Book 3 of Musings Christ Is Eternal Life
Human beings are animated, intelligent dust
Accepting Christ as an embracing of theological truth makes forgiven, informed dust. We are not changed and brought into the Kingdom of God until we actually receive the eternal Life that Christ Is.
The Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the Resurrection and the Life.
Now, here is an astonishing statement. He could have said He would show us the way to life. He could have said He would give us life. Both of these statements are true.
But to declare that He Himself is the Resurrection; He Himself is the Life; takes a little thinking on our part.
Maybe it is not that difficult for us to think of Christ as the Life of God. In Him is Life. He is the Tree of Life. There is no other source of the Life of God. My personal belief is that Jesus Christ was the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of Eden. How do you feel about this?
But for the Lord Jesus to say He Himself is the Resurrection? That really is a head-scratcher.
Our problem may be that we picture resurrection as action. Maybe resurrection is not action but the replacing of death with life. It is possible to think of the Lord Jesus as being Life that can replace death. The fact that a resurrected person arises from where he or she was and moves around may not be an essential aspect of resurrection. The essential part is the replacing of death with life. What the individual does after being filled with life may be a separate issue.
An individual could be on his feet, moving around, and be filled with spiritual death. That death could be replaced with Divine Life, and he would still be on his feet moving around. So movement is not an essential part of resurrection. Something like this may happen for those who are in Christ and alive when the Lord returns.
An individual could be lying on his back and be filled with spiritual death. The death could then be replaced with Divine Life while he remains on his back.
The world is filled with people who are nothing more than intelligent dust. They do not have the Life of God in them. Some are moving around. Some are sick in bed. Some are asleep. They are spiritually dead no matter what condition they are in.
Then we have the case where someone who died has been called back to life by the healing power of Christ. They leave their casket, or bed, and get up and move around. This is not resurrection. It is Divine healing. They could still be spiritually dead.
The New Testament often, but not exclusively, refers to physical death as sleep. This is because physical death is not true death. True death is the absence of the Life of Christ.
I think there are numerous Christian people who are dead spiritually. There is no life of Christ in them because they hate people, or because they are occupied with the things of the world, or for some other reason. They are Christian by theological belief. They are orthodox in their belief. But they have no eternal life in them.
Mankind, alive on earth or resident in the spirit realm, can be divided into two groups. The one group has none of the Life of Christ in them. The other group has some of the Life of Christ in them: some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world that those who believe in Him might have eternal life. This term does not refer to living forever but to the presence of God's Life in them.
Because we have made Christianity a religion instead of a personal experience with Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, many believers have nothing more than a belief in the facts of redemption-the same as Satan has. If they had had some eternal life in the beginning, they no longer have it because they have not followed the Holy Spirit into the development of eternal Life in their personality.
They are sound in their theological belief. But this is not salvation. Salvation has to do with the development of eternal Life in us, not with our knowledge of the facts of redemption.
I think this is something that needs to be brought to the attention of God's people in America. We are stressing a theological orientation to salvation instead of the laying hold on eternal life, and the pursuit of abundant life. We are satisfied if someone "accepts Christ" doctrinally. Now he or she is a Christian, we think.
Not necessarily so. A Christian is someone who is in the pursuit of eternal life.
The Apostle Paul was striving to attain to the resurrection from the dead. This means Paul was seeking to have Christ, the Resurrection, in every aspect of his life; to live by the power of that resurrection.
Paul invited us to be thus minded. Every Christian should abandon all distractions, forgetting what is behind, and press forward to the fullness of the Life of Christ.
He is the Resurrection. He is the Life. The more of Christ we have the more resurrection Life we have. The more resurrection Life we have, the more glorious will be our state in the Day of Resurrection; for in that day what we have become during our discipleship on the earth will be revealed.
Can you imagine the state of today's churchgoers in America when the Day of Resurrection arrives? They had supposed they would be given a golden crown and would rule with Christ over the nations (while they were reclining in their mansions).
Instead the great Day arrives. They stand before Jesus Christ. There is nothing in their personality but the corrupt sinful nature. What will Christ do with them? I am not certain. I think many will be brought over into the new earth, but perhaps they will take their place among the nations on the earth at that time. They hardly are fit to be part of the new Jerusalem.
And as far as the next coming of Jesus is concerned, they may not even realize it took place. They are in no manner prepared to be raised from the dead, ascend to meet the Commander in Chief in the air, mount one of the enormous war stallions, and descend in the cavalry charge of the Battle of Armageddon.
They would be a danger at that time because they would not obey their officers, just as they do not obey Christ or their leaders today.
What about when we die? I just don't know. There is so little in the Bible about what happens to us when we die. There is quite a bit about the Battle of Armageddon and the return of Christ, but precious little about what happens to a believer when he or she dies.
I know one thing. The Lord said if we lived and believed in Him we would never die. So if we are living and believing in Him, pursuing Him in every area of our life, we are going to be filled with Divine Life now. We are alive. When we die we still will be alive, because physical death certainly is not able to remove Divine Life from our personality.
My guess would be if we have followed the Lord Jesus and have learned to live by His Life, when we die we will go to Him and probably be assigned a task in His Kingdom.
If we are living in the sinful nature, as is the case with so many American Christians, my guess would be we either will go to a place of correction, or be sent to an area where others of like spiritual condition are waiting for the Day of Resurrection.
But I could be incorrect in this. I know Paul wanted to go home to be with the Lord, and some quote this. My thought is you are safe in your desire as long as you live at the same level of consecration as Paul.
Christ Himself is the Resurrection. He Himself is the Life.
Since this is undeniably true, I think we are wise when, like Paul, we turn aside from the pursuit of the present world and give ourselves to the work of cultivating Christ in our personality. After all, eternal life is in degrees, as I have pointed out. There is abundant life. Paul advised Timothy to lay hold on eternal life. I think this is the best advice we could give anyone.
What in the world is more important than being filled with the Life of God?
How do you feel about this? What are you going to do about it? As for me, I am trying to walk that difficult path that leads to life.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)