Considering the Resurrection – Part 4 – Jesus is the Resurrection

This is the final article of the “Considering the Resurrection” series. We’ve discussed the nature of the resurrection and what that means for our present-day experience of the gospel as well as our hope of everlasting life. We’ve discussed the resurrection in terms of the judgment and mercy of God. We’ve discussed the timing of the resurrection and how that affects common Christian doctrines.

Now, it seems fitting to wrap this up with an article that gives glory to Jesus as the only One who has power of life over death. Jesus is the resurrection!

Why is Jesus the only way? Jesus is Life.

There are several analogies that Jesus makes to himself as a source of life. He is the bread of life. He is the fountain of living waters.

Jesus gives us everything we need to live. Contrast that with Satan who only brings death. The following will include a scripture that shows the life-giving properties of Jesus and the death-bringing properties of Satan.

Blood of Life

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him (John 6:56).

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (Revelation 17:6).

We all drink a cup of blood. Either we will drink the blood of the Lamb with great reverance, or we will drink the cup of the Great Whore which is the blood of the saints. The blood of Jesus cleanses us of our sins, but if we have no respect for this cup then we are “drinking damnation to ourselves.”

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body (1 Corinthians 11:29).

If we have real love for Jesus and respect for the shedding of the blood of the Son of God, then we are receiving forgiveness. If we take the cross as some lite thing and do not dedicate our lives to service of the Lord, all the while claiming the blood of Jesus, we are drinking damnation to ourselves. We are drinking the cup of the Great Whore.

Bring this around to life.

The blood of Jesus brings us life. If we follow Jesus, we will honor his teachings. His teachings bring life to those who practice the commandments of Christ. The more we obey the commandments of God, the more we bring life to those around us. If we do not, we continue as murderers (killing others in flesh and in spirit by our words and actions). If we claim the blood of Jesus, we should hate all sin because Jesus died for our sin. We should also hate sin because it destroys ourselves and others.

If we continue in wanton sin, thereby killing others mentally, emotionally, and physically, then it is manifest that we are drinking the blood of the Lamb unworthily. We are using His blood for selfish reasons – like escaping eternal torture for example – instead of drinking His blood so that Jesus can bring life to us those around us.

For more read: Who Have We Killed Today?

Bread of Life

³² Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.³³ For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.³⁴ Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.³⁵ And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst (John 6:32-35).

¹³ A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.¹⁴ For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,¹⁵ To call passengers who go right on their ways: ¹⁶ Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, ¹⁷ Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.¹⁸ But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell (Proverbs 9:13-18).

Think of bread as understanding or knowledge. As the bread of life, Jesus provides nourishment to our spirit, giving us things needful for life including understanding that leads to a more righteous lifestyle. We can feed ourselves with the good things of God or we can feed ourselves with Satan’s bread. Satan’s bread often looks like something that is good, but once eaten it will destroy us.

I cannot help but think of pop culture Christian preaching and various forms of mold-riddled merchandise that carries the stolen name of Jesus. There are many kinds of “bread” out there that claim to nourish the body of Christ, but instead these things only lead to fatness instead of fullness. What do I mean by that?

A prime example is the teaching of the “sinners prayer” as sufficient for salvation. Recite this and you are “saved.” Any teaching that makes one feel as if they have everything they need to be saved without any encouragement towards growth in the things of God leaves people fat. They do not “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” They are not “poor in spirit” as one who realizes how depraved they are and how much more there is to pursue as a Christian.

Water of Life

³⁸ He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹ (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39)

²⁶ And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. ²⁷ They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all (Luke 17:26-27).

Jesus is the fountain of life. Specifically, the Holy Spirit is described as the fountain of life. Jesus gives us living waters through his Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that causes us to become fruitful in the things of God. Without the Spirit, we can do nothing (John 14-16). We fight sin and we fail. This is the power of God that helps us to overcome the powers of this world that destroy us, and almost always, cause us to destroy others.

The bible also mentions waters as a metaphor for Satan and the enemies of God. Water can also stand for the wrath of God towards those who are unfaithful or otherwise deny Jesus. This could be what we are seeing when Satan casts “water as a flood” after the woman in Revelation 12.  If we are watered by the Spirit of God, then we are well rooted in the things of God. When the “flood” comes, we will not be washed away.

