Tag: Resurrected with Christ

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How to Know Where a Deceased Loved-One Has Gone

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How to Know Where a Loved-One Has Gone

© 2026 by C. O. Bishop

2nd Corinthians 5:1-9

1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight🙂 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

1st Thessalonians 4:13-18

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Introduction:

We have touched upon this passage repeatedly, over the years. Why? Because it is a universal concern and a frequent question, regarding a loved-one who has died. “Where is (name)?”

When people who have been believers for many years still have to ask this question, I am sad. They are fearful for their husband, wife, or other person they have lost. God wants us to know this truth, and to comfort one another with this knowledge.

So, How CAN we Know?

We read the twin passages with which we opened. We see that our confidence in the eternal life God has given is not based upon supposition or human reasoning. God gave it to us “By the Word of the Lord!”

Also, we immediately see that God commands us to comfort one another with these words. Why? Because it is something He wants us to KNOW. As individual believers, we begin by learning how we were saved. Then we try to understand why, and how permanent that positional change truly is. We are now His literal offspring, through the new birth, and we cannot become UN-Born-again!

Personal Assurance: What Should YOU Know?

If we read 1st John 5:11-16, we gain a personal assurance of our own eternal life. God clearly says He wants us to KNOW that we have eternal life.

1st John 5:11-13 says, “And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

Our initial, timid faith can grow strong as we consider the evidence binding us to The Eternal Savior, Jesus, the Messiah…the Christ.

The Beginning

Jesus promised in John 5:24, “He that heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and shall not come unto condemnation, but has passed from death unto life.”

If you have heard the Good News that Jesus died in your place at the Cross, and have placed your trust in Him, trusting His finished work at the Cross for your salvation, God says it’s a done deal!

  1. You have eternal life! (Present tense! You do NOT have to wait until you die to find out!)
  2. God will never again Condemn You!. (Future tense…it will never happen!)
  3. You have permanently crossed over from death into Life! (Past perfect tense! It is a “done deal,” and you can’t go back to being lost!)

That specific promise of Jesus is the basis for our confidence before Him. We lay claim to that Promise by Faith. When we share that mutual confidence with one another, we gain confidence about others as well. Can I actually see inside someone else’s heart, and know for sure about their faith? No: But Their responses to God and to other believers, and to the ordinary trials and stresses of life can pretty well tell me where their heart really is.

Collective Assurance: What should “WE” Know?

In 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18, we read what is coming for all believers, living and dead. We see that Jesus will return to the Air, and collect all the church-age believer’s bodies.

How do we know the bodies are in view and not the souls…the Spirits…the non-physical portions of our three-part humanity? Because 2nd Corinthians 5:8 states that when we leave these bodies, we will instantly be present with the Lord. And 2nd Corinthians 5:2-4 states that we will simultaneously be “clothed upon” with an immortal body of some sort. It evidently is not our own physical body resurrected, but something temporary.

1st Corinthians 15:50-54 says that we will all get our own resurrected bodies at the same time.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible (body) must put on incorruption, and this mortal (body) must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

So, we seem to have found a paradox!

Is There Truly A Paradox?

One passage says we get an immortal body the moment we leave these mortal bodies. The other says “…we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.”

Let’s go back and read the 1st Thessalonians 4:14 passage again: It says that Jesus will bring the dead in Christ “with Him.” Yes, we could read it as merely saying that they will “follow Him in resurrection.” But the point of this passage, when combined with 1st Corinthians 15, is that all the dead bodies of dead believers will be resurrected immortal. That means regardless of where they are, or what has happened to them during the centuries in which they have undergone decay, or have been digested by scavengers, or even burned to ashes, and scattered who-knows-where.

And then (in the next moment, according to both 1st Thessalonians 4 and 1st Corinthians 15,) the living bodies of those who are still alive at that time will be transformed into the eternal, immortal state “in the twinkling of an eye!”

But, When?

