October 21 - Who Receives Spiritual Resurrection? - Protestant Caucus/Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 2008 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[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?

From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word ping

[dangus]

I hope you’ll tolerate a question from a passive observer. I’m not interested in debating, just finding out others’ beliefs.

What does MacArthur mean by a “spiritual resurrection”? Why the qualifier? Does he not believe in the resurrection of the body?

[mythenjoseph]

Great post Metmom! Without the grace and blessings God bestows upon me I would still be stressed by thinking the ways of the world bring true peace and happiness when they are hollow and ultimately self-destructive. In constantly seeking Gods love and searching his word to obtain knowledge do I find peace,knowing that even though I have sinned I am forgiven by the only true righteous God because of his son and our saviour Jesus Christ. Glory to God and his word.

[metmom]

I suspect that it would be the new birth, when the unbeliever accepts Christ and is regenerated spiritually.

The physical doesn’t happen immediately even though the spiritual does.

That’s my take on it.

Questions and comments are not the problem. Theological challenges and arguing a different position is where debate comes in.

[dangus]

Thank you for your answer. That make sense.

>> Questions and comments are not the problem. Theological challenges and arguing a different position is where debate comes in. <<

Thanks, I wanted to show respect for the purpose of caucus before asking.

[imardmd1]

Thank you for this challenge this evening, metmom. Answering John MacArthur's question, it was the moment at the age of 34, that on May 24, 1971, alone by myself in thought, after being completely convinced from reading the Bible and hearing the Gospel preached, alone with God in prayer that I decided to totally commit myself and my future to His Son because of my own personal futility, and tell Him that I really meant it as bet I knew how.

Exactly at that moment, alone with Him in the unseen spirit sense, that I felt flood of total acceptance by Him. And that has never changed, with hundreds of instances of confirmation, even thousands I suppose. in both little things and big things experienced in life situations.

The marvelous difference is what I'd like to encourage others to start experiencing in their existence. The Bible truths and fellowship with true believers means everything. And your faithful efforts to share are all a part of the goodness of being redeemed are a part of living as being possessed by Jesus, and living out His promise, "Jesus Saves!", and being in His service.

Thank you again for all these articles, MM!

[metmom]

Praise God!

He is so good.

[imardmd1]

The spirutual "resurrection" for me was the revival from deadness of a new experience of hearing and being heaard by God in another dimension of existence that I had not known of, before responding to thepromise that is in the withings that I now know had been written and accumulated over thousands of years, preserved fr thousands more, and translated into different huan languages for Him to tell people like me of Himself and how to live out tis existence.

Somewhere along the line of time this body of mine (and I am 86in a few days) is going to wear out. but the soritit and soul that motivate it won't/ I truly believe in that.

Now what you are asking is--if the sitirt and soul are the "life" of that body to get it to motivate and do things, will it ever be resurrected? the physical and spiritual be rejoined?

I think that the answer is "Yes", that God's wrtitings show that will happen, but not just yet. And there are only two options for it, one of them not looking so good. To find out more, you have to do what John MacArthur has done and writes about: Get a Boble, study its concepts that involve living it out, and some of your answers will start to appear. Being in the company of other fellow students is parrt of this ongoing renewal of the spirit.

Glad that you asked! Some people don't, and live in disappointment.

[imardmd1]

Please forgive all the mistyping and hasty posting with poor copy-reading. Arrrg!

[dangus]

Thanks. I was stumped by sitirt at first... just because you typed it that way so many times I thought it was on purpose. :-) But your testimony is very moving.

[imardmd1]

I was raised in a denominational church. My Dad was a minister in it, and very honest and dedicated to holiness. So was my Mom. My grandparents on both sides, too. My Dad was a farm boy, my Grandpa there a hard worker. I saw electricity come to the farm, the benefit being milking machines.

My Mom's father was the oldest of six, and went to work in a foundry at 11 when his dad died, and kept his mom and family going. A faithful guy who, with Grandma, was very good to me when Dad and Mom were so poor at the beginning his ministry.

The church folk treated me very well and specially. So why is it that I was such a bad example as a preacher's kid, even to 34? Well, spiritually dead, that's why. It was not my folks's fault. It was mine. And then God showed me why. Nobody else could help me but Him. Not me, for sure.

I hope you never have to go through that kind of failure.

Be of good cheer, and let God be good to you! And keep on supporting FR; it's a good work, one of the few I know of on the web.

[MHGinTN]

Here is wisdom.

[SouthernClaire]

Thank you, Metmom!

[Seven_0]

I suspect that it would be the new birth, when the unbeliever accepts Christ and is regenerated spiritually.

Do you think that spiritual birth and spiritual resurrection are the same thing?

[metmom]

Yes. When one is born again, they are given new life spiritual and are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

While we still live in this body, we still have the sin nature attached to it, but when this body dies, then that is gone as well, and all that’s left is the new creature in Christ who has been spiritually born again.

[Seven_0]

I realize this in not the place to debate but what if there is a spiritual birth, a spiritual death, and a spiritual resurrection?

[metmom]

We’re already spiritually dead in our natural state. We are separated from God.

Being born again restores that spiritual life and beings us once again into spiritual relationship with Gos.

So, yes, spiritual birth is a spiritual resurrection. It’s new spiritual life from spiritual death.

[Elsie]

I love to read the salvation stories

[Seven_0]

We’re already spiritually dead in our natural state. We are separated from God.

Is spiritual death the first death or the second death? Which one do you think happened to Christ?