The Resurrection and the Life

 

The Resurrection and the Life

 

John 11:25

 

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live

 

I am the resurrection, and the life: Our Lord Jesus Christ is all things to His people, as said the Apostle: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Corinthians 1:30). The relationships that exist between Christ and His people are according to the will God the Father, as it is written: “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10: 7-10). The same truth is declared by the beloved Apostle John: “ But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13) and to this we may add: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18).

 

God has sworn by His holiness in the everlasting covenant that Christ Jesus and His seed shall endure forever, as it is written in Psalm 89: “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah” (Psalm 89:34-37). This eternal promise is according to the purpose and grace of God wherein the church of Jesus Christ stands, as it is written: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:8-9). And again in the New Testament the promise of the covenant is  established as it is written: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all’ (Romans 4:16). And in the epistle to the Hebrews it is written: “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15). And again: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ”….“ And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise”(Galatians 3:16, 29).

 

 

 

To be absolutely sure to bring to fruition all that the triune God had promised His children of the covenant, the Father sanctified His family in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, by making them the members of Christ as said the Apostle: “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (I Corinthians 12:27). In the epistle to the Colossians it is written: “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18). God in the Trinity of His most sacred Persons established the union of Christ and the church in the covenant of grace before the worlds were made. The church has been in Christ from everlasting, and each of His members are members one of another as it is said: “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:5). And in the Old Testament it is written: “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16).

 

Resurrection of the dead presupposes a death. All the members of the human family died spiritually in Adam. All the members of the family of God will be made alive in Jesus Christ. For it is written: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Corinthians 15:22). And “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (I Corinthians 15:45). All who are in the last Adam, being given to Him of the Father, will in time receive the benefits of the covenant as it is written: “For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). Our Lord Jesus said “(My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

 

Since Christ and His members are one in the purpose and grace of God, and in the governmental and legal proceedings of God, all the accomplishments of Christ the Mediator are imputed to the church which is in Him (Ephesians 1:4; John 15:5; 14:19-20; I Corinthians 12:12-13, 18-20, 27). The righteousness of God (Romans 1:17) which was established by the obedience and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is imputed to the members of Christ, who receive it by God given faith. The law of God seeing Christ’s members righteous in Jesus Christ requires that they must have eternal life for: “he that doeth them shall live in them” (Galatians 3:12). The new born babe in Christ has fulfilled the law of God in Christ in that he has done all the law of God commands perfectly having been in Christ as a member in particular (I Corinthians 1:27; Ephesians 1:4) from everlasting. The new born babe in Christ is clothed in the garments of salvation and has Christ’s robe of righteousness for his covering (Isaiah 61:10). Therein he is justified in the sight of God and can never be more or less righteous in the view of the Father. Having the justifying righteousness provided by Our Lord Jesus imputed to his account the babe in Christ is made the righteousness of God in Him (II Corinthians 5:21). And having the righteousness of God put on him by the Father the new born babe in Christ stands in the bond of the covenant clothed in the righteousness of God which is a situation that time and eternity can never change for it based on the purpose, grace, and faithfulness, of God.  

 

At the time appointed in the covenant God the Holy Ghost puts a new heart in the children of the covenant, and He gives them a new spirit. This is to the children of God a new life in which they desire to live unto God and not unto themselves in the selfishness of the old nature. They have a desire to give themselves up to God completely. But God has purposed to leave the old nature in His child for His own wise purposes. But the old nature is no longer the reigning principle of life although it is still present. The regenerated child of God begins a life that is new to him. He has a new object in that life and that object is God. The new born saint wants to know all He can about his Father and his relation to that Father. As the babe in Christ grows in knowledge of the truth, he also grows in grace (II Peter 3:18) and therein is more able to (1.) rest in the assurance of salvation that is in Christ, (2.) become more patient in tribulation and (3.) less anxious about difficulties and necessities of this life knowing that he is in the care of the Lord Jesus. He knows it is well with his soul for he knows, by the testimony of the holy scriptures that he is made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, as it is written: “ For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21).

 

The primary principles of the new life of the children of God are gratitude and love. Gratitude is shown for the salvation that he has freely received by the grace and power of God and that salvation was purchased for him by the sufferings and death of Christ Jesus. The believer manifests a love for the true gospel including love of the preaching of the gospel, wherein he feeds and lives in Christ along with a love for the people of God who are his family, his brethren and sisters newly discovered. The newborn child does not want man’s counterfeit gospel, nor does he want Satan’s rendition of Christ’s gospel. But the new born children of God with all the family of God rejoice in the righteousness of God freely imputed to the account the children of God, and received by God given faith as these things are stated in the preaching of the true gospel as it is written: “ For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).

  

 

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the death that was due His people. He spoke of that death with Moses and Elias: “Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31), as said the prophet: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself” (Daniel 9:26). The death of Christ was in union with His people, and for His people, so that they will never have to die the second death (Revelation 20:6,14). He died because of their sin which had been imputed to Him because of their eternal union. Christ Jesus is the Surety of the New Testament (Hebrews 7:22). And as Surety and Substitute for the people of God, Christ Jesus owned the sins and sin of His people as His own, as it is written: “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee” (Psalm 69:1-5). And again it is written: “O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart” (Psalm 38:1-8). In the New Testament it is written: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). And : “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21).

 

In the governmental and legal proceedings of God, all the members of Christ are viewed as dying with Christ. The Apostle Paul said, and every child of God can say, and every child of God should believe that: “ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). When Christ Jesus died it was because of the sins of His people which had been imputed to Him because of the union of the Head and the body, for He is the Head and Representative of His people who are His mystical body.

 

All the children of God died mystically (in hidden covenant union, known only to the members of the Godhead) in the death of Jesus Christ: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 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. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:3-6).

 

According to the law and justice of God, all the members of Christ were put to death in and with Christ at Calvary (Galatians 2:20). The members of Christ were baptized into death in Christ by the baptism of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13) and therefore have been executed under the penalty of the law of God, and have satisfied the law through death in Christ. “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God” (Romans 7:4). Since the members of Christ are dead to the law by the body of Christ, having fulfilled the penal arrangements of the law in the body Christ, there can be no condemnation from the law to those who have died to the law in the body of Christ. As it is written: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). “For he that is dead is freed (justified: writer) from sin” (Romans 6:7).

 

The children of God are justified from all things, as it is written: “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). And because they are justified in the sight of God, and righteous in His view, they are entitled to life according to the law of God, as it is written: “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 18:5; Galatians 3:12; Romans 10:5). If it should be asked: when did the children of God do the things required by the law of God to obtain life thereunder? It will be replied: the children of God fulfilled the law of God perfectly in Jesus Chirst, as He said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18). Christ Jesus had His members, His seed, His church, in Him in all He did as the Head of His church and people. Therefore whatsoever Christ did as the head of His church, the chuch did as the body of Him who is the Head, for according to the judicature of God the Head and the body are one.

 

Perfect righteousness is the fulfillment of the law of God. All who believe Christ are joined to him in one spirit as it is written: “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (I Corinthians 6:17). The church is made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21). Therefore the church of God has “right to the tree of life” as it is written: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). All who believe the gospel of Christ have right to the tree of life: because “this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment” (I John 3: 23). When Christ Jesus arose from the tomb, (1.) He had all His members in Him, (2.) all His seed arose in Him, (3.) all His brethren, the family of God arose in Him (Ephesians 2:5,6; Colossians 2:13) and Christ Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) of His many brethren who are His members, His seed, His church, His brethren, and His people. Reader, “believest thou this?” (John 11:26).

 

AJ Ison

 

See the writers blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.