The Flesh and Scripture

"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:10,11). What a passage of scripture! What a tale is told in these two mega-powerful verses! Let's look at what's there, and then let's think about what it really means to us. First of all our fleshly body is still under the sentence of death because it is of Adam, and that death sentence was given to Adam for his transgression (Gen. 3:19). But as the first verse above goes on to say, we have something inside of us that is 'life,' because of righteousness, as it states. Well, that life is the holy Ghost, again as the verse states; and the holy Ghost is available for us to receive because of the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ when he was in this world. The apostle summed up what I'm saying earlier in this same epistle: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and DEATH by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned... For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in LIFE by one, Jesus Christ... For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. 5:12,17,19). So again, as our text verse says, our body is still under the death sentence [temporarily] but God's Spirit within us [if we've received it] is LIFE, and that means eternal life, or God-life. But the next verse tells us what our having eternal, God-life in us now, is going to mean to us in the future. The second verse in the text passage clearly tells us that the holy Ghost that dwells in us now will also raise us from the dead, even as the same holy Ghost raised Jesus from the dead. As it is written: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (I Pet. 3:18). The word 'quickened' in this verse means 'brought to life,' even as it does in Romans 8:11. And it is evident that the verse clearly states that Jesus was brought back to life by the Spirit of God.

The reason that God's Spirit raised Christ from the dead, and will also raise us from the dead, provided we die in pureness of heart; is simply because God's Spirit is LIFE, even as our opening verse says it is. Eternal life just simply obliterates death the same way light obliterates darkness. Make no mistake, it will assuredly be the same body we are living in now that will be raised from the dead and glorified with Christ, as our text passage clearly shows (Philip. 3:21). So if we die in holiness it is inevitable that we will come back to life and be glorified in our body at the return of Jesus Christ to this world. This is absolutely, positively going to happen for all who are faithful in their faith till the end. Okay, now we know that we have eternal life dwelling in us that is going to raise our body literally from the dead one day. The dead, decayed, and in many cases dissolved body being resurrected to ultimate heavenly, eternal glory; is the absolute pinnacle of the healing of the body. This is also how we have the access and guarantee of the healing of our body from all infirmities and afflictions now. It is by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ that we can be healed of any and all physical afflictions, and that because he suffered for us to have it (Isa. 53:5). To be healed of cancer for example, is a very small thing in comparison to someone being raised bodily from the dead AND glorified, who has been dead for hundreds, or even thousands of years. Again, it is all about "the Spirit of [eternal] life" being utterly superior to death. As Romans 8:2,10 says, the Spirit of God is LIFE. The Spirit of God is NOT a person, but rather it is the life of two persons, Christ and the Father, and Jesus came to make it our life as well (Jn. 5:26; Jn. 10:10). By having that same eternal life substance that is in both the Father and the Son, dwelling in us, we are able to extend it to others who are hurting so that they also can be healed. It is ONLY by means of the resurrection power and life of Jesus Christ that any of the devil's works in this world can be conquered. You name it, whether it be sin, or sickness, or inner pain, or oppression, or spiritual bondage, or vice, or addiction, or even death; only the power that raised Jesus from the dead can overcome these things. And if we have received the holy Ghost in our lives, then that power is in us and ready to be utilized to destroy the works of the devil like Jesus did.

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (I Jn. 3:8). Period! "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (Jn. 14:12). Exclamation point! "And these signs SHALL follow them that believe; In my name SHALL they cast out devils; they SHALL speak with new tongues; They SHALL take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it SHALL NOT hurt them; they SHALL lay hands on the sick, and they SHALL recover" (Mk. 16:16-18). End of story! My friend, if you have the Spirit of God in you, then unless you are just practicing sin and holding to it, all of these things MEAN YOU!! We literally have the power of eternal life that raised Jesus Christ the Lord from the dead, which power will also raise us from the dead one day; just bursting at the seams inside of us to "destroy the works of the devil" like Jesus did! We are the continuation of his work in the earth, so we need to start CONTINUING it with confidence. It's what we're supposed to be doing, and it's what we CAN DO! Destroying the works of the devil is the natural thing for us to do once we have been born anew of the Spirit of God. Miraculous works of the Spirit are not for the 'spiritually elite,' but rather as Jesus said, they are for "them that believe!" We need to be excited about these things, and we need to be confident about these things. If we're planning on being raised from the dead, or even glorified alive at the Lord's coming, then we need to understand and believe that we can get these lesser deeds of healing and deliverance accomplished NOW! If we aren't doing these things regularly, then it must be that we're not really believing that we're going to raise from the dead. It's the same power and it's the same process, which is life over death, and light over darkness. It's a no-brainer, as it is said. When we pray for ourselves or someone else for some healing or deliverance type of need, then we simply need to remember that we are invoking the power that raised Jesus from the dead, and will also raise the righteous dead at this coming; against a work of Satan, who is defeated along with all of his works, by that same power that Jesus brought to this world, and has now given to us so that we can continue his work. I just don't know what else I can say. Let's do it!