It is also important to read 1st Thessalonians 5, understanding that originally, there were no chapter divisions. Chapter five developed directly out of chapter four. If chapter four describes the rapture of the church, then we see that the tribulation begins at that moment!

The “Rapture of the Church” is the portion of the “Day of the Lord” that “Comes as a thief in the night.” It is the only portion of all the grief that is to come and the joy and peace that follows, that can (and will) come as a “surprise.”

All the rest of it is literally “laid out” just as tightly “choreographed” as a play! The Book of the Revelation of Jesus gives us the script, and the world will see those events unfold exactly as written. And all of it follows the removal of the Church, simply because we are not a part of the Coming Judgment on Earth and Israel. (If you have questions about that, read Daniel 9:23-27.)

Nor are we part of the Millennial Kingdom, in the strictest sense: We will all have resurrected, glorified bodies, whereas the Tribulation Saints will enter the Kingdom in their mortal bodies, marrying, bearing children, and living for the full age of the Kingdom in most cases.

So, Where IS Grandma? (Grandpa? Dad? Mom? Wife? Husband?)

It ultimately depends on one thing. Jesus died for their sins, because He died for the Sins of the Whole World. (1st John 2:2 states it undeniably! “And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”)

But…did they believe His promise, and so receive Him as their Savior?

Each of us has the choice: we can choose the way of life or the way of death. Jeremiah 21:8 says, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”

Hebrews 9:27 says, “…it is given unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.”

Two Possible Destinations

To an unbeliever, that judgment is the “Great White Throne Judgment” in Revelation 20:11-15.

To a believer, that Judgment is the “Judgment Seat of Christ,” in 2nd Corinthians 5:9-13, but explained in 1st Corinthians 3:11-15.

If your loved-one was a believer, having placed his or her trust in Jesus’s shed blood as their only hope for salvation from the final judgment of Sin, then I can say with full assurance, that they are with Jesus right now. (And they are looking at Him, by the way, not watching over you!)

If they died still rejecting His offer of eternal life, then, sadly, all I can say is what Jesus said. “They died in their sins.” Can I know whether they, in fact, rejected Him to the end? No! But I can say that Jesus said most of the human race will do just that, and be lost forever!

In Matthew 7:13, 14 Jesus says, “13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

That is just Reality. Hard truth, but honest.

Now: Do I Like That Judgment?

No! But I see the justice in it: God hates sin, and He judges sin! He has offered one escape from the destruction that His Judgment is bringing. We can either accept it or reject it, but the Judgment is already in place.

I spent my first eighteen years on God’s “Death Row.” Had I died during that time I would be in hell today. But Jesus stepped in and died in my place, just as he did in your place and in the place of the entire human race. But it took me over eighteen years to realize and to confess that I was a lost sinner, and that I needed a Savior.

That was in 1973. Since that time, the Lord has worked to teach me to walk with Him, and to believe His Word. I certainly have not “arrived.” I am increasingly aware of the fact that I can literally do nothing without Him. I’m sure that the majority of the people here would fervently agree with that conclusion.

But we want our lives to count for eternity. Some friends we have watched pass out of this life and we were sad, because we don’t know for sure where they are. But when those died, whose lives had been transformed by His Grace and His Power, we knew that they had simply “graduated early.” So, we comfort one another in our losses and in our hard times, and we support one another in our striving to walk with Jesus.

Lord Jesus, teach us to love Your Word, and desire Your constant presence and oversight in our lives. Let us rejoice to press on to the mark of that high calling of God in Christ Jesus!

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How to Understand the Hope of the Resurrection (Part 2)

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The Hope and Truth of the Resurrection

© 2026 C. O. Bishop

1st Corinthians 15:8-28

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:

14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Introduction:

We began studying the truths and the Eternal Hope of the Resurrection, and we at least saw how vital that hope is to the entire Christian faith. We skipped through 1st Corinthians 15, hoping to come back the next time and fill in the blank spots.

What Would Be the Results if the Resurrection Never Happened?

