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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of
God..."
Part 223
THE FIRST RESURRECTION
(continued)
“And
I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus…and they lived and
reigned with Christ a thousand years…this
is the first resurrection. Blessed and
holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death
hath no power” (Rev. 20:4-6).
Surely
there is not a believer drawing
Oh,
what a stormy sea the world has sailed from
The
dark foreboding and terror of every creature and all things is not unlike that of the victim of
punishment by the Hohenstaufen house in
When
he realized that this comfortably and beautifully furnished room was to be his
death cell and the place of his doom, invariably the perspiration poured out of
his temples and he cried out frantically for help. But no response came. The metal walls simply gave back a hollow
echo and continued to draw closer. When
the furniture had been demolished by the pressure and the walls had come so
close he could not do anything but stand upright, he placed his back to the
wall, and bracing himself with his hands and feet, he tried with one superhuman
effort to withstand his doom. But the
walls were not to be gainsaid; they were not to be denied of their prey. Finally the walls crushed him to death. Is this not the sense of every man who
beholds the ravishing power of corruption
in his soul and body? As old age
appears, with its multiplied physical weaknesses, degeneration, ailments, and
limitations, they feel themselves crowded to the wall and think they are daily
approaching their fatal and final end.
Unable to make any
The
crumbling ruins of ancient civilizations buried beneath the swirling sands of
ages bear silent testimony to the unrelenting power of corruption. Proud
empires which like the towering
The
universe itself is no less subject to the bondage of corruption. As an article in Discover magazine reported, six or seven billion years from now the
sun will begin to die, but it will not die alone. When the sun runs out of hydrogen fuel at its
core and begins burning the hydrogen, helium, and heavier elements in its outer
layers, it will swell tremendously, expanding out to earth’s orbit. In its death throes it will swell into a red
giant star, engulfing and incinerating Mercury, Venus, and Earth. Life on earth — if
Lift
up your heads and rejoice! O creation — the sun will not burn itself out, the earth will not be incinerated, the universe will not collapse, the myriad worlds scattered through space will not pass away, civilizations will not forever continue to corrupt
themselves and collapse into the dust and oblivion, and men will not unendingly continue to sink into
moral morass and march inexorably toward death and the grave, because
creation itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption
INTO THE GLORIOUOS LIBERTY OF THE SONS OF GOD!
What a word that is! What
a hope! Universal
Flesh
and blood cannot inherit the
No
one can deny it — we must be changed, spirit, soul, and body! Only by a mighty quickening of divine life
can soul and body partake of incorruption and immortality. The word of God has made it very clear that
our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, “shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according
to the working whereby He is able to subdue all
things unto Himself” (Phil. 3:21). If
He cannot change our vile body then He cannot change anything anywhere. If He cannot subdue our soul and body unto
Himself, unto His realm of spirituality and the kingdom of God, then how can it
be said that He will “subdue all things” unto Himself? Therefore, the body of glorification is not another body — it is this vile body changed, subdued, and
re-fashioned. Oh, the wonder of it!
The
Let
me make very plain that all who are experiencing the mighty working of the life
of Christ within have
The
word of God does not tell us that any man besides our Lord Jesus has yet
escaped mortality. “Keep this commandment without spot,
unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the
light which no man can approach unto…” (I Tim. 6:14,16). The apostle Peter does tell us, however, that
the saints of God have been made partakers of the divine nature, “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust” (II Pet. 1:4). Having
ESCAPED! Having escaped CORRUPTION! Having escaped the corruption that was
brought into the world through lust, by the lust or desire of mother Eve when she “saw the tree that it was good for
food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired (lusted after) to make one
What
does this wonderful truth mean to us?
Where and when and how have we escaped the corruption that is in the
world? Ah, my beloved, corruption is the
process of dissolution that leads to
death, the downward spiral by which
all things in the universe are being reduced to a worse state or inferior
condition. All organisms age and grow
old. All food spoils. All mountains erode. All mechanical things wear out. All societies
And
that’s how it was in my life until that blessed day when Christ appeared and I
was born again by the incorruptible seed of the word of
God that liveth and abideth forever. A
divine and incorruptible life was raised up from Christ within my spirit and
injected into my soul and in that
wonderful moment old things passed away and all things became new. By
that heavenly and divine intervention my course was changed, my
direction reversed, my movement turned up-side-down. Instead of continuing the downward journey, I
commenced an upward climb. And now I can
truthfully and joyfully testify — I am no longer getting worse — I AM GETTING BETTER!
