For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life”.
2 Corinthians 5:4
The resurrection from the dead is a reality promised to all who put their faith in Jesus. The promise is that those who believe in Jesus will live forever, though they die. There is a tendency we have to relegate the resurrection to a date in the future. However, in John 11:20-27, when Mary answered Jesus that she believed Lazarus would rise from the dead on the resurrection, Jesus answered that He is the resurrection, not an event in the future. He went further to say that if a person lives and believes in Him, they will never die. Do you believe this?
What does it mean for a person to die? Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life”. This means that in Him dwells all life needed for man to thrive. Going back to Genesis 2:17, God had warned Adam that if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. And after he believed the devil, the accuser, and disobeyed God, he did die in Genesus 3:14-24. However, his death came in stages. First, he was cut off from access to the tree of life which would make him live forever. Next, he was cut off from the presence of God in Eden. Afterward, he was sent to till the ground from which he was taken from and finally he returned to the ground. Since a day with the Lord is 1000 years as 2 Peter 3:8 says, Adam’s death was complete in the day he ate from the tree of life, he lived for 930 years.
The tree of life is promised to all who overcome in Revelations 2:7. These people are also brought back into the presence of God. The tree of life is simply a tree that has life in itself to give or one that is alive, produces life, and has life in himself to dispense to others. Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am that bread of life”. This means He has life in Himself to give while remaining alive. In revelations 12:7-12, we see that the overcomers are those who overcome the devil, the accuser. This accuser was the same one that Adam faced in the garden of Israel. His job is to accuse God to man and man to God. However, those who overcame did so by the blood of the lamb and by the Word of their testimony. What does this mean? The life of the flesh is in the blood as Leviticus 17:11 says. This means that in the blood of the lamb of God is the very life of God. If we must overcome, we must understand the ways to use this blood by faith. The blood is also said in Hebrews 12:24 to speak better things than the blood of Abel, so to overcome by the Word of our testimony means to overcome by taking that which the blood has spoken over us as our testimony.
How do we use the blood? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:4 that death is swallowed up by life. Since death is separation from God, the first thing the blood purchased for us is justification and redemption. This is the legal right we have to be in the presence of God. We overcome by resisting the lies of condemnation from the accuser by faith in the Blood that has justified us and by coming boldly to the throne of God. The accuser accuses in many ways. He could suggest unholy thoughts to a person and then condemn them for even considering those thoughts. He could deceive them to sin and then condemn them for sinning while convincing them that God will have nothing to do with them. He could also hype a person who has been partaking in good spiritual activities and make them believe that this is what gives them access to God. However, the moment they cannot keep up with the activities that they had now begun to do by their own strength, he would condemn them. All these gimmicks of the enemy cause death or separation from God. By faith in the blood and confessing our justification, this death is swallowed by life.
Final thoughts: As death was a process that begun from the separation from the tree of life. Resurrection is also a process that comes by a restoration into God’s presence. As the accuser accuses day and night, we must overcome him day and night also. We must come to God daily and at all times by the blood of Jesus. As we are faithful in approaching God, He gives us the tree of life, which is the bread of Life who is Jesus the Word of God. This bread can make us live forever, perpetually in His presence. Eventually, even our mortal bodies will be swallowed us by this life. He who lives and believes in Jesus, will never experience both death. Do you believe this?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for the blood of the Lamb which has secured for me, eternal access to the life of God. I come before your courts today by the blood of the Lamb regardless of any shortcomings I may have. I receive your proceeding word today that can help me live above sin and death today and forever. Amen.
Scripture: Hebrews 12:18-29
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