Paul builds a sort of “legal case outline,” here. He points out several connected ideas:

  • He himself was the last of the Eyewitnesses. Not because he was good…quite the opposite. And he underscores the fact that he is not worthy to be called an apostle, since he had viciously persecuted the Church.
  • Whatever the case, “it is what it is:” He says, “I am what I am.” He had to accept what he was, and start there, just as we do.
  • And Paul testifies that by the Grace of God, he had accomplished more than the others, but not on his own: God did the work. However, regardless of which apostle did the preaching, the people had received the Gospel and believed it.
  • But, now some among them were denying that the Resurrection was a reality. He said:
    • If that is true, then Jesus is still dead.
    • If Jesus is still dead, then the Gospel (which is dependent upon the truth of the Resurrection) is not true!
    • Those who trusted in Him have a vain hope.
    • All those who preached salvation by Jesus are liars and false witnesses.
    • Those who believed in Him are still dead in their sins.
    • Those who died, believing in Him, are in Hell, and lost forever. (Wow!)
  • He concluded that, if the Hope we have in Christ is only valid for this earthly life, we are of all men most to be pitied.

BUT! Christ IS Raised from the Dead!

Paul refuted all the connected side-effects (of the resurrection hypothetically being a lie,) with the single statement: “He is Risen!” The Gospel is true!

  • Jesus is the firstfruits of the believing dead who will be raised to be with Him. He says:
    • Death came by Man (Adam,) thus the Resurrection also came by Man (Jesus.)
    • All in Adam die: All in Christ shall be made alive. (Resurrected.)
    • All will occur in proper order: Jesus first, afterward, all the rest of us.
  • The Resurrection will culminate in final victory for Jesus,
    • Jesus will reign until He supersedes all other kingdoms and authority.
    • All enemies will be under His feet.
    • The final enemy to be destroyed is Death.
    • The Final Kingdom and all glory will return to God the Father.

So, What Do We Do With All That Information?

Point One

The first thing we perhaps ought to notice is that only Paul lays hold of these three claims:

  • I am not worthy to be called an apostle. (1st Corinthians 15:9)
  • I’m less than the least of all saints. (Ephesians 3:8)
  • I am the chief of sinners. (1st Timothy 1:15)

If others had made similar claims, we might simply consider it a mark of humility. If Peter had said it, I might have assumed it was self-condemnation, for his having denied Jesus. But only Paul said these three things: So, I have to conclude that, because the Holy Spirit chose the words, and He chose they would only come from Paul, then there must be some sense in which all are true, and only true of Paul, since all are exclusive statements.

Why is this important? Because it means if these were literally true of Paul, they cannot be true of me or of you, even if we “feel” they are true. Feelings are not reliable reflections of reality. If God could use Paul, He can use anyone.

And, just as Paul was forced to do, we have to start where we are, and choose to obey Jesus, and submit our lives to Him, if we hope for God to accomplish anything through us. This is not a “Do-it Yourself” project! Jesus said, “…apart from Me ye can do nothing!” (John 15:5)

Point Two

The Truth of the Resurrection, and the Hope of the Resurrection are central to the Truth of the Gospel. In John 11:25, Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” If Jesus did not literally, physically rise immortal, from the dead, then all the rest of the Gospel falls apart.

If He is still dead, then the whole Bible is a lie! The Central Theme of the entire Bible is the Redemptive Plan of God, foreshadowed in Genesis and repeatedly confirmed, in stronger and stronger terms, throughout all of the Word of God. Thus, if the Central Theme is negated, the entire structure is fatally flawed.

The “Gospel” would not be “good news.” All who believed it would have made a fatally bad decision, trusting a false messiah, and they would be just as fully lost as if they had no savior… because they truly would not have one.

Paul concludes that if our faith in Jesus has only temporal results, then it is no different than all the “world religions.” If we have been following a false messiah, then we are pitiable, miserable wretches, and still headed for destruction. But!