Oh, yes! I AM GETTING BETTER! I am
now learning of Christ. I am growing up
into Him in all things. I am renouncing
the hidden things of darkness. I am putting on
the mind of Christ. I am
receiving His chastisements and experiencing His dealings. I am submitting my will more and more to His. I am tasting the powers of the world to
come. I am apprehending His
righteousness, peace, and joy. I am
eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
I am overcoming sins, weaknesses, unbelief, problems, fears, and
obstacles of every kind. I am putting
off the old man, and putting on the new man.
Daily, continually, progressively, unceasingly, from glory to glory, I
AM BEING CHANGED! No longer am I being
reduced to a worse state and an inferior condition — I am now being transformed
by the renewing of my mind into a better
state, into a superior condition! I have escaped the irresistible
downward plunge — I have thus escaped CORRUPTION! I am now incorruptible — on my way up instead
of down! Is my soul fully resurrected, raised up into
His perfection, standing up again in the full power of HIS LIFE? I cannot confess today that the work is
complete, but there is no doubt about
it, my soul is in the process of RESURRECTION!
This
truth of incorruption is far too important to be passed over without earnest consideration. The wonderful truth is that incorruption leads to immortality. This corruptible (nature of the soul) must
put on incorruption before this
mortal can be empowered to put on immortality.
This is the precise and significant order in the word of God. God’s purpose in man’s redemption is not just
to
Incorruption
is the process of man’s “fall” being REVERSED!
If one is watching a recorded program on his television set and decides
to stop and rewind it to see a scene again, he is simply reversing what he has
previously seen with his eyes. It is
comical sometimes to see the people running backwards, and bodies rising from
the ground to the roof of a building.
You can see a vase that was smashed into a thousand pieces put together
again, or a car that wrecked, back up and become as it was before. Whatever you saw was restored to its
beginning by passing through the motion in reverse. And this is exactly what incorruption is: THE FALL OF MAN IN REVERSE! It means a progressive rising up again into
that oneness in God that man once knew in His bright beginning. The order of
Little
wonder that the sublime statement follows John’s declaration that the
resurrection of the soul is the “first resurrection” as he proclaims, “Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection” (Rev.
20:6). BLESSED and HOLY! Indeed! Oh, my soul! Yes, my beloved, the first resurrection is the
only resurrection that can make one both blessed and holy. The resurrection
of the body can make you glorious, immortal, and powerful, but that alone can
When
we were first begotten of God we were not “changed” or made “immortal” at that
time, but when that birthing of God’s Spirit took place, the life of Christ began
to be raised up in us. In that
blessed moment the ego of old
The
spiritual world of the kingdom of heaven is a world with which we become
familiar as we walk in the Spirit of God and experience more and more our union
with the Father; a world so wonderfully real that all who once have had their
eyes opened to it beg to remain within its celestial precincts,
With
what anticipation do we wait for this glorious manifestation! Meantime we are taught to believe: “We look
for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body…” This is not meant merely for revelation, to
be left for the future; for the full development of our life in sonship we must
seek to enter into it and appropriate it.
We do this as we learn to triumph over death on every level. We do it as we learn to look to Christ as the Lord of both soul and body, claiming their entire
consecration, securing here and now victory over the terrible dominion sin has
had in both soul and body. “Sin, when it
is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15). We do it as we allow the powers of the coming
age to possess us, and to lift us up into a life in the heavenly places, to
enlarge our hearts and our hopes, and to anticipate here and now, the things
that have
Sons
of God! Seek after incorruption and immortality. Let this be the crown of your life in
sonship. Do not seek immortality in your
body first, or only, apart from incorruption in your thoughts, emotions,
desires, ambitions, will, purposes, hopes, dreams, attitudes, and actions. Seek to live an incorruptible life, walk an incorruptible
walk, as that which will lead you to glory and immortality. Nothing will prepare you for immortality more
than faithfulness in every step of putting on the MIND OF CHRIST. The experience of His power to make you holy
in spirit, soul, and body, will quicken you to a power that shall not cease its
work until the sin that causes death has been abolished in your being. As you seek to experience within yourself to
the full, the power of HIS TRANSFORMING LIFE, your heart will be enlarged to
see the position the sons of God have been destined to occupy in the universe,
as having all things made subject to them, and you shall for your part be
fitted to live worthy of that high and holy calling! Can you not see how it is that incorruption leads to immortality? Immortality
is the ultimate end of the process of incorruption, just as human maturity is
the end of the process of physical and emotional development. In short, seek the first resurrection as that which prepares you for, and leads to,
the second resurrection!
