Monday, October 11, 2010

The Gospel of Eternal Life

Think on this: you have been completely changed.  You have been irrevocably altered.  “…Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.  He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life,” John 5:24.  It has already happened.  Life works in all of your members to raise you… .eternally.  “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come,” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17.  Very realistically, you are regarded as a new life form.  You are an eternal creaturely container of a continually transforming and elevating power.  Eternal life is raising you up, Today!
The Spirit of the Living God moves and breathes in you and you have a deep down guarantee of Eternity.  “He who has prepared for us this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee,” 2 Corinthians 5:5.  You are still human and you will still taste death, but it will not have you.  “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day,” 2 Corinthians 4:16.  Death’s grip is loose.  “‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?’” 1 Corinthians 15:34-35.  It’s power, though it wrestles to keep hold, has been overcome.  “We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him,” Romans 6:9.  It fights but it fails in the face of its Overcomer.  Legally, the Father will raise us in acknowledgment of the Life of His Son.  “..he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus…” 2 Corinthians 4:14.  I promise…. It is a spiritual guarantee.
This Spirit intercedes within you.  “…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved,” Romans 23-24.  It is an undying intercession throughout your earthly existence, even into the grave.  It is eternal intercession.  “The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words,” Romans 8:26.  And the Father of your Spirit will answer your spiritual cry with resurrection.   “For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened… .that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee,” 2 Corinthians 5:4-5.  It’s a promise that He has made to all His children.  This is your rest, Today: He will keep His promise.
We are very dependent on His graces. We cannot conceive this Spirit.  We cannot raise ourselves.  Eternity is in the powerful hands of the Father.  We, the children of the Father, have been called to live a life dependent on His promise.  We have been invited to receive an eternal inheritance that we cannot see.  “…As we look not to things that are seen but things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal,” 2 Corinthians 4:18.  A Life that begins to raise us at the very moment of its conception.  We are to move and breathe, work in agreement, groan and intercede with this Eternal Life that we do not see.
This is the gospel of Eternal Life… .for Today.

1 comment:

  1. This is good. This weekend God has reminded me that it is Christ in me, the hope of glory. The enemies I face are too big for me. The battles I fight, I cannot overcome in my own strength. It is the power of Christ dwelling in me that gives me the victory. His eternal life inside of me, as I stay connected to the vine, is where the power comes from.

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