Jesus’ Body

Jesus’ Body

“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.’” Heb. 10:5.

What was great about Jesus was that He received a body, and what occurred in this body was something that could not be accomplished through sacrifices and offerings.

“Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’” V. 7.

In Jesus’ body God’s will was done on earth as it is in heaven. This was a profound work, considering He had a body like ours. It was precisely because He had a body like ours that a work was accomplished for our sake.

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren.” Heb. 2:14-16.

Here we read that the devil lost his power and death was conquered by means of Jesus’ body. When Jesus partook of flesh and blood like we did, we know what His body was like, because we know our own body. We know how easily we are tempted because we have passions and desires. Jas. 1:14; Heb. 4:15-16. It is through these passions and desires that the devil has gained power over all bodies, and so death has reigned. When we consider this, we can understand the tremendous work God did in and through Jesus’ body.

“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3-4.

By sin being condemned in the flesh, the devil lost his point of contact and also his power, so that death could not reign. This opened up the possibility for us to fulfill the requirement of the law: “You shall not covet.” On this point the flesh with its passions and desires had made it impossible for man to overcome sin and the devil. The law was also powerless, but God accomplished this work through Jesus’ body, so that what had been impossible became possible. All the unbelievers say, “Impossible!” But those who believe in the finished work proclaim the word of faith and say, “What was impossible has now become possible!”

By sin being condemned in the flesh, Jesus consecrated a new and living way into the Holiest—to a life in God. The obstacle to it—the veil—was rent asunder. Heb. 10:19-20. In Christ Jesus all things that pertain to life and godliness have been given to us so that we, too, can partake of divine nature. 2 Pet. 1:3-4.

The church is likened to the body of Christ. Jesus has put servants in the church to help the saints to be fully equipped for the work of ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. Eph. 4:11-12. The greatest work we can do is build up the body of Christ—the body by which the devil loses his power.

We see and hear people who live according to their lusts and the awful spirit that accompanies them. The devil wields power over their bodies through sin in the flesh, and wherever they are, they cause trouble and unrest, strife and hatred. Death reigns. All kinds of evil spirits make these bodies their dwelling place through sin in the flesh, and they make these bodies instruments of unrighteousness. Matt. 12:43-45.

Only by repenting and turning to Jesus and sanctifying Him as Lord in our hearts can we be set free from all these spirits. 1 Pet. 3:14; Rom. 10:9. Then we are baptized with the Holy Spirit to be a member of His body. 1 Cor. 12:13. Then the work that occurred in Jesus’ body begins in us. We will not fulfill the desires of the flesh if we walk in the Spirit. Gal. 5:16. This is how we build the church, the body of Christ. The fact that we can be built up as the body of Christ, with our bodies over which the devil and death have held sway, is the greatest glory we can obtain. This is the bride that will be raptured.

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Rom. 8:11. All of these will receive glorified bodies just as our Lord Jesus Christ did. This is the victory and the glory we are called to in Christ Jesus: the devil and death will lose their power in our bodies.

What happens to our bodies is of such vital importance that it says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:9-10.