Point Three

Jesus is Alive! All of the above questions and speculation about the “result of a false messiah” are pointless, in the face of the eternal fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul went on to teach the logic of the resurrection, showing that it was entirely fitting that a man (Jesus) should undo the damage done by the first man, Adam. Although He doesn’t elaborate, here, this fits the requirements of the Kinsman Redeemer from the Old Testament:

  • The Redeemer had to be a near relative (which is why Jesus became a man.)
  • He had to be free, Himself (Jesus was sinless and free from the taint of sin.)
  • The Redeemer must have the price of Redemption (a sinless body, with untainted blood.)
  • He had to be Willing.

Two Positions, Two Heads of a Race

Adam sold out the entire Human Race: Jesus bought back the entire Human race, but He left it up to the individual to choose whether to trust in His completed work at the Cross. All who choose to remain in Adam simply remain spiritually dead; separated from God. All who choose to believe God, and trust His plan of salvation, are placed into (literally “baptized into… immersed into”) the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and we are permanently bound to Him by His Grace and Love.

Why will we be resurrected? Because He bought our salvation at the Cross. All we did was to believe His Word, and receive Him. He has already been resurrected, but God said that from His perspective, if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, then, in Him, you are already resurrected, too! Ephesians 2:6 says you are already seated with Him on the throne in Heaven!

Point Four

Because He is already the Victor, (and we have joined Him in that victory,) we will see His ultimate victory over the entire world, as well as over all the unseen evil beings. We will see Him triumph over all His enemies, including Death! Revelation 20:14 says “Death and Hell will be cast into the Lake of fire.” After that, He will deliver the eternal Kingdom to the Father, with the Glory that goes with it.

How Does All This Truth Affect Us?

Does it make a difference in our lives, knowing that the Resurrection of Jesus The Messiah is a fact, and that we are already resurrected with Jesus? It truly ought to make a difference! Pat James used to conclude, regarding this sort of truth, “We’re bullet proof!” meaning that we simply cannot fail to end up with God for eternity, as we are already there, and Jesus promised, “He that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out!” (John 6:37)

How much more confident would we feel in daily life, if we truly grasped how completely He has redeemed us, and how fully He has made us His own?

Romans 6:2-6 explains that through our being baptized into Christ, by the Holy Spirit, we are now fully identified with Him in His death, burial, resurrection and eternal life. He says we are dead with Him. He says we have been buried with Him, and that we shall be like Him in the resurrection. Ephesians 2:5, 6 makes it more explicit, saying that we have been (past tense) brought to life in Him, and raised up (ascended) with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenlies. It’s a done deal!

That truth should set us free to serve without fear and without holding back. I do not claim to have fully grasped this, because, like most people, I sometimes suffer doubts and fears. But I do know this truth, and I believe that it is fully applicable today.

Lord Jesus, please bring the truth and the hope of the resurrection to life in our minds and hearts, and use it to set us free from our fears, our doubts, and our besetting sins. Teach us to walk in the newness of life.

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In Light of our Destination

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Living in Light of our Destination

Colossians 3:1-11; compared to Genesis 24

© C. O. Bishop 10/18/18 Cornell Estates 10/21/18

Introduction:

We have been working our way through the book of Colossians, and we have arrived in a precious passage where Paul is encouraging the believers to allow God to change their lives. He has already established their position in Christ, so he poses the logical result: living in light of our position, and our destination.

1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

All of what we are to experience and put into practice, now, is predicated upon the truth of this passage: either we really are dead with Christ, and risen with Him, and our real life truly is now hidden with Christ in God, or we are not dead with Christ, not risen with Him, and we are still in our sins.

We cannot have it both ways: either my sins were purged at the Cross, by the Blood of Jesus, and I am already seated with Christ in the heavenlies, or His blood did not purge my sins, and I am still guilty before God, and lost.

On the strength of that truth, we are told to set our affections upon the things of Christ—the things above, not the passing things of this world. Jesus said a fair amount about laying up treasures in Heaven: he also said that where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also—not the other way around. If we are really dead to sin, and dead to the World, then our affections should be upon the things above. We are to set our priorities according to this truth. And the more we see our treasures as being with God, the more we will see our hearts directed that way as well. Remember that Daniel yearned toward Jerusalem, and several times a day, he opened his windows toward Jerusalem, and prayed toward the demolished temple there. That is where his treasure was, and that is where his heart was. His actions demonstrated the fact.