This
glorious realm of immortality that lies beyond the power of temptation,
sickness, sorrow, and death belongs to the sons of God; but, blessed be God! it
is likewise the hope of
Jesus is the first of the firstfruits of this
glorious victory. The manifest sons of
God are the firstfruits, redeemed from among men (Rev. 14:5). All creation is the great harvest that
follows! It was necessary that after
having lived in the flesh and overcome all things, Jesus should be resurrected
Himself by the power and glory of the Father, that He might be able then to
minister even that resurrection life to a firstfruit company; that they, in
turn, apprehending all that pertains to that life, might be able to minister it to the rest of creation. For this creation waits expectantly!
When
a child I read in the Bible
Something about a judgment day;
I
thought it meant we would stand before God
And be judged in a literal way —
But that’s all passing away.
I
see its meaning in spirit now,
And today is the judgment day.
His
word is sharp and judges us all
By condemning or blessing our way —
And this will not pass
away!
I
believed when the great trumpet sounds
It would be a literal horn,
Piercing
our ears with terrific scream,
Ushering in eternity’s dawn —
But that’s all passing
away.
I
see its meaning in spirit now:
That trumpet sound is a message new,
To
awake the souls who are spiritually dead,
And with new life and power endue —
And this will not pass
away!
I
read how the dead would all come forth;
The tombs all bursting, I could see;
Releasing
the dead of all ages
So they could then with the Saviour be —
But that’s all passing
away.
I
see its meaning in spirit now:
Those dead ones are the souls of men
Who
are raised by Christ in power here,
From graves of carnal corruption of sin —
And this will not pass
away!
All
this I saw through these eyes of flesh,
Supposed it of natural things spoke:
Forgetting
His words are spirit and life,
As He clearly told us in the Book —
But that’s all passing
away.
I
see its meaning in spirit now:
The vision to me has come clear;
He’s
opened my spiritual eyes to see
Truth in more grandeur and light appear —
And this will not pass
away!
— Reba McMurry
Though
few Christians and almost no preachers understand it, again and again, on
numerous occasions, and in diverse manners, we read in God’s word of two
resurrections, or the dual aspects of the resurrection within our lives. There is an interesting passage in the ninth
chapter of Mark’s Gospel which throws divine light on this subject. The opening verses contain the record of
Christ’s transfiguration; and then we read, “As
they came down from the mountain, He charged them that they should tell no man
what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying within themselves,
questioning one with another what the rising from (Greek: ek, from among) the dead should mean.” The
disciples felt that there was something special, something entirely beyond the
ordinary orthodox idea of the resurrection of the dead, and verily so there
was, though they understood it not at the time.
It lay beyond their range of vision at that moment.
Fortunately,
A
moment’s just reflection will suffice to convince the reader that the apostle
is not speaking here of the broad truth of “the resurrection of the dead,”
inasmuch as everyone must rise again!
“There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the
unjust” (Acts 24:15). In the Greek
language of the New Testament the resurrection “of the dead” is nekron or ton nekron and is applied to all classes of people because all will
be raised. The term merely establishes
the fact that all men will be raised, but says nothing respecting either the time or the manner of their rising. But
the term used by
The
resurrection of which
But
no —
Oh!
dearly beloved brethren, consider with me the ingredients contained in
Yes,
my friend, the resurrection “of” the dead is one thing, but the resurrection
“out from the dead” is a mightily different thing. If all the people in a building leave
it at the same time, it is the coming out “of” the company; but if only some of
the people leave, their’s is a coming out “from” the rest of the company. It was for this resurrection “out from” the
dead, until all the soulical death of his life would be transformed, that
The
resurrection “from among” the dead has already begun. It started two thousand
years ago! Our Lord was the first of the
firstfruits of this company. He was
PERFECTED IN HIS SONSHIP. He said, “As
the Father has life in Himself, so has He given the Son to have life in
Himself.” He already possessed that
life, that perfection, that glory, before His death and bodily resurrection, so
that He said, “No man taketh my life from
me; I lay it down.” He was the first
of the firstfruits of the first resurrection! There has been a few, a little remnant
all through the centuries who strove for and attained to this position. And there is a little remnant alive today who
belong to this same company and who will now STAND UP AND COLLECT THEIR
SPIRITUAL FACULTIES, transformed fully into the image and incorruptibleness of
God by the power of the
To be continued… J. PRESTON EBY
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