Text: St. John 11:24-25 (speaks of Lazarus’ resurrection): Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
We are readily approaching the time of the celebration of which Christians around the world are commemorating Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.
Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an expected end.
So we thank God for His resurrection, because it is by His resurrection, we’ve also been resurrected into new life”!!
And today like Martha, many Christians are saying they will rise again on that great getting up morning. We like Martha were saying the very same thing, until our Heavenly Father brought us into the revelation truth of "the resurrection."
When we were growing up all Easter to us then was a day of putting on our new Easter outfits
with our cane-cane slips, patent
leather shoes, and heading to church and after church, the Easter egg
hunt! Though it was to be a day of
celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, yet it was overshadowed by a day of the Easter
bunny, new clothes, and Easter egg hunts, which we now know is nothing but
Pagan worship and the tradition is still carried on today.
As Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes in Mark 7:1-13, speaking of their traditions, in verse thirteen, He said to them that they had "made the word of God of none effect through their traditions" (parad'osis)[transmission of precepts; Jewish traditionary laws; customs; ordinances].
Can you see how the
enemy always wants to use his tactics and methods to try and keep people from
knowing the truth? How many know that
the devil is a liar! That is why Jesus died
and was resurrected to resurrect us and bring
us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1st Peter 2:9).
What is the
definition of resurrection? In John
11:25, it’s from the Greek word anas’tasis,
meaning, a standing up again; a
resurrection from the dead; a moral recovery (of spiritual truth); rising
again; raised to life again.
Ephesians 2:1
states: And you hath he quickened (made
alive), who were (past tense) dead (spiritually) in trespasses and sins: vs 5: Even when we were dead (past tense) in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace you are saved); vs 6: And hath (already) raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Raised in this verse is the root word sunegei’ro, meaning to rouse (from
death) in company with, to revivify
(spiritually) [to give new life to].
It connects with the other root word egei’ro,
meaning to collect one’s faculties; to
waken; rouse from sleep (spiritually), from sitting or lying, from disease,
from death, and obscurity. This
tells us that we must awake out of religious lethargy (lack of enthusiasm; sleepiness;
unresponsiveness), of philosophy, vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world. those
things Paul told us to beware of lest any
man spoil us (Colossians 2:8). And
when we do and follow “after Christ”,
this is a “resurrection from death” by
way of “moral recovery of spiritual
truth”!!
1st
Corinthians 15:22: For as in Adam all
die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive!
Jesus made such a
profound statement when He said to Martha in St. John 11:25, “I am the resurrection, and the life! Therefore the “resurrection” in actuality
stated here tells me that the “resurrection” is not some great getting up morning or an
event to come one day, but it is a person, the Man Jesus Himself!!
So if you and I have
confessed our sins and have asked Jesus to come into our hearts and He has
accepted and forgiven us, you have been resurrected! Remember, a couple of the definitions of
resurrection was “a moral recovery of
spiritual truth” and being “raised to
life."
You see, we were
blinded spiritually. We have eyes by
which to see physically but spiritually we could not see until the “Resurrection” (Jesus Christ)
resurrected us and took the religious blinders off our eyes so that we could see by the Spirit!
·
2nd
Corinthians 4:3-4: But if our gospel
be hid, it is hid (kalup’to) [covered up] to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded
(obscured; made opaque) the minds (nous) [intellect, mind (divine
or human; in thought, feeling or will); understanding] of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image
of God, should shine (be made known) unto them.
The “lost” in this
verse is not just those that have not accepted Christ as their Savior yet, but
there are many Christians that have already accepted Christ as Savior and are
yet “lost in the house”, still
walking in unbelief and darkness of error due to tradition of men and vain deceit (Colossians 2:8).
Jesus said: Matthew 6:22: The light (photeinos’) [illumination (knowledge;
comprehension; understanding] of the body is the eye (ophthalmos’)
[vision; spiritual discernment]: if
therefore thine eye be single (united with Spirit), thy whole body shall be
full of light (leukos’) (light) [white].
This “white light” is the “righteousness” of God, that we are become through Christ.