We are to place our trust in the finished work of Jesus at the Cross, and recognize that everything of eternal value is there, with Him, in Heaven.

4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

We can’t see these things, now. We walk by faith: we are trusting in that which is to come. We are not even told what the rewards are like: in fact, he clearly states that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things the Father hath in store for them that love him.” (1st Corinthians 2:9) That certainly calls into question the truth of the many books available today where the authors expound on all the details of heaven. We are actually given very little to go on, and it is fitting that it should be so: God says it is completely beyond our comprehension, and beyond our imagination. Don’t believe the false prophets! They really have not seen heaven, nor can they tell you what eternity holds!

Compare an Old Testament bride to the New Testament Bride

Remember, back in Genesis 24, when Abraham sent his servant back to Ur of the Chaldees, to find a wife for Isaac. When Rebekah left home with her female servants, all of them were in the care of Abraham’s servants, and she herself was betrothed to become the Bride of Isaac. But, once her home town was out of sight, behind them, she and her companions were utterly committed to the mercy and the faithfulness of the One keeping them for the end of that journey. They could not run away and go back, even if they wanted to: the desert was utterly merciless to inexperienced or unprepared travelers. They would never again see their old home.

The main comfort they could hold to, in their hearts, was the fact that a huge price had already been paid for the Bride (Rebekah), and there was nothing that could ever persuade the Servant of the Father, to fail to bring home the Bride, to the glory of the Father and of the Son.

Give that some thought: That is what we have, too! The unimaginable price paid for our sins, and for the sins of the entire World, has already been paid on our behalf, at the Cross; and, when we completed the transaction by faith, we were sealed for the glory of the Son: we are part of the Bride. We were sealed in Him until the redemption of the purchased possession. (Ephesians 1:13, 14) Our life is hid with Christ in God! So, now: what are we supposed to do about it?

Consider the Old life truly Dead

5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

Some things need to completely drop away: they are part of the old dead self that still plagues us, but to whom we owe no further obedience. My old sin nature is still there, but I am to treat it as if it is dead: permanently separated from the “real me,” because the real “Me” is already seated with Christ, in the heavenlies!  (How’s that for mind-boggling?)

Remember, too, that regardless of how Rebekah behaved on the trip to meet the Bridegroom, she was sealed for Him, and she was the Bride! If she behaved in a “proper” fashion as the Bride, it was to her honor, and to the Father’s glory; but that is not what made her the Bride. Two facts bound her to Isaac as his Bride:

  1. The fact that the Bride-price was paid, and
  2. The fact that she agreed to go.

Those were what betrothed her to Isaac, though she had never met him. She behaved as the Bride should, because she was the Bride, not the other way around. She was genuinely looking forward to meeting her groom. I would surmise that, along the way, the Servant had been telling her all about Isaac: his miraculous birth, his utter faithfulness and perfect relationship to his Father, Abraham.

I surely hope this is sounding familiar to you. This is such a tender picture of the Christian experience, as the Word and the Spirit tell us all about Jesus long before we ever get to meet him face to face. We are already betrothed, and already sealed, and we have only this long and sometimes difficult journey to endure before we meet Him. But we are carried along by the indwelling Holy Spirit, whose only desire is to glorify the Father and the Son, and who, personally, is our guarantee of redemption: the Earnest of our inheritance. He will bring home the Bride! But along that journey, while we travel, we are learning to walk with God, too.

God says that His wrath still burns against the children of disobedience (unregenerate sinners) for the things listed in verse 5 (and elsewhere): But, notice that he says (in verse 7) that you are no longer part of that group: He says that you once were part of that group, but that you have been taken out, and you are dead with Christ (verse 3).

