The Second Birth of Christ: In Resurrection

Romans 1:1 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

2 Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,

3 Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh,

4 Who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord;

*Also see Acts 13:33, Psalm 2:7 for additional references.

Hope everyone had a great weekend during the holiday festivities.  Traditionally around this time of year we normally focus on the birth of Christ.  But I would like to call your attention to the second birth of Christ according the Word of God.  Christ actually had two births.  The first birth is in his humanity to bring God into man. The second birth happened after his crucifixion and during his resurrection.  In which his crucified humanity was begotten of God and brought into his divinity.  This is why Romans says that he was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead Jesus Christ our Lord!  He was already the only begotten Son of God.  But after incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection he had put on human flesh which needed to be processed according to his eternal purpose.  This is also why the bible calls him the Firstborn Son of God! (Rom. 8:29, Heb. 1:6).  

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Love and Shepherding

John 21:15 Then when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

16 He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Shepherd My sheep.

17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved that He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

 

Peter had experienced a failure while following the Lord.  He was so confident and bold in himself that he told the Lord that he would die for him.  But the Lord responded by saying will you lay down your life for me?  “Truly, truly, I say to you, A rooster shall by no means crow until you deny Me three times” (John 13:38).  The Lord knew Peter would deny him not just once or even twice but three times!  What a failure to Peter!  He must have been devastated.  But the Lord came to him after his resurrection to come and not only restore his love to him but also his shepherding of others.  He asked him do you love me three times then he mentions shepherding his sheep.  If you love the Lord you will shepherd others.  This is the Lords desire.  Actually our taking care of others must come out of our love for the Lord.

 

SPECIAL EDITION: The Believers Experience of the Two Aspects of the One Spirit

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT ESSENTIALLY FOR LIFE

John 20:21 Then Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.

John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

 

II.  THE SPIRIT UPON THE BELIEVERS IS PROMISED

Luke 24:49 And behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high.

Acts 1:5 For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

 

III.  THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE OF THE OUTPOURED SPIRIT UPON THE BELIEVERS

Acts 2:1 And as the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in the same place.

2 And suddenly there was a sound out of heaven, as of a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which were distributed; and it sat on each one of them;

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, even as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth.

32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we all are witnesses.

33 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.

When the Lord Jesus was physically on the earth he had promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to his disciples (maybe I’ll write about this in another post).  Then shortly after Jesus rose from the dead he appeared to his disciples and he breathed into them and said receive the Holy Spirit.  At this point they had received the Holy Spirit into them for their experience of Christ as life essentially.  The Lord promised the Spirit to be poured out  upon them that would baptize/immerse them for their ministry, their work.  This is the Spirit of Power.   These are two aspects of the one Spirit!  The Spirit of life essentially for our living and the Spirit of power upon us for our ministry.  Lastly, the Spirit of power is not upon any individual or person independent of God or more importantly individualistic of the Body of Christ.  For this Spirit was poured out, and is upon the entire Body of Christ!  So we have to right with God and absolutely right with the members of the Body of Christ which is composed of every genuine believer on the planet!

 

The Greatest Preposition in the Bible

Ephesians 1:20 Which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies,

21 Far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come;

22 And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church,

23 Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

God caused the awesome four-fold power in raising Jesus from the dead, seating him at his right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule, and subjecting all things under his feet!  This is the awesomely wonderful, four-fold power.  Resurrection power, transcending power, ascending power, and subjecting power.   In Ephesians 1 the apostle prayed that we would know this power and even that all of this great power is “to the church” !!!!!!  That preposition  “to” means that the church shares in all of the attainments of Christ.  That the we would know experientally this power that is toward us who believe (Eph. 1:19) and to the church (Eph. 1:22).  Other references (Eph.2:6, 1 Pet. 1:3, Rom. 6:4)

See ya!

 

 

 

What do you have to do with Resurrection? …Alot!

Ephesians 2:4-6 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) And raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

God made us alive together with Christ in his resurrection and at the same time regenerated us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!  So when Christ was raised we were too!  In his resurrection Christ was born the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33, Rom. 8:29) and we were born the many sons of God simultaneously in one gigantic delivery!

 

Special Edition: Christ is both the Only Begotten Son and Firstborn Son of God

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

Acts 13:32-33  And we announce to you the gospel of the promise made to the fathers, That God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.”

Romans 1:3-4  Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, Who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord;

According to his dual status, Christ has both the divine nature as well as the human nature.  According to his divine nature he was, is, and always will be the Only Begotten Son of God.  However, we cannot share in this sonship as it is reserved for God alone and is part of the Godhead.  According to the bible, Christ is also the Firstborn Son of God who was born on the day of his resurrection in his humanity.  This was prophesied in the Old Testament in Psalms 2:7 and quoted in the New Testament in Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5.  It is because of Christ’s glorified humanity in resurrection we can also be sons of God by believing into Christ (John 1:12-13).  tomorrow will continue with the details of the Resurrection of Christ.  In particular our participation !  🙂

 

Details of the Resurrection of Christ (part 1)

Luke 24:46 And He said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise up from the dead on the third day,

John 20:9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He had to rise from among the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:17 And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

In his resurrection Christ became the Life-giving Spirit to impart life into us 🙂