Tag Archives: raised

Guilt Upon Guilt

July 1, 2015Bible StudyHerod, John the Baptist, killed, raisedLuella Campbell

GUILT UPON GUILT

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, ‘John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in Him.’ Others said, ‘He is Elijah.’ And still others claimed, ‘He is a prophet, like one of the prophets long ago.’ But when Herod heard this, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!’ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he married (Mark 6: 14-17).

What a puzzle Jesus was turning out to be! Deny the truth and you’ll come up with every ridiculous invention you can think of. The evidence was staring these people in the face but their verdicts, every one of them, were ludicrous. Had any one of their prophets ever come back to life years, even centuries, afterwards although many of them had died as violently as John had? Elijah? Oh, as far as they knew Elijah wasn’t dead since he had gone up to heaven in a whirlwind. Perhaps Jesus was Elijah come back or even Enoch since he hadn’t died either. Any other offers?

Herod was the only one who knew for certain that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead! After all, he was the one who had him killed. He saw his head on a platter. It had to be John because John because it was John who gave it to him straight like the other prophets who were martyred for their honesty. If John could rise from the dead, then he could do the all miracles Jesus/John was doing.

It’s amazing what people will come up with when they refuse to come face to face with the truth. Herod’s guilt screamed at him morning, noon and night. He had silenced John and now John had come back to haunt him. He thought that, if he shut John up, first in prison, and then in death, his guilt would go away. How wrong he was! Jesus was not John, but He had the same effect on Herod as if He had been John because the truth was inescapable.

For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled, yet he liked to listen to him (Mark 6: 18-20).

If Herod was puzzled about John, what about Herod? He was just like the soil Jesus spoke about – the footpath where the seed fell but never germinated because the ground was too hard. Why did Herod like to listen to John? Did he think that John’s word alone would appease his conscience without his doing anything about it? In the end it was Herodias who ruled Herod. He feared John but he feared Herodias more. What she said went, even if he knew she was wrong.

This is the definition of a fool – one who knows what is right but does wrong anyway. The Bible calls this “a divided heart”. God or me, me and God? And “me” usually wins. We can judge Herod and call him a fool but how often don’t we act just like him. We fear man more than God and follow our fears rather than the truth.

“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” ― OswaldChambers

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/233515-the-remarkable-thing-about-god-is-that-when-you-fear (retrieved 01/07/2105)

Take the theory of evolution, for example. It is taught in schools and referred to in every natural history programme on television as fact. Really! Has anything ever just “happened” without a designer or creator, say in a car manufacturing plant? A half completed vehicle stands on the floor awaiting the next day’s additions. When the workers arrive, they are surprised to find the buds of wings which began to sprout overnight. How did that happen? Well, the car decided it wanted to be an aeroplane after all. Give it a few million years and it will become a plane.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? What happens to the car-becoming-a-plane in the meantime? Will it drive on the road or will it fly? What will it do in the interim while it is changing from a car to a plane? After millions of years it will probably be a heap of oxidised metal. What about all the creatures who are supposed to be becoming? Where are they? Why don’t we see some half-way ones, neither this nor that. Even the weirdest and most bizarre creatures function perfectly as they are because they were created that way.

Why have scientists come up with such a ridiculous theory, and why do gullible people believe it? Like Herod, they refuse to face the truth. God is inescapable and, as our Creator, we are accountable to Him. We can kill John, or Jesus, or burn the Bible or make up as many of our own rules as we like, but the truth will just not go away.

In the end we are our own judges. Do away with the truth and we stand condemned by our own fabrication of lies because the truth will still stand when we fall. God has a solution. Change your mind about the truth and give over the Him. He is merciful. He has already provided forgiveness for all our stupidity and rebellion. And He promises real life if we follow Jesus.

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

Dead, But Alive

January 8, 2015Bible Studyabove, Christ, hearts, life. hidden, raisedLuella Campbell

DEAD, BUT ALIVE

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory (Col. 3: 1-4).

The ‘elemental spirits’ of which Paul spoke still hold sway over the minds of unbelievers, ‘But,’ said Paul, ‘you have died to the ideas and beliefs and philosophies which are lies spawned by the devil to keep you in bondage.’ You have died to the demonic spirits responsible for the lies you believed, and they no longer have the power to influence your life and do to you what you believed they could do.

How sad that there are still many believers in Jesus who also believe in the power of the devil to ‘attack’ or harm them outside of God’s control! We have to make up our minds, once and for all, about who is in charge. What we believe is of vital importance because it is what or who we believe that ultimately has the control of our lives.

Jesus’s first words, after His inauguration into His public ministry at His baptism, when He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, was to announce, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is here!’ What was He saying? ‘Get your thinking straight. God is in charge!’ Prophet Isaiah had the same message for his people when the world seemed to be turning upside down for them:

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ (Isaiah 52: 7)

What better news can there be in a world that seems to be spinning out of control? The solution is to believe what is true, not what seems to be true or what those who think they are in charge are claiming to be true. The only thing that will steady us in a world gone crazy, is the knowledge and assurance that God’s appointed king is on His throne.

