The Foundational Principle of the Resurrection of the Dead – Part 6

The Building Materials for the Glorious Church – Part 6

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5pmoUL4AWoZAUgqLG0dCWi?si=X0pZ4rZwRDS1TA9XYeQg4Q

THE SOUND DOCTRINE OF JESUS CHRIST CONT’D.

As I continue the series on the Building Foundational Materials of the Glorious Church, I want to share a personal note on what an eye-opening, spirit-engaging, revelatory blessing this teaching was for me, when I first learned about the foundational elementary principles of Jesus Christ. As I shared in the first post of this series, Sam Soleyn is the vessel the Holy Spirit used to open my eyes and fill a void I had in my understanding of the things of Yahweh (God). I had been praying and waiting for several years to gain the wisdom on the elementary doctrines, as the book of Hebrews has been one of my favorite books in the Bible. I knew in my spirit there was more for me to learn and understand. If you are joining us for the first time, please take time to start at the beginning of the series because as God is a God of order, so are the foundational elementary doctrines. They are a divine order for the body of Christ. They build upon the other and without learning, understanding, and applying them to your walk with Jesus, you can not move on to the perfectional principles of the sound doctrine of Jesus Christ (the next series, God willing).

Hebrews Chapter 5, starting with verse 12.

He says, “For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For every one who only partakes of milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to them that are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” “Therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles (of the doctrine) of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permits.” (Hebrews 5:12-6:3)

RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

If you have been following this series, you have come to understand the elementary doctrine of water baptism and the symbolic act it proclaims as well as the baptism by the Spirit. You can now begin to understand this foundational elementary doctrine of the Glorious Church.

To be born again, death and resurrection are necessary for life in Christ. Resurrection of the Dead identifies someone as a new creation. They have truly put off their old man (self) and submitted themselves as a living sacrifice unto Christ, holy and acceptable, which is their reasonable service and/or true and proper worship.

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1 NIV)

God in his infinite wisdom and master vision for humanity arranged the resurrection of Christ as the basis for assembling all those He receives unto Him into one complete spiritual reality. This reality is called the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the place that contains one’s sonship along with the relevant gifts and calling (the economy to support a life in Christ), and ultimately a complete return to God’s original intent for creating humankind. This is possible due to the principle of the resurrection of the dead.

If we go back and look at creation, and specifically, that which was created on the third day prior to humankind, we see that the principle of resurrection is essential to the continuity of life on earth and God spoke this principle in creation, saying,

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day. (Genesis 1:11-13 NKJV)

Each Spring, although we see this process in creation of death, resurrection, and life, we tend to take it for granted. God interwove this principle into creation by creating plants and trees whose seed is within themselves to house physical allegories of heaven’s transcendant qualities.

(Allegory: A a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.)

(Transcendent: surpassing the ordinary; exceptional)

Jesus summarized the natural occurrence of resurrection using this analogy saying, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” He was also foreshadowing His death and the consequences of His own resurrection, identifying the natural occurrence of resurrection that veils the spiritual reality that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life.

23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:23-25 NKJV)

The elementary doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead has two important principles for life and maturity of the believer:

1) Dying to self and resurrecting from dead works (sin separating us from God) reconnects humans to God as our source of origin and purpose; and

2) Understanding the spiritual principle of resurrection helps one reconnect to the Spirit of God through the process of being born again as a son of God.

As we should know by now, the whole reason behind the teaching of the foundational elementary doctrines is so you can have a blueprint to go from babes desiring spiritual milk, to mature sons of God able to eat solid food.

Throughout scripture, Jesus said over and over again, “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.” God always intended that in Christ, resurrection and life would be inseparable components for the life of the believer. It is what brings us back to Eden, to the way of the Tree of Life. (See blog post ‘Meet Me In The Garden’)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with scripture pertaining to what flesh or old man works are, please go to your bible and read Ephesians 4 and Galatians 5. These outline the fleshly desires we must die to to become a new creation in Christ.

The Risen Christ, Our Hope

12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (1 Corinthians 15:12-18 NKJV)

Every human spirit originated from God and was imparted as an endowment from God to display some aspect of God’s nature in the earth. However, it is only through the many parts of the one Body that his true nature is revealed with Christ Jesus being the head of the body.

The person-hood of all human beings is their spirit, contained in an outer casing of dust, and every spirit is as a seed issued from the person of God. God formed Adam’s body out of dust and placed a spirit that originated of God’s own person into him. From this, the mind of our human spirit perceives all things from a heavenly point of view.

God also gave mankind a soul so that we could execute heavenly realities in the venue of time and space…therefore, humans have the capacity to represent the invisible God in the visible realm in the manner that a seed replicates the source of its origin.

The human spirit is designed to have dominion over the human soul for the above reasons:

1) Spirit perceives all things from a heavenly point of view; and

2) Soul receives the message from the spirit and represents the invisible God here on earth.

The body, which will one day return to dust, functions as a vessel for God, through the spirit.

When we die to self and are resurrected from our dead trespasses unto life in Christ, it restores the original intent for mankind (God’s original intent for you) to be one with God, through Jesus Christ, and makes us sons of God rather than orphans without a father. Dying to self is not a phrase spoken of lightly, but rather a process.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18-22)

As you read this blog on Resurrection of the Dead, my hope is that you will be able to have a new understanding of the scriptures and that they will be illuminated in your spirit. It is of the utmost importance to lay down our will and submit to the will of Yahweh in our life. To submit to His perfect will, we must first die to our flesh.

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 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.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 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.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:1-14)

Blessings to you, in the name of Jesus. I hope you will join me next time as I conclude this series on the elementary doctrines with “Eternal Judgment.”

Norma Umphress

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