The Daily Word of Righteousness

You Must Be Born Again, #11

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (I Peter 1:23)

When Christ finally is formed in us it is the birth of a son of God, a son of God who has all eternity to grow into the image of His Father.

It is the responsibility of the soul to make certain all that is written in the New Testament is obeyed. The words of Christ and His Apostles govern the conduct of the soul, commanding the soul to present its body a living sacrifice to God so the soul may prove the will of God and perform it.

The soul must give itself to prayer and the reading of the written Word, setting aside sufficient time each day for vital communion with the Lord Jesus in order that Jesus may feed the new man of the heart with His body and blood.

As necessary as the written Word is for our successful transformation into a life-giving spirit, it is the living Word, Jesus, who is of supreme importance. The fatal error of the religionist is to place the written Word ahead of the living Word. The religionist, as did the Pharisee of old, attempts to find eternal life in the written Word. He will not come to the living Word and receive life.

We are born again, not of human seed but by the living and abiding Word, by the Lord Jesus Himself.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (I Peter 1:24,25)

Adam is as grass. Mankind is as grass. Flesh and blood is as grass. Our human existence is as grass that one day is full of the most beautiful flowers and the next day is suitable only as food for cattle. One of the greatest truths at which any human being can arrive is that the present age is temporary, having significance only as it prepares creatures for the ages to come.

The Word of God is eternal; the heavens and earth are temporary. They will pass away. The Word of God, that which has been made flesh in the Lord Jesus Christ, never will pass away. It is eternal. Those who have experienced the transformation from Adam to Christ, from the man of the earth to the Lord from Heaven, are eternal.

What is the resurrection? The resurrection is Jesus. Adam never will be resurrected except to be judged. When Christ is formed in us, that is the resurrection; that is the life.

The new man will not be resurrected at a future date; he is eternally alive now.

The resurrection (except for the raising of our mortal body from the dead) is not something that will happen to us sovereignly and suddenly at a later date. The resurrection is the change from Adam to Christ.

The resurrection is taking place in us now if we are decreasing and Christ is increasing. We inwardly attain the resurrection now (Philippians 3:11). The goal of the Christian is to inwardly attain the resurrection from the dead so the outward man, the mortal body, may receive immortality at the coming of the Lord from Heaven.

To be continued.