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and their rulers band together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath saying, ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain’ (Psalm 2: 1-6).

Paul’s counsel is: ‘You know it; now believe it!’ When you watch the news on TV or read the goings on in the newspaper, screen the information through the truth – who is in charge? Set your heart and mind on the non-negotiable truth that God has raised Jesus from the dead and given Him the name and the position of highest authority (Phil. 2: 6-11). In spite of appearances, Jesus Christ will reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet (1 Cor. 15: 25).

Why, then, does the world, and often our own lives, seem to be so out of line with who we know God to be? Where is the peace and joy that Jesus insisted He came to bring? What about suffering and evil? Why do bad things happen to good people? How does that line up with God being in control?

It all depends on our expectations. If we think that the real life Jesus came to bring is about living a trouble-free existence in this life, we have misunderstood His message.

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world’ (John 16: 33).

We cannot expect to live a perfectly untroubled life in an imperfect world. We are surrounded by imperfection and cannot escape the consequences of Adam’s rebellion. The good news is that God uses it all, good and bad, to shape us for the real world which is still to come.

God has one overriding purpose in permitting us to be part of the suffering – the purifying of our faith, that is, bringing us to the conviction that, in spite of everything, He is in charge and He is trustworthy. Why? Because what we believe will determine who controls our lives.

In every adversity He demands that we keep our hearts and minds steadfastly committed to the truth that He is good and that He is in charge.

These have come (all kinds of trials -1 Peter 1: 6) so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1: 7).

A Sign Of Ownership

January 7, 2015Bible Studycircumcised, flesh, human hands, put off, raisedLuella Campbell

A SIGN OF OWNERSHIP

In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self – ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Col. 2:11-12).

What was the purpose of circumcision in God’s covenant with Abraham?

Then God said to Abraham, ‘This is my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised . . . My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. (Gen. 17: 9-11a; 13b).

Circumcision was a sign of ownership. It set God’s people apart from every other male in every other nation. No doubt, when Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers, how would he have convinced them that he was indeed Joseph? By his mark of ownership as a Hebrew!

The Jews were God’s people by right of birth and ownership. Every Jewish parent would ensure that their sons carry their mark of ownership in their flesh. This was to be symbolic of a greater spiritual reality which would be revealed through Christ. Believers carry a mark of ownership, not in the flesh, but in the spirit, which sets us apart as belonging to God.

Paul spoke of a principle which applies in many areas of our lives – revealed in 1 Cor. 15: 46: The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. It applies here as well. Circumcision was to be a physical (or natural) sign which would be followed by the spiritual when the truth was revealed in Christ.

Many streams in the church have seen baptism as the counterpart of circumcision and have developed the doctrine of paedo-baptism as the sign of God’s covenant. Just as boys were circumcised eight days after birth to show that they were included in the Abrahamic covenant, so infants are ‘baptised’ to include them in the New Covenant.

However, this idea conflicts with the teaching of Scripture, clearly indicated here, as in many other places (through your faith in the working of God), that it is faith in Christ, of which infants are incapable, that brings people into the New Covenant, not infant baptism.

What is the sign of the New Covenant, the sign of ownership? Paul was in no way teaching that baptism is the sign of the New Covenant which would contradict the principle of ‘first the natural, then the spiritual’.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1: 13-14).

Paul could not have stated this truth more clearly. God marked us with His seal of ownership, the Holy Spirit who is in us, when we confessed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10: 9-10).

What, then, is the purpose of baptism? Baptism was both initiation into and identification with a person, an office or a teaching to indicate publicly that the one being baptised had a new status. Baptism – or ritual washing was a common practice in Jesus’s day. John the Baptist initiated people who identified with him into his teaching about the Messiah, calling them to repent and identify with the One he was introducing to them. Baptism is, therefore the public, visible witness to our identity with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.

Through baptism we are telling the world that we have died to ourselves and have a new owner, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose Spirit in us sets us apart as God’s possession. We have left the old life of sin and the flesh and are now living in union with Jesus and in submission and obedience to Him.

As the covenant people of God, set apart to Him and marked by circumcision, the Jews were to live in obedience to His commands, which they did not because they were without the Holy Spirit. We who have the Spirit are able to put to death the deeds of the flesh through His power and live a new life In Christ because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

We must become who we are.

All Because He Lives!

July 31, 2014Bible Studyflesh, life, mortal bodies, raised, realm, SpiritLuella Campbell

ALL BECAUSE HE LIVES!

“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, he does not belong to Christ. 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. 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 8:9-11.

What if Jesus had not risen from the dead? Paul could write with confidence to these mostly unknown Roman believers because of one thing. Jesus rose from the dead and because of that, He sent His Spirit to live in those who believed in Him.

To be a baptised believer in the Roman Empire in his day was a perilous choice because every believer was in danger of facing death at the hands of a hostile Roman government. Christians were a distinct group. It was not possible to sit on the fence because no one in his right mind would risk death unless he were thoroughly convinced and committed to Jesus as Lord.

So Paul could say, “I know that God’s Spirit lives in you.” If you were a believer, it was a given. The indwelling Spirit of Christ was for them then, and for us now, both the confirmation and the guarantee that they belonged to Christ and experienced all the blessings and benefits of their union with Him.

