The Members and the Power of Resurrection

The Members and the Power of Resurrection

When Jesus said that He would raise up the temple in three days, He was speaking of His earthly body. John 2:21. There is tremendous power in the Father’s will. Jesus’ food was to do His will. Ch. 4:34.

With Jesus came a new era, both in regard to spiritual nourishment and eternal life. He clearly says to His disciples: “I am the bread of life. . . . I am the living bread . . . If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever . . . Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” Ch. 6:48-56. Here we see how Jesus’ bread becomes nourishment, life, and salvation for those who obey Him. Luke 9:22-23, Heb. 5:7-9.

In Rom. 12:1-2, Paul writes about the spiritual service of God we are called to perform: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable spiritual service. And . . . be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” [Norw.] By continuing in this spiritual service, in which I offer my body as a sacrifice pleasing to God, I partake of the same eternal life that Jesus received. Yes, only those who are members of His earthly body can partake of this life, as Paul goes on to write: “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” V. 4-5. All the members of Jesus’ body are connected to the same power of resurrection with which the Father raised Jesus—the head of the body—from the dead. For the power of God that raised Jesus will also raise us—because we are members of Christ! 1 Cor. 6:14-15. It was in order to know this power that Paul counted everything as rubbish; and if he was to know it, he also had to partake in the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings and be made conformed to Him in His death. Phil. 3:7-10. “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Rom. 6:5.

What a glory we partake of by taking up our cross and denying ourselves—or, as Paul writes, reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God! V. 11. We come to know what God’s will is in our situations: the “good and acceptable and perfect.” We can only live such an exalted life as members of the body of Christ when our minds are set on heavenly things! In the situations of life I can reckon myself dead to sin but alive to God, and when Christ is revealed, I will be revealed as one of His many, unique members, together with Him in glory! Rom. 6:11-13, Col. 3:1-4.

When I believe this, nourish myself with the word of God and obey it, I will never have a bad day again, because then I am a member of the body of Christ! For who can harm me when I am a follower of what is good? No one, for all things will work together for my good, because I am living worthy of my calling! Rom. 8:28-31, 1 Pet. 3:13.

What a glorious future—let us truly believe in the promises of God and draw our daily nourishment from His word in every situation of life. 1 Thess. 2:13. This will reward us for time and eternity, since that nourishment puts us in direct contact with the power of resurrection!