The Daily Word of Righteousness

Requirements and Purposes of the Two Resurrections, #11

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3)

It is the Lord's trees of righteousness who will repair the desolations caused by Antichrist (that abomination who causes desolation!). Whenever men make themselves God, desolation results. Then the God-filled saints must go through the land and repair the ruined cities.

God is dealing with us now in the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. The Jubilee of release from sin and self-will is beginning in us, for the trumpet of the Jubilee is blown on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9). After the Day of Atonement comes the feast of Tabernacles. God and Christ enter us and make us Their eternal throne. The waters of eternal life always flow from the Throne of God and of the Lamb.

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. As we are crucified and He lives in us, the Resurrection and the Life is dwelling eternally in us. The resurrection and life that we have become because of His Presence in us will be raised at the sounding of the Lord's trumpet. There will be the shout of war and the voice of Michael the Archangel as he prepares the army of angels for the Battle of Armageddon.

The first resurrection, the resurrection of the royal priesthood, is described in I Thessalonians 4:15-18. Notice the expression in verse 16: "the dead in Christ shall rise first."

"The dead in Christ."

The first resurrection has to do with our being in Christ.

In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus explains to us what it means to be in Christ.

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:54-57)

We learn from the above that:

Whoever eats the flesh of Christ and drinks His blood already possesses eternal life.

Jesus will raise up whoever already possesses eternal life.

The flesh of Jesus and His blood are the necessary food and drink of him who would aspire to the resurrection that is out from among the dead.

All persons will be raised at the last resurrection. Therefore, when the Lord speaks of raising up people who live by His flesh and blood, implying that they are raised by His Life as a result of living in and by His life, He of necessity is speaking of the first resurrection. There is no need to partake of Christ in order to be raised in the second resurrection.

It is the individual who is eating Christ's flesh and drinking His blood who truly is abiding in Jesus, and Jesus in him.

Whoever is eating of Christ is to live by Christ as Christ lives by the Father.

To be continued.