Because of the Holy Spirit’s presence in them, they were assured of the resurrection of their bodies from the dead although they were still subject to physical death because of the presence of sin. They would die, yes, but that would not be the end. Just as Jesus rose from the dead because death could not hold Him captive forever, those who belong to Him, who are in Him and are united with Him by His Holy Spirit, will also rise from the dead because death cannot hold us prisoner either.

How can that be since we are human beings, part of this present corrupted world and therefore subject to the death that came upon the whole universe at the Fall? Paul understood that we shall still die – our physical bodies are still part of this earth. But that will not be the end.

The Bible teaches us that, as God’s sons and daughters, we have an inheritance; we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. But what do we inherit? Read what Peter wrote:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

We inherit God’s nature in which we participate through His promises. Since God is perfect – there is no corruption in Him – He cannot die. Death could not hold Jesus because He, too, was sinless in His earthly life as the Son of God. When we are joined to Him by faith, death cannot hold us either because we have been made the righteousness of God in Him.

And so, just as Jesus rose from the dead, we will also be resurrected when He returns to complete the restoration of all things. Then we will experience the fullness and completeness of our inheritance – eternal life.

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Romans 6:22.

Can you understand the process? Faith in Christ leads to the gift of righteousness and the presence of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit in us enables us to obey God; obedience leads to holiness – separation from sin and learning to think and live like God (because we have inherited His nature); holiness leads to eternal life.

What Jesus died on the cross for us, and through His resurrection from the dead, He removed the barriers to reconciliation to the Father. He gave us back the Holy Spirit who had departed from man at the Fall. He made possible a life of obedience to Him which will lead us to appropriate our inheritance and eventually to be raised from the dead to experience the fullness of eternal life. It is now up to us to work out in partnership with the Holy Spirit what He has already worked in us.

“…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose.” Philippians 2:12b, 13.

Acknowledgement

Two Realms

July 24, 2014Bible Studybody of Christ, flesh, fruit, raisedLuella Campbell

TWO REALMS

“So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” Romans 7:4-6.

Two realms – the natural, physical realm and the realm of the unseen – are operative in the universe. The physical realm is more real to us because we function in it in our everyday lives. But, with the harnessing of the energy waves in modern times, for example, microwaves, wireless, light etc., we have become much more aware of the unseen realm. It amazes me how, with a single touch on the screen of my android tablet, I can order a book from an internet company anywhere in the world and in a few minutes, via energy that I can neither see nor understand, the book appears on my device and I can begin reading!

It is not difficult for us to understand, then, that we can live in two realms spiritually. We have bodies that relate to and function in the world. We eat food from the ground, and our bodies convert it into energy which drives our systems. But we also function in an unseen dimension which is just as real. The world we live in is immersed in the presence of its Creator. The Bible says that He fills heaven and earth. He is fully involved in what happens on earth, and that includes us.

The very breath we breathe is His breath – life. When He removes our breath we die. We have no life apart from Him. If it were possible, scientists could put all the elements of a human body together but they cannot produce life because both physical life and spiritual life come from God. That means, of course, that if life comes from Him then we are dependent on Him and accountable to Him whether we acknowledge it or not.

And so, He has the right to dictate the way our lives are to be lived. When we confirmed our forefather’s disobedience by our own, we suffered that same consequences as he did – alienation from God. But God did everything to put us back on track and to restore the connection between the seen and the unseen realms.

So, Paul says, we were cut off from the power of the sinful world to influence us when we died with Jesus. It is a fact. It’s real. It happened. God did it in the unseen realm when we turned to Him through Jesus. We died to our old lives and the power of sin to keep us enslaved. But the reality of it is activated by faith – that unseen power, like the unseen waves of energy that network our planet and our universe, has connected us to a new power – the power of God.

From what were we cut off? Paul said we were cut off from the power of the law. Why the law? Because the law has the mysterious power to arouse sin in us. We know how this works. Just tell a kid not to do something and he will do it! Before you told him not to, he didn’t even think about doing it but, the moment you said, “Don’t,” that’s when he wanted to! Take away the prohibition and the desire to do it goes as well. That’s how we were wired by the sin nature in us with which we were born “in Adam”.

But Jesus destroyed that perverse nature by His perfect obedience to all God’s “prohibitions”. He killed the desire, then they killed Him but He rose again and would never be subject to temptation again. Now, through faith, we are in Him, and have the potential to live as He did. On top of that, He took away the necessity to have rules and regulations, and replaced them all with one “rule” if you like – the law of love. Then, on top of that, just to make sure that we will follow that law, He gave us His Holy Spirit to produce love in our hearts…

…which makes it all about Him and not about us. Paul said, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That means that Jesus in us by His Spirit makes it possible for us to reflect His character in the way we live. The old, rotten fruit of self-centredness and greed has been replaced by a new life of pleasing God by caring for others.

It’s the power of heaven breaking into the earthly realm and showing us what God is really like. It’s about having God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven. It’s about us being mirrors of Jesus.