·
Isaiah
61:1: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is
upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound: vs 2: To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance
of our God: to comfort all that mourn: vs 3: To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the
planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
·
Romans
8:3-4: For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
·
2nd
Corinthians 5:21: He hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
·
Revelation
19:8: And to her (the church) was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white (light): for the fine linen is the righteousness of
saints.
That’s why Jesus said that “We are the light of the world.” We are the “white light of the righteousness of God” walking around on two feet just as Jesus was.
Jeremiah 23:6: In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Also Jer.33:15).
This is the
importance of us being spiritually minded, so that our bodies can be full of
light and life, because if not, our bodies
shall be full of darkness (opaqueness)
and how great is that darkness (obscurity;
error) (Matthew 6:23). This
“darkness” is actually ignorance which
brings on misery, destruction, wickedness;
sorrow; disease and death. Romans
8:6: To be carnally minded is
death: but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace.
We can see now because of the “Resurrection Christ", who has resurrected us in Him!! Ephesians 2:6: For he hath (already) raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
We trust and believe in His resurrection power
that dwells in us! It’s a process. He is continuously doing a work on the inside
of us!! It’s an inside job!! The “resurrection” begins in the mind. Our thought processes must change from death
to life; from negative to positive; from natural to spiritual.
·
1st
Corinthians 2:14: The natural (sensitive;
flesh; carnal) man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned.
Jesus said, St.
John 5:25: Verily, verily (truly), I
say unto you, “The hour is coming and NOW is, when the dead shall hear the
voice (phone’) [the disclosure; the revelation; the articulation] of the
Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” The “dead”
here are not those out in graveyards and not just those that haven’t accepted Christ as
Savior, but the “dead” are also those sitting on church pews that have not yet come
alive in Christ yet. They haven’t yet
been quickened (made alive) by
the revelation truths of who and
where God is yet. Many have Him out in
the sky, but in reality, He lives in you.
Greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world (1st John 4:4).
You see, with Jesus’
resurrection, also came a new order of worship, the true worshippers. St.
John 4:23-24: But the hour comes, and NOW is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth: for the Father
seeks such to worship him. God is a
Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth.
To worship in Truth is to worship God through Jesus Christ, who is TRUTH (John 14:6).
To worship in Spirit is to
worship in the “new realm of the Holy
Ghost” or “Holy Spirit" which is the
pneu’ma, the inhalation of the wind or the breath of God Himself. The same “breath”
that was breathed into Adam (male and female) in Genesis 2:7;
the same “breath” that was
breathed in the valley of dry bones by
the Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37; the same “breath”
that Jesus breathed on the disciples in John 20:22; the same “breath” that was breathed in the upper room at Pentecost; the same “breath” that was breathed
into us by the Holy Ghost. Well, those that have heard and received the truth of
the fullness of the Gospel of Christ that we can have right here and right now, in these bodies we are yet living in!
Truly, we are no
longer under the law, but grace. Ephesian
2:8: By grace are you saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God. Vs 9: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
In time past we read
these scriptures but did not understand the truths of them until we were
resurrected by the “Resurrection Himself”, through the power of the Holy Ghost who opened our minds to spiritual revelation, an awakening to
things we had never heard or known before.
Now that the covers of deception have been taken off and the
enlightenment of Christ is revealed unto us, our lives have been transformed
from the old man (Adam) to the new man (Christ). For the power of the resurrection is “THE CHRIST”!! That’s why Paul said, in Philippians
3:10: That I may know him and the
power (dunamis) [miracle working power; ability] of his resurrection.
Resurrection in this
verse is the root word anas’tasis,
which is a standing up again; a
resurrection from the dead, or a (moral) recovery of spiritual truth.
·
John
8:31: If you continue in my word,
then are you my disciples indeed: vs
32: And you shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free.
Free in the Greek is eluthero’o,
meaning liberated, exempt from moral
ceremonies (religious order or traditions of men): or mortal liability. Mortal is that which is liable to die, but Jesus conquered death for us, so we don’t
have to!! Isn’t that good news!!!
·
Romans
8:2: For the law of the Spirit of
life in Jesus Christ hath (already done) made me free from the law of sin
and death!
