Angelic Conflict part 258: The Carrier of the kingdom of God – Eph 2:1-10; Col 2:16-19; Luk 7:11-17; 8:49-56; Joh 11:41-46.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 258: The Carrier of the kingdom of God - EPH 2:1-10; COL 2:16-19; LUK 7:11-17; 8:49-56; JOH 11:41-46.

 

EPH 2:1 And you were dead [spiritually] in your trespasses and sins,

 

EPH 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 

EPH 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh [sin nature], indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature [fall] children of wrath, even as the rest.

 

EPH 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 

Before the cross the kingdom of God was embodied in Christ. At the cross the kingdom of God was given to men through faith and without cost.

 

When God's love is expressed to mankind it is seen in mercy and grace.

 

In His mercy, He does not give us what we do deserve; and in His grace He gives us what we do not deserve.

 

EPH 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 

Spiritual resurrection - being alive together with Christ in position while on earth and living in that life while walking in the devil's world.

 

This isn't just life, but life with, or, in union with Christ. This is a resurrection life that is now a reality spiritually while we wait for its literal fulfillment in the future.

 

God is the only source of life. He is the only self-existent One. The life we have is a gift from Him.

 

GEN 2:7

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

 

This life and the body became corrupted at the fall. So then, while man continues to possess physical life he is born spiritually dead and will remain in spiritual death after physical death if his spiritual life is not restored. Only Christ satisfied the justice of God in payment for sin and taking our place in spiritual death so that anyone who believes in Him is given a brand new spiritual life or spiritual resurrection. Specifically in the CA, this spiritual life or resurrection is in union with Christ.

 

This life and the body became corrupted after the fall so that all are born spiritually dead, but in Christ there is the brand new spiritual resurrection.

 

Angels also possess life from God. Fallen angels also have a corrupted life.

 

Fallen angels and men have invented false sources of life which they entreat others to worship. There is only one source of life - Christ.

 

COL 2:16 Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — 

 

COL 2:17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

 

The substance of true worship and therefore "life" belongs to Christ and not what the creature has determined.

 

COL 2:18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize [experience of spiritual resurrection] by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause [no true source] by his fleshly mind,

 

COL 2:19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

 

Elect angels cannot be sources of life either and therefore should never be worshipped.

 

Only God is the source of life and only He possesses it. Only God in Christ has restored it to a brand new spiritual life. Only the word of God makes the spiritual a reality in experience.

 

The word of God is also from God and is therefore alive, so that after salvation through faith in the person of Christ, I learn to think in terms of spiritual life from the mind of Christ or the word of God.

 

1CO 2:9 but just as it is written,

"Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,

And which have not entered the heart of man,

All that God has prepared for those who love Him."

 

1CO 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

 

1CO 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

 

1CO 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God,

 

1CO 2:13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

 

/The spiritual life combines with the spiritual person to make the spiritual resurrection a reality in the experience of the believer before he is united with his spiritual body.\

 

1CO 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

 

1CO 2:15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.

 

1CO 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

The reality of the spiritual life given to mankind at the cross is displayed by the person on Christ during His public ministry during the incarnation.

 

Christ raised three people from the dead during His ministry so that He could reveal His power over death. He raised each one of them with a word.

 

What is it about the word of God or the gospel? Words combine to create thoughts. Thoughts can be true or false. They can be commands or responses. They can be abstract or plain; concrete and clear or wishy washy and confusing. God's word consists of God's thought and therefore His essence and character as they relate to mankind. God alone is eternal life and so His word is alive. God's essence contains infinite power and so His word is powerful. Therefore, His word breathes life and power into that which is dead, but words are just words if they are not understood and believed.

 

Application of faith to God's word in the believer transforms him from death to life; first in position and then in experience.

 

Before this was available to every person in the CA, Christ displayed His power over death as well as the power of the word. He raised each person with a word. The dead could not have faith, but our Lord could and did. Our Lord's impeccable faith made the word spoken to have power over death and resuscitated them. This is a display of the power of the kingdom of God, which now has application in spiritual resurrection. [example: tithing]

 

Resuscitation is not power over the second death (separation from God forever) and so it is not an application today, but the gospel, the word of life, is. \

 

These three would all die again, but metaphorically each of them has significance to spiritual resurrection.