2001-4-17 11:58:00
What process did Jesus use to overcome death and how will man overcome it? Will ordinary men and women use a different method of putting on immortality than Jesus did? How many will be raised from the dead -- all or just a few?
Peter wrote that God "is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
It is also written: "For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)
It is amazing how many people claim to believe the Bible but continue to think that there are many things that are impossible with God. The only things that may be impossible to Him are those that are contrary to His will. If God is omnipotent then surely he has power to fulfill his own will.
And what is that will?
Peter said that his will is that none should perish "but that ALL should come to repentance."
Why do Fundamentalists believe in the omnipotence of God yet do not believe that he can fulfill his will in this matter? They see God as sitting there in heaven shedding tear after tear because his will is being broken. On the contrary, if God is omnipotent then his will is never broken and in the end none shall perish.
The scriptures verify that in reference to the scripture in Peter the will of God will be fulfilled: "And that EVERY tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Master), to the glory of God, the Father." (Phil 2:11)
As an alternative interpretation of this it is important to realize the meaning of the name of Jesus Christ which is "anointed to deliver." He who seeks to deliver his fellow men and women from darkness into light has also taken upon himself the name of Christ and Christ is his master.
But, says one, how can God save all men when many die in such an evil state? The scripture says: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." (1 Cor 15:29)
Then the scripture continues: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive." (1 Cor 15:22)
And again, a few verses later in the same chapter Paul writes: "For this corruptible MUST put on incorruption, and this mortal MUST put on immortality." (1 Cor 15:53)
Finally, again in the fifteenth chapter, he tells us that Christ "must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (1 Cor 15:25-26)
What are we to conclude from this? Christ must reign until death no longer has a claim on any man and this enemy "death" is completely destroyed. Then the will of God shall be fulfilled and all men will be saved. After all, God "will have ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2:4)
The scriptures verify this. The time will come when the last enemy "death" will be destroyed and all men will join the body of Christ and be saved.
When Jesus overcame death how did he do it?
He accomplished that miracle with the same power that he did all the others. He said: "The Son can do NOTHING OF HIMSELF, but what he seeth the Father do [...] For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself [...] I can of mine own self DO NOTHING: as I hear, I judge: and my judgement is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:19, 26, & 30)
There is the secret. Jesus was a man like us in the fact that without the help of God, his Father, he could do NOTHING more than you or I. With his Father's help he could do any mighty miracle including the overcoming of death.
The apostles of Jesus acknowledged again and again that it was the power of the Father, and not the power of the man Jesus that raised him from the dead. Peter said: "The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree." (Acts 5:30)
Paul said that we must "believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." (Rom 4:24)
There are many other scriptures like this that attribute the power of the resurrection of Christ to God the Father. What is interesting is that the resurrection of ordinary men and women is attributed to this same power that Jesus relied on: "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 YOUR MORTAL BODIES by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Rom 8:11)
"And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? [...] But he that is joined unto the Lord is ONE SPIRIT." (1 Cor 6:14-15, & 17)
There is "One Spirit" and when we become one with it as Jesus did we can overcome death by the same power of the "One" God that he did.
In explaining Christ Paul said: "But all these (the spiritual gifts) worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, DIVIDING to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: SO ALSO IS CHRIST (and God). For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body...." (1 Cor 12:11-13)
This body of Christ also corresponds to the vine and branches Jesus talked about. The One Spirit would be the fluid that flows through the vine to the branches: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine and ye are the branches." (John 15:4-5)
These analogies help us to understand the principle of the resurrection. In the correspondence to the body of Christ Jesus is called "the head." (Col 1:18) If the head is raised and remains alive then all the others who are members of that body must also rise. If the vine is alive then the branches that are connected with it must be alive as well. Thus we are told in the scriptures that all will rise for all have the Spirit of God within them "But every man in his own order." (1 Cor 15:23)
Just as Columbus was the first to discover the New World, Jesus was the first to discover the principle of the resurrection and join himself as one with the Spirit of God. But just as Columbus was not the last to sail to the Americas neither will Jesus be the last to rise from the dead, but "he is the head of the body, the church: WHO IS THE BEGINNING, the firstborn from the dead." (Col 1:18)
Thus we conclude that man will show forth the powers of Godliness through no different a process than Jesus did. By the power of the Father man will raise from the dead and overcome the limitations of mortality. Jesus, of course, has a place of honor as being our head, or the first to rise, but because he was first does not mean that he is a God in a way we cannot be. Correspondingly, Adam was the first human, but we can be we can be human ever bit as much as he was. First does not mean exclusive.
Jesus verified this principle: "He that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, JUST AS I OVERCAME and am sat down with my Father on his throne." (Rev 3:21)
Questions:
Does it make sense to you that all people will eventually be "saved" from the mistakes we make here and move on to higher spheres? Why?
Does it seem possible that you will eventually, after you finish your cycle of lives and experiences, to attain the power to rise your body from physical death as did Jesus?
-- End Of Part Sixteen --
Copyright 2001 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved