.
Enduo – Put on. Yet inside Paul’s description of the Resurrection as an event, we find these enigmatic words. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. We already possess Victory over death; we will KNOW the full experience of Victory over death; yet we must also “put on (enduo)” this Victory that we already possess and that we will know.
Enduo (put on): to enclothe oneself as with a garment, to sink into the covers of one’s bed.
Covenant is the Action of the agreement of commitment between two. Here is our action – Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of God. God’s action in this Covenant is to put us into Jesus. But of God you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God–and righteousness… (1 Corinthians 1:30).
The tense of the word “became,” ginomai in the Greek, is aorist indicative passive. Aorist means a complete action without any reference to time. Indicative means simply factual, and passive means that this becoming is just what happens, the very nature of Christ in us as our Connection with Father.
Now, the word “from” God, although it is appropriate to think “away from” when applied to anything but God, must mean something else when referring to an All Here Now God.
Our Active Part. In other words, God is the active agent in this passage from Himself through Jesus into us. And whatever Jesus IS inside of God (wisdom, righteousness, the list is without end) He then is that same thing inside of us. This is God’s active part of the Covenant, putting us into Christ who then becomes all that God is inside of us.
Our active part of the Covenant, then, is to put this same Christ entirely UPON ourselves. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ is what we do. And a tiny little part of putting ON the Lord Jesus is putting upon ourselves incorruptibility and immortality. What does that mean?
Give Life. Before trying to discover what putting on incorruptibility and immortality might mean, let’s drop back into our present knowledge of the Spirit-Word in which and by which we live. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of (Adam’s) sin, but the Spirit is life because of (Christ as our) righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:10-11).
He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him – flesh of His flesh, one flesh with Him. Now, we must consider the real meaning of all these wild “shoot from the hip” claims Paul is so good at making.
Spirit and Body. When I first began to write, I described our makeup as humans in that we are a soul in possession of “two bodies.” I said it that way because of the great need to cause us to understand that we already possess our heavenly body and, in fact, were made by God to live in the heavens as much as in the earth and both at the same time. There is no “going back and forth” as we once thought in our limited understanding.
But we now understand that just as Spirit and Word cannot be separated, so Spirit and Body cannot be separated. Symmorphy V: Life will be written out from that perspective, but this truth also refers directly to us as individuals.
One Body. We have one body. That body is as much spirit of the heavens as it is matter of the earth. God has one Body. That Body is as much Spirit of God as it is family of humans.
Only one thing separates our spirit from our body – death. Death is evil. Death is the last enemy to be destroyed. – For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). But notice the words “He must reign”; that means Jesus complete all now.
Part of Our Physical Body. Back to Spirit and body, and I am speaking specifically of the Holy Spirit in our body, the Holy Spirit into Whom our spirit has been immersed such that there is zero distinction between. The human spirit, now the Holy Spirit, is the life force of the physical body. That means that our spirit, now the Holy Spirit, is constructed in such a way that it fits every particle, cell, organ and system of our physical body, and thus gives life, energeia, dynamism to the working of every part.
More than that, this element of the Holy Spirit as part of our physical construction, also does something else that is simply beyond belief. This junction of Spirit and flesh causes our story, our self-life, our persons to exist.
Our Life Force. Is that not what human consciousness is? The medium of Spirit giving energia and shape to Word, the story we tell ourselves about ourselves, Christ Jesus.
With that reality of our own bodies in view, let’s re-look at Paul’s words. God… will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. This statement is both present possession and future inheritance, all in the same Spirit-Word.
Raise your arm up into the air and swing it around. There is a life force of living personhood – yourself – causing your physical body to act with vigor. That life force, Paul claims, is the Holy Spirit.
One Job to Do. Yet the life force of our mortal physical bodies is not just “any” Holy Spirit, but specifically that Holy Spirit that raised Jesus out from the dead. And so we see that Covenant is not static ideas on a piece of paper, but rather the living Lord Jesus dwelling in our hearts, now the only LIFE we ARE.
Yet we know that, as we stand now between present possession and future inheritance, fully both, we have one job to do. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on incorruptibility. Put on immortality. Go ahead. You swung your arm around in the air when I suggested it. Do this simple task as well – if you can.
Confidence. Just as we put Jesus upon all that we are right now entirely by faith, and entirely against all outward sight and all human judgment, so we put incorruptibility and immortality upon all that we are right now – entirely by faith.
By calling it to be so.
By walking in full CONFIDENCE every moment as if we ARE. As if we ARE – NOW – physically incorruptible and physically immortal.
I had no idea what I might include when I began writing this lesson an hour or so ago. But I am fully satisfied that I have set forth the terms of the Covenant regarding our bodies, regarding God’s bodies, at least with a small amount of clarity.
The Covenant. Now, as I read through Symmorphy III: Kingdom, Chapter 8: Resurrection Life, I see that, without being aware of it, what I wrote there is what I wrote here. Go back and read through that chapter as confirmation – this is a critical concept – our groaning for the Resurrection. This is the difference. In Kingdom, I was positioning Resurrection Life as the fountain of all things flowing forth as Kingdom.
In this course, we are considering the same things, but as the specific Covenant underlying all things flowing out. The Covenant regarding our Victory over death must be simple, it must be clear, and it must be the structure of our hearts.