Addition 2/20/19

I must have really lost focus in this section. I’m really astounded that I messed this up because this has been on my mind for a while. Good lesson here though. As we are able, we “study to show ourselves approved.” Man is faulty. We should seek Jesus above all, no matter what. I’m no lord over you or anyone else. I’m another servant striving in the mastery according to the promises of the gospel. Anyhow, the scripture I mentioned above for the evil waters was not the best choice. The scripture given about “as in the days of Noe” refers to the coming of the Lord, Jesus. Here is what I should have mentioned:

Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks and he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. (Isaiah 8:7-10).

Another obvious reference to waters as something from the enemy is the “beast that rises out of the sea.”

The waters of the Lord bring life and are compared to spring waters which are good for drinking. Waters of the enemy carry the character of the sea, which is not good for human consumption. The king of Assyria is a kind of antichrist prototype. The events we see concerning the Assyrian invasion could be a foreshadowing of the antichrist invasion, which will come as a flood. However, not a literal flood because God promised He would never again destroy by flood. This is symbolic, just as the waters of the Lord are symbolic.

In any case, if we are focused on Jesus and recipients of the grace of God, then we will not be washed away by any flood of the enemy, whatever form that might take. We should always remember that “God is with us.” Therefore, “who can be against us?”

Clothing of Righteousness

⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. ⁸ And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints (Revelation 19:7-8).

⁴ And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: ⁵ And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth (Revelation 17:4-5)

 If we drink the blood of Christ worthily: meaning we have great respect for the sacrifice of the Son and live for Jesus instead of ourselves, then we will grow in things that bring life. We will eat that which is good, feeding ourselves with the bread of Jesus. We will refuse knowledge that leads to sinfulness and deceit. We are given the Holy Spirit who gives is the ability to overcome sin in this present life, leading us to fruitfulness of the Spirit.

On the other hand, we can drink the blood of Christ unworthily: meaning we can claim salvation but have no respect to the kingdom of heaven and use the grace and forgiveness of Jesus as a cop-out for embracing sin. In so doing, we continue a life of self-destruction and destruction of others. There are many pastors and Christian merchandise out there to feed those who would drink the blood of Christ unworthily. Quite frankly, Western Christianity is full of it. It is full of decadence, abominations, and filth.

Those who are on the path towards becoming the Great Whore are prone to deception. They are prone to “the flood” of antichrist who will deceive the world – including many Christians — into worshiping him. How does this happen? If we do not take the faith seriously now and seek the truth, then we are already blinded by the deceitfulness of sin. Though the Great Whore has not yet filled her cup, she will. And “she” is Christian. We need to be aware of this and be as those who “come out of her” so that we do not “partake of her sin” and “receive her plagues.”

The Word of Life

³⁴ O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. ³⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. ³⁶ But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. ³⁷ For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Matthew 12:34-37).

How do we drink the blood of the lamb, eat the bread of life, receive living waters, and become clothed in white robes of righteousness? All of this is given to us by grace through faith in Jesus. All of this comes to us by the Word.

Jesus is the Word of God. We are told that “the Word of God is sharper than any two-edge sword (Hebrews 4:12).” The Word of the Lord can kill or make alive. Consider all we have learned so far in this series.

The Word of God can bring us life, or it can bring us death. It depends on how we receive the Word. If the Word takes root in our hearts, then our own words will confess Jesus.

If we confess Jesus with our mouths, we are saved (Romans 10:12).

What does that mean? Does that mean we make a one-time, verbal commitment? Or, is there something more? Something on-going? If our words do not continue to confess Jesus by bringing life, then we are at risk of damnation. A one-time confession does not excuse a lifetime of death-bringing words that deny the teachings of Jesus.

If we are faithful to the Word, then we will be careful with our own words. Just as the Word of God can kill and make alive, so do ours. What we say to others matters. We should seek Jesus and strive to be as one whose mouth has “no guile.”

