God is the everlasting life.
There is no beginning or end of life(He 7:3) and
The essence of life never changes.
"Life refers to
Never perishing, spoiling or fading away(1Pe 1:3-4).
Thus, faith is having the living hope to eternally posses that life and
The life of this faith is making resurrection as one's goal and pressing on towards it until
He calls from above(Php 3:10-14).
"All things that God made in the beginning
Refer to the visible and the invisible,
The living and the non-living.
The living lives for a limited time and dies, perishes and fades away.
God breathed the breath of life into the man, and
He became a living being(Ge 2:7) and
All men were made to be resurrected after the flesh dies(Jn 5:29).
Deceived by the devil,
Adam sinned and death entered all men(Rm 5:12).
Furthermore, all toils and wearisome of men became meaningless,
A chasing after the wind(Ecc 1:1-7, Ecc 2:11; Is 40:6; 1Pe 1:24).
To Israel, God gave the Law, the law of condemnation and
It made them conscious of their sins - thus, death(Rm 3:19-23).
Nevertheless, the tablets inside the testimony of the sanctuary
Reminded the Israelites that if they obeyed the Law,
God blessed them with life in their flesh.
Jesus said, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days(Jn 2:19), because
Through the death and the resurrection of the temple of His body,
He would give everlasting life to the spirit, for
He is the life that was with the everlasting Father in the beginning(Jn 1:1, Jn 1:4, Jn 1:14),
The resurrection and the life(Jn 11:25) and
A kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies to produce many seeds(Jn 12:24).
Thus, as He died, Jesus said, "It is finished(Jn 19:30), declaring that He:
1. With His authority laid down His life according to the Father's command(Jn 10:18); and
2. Condemned the ruler of death(He 2:14); and
3. With His blood redeemed the sins of all men and sowed the seed of life in them(1Pe 1:23).
Jesus resurrected and
Became the firsfruits of those who have fallen asleep(1Co 15:20).
Hence, His toils are never meaningless.
Jesus came out of the grave and
Even went inside of a locked room(Jn 20:19) for
He is the Truth that surpasses the law of death and the law of nature(Jn 14:6).
Moreover, He showed His resurrected body to the disciples(Lk 24:37) and
Confirmed that His body is the spiritual body that can never perish, change or die.
The Holy Spirit comes to those who
Received the name of Jesus, His blood, the living and enduring word,
The life of Jesus(Jn 1:12, Jn 20:31; 1Pe 1:18-19, 1Pe 1:23).
He lets them believe in the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection to life(Jn 11:25-26), and
Reminds them of the words of Jesus so that they run towards the prize.
The resurrection of Jesus is important because
It is the fulfillment of the prophecy(Mt 16:21), thus highlights His return, and
It is a new principle that revealed the resurrection of saints(1Co 15:13).
The order of resurrection(1Co 15:23-24) is:
1. Jesus Christ - the fristfruits;
2. Saints - those who belong to Him - the first resurrection(Rev 20:4-6); and
3. The rest - believers("the living) and unbelievers("the dead) - the second resurrection(Rev 20:12-15).
The men of the Spirit are
Shocked by the fact that Jesus is risen and
Testify it until their last breath.
Their hope and goal in life is the first resurrection.
Therefore, they put every effort to obtain it,
Risking everything for it(Rm 8:19-23; Php 3:7-11, Php 3:20-21).
O Lord,
Let us not live for the things that will perish but instead
Let us live for everlasting life! Amen.