As a result of our being dead with Christ, we are to lay aside the works which were associated with our old position in the World: all the behaviors that once marked us as being just plain, ordinary, “run-of-the-mill sinners” are to be left behind. Think again of Rebekah: except for her maids, and whatever personal belongings she brought with her, everything of her old life was abandoned! She left the old life behind, in favor of the new life with her bridegroom, Isaac!

We, too, need to leave the Old life behind!

8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Notice how many of these things have to do either with the heart, or with speech—the mouth! Jesus said that a good man brings out of the good treasure of his heart things that are good; and an evil man brings forth out of the evil treasures of his heart things that are evil; because “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh!” The old sin nature is still there, but we need to starve it, and guard against it! Our mouths are supposed to be filled with good things, now…so the change has to begin with a cleansed heart.

God says we can only cleanse our hearts through the application of His Word. He says that through His Word, we are to become partakers of the Divine Nature! When we feed on God’s Word, and meditate upon His promises, we begin to see the character of God working itself out in our lives. The Fragrance of Christ will begin to permeate our lives, so that anyone who knows us can see the changes brought about by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. We begin to be a blessing to those around us.

9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

We have a new nature: He says it has been renewed in knowledge, in the image of the Creator. What does that mean? Over in Ephesians 4:24, he says that the new man has been created in the likeness of God, in Righteousness and true Holiness. Speaking for myself, if it were not for the knowledge that God has given me that new nature, I could not at all grasp the notion that God has imputed to me the righteousness of Christ. It simply would not fit the natural “reality” that I see in my flesh. Notice that it is all past-tense, too. This is not something that we are to “strive toward:” it is a current reality based upon a completed past event, and it is for us to lay hold of by faith, so as to experience the reality of it, today.

Why does God “spell out” the prohibition against lying? Remember what Jesus said (in John 8:44) about our old spiritual father: He said “Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.” So it makes sense that one of the things God really wants laid aside is lying. That is the earmark of Satan’s brood. We all began there, whether we know it or not. We all were called the Children of wrath, in Ephesians 2:3.

Lying is the most common human reaction to circumstances we wish were otherwise. People lie on their tax-returns because they don’t want to pay the taxes they owe. People lie to one another for reasons ranging from heartbreaking to ridiculous. And some people just lie for the fun of fooling people. But we are told to stop it, specifically because our “old man” has been set aside. We are separated from it to the degree that we can speak honestly, and we can worship from a clean heart. But we are not free from its influence. We are in an ongoing, daily battle to walk with God, and to not follow our old sin nature. This is true for every Christian, regardless of his or her background. Now we are called to “Speak the truth in Love!”

The Jewish Apostles pointed out in Acts chapter 15, that no Jew had ever been able to follow the Law, so they said it was wrong to burden the Gentile believers with it. Paul said that we have been set free from the Law. What a happy, blessed freedom that gives us all! All believers, Jews and Gentiles, together, were freed by the same sacrifice, and we are now free to fellowship and worship as one body of Christ!

11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Whatever you were before you were born again is of zero importance. In Christ, the old divisions no longer exist. The ground is truly level at the foot of the cross. Where the Jews were once separated from the Gentiles, slaves were once shunned by free men, and commoners shunned by noblemen, they all have been “leveled” by the Cross. None of those “differences” are of any significance when compared to the Majesty of the Messiah; nor could any of those “differences” alleviate to any degree the total lostness of the human race, apart from the Cross.

All of us are called to lift up our eyes and see the Savior! We are called to set our affections on Him, and the things He has for us. We are to let our old life drop away as a freed slave lets his chains drop away. We have truly been set free in Christ. We are dead with Him at the Cross, buried with Him, resurrected with Him, and ascended to sit with Him. We believers are all part of the Bride of Christ. The Holy Spirit indwells us, and He will bring home the Bride!

Lord Jesus, allow us to see ourselves clearly, so as to know that we have died with you, so that we may lift up our eyes above this world, and fix our hearts on our treasures with you. Free us to serve you with gladness, in Jesus’ name!

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