Sweet Lifers,
When we walk in love as Christ Jesus has loved us so many amazing things happen. We shine the Light of the Spirit which is recognizable and a strengthening in faith amongst the flock and a glimpse of hope to those with fragile faiths. As we rejoice in the PROMISE proclaimed by our Savior this Easter, I want to discuss the fivefold results of Christ Jesus’ work.
In Adam, creatures fell into sin and death. In Christ, we are made whole and reunited back to our Creator. In His earthly ministry Jesus made known through His actions and words the Kingdom of God. He showed us the Way in a fallen world. He explained what to do and how to be the creatures as intended by our Creator, our Father. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” Ephesians 1:3-4 The resurrection of Christ proves that we have everlasting life in and with Him. His sacrifice of His earthly life permanently paid the ransom that all of God’s creatures were held in by Satan. Jesus, the Son of Man became the sacrificial Lamb for humanity.
So what are the fivefold results of Jesus’ work?
He has SAVED us
He has RAISED us
He has SEATED us
He has CREATED us
He will DISPLAY us
All creatures are fallen and when Christ came He SAVED us from an eternity of damnation having lived not like God’s image bearers but under the sinister spell of Satan. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience–among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved” Ephesians 2:1-5
By believing in Him and dying to the flesh, Christians walk indwelt by the Spirit. Through the mortification of our sinful fleshy earthly ways; we are made anew. We are put through in our earthly lives what you may call tests, large and small that are to teach and instruct us in our earthly purpose for Our Father’s Will. We become little by little more sanctified and holy in His sight. We are being prepared for our immortality with every breath. We are RAISED and SEATED. Praise be to God for His mercy upon us! “and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6
He has CREATED us. One of the ah ha moments I had in seminary was when reading Genesis 1:26. There we read…”Then God said, ‘Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness.” Clearly and unmistakably explaining that our creation is the work of our Triune God. We are made for His pleasure and to glorify Him. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10
Finally, we are to be DISPLAYED by Him. “So that in the coming ages He might show us the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7 We do not perish as Christians, everlasting life awaits for the grandest inheritance in the heavenly places for those that know Him.
One of the most beautiful Scriptures in the Bible for me is The High Priestly Prayer that Jesus prayed at the Last Supper. Again, while in seminary I read it with enlightened eyes and for me Jesus’ words here explain His earthly ministry and work. The work we have to do here as His image-bearers is clear as well. This can be found in John 17 and I have included it here.
17 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.[a] 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them[b] in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself,[c] that they also may be sanctified[d]in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Easter is the most sacred time of the Christian calendar and as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ Jesus we understand that in His sacrifice He has called each of us who BELIVE into His Eternal Kingdom. He has saved us, He has raised us, He has seated us, He has created us, and when He comes in glory He will display us in the New Heavens and New Earth! All the Glory be to Him now and forever! Amen