Is this easy? No, but as with all sin, if we continue in faith Jesus will save us. “His burden is easy and his yoke is light.” Any freedom from sin we receive is His work in us. He will cause us to have more control over our words and we will speak life more and more. This is something we should be earnestly seeking after.

There is No Other Name

¹⁰ Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. ¹¹ This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. ¹² Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:10-12).

Jesus is the only name given that brings salvation from sin and death. Not a single person can save themselves, and there is no man or woman, no matter how influential or seemingly powerful, that can save you. A real and meaningful relationship with Jesus is the only way.

Satan tries to mimic everything Jesus does. He has his own cup of blood, his own bread, and so on. He has his perversions of the gospel, his pastors, his prophets, his children. He will even come one day claiming to be God. He will be very deceptive, and many will believe him and worship him. However, this usurper cannot raise you from the dead. Even so, I think it is reasonable to assume that he will have some way of mimicking eternal life too, either through science or some other false promise. I wonder if this could be the “fornication” of the great whore.

In any case, whatever form the deception of antichrist takes, those who follow him will not live. They will receive the plagues contained within the vials of the wrath of God. They will die. Only the true Jesus Christ can make you alive.

How can we know the difference? How can we avoid so great a deception that will ensnare the whole world, even many who claim to be Christians? We seek Jesus first above all else. We forsake the world. We die to self. We trust Jesus to raise us up in newness of life. We seek the resurrection! We seek the gospel that brings us LIFE!

In Conclusion

I know there is a lot of redundancy in the article series, but the concepts are critically important for Christians.

If we have reverence for Jesus, His word will make us alive. We will die to self as we “take up the cross” and offer ourselves as “daily sacrifices” to God. We will live for Jesus and seek first things of the Kingdom of God. If we try to keep the commandments of God, Jesus will send the Holy Spirit. This is Jesus in us, giving us the power to overcome sin in the flesh so that we can bring forth fruits of the Spirit: fruits of life. This is a present-day death and resurrection according to the gospel of the kingdom of heaven that must first be “within you.” If we are faithful and fruitful, we have the promise of the first resurrection. We will appear before God clean and white, and we will live with Jesus Christ and serve him in his kingdom for eternity.

If we have no reverence for Jesus and what he promises through the true gospel, we can readily eat bread of Satan (bad Christian teachings and other influences) that make us feel safe in our foolishness. We will not seek to grow in the things of God because we are deceived into thinking we are already “saved” just because we said a prayer once. We will not receive the Holy Spirit, and we will be limited in our fruitfulness. We might not be fruitful at all. We might be divided from among the faithful when the flood comes with the ultimate deception because we did not exercise ourselves in the truth now. These experience the resurrection of damnation. They are raised, judged according to their works and not grace, are cast into the lake of fire and destroyed. This is the second death.

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The Bible is filled with warnings against the kind of Christianity we commonly see in the West. Western Christianity more resembles the Great Whore than the Bride — at least among pop culture. There are many who are very sincere within various Christian denominations, and the sincerity of others is for Jesus to judge, but the Day of the Lord will reveal it as the sifting and dividing occurs. 

Every Christian wants to be an “olive tree” and “lampstand aka candlestick” that is faithfully testifying to the gospel of Jesus during the last days, if we are alive during that time. This is a gospel that brings the resurrection – a gospel that brings life both presently and eternally.

We need to stand firm in the truth of the gospel and receive the Holy Spirit so we can be a well-rooted and fruitful “olive tree” that is prepared in righteousness and fills our “candlesticks” (churches) with the things of Light Life. Otherwise, we will be as a tree that is swept away by “the flood” and our candlesticks (churches) are “removed of its place” as they fully become the Great Whore.

If we are not faithful now and seek the truth, we are at great risk of being “taken” “washed away” or “removed” by deception of the worst kind. We will be separated as foolish virgins, slothful servants, and so forth. Many are already deceived, and they are ripe for the coming of that final deception. All our lies and murders are paving the way for antichrist. Only truth and life will pave the way for the True King of Kings.

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This article is part of a series entitled, “Considering the Resurrection.” Visit the link for quick access to all of the articles within this series. If this article is helpful for you, please share. Subscribe if you want email notifications of future posts.