·
1st
Corinthians 15:53: This corruptible
(aphthartos’)
[decayed; perishable] must (not optional) put on incorruption (aphtharsi’a) [unending existence; genuineness;
sincerity], and this mortal (decayed; perishable] must put on immortality
(athanasi’a)[deathlessness]. Vs 54: So when (as soon as one believes; just then) this
corruptible shall have (will; now by faith) put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then (at the time
faith is activated) shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory (triumph;
success). Vs 55:
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
In 2nd Corinthians 4:11, Paul stated, “We which live, are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” That’s why we have to grasp hold of this truth that our flesh does not have to decay or perish because Jesus’ flesh didn’t see corruption (decay).
Peter speaking of Jesus: Acts 2:27: Because thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption (decay; to rot thoroughly; to perish).
Now,
if God did not allow His physical body (the body of Jesus) to see corruption (experience decay; rot thoroughly; perish),
why would He want His spiritual body (the church) to see corruption (experience
decay; rot thoroughly; perish)? HE
DOES NOT!
·
Ephesians
5:30: We are members (limbs; parts)
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
· 1st Peter 2:5: You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
So you see, the "graves" we must be "resurrected" out of are those walking around on two feet. Look at what Jesus said:
Matthew 23:27: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Luke 11:44: Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
God DOES NOT want man to perish, but it is man’s mind (thought processes) that’s destroying him. Be ye transformed (changed) by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).
Having a renewed mind
is being resurrected!! Yes it was Jesus who died for us! It was Jesus who was and is the Door for us to
enter into kingdom authority! Yes it is in Him (Jesus) we live, move, and have our
being (Acts 17:28). It is in Jesus
whereby everything was and is created, at the same time, and because the
Resurrection (Jesus Christ) has resurrected us, we now have to know Him by the
Spirit. When he died on the cross at
Calvary, everything pertaining to the flesh died on that cross. It was all nailed to the cross: death, hell, sickness, diseases, the grave, poverty, was all nailed to the cross in Jesus’ body.
When He gave up the ghost and committed His Spirit back into the hand of
His Father, the Father was finished with that flesh body of Jesus as one man. That’s why we now have to know Him by the
Spirit, because we are now His body, his
flesh, and his bones (Ephesians 5:30), which is a many-membered body in the earth now for the glory of the Father.
·
Luke
23:45-46: And the sun was darkened,
and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice,
he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
The veil was Jesus’ flesh. Hebrews 10:19-20: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh. That’s
why we must know Him by the Spirit, and to know Him by the Spirit is to know
“the Christ”!!
·
2nd
Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore
henceforth know we no man after the flesh:
yea, though we have known (past tense) Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth (from here on), know we him no more.
We MUST know Him by
Spirit!!
Remember, only the “Resurrection” (Jesus Christ) can resurrect
your mind, your thought processes, for you to be able to comprehend the
revelation of His Word by the Holy Ghost.
How do you think John was able to comprehend and receive the revelations
the Lord gave him in the Book of Revelation?
·
Revelation
1:10: I was in the Spirit, on
the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet.
Keep in mind, that
every day is the Lord’s Day, from Sunday through Saturday. So it could’ve been either of those days. But John was “IN THE SPIRIT” when he got the revelations. That’s how we get the revelations, “in the Spirit.”
·
St.
John 6:63 (Jesus said): “It is the
Spirit that quickens (makes alive),
the flesh profits nothing: the words
that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are life.”
·
1st
Corinthians 2:13-14: Which things
also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy
Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. The natural
(psuchikos’)
[sensitive (flesh or carnal)] man receives not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness (silly) unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Isn’t that good news,
knowing that the resurrection is not
a coming event, but a person, the Man
Jesus the Christ? John 11:23-25: Jesus said to her (Martha), “Thy brother
shall rise again.” Martha said unto him,
“I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said unto her, “I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that
believes in me, though he were dead yet shall he live.”
Because we have been
resurrected by the “Resurrection”, we can say, “The truth has made us free!”
We can say “I AM THAT I AM!” We can say, “I am blessed and highly favored!”
We can say, “I once was blind but
now I see!” We can say “He’s already here and I’m not waiting for
Him to come!” We can say, “We are Him in the earth, because we have
been resurrected by the Resurrection!”
So let us walk in the
dominion, authority and power that our Heavenly Father has given us as sons (male and female) through the “Resurrection power of Jesus the Christ"!!!
Evangelist Mary Perry