The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Resurrections"
"Our conversation (citizenship) is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Philippians 3:20-21).
The Apostle Paul references the future glorification of born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ by his assurance of the salvation of our entire being. The Apostle John concurs: "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2). The entirety of our being - spirit, soul, and body - will be infused with our Lord's living and vital presence, perfectly recognized in ourselves as the very Life of our lives.
Presently, however, Paul also promises a limited experience of our "vile body" being changed into likeness to Christ's glorious body:
"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10-11).
The body of the believer is "dead because of sin" for two primary reasons. First, it does not yet dwell in the direct presence of the life of Christ, as does our spirit. "This mortal must put on immortality" declared Paul of our body (I Corinthians 15:53). It therefore requires enlivening for even the simplest act of obedience to God. The body is also inhabited by a "law of sin" that will always cause our earthly faculties to act contrary to God's will if left to themselves. "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:23). Thankfully, the Apostle assures that our fleshly death can be enlivened by the Holy Spirit as we trust and submit to God. Thereby, the body that would of itself be vile in its actions becomes glorious through the presence and working of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
Consider the temptation to act selfishly. Rather than walk after the law of sin in our flesh, we choose in our hearts to trust and submit unto God. The Holy Spirit thereby leads us to act in the unselfish love of Christ. A resurrection occurs as the body "dead because of sin" is enlivened to walk in a manner that reflects the character and nature of the risen Lord Jesus. We may not perceive the matter in such terms, and the resurrection of our bodies occurs so quietly that we do not perceive the wondrous miracle of every obedient act. The resurrection and the miracle occur nonetheless as the glory that began in our Lord's tomb becomes the glory that proceeds as the tomb of our body "dead because of sin" becomes the scene of the risen Christ yet again overcoming death by His life within us.
Trillions of acts of faith and obedience have been performed by believers during the history of the church. All have involved a resurrection. From the simple offering of thanks before a meal to the martyr's sacrifice, obedience occurs because the Holy Spirit enlivens the earthly members and faculties of believers to "walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). We play a role in the wonder, the role of realizing that our Lord's resurrection so long ago bears present and powerfully vital impact in our hearts and lives. In spirit, we are "risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God" (Colossians 2:12). In body, we can be infused with our Lord's risen life whereby we think, speak, act, and relate in a manner that reveals the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead not only concerning the tomb just outside Jerusalem, but in the temple we are as the scene of His risen life.
"What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead."
(Ephesians 1:19)
"Now is Christ risen from the dead… I will dwell in them and walk in them."
(I Corinthians 15:20; II Corinthians 6:16)
Weekly Memory Verse
Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6)
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