The Apostle Paul could.
The Apostle Paul could.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in (or by the faith of) the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).
Do you know what? I do not believe Galatians 2:20 receives nearly enough attention in today's preaching and teaching. I think it ought to be the goals of every one of us.
I have been crucified with Christ , not just crucified but crucified with Christ.
I no longer live . This really is the critical point, isn't it?
Christ lives in me. We have set aside our own thinking, speaking, and behaving that Christ might be the Life that guides and empowers our flesh.
The life I now live in the body . I imagine the imprisoned Paul was only to glad to keep his mind and imagination focused on the Throne of God.
I live by faith in, or by the faith of, the Son of God. The Greek text appears to be somewhat ambiguous. I think "I live by the faith of the Son of God" is stronger than "I live by faith in the Son of God."
To tell you the truth, I do no have much faith in my own faith, and that is why I favor "I live by the faith of the Son of God."
However, it seems that the NIV translators do not agree with me.
In any case, the desirable condition is that it is no I who am living. Christ now is my Life. That is our supreme goal, isn't it?
When Christ appears, we shall appear with Him. I know Thessalonians states that Christ shall bring with Him from the spirit world the people of whom it may be said that they died while abiding in Christ.
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (I Thessalonians 4:14)
The idea that they died while abiding in Christ was meant to comfort the Thessalonian believers who were longing for their deceased relatives, I am sure..
But this would not include Abraham and the Prophets; so it is my personal belief that all of the righteous, from the time of Abel, will be included in the company that surrounds Christ when He appears.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)
Put to death, therefore. Wherefore the therefore?
Because you are going to appear with Christ, revealing His Life to the world, put to death today whatever belongs to your earthly nature.
Here is a relationship I do not profess to understand. How could our behavior today affect our state when we are dwelling at the right hand of God in Christ? Why would our being delivered from sin and self-will have a bearing on our appearing with Christ?
I do not know; but notice:
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (Colossians 3:8)
And envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:21)
There are several such passages in the New Testament addressed to Christian believers.
So we see, but do not completely understand, how our actions on the earth (and possibly in the spirit world as well) can affect our position in Christ at the right hand of God. Satan's actions in the spirit world affected his office as guardian cherub.
God is the God of the now. If a righteous person turns and practices unrighteousness, their years of righteous behavior are not mentioned. They are an unrighteous person. We cannot at any time turn and practice lawlessness, believing that our past history of righteous behavior will save us.
I do know of one reason why we must put away sin and self-will today if we expect to appear to the world with Christ. It is as follows:
When we appear with Christ, He will remain at His staging area in the world with His army of angels and the white war-stallions.
We who have appeared with Him will then descend to the earth from the staging area, the former domain of Satan's authority.
We shall call up the remains of our body from its place of interment.
Then at the Word of Christ we shall clothe our body with eternal, incorruptible Life, the Life of Christ that already has been formed in our personality.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:11)
Here is the point. If the sin and self-will have not been driven from our personality, we are not eligible to be clothed with a body of eternal life. There is death in us, and we cannot receive a body of eternal death.
Notice how the following passage interacts with Romans 8:11 (above).
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13)
To put is succinctly, if you do not cooperate with the Spirit of God in the work of driving sin and self-will from your behavior, you will slay your own resurrection.
Grace and mercy do not operate at this point. It is a case of sowing and reaping.
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:6-10)
It is being preached today that Jesus took care of all these behaviors that are not in the image of God. But it is no so. We must rid ourselves of these things. We must take off our old self and put in the new self. The Lord Jesus Christ will help us to purge ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
Christ came to earth, not only to make an atonement for our sins, but to actually remove the sin from our personality—to destroy it forever.
Sin and self-will are not permitted to dwell in the Body of Christ at the right hand of God in Heaven. That is easy to understand, isn't it?
So we have come to a great step forward in the plan of redemption. The Lord Jesus has come to those who are keeping His commandments to prepare us for His worldwide coming. We are entering the Day of Redemption, to which we have been sealed.
The believers of today who are not seeking the Lord intensely, not learning to live by His Life, are certainly not going to be carried up to Heaven so they can live ate their ease in a mansion!
The world is in turmoil. The Book of Isaiah tells us how the Servant of the Lord, who is Christ—Head and Body, will come and bring justice to the nations. The Servant of the Lord will govern the nations of saved people for one thousand years, according to the Bible.
You and I can be among those who perform the needed Kingdom tasks. We can sit on the thrones, presently unoccupied, from which the world and the angels shall be judged.
There is a great deal of work to be done between the time Christ appears and the final resurrection and judgment of the dead of mankind.
The world of Adam, the flesh and blood creation, was finished on the cross. An atonement was made for the sins of the world. All mankind, except for those in whom Christ is being formed, are spiritually dead.
Christ is the Resurrection and the Life. Those who come to Him and obey Him will receive eternal Life, the Life of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life.
The role of the Servant of the Lord, including the Body of Christ, is to serve as trees of life so dead mankind can eat and live. These people from the nations are the inheritance of Christ and of His co-heirs.
Our high calling is to always be positioned at the right hand of God in Christ so that God can pour through us His Spirit into the dead sea of mankind. Whoever of mankind will be obedient to God shall find themselves one day as citizens on the new earth.
The new Jerusalem, the holy city, is the glorified Church. It is composed of the members of the Royal Priesthood. Their joyous task for eternity is to bring the Presence and Life to the saved from the nations, and to the people who shall be born thereafter.
Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7)