Posted on 10/21/2019 6:09:29 AM PDT by metmom
“‘Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live’” (John 5:25).
Jesus begins this emphatic, unarguable declaration with the seemingly paradoxical statement “an hour is coming and now is.” The hour of the believers’ resurrection “now is” in the sense that when they “were dead in [their] trespasses and sins . . . [God] made [them] alive together with Christ, and raised [them] up with Him” (Eph. 2:1, 5–6). Yet the hour is still “coming” in the sense that the resurrection of their physical bodies is yet future (1 Cor. 15:35–54; Phil. 3:20–21).
This “already/not yet” sense of the phrase may be understood in another way. When Christ was present, He offered spiritual life to all who would heed His Word (6:37; Matt. 7:24–27). Yet the full expression of the new era He inaugurated would not come until the day of Pentecost (14:17). Both during Christ’s earthly ministry and in the fullness of the Spirit’s ministry after Pentecost, the spiritually dead who heard “the voice of the Son of God” would live.
Scripture frequently describes unbelievers as spiritually dead. To be spiritually dead is to be insensitive to the things of God and totally unable to respond to Him. Paul vividly described it as living “in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and [being] by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).
Rejoice in the amazing grace of God for making you alive together with Christ.
Ask Yourself
Try to define the ways you’re experiencing the first rays of eternal life even while bound in this time and place. How would your life be different if you were still spiritually dead, removed from the grace of God?
Studying God’s Word ping
How can the spiritually dead respond in their free will to accept God? What has to change that they can respond?
“He offered spiritual life to all who would heed His Word”
Is this one of those times where we have to wait for God to give us the desire to accept or it means nothing; no matter how much we do?
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
Acts 2
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
"How can the spiritually dead respond in their free will to accept God? What has to change that they can respond?"
Rejection of the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin as it is a rejection of God. These people are spiritually dead.
Are they spiritually dead because they reject the Holy Spirit, or do they reject the Holy Spirit because they are spiritually dead?
they reject the Holy Spirit because they are spiritually dead?
I’ve had people who were near their death crying to me that they were afraid they were going to hell.
They were deathly afraid of the Light of Heaven. I would pray with them and invite the Holy Spitit into them which is more of a golden light than the bright white Light of Heaven.
After a period of time the Holy Spirit would cleanse their soul so that the fear of the Light was gone. Then they were at peace to die.
Are you asking me, or telling me?
Sorry for the question mark.
I posted the answer using cut and paste from your question.
This was the reason Jesus told the man who wanted to go and bury his father before following Jesus, “Let the dead bury the dead.”
Okay. I go back to my original question:
How can the spiritually dead respond in their free will to accept God? What has to change that they can respond?
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
"So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." Romans 9:16 (NASB)
That's right !
They were deathly afraid of the Light of Heaven. I would pray with them and invite the Holy Spitit into them which is more of a golden light than the bright white Light of Heaven.
You can't pray the Holy Spirit into someone. That can only happen when they submit to Christ and are saved and then HE comes in.
You are messing with the demonic and have been thoroughly deceived if you think that that light is the Holy Spirit doing your bidding.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
And where did you become such an expert on what color the light of heaven is?
Do you have any Scriptural references to support the claims you are making?
Very good question...
This goes back to the parable of the problems of putting new wine in an old wine skin, or patching an old garment with new cloth. You must get rid of the old to make room for the new.
Another way of saying this is that we have no room for God when we are full of ourselves. Dying daily is the process of getting rid of the old self.
When we are empty, which also means that we are hitting rock bottom in our lives we can turn to God, ask for the Holy Spirit and be born again.
Being Born Again is more than just words saying that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior. It is an actual physical process that goes beyond mere words. The higher consciousness of Jesus through the Holy Spirit actually moves into your physical body and lifts you up.
There is a false born again process where an individual surrenders to a pastor, group, or another person and they incorrectly think they are born again. These people will swear on a Bible that they are born again, but it is fake.
Being Born Again is like changing stations on a tv to a new much better reality. The problem is that many of us try to play with the remote control, constantly switching back and forth between the old program and the new.
I hope this answers your question.
Would satan cast out satan?
Matthew 12:25
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
Mark 3:25
If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Luke 11:17
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.
Intercessary prayer works.
Remember what Jesus said in John 14
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
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