Resurrection From the Dead, Part 13
Reprint May 26, 2023
We continue to stress the importance
of being water baptized as well as partaking regularly of the Table of the
Lord. As already pointed out, these are
the only two things that Jesus commanded of believers. Water baptism is an initial event for those
who first come to Jesus and accept and acknowledge Him as their Lord and
Savior. We’ll talk more about that in a
minute.
The Table of the Lord, on the other
hand, is an ongoing event. Paul makes it
clear in his statement, “As oft as ye eat this bread and
drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.” Do you see the significance? The
more often we do this, the more often we remind ourselves that Jesus kept our
appointment with death!
Writing to the Hebrews, Paul makes
the following statement – and nothing could be clearer.
Hebrews 9:27-28: And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he
appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Let’s
try this again.
Even though death was and has been appointed unto men and women
one time, and at the same time to face the Judgment Seat of Christ, for that
reason Jesus offered Himself up on the Cross to die once and for all and take
on Himself, the sins of many; and to all those who look for His return will He
appear again [on their behalf] without the accompanying sin: (their deliverance
from the penalties of sin will have been accomplished; the wholeness, health
and prosperity that came at Creation will have been restored to them). (Hebrews 9:27-28, RAC Translation and
Amplification)
Does
that make it clearer for you?
Water
Baptism marks our agreement and re-enactment of Jesus’ death and
resurrection. We participate with Jesus
by being buried with Him in baptism.
We
also participate with Him when we come out of the water because we are demonstrating
His resurrection and — again, because we are in Him — our resurrection from the
dead.
We’ve
already talked about the fact that Jesus provided death cancellation for all of
us by keeping our appointment with death.
In fact, we were in Christ when He hung on the Cross, keeping our
appointment.
When
Jesus rose from the dead, coming out of that tomb, we were in Him.
If
I seem to be repeating myself, I am, but my objective is to say this in as many
different ways as possible so that we all get this revelation. I personally believe there is no revelation
more important than this.
Everything
that Jesus does in our lives, everything we accomplish, our growth and
spiritual development, our ministry, the miracles that we perform and
participate in — all hang on our being in Christ when He died, and then rose
again from the dead.
Death
cancellation means we don’t have to put up with death. Resurrection from the dead means that death
has no power or hold of any kind over us.
It
also means that we are free from all disease, infirmity, sickness and pain —
since they all stem from the dying process.
Thus,
“He that eats and feeds on my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells
continually in me, and I [in like manner dwell continually] in him.”
Colossians 2:13-15: And you, being dead (nekros:
a corpse) in your sins (paraptoma: intentional and unintentional error, lapse
or deviation) and the uncircumcision of your flesh (akrobustia:
metaphor for non-covenantal state), hath
he quickened together (suzoopoieo: reanimate con-jointly) with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out (exaleipho: obliterate) the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
And having spoiled (apekduomai: divesting oneself wholly and completely) principalities
and powers
(arché
& exousia: “chief” authorities [archangels or demonic
authorities] and “superhuman” magistrates or controllers — demonic powers), he
made a show of them openly, triumphing (thriambeuo: “noisy iambus”, to make an exclamatory
procession) over them in it.
Let’s
try this again.
And you, having become a corpse because of your errors and
lapses towards God— both intentional and unintentional — along with the fact
that you were living outside of the Covenant, has Jesus reanimated with
Himself, brought back to life and canceled the sentence of death hanging over
you, having forgiven you of all transgressions,
Obliterating all of the laws and ordinances that were written
against us so as to define sin in us, and everything that was written to define
us negatively; He removed all impediments against us and nailed them to His
Cross.
And, having divested Himself wholly and completely [of all
possible influence] of archangels and demonic authorities, as well as
controlling individuals operating with demonic power, Jesus loudly and
triumphantly publicly put on a show of His victory over them. (Colossians 2:13-15, RAC Translation and
Amplification)
The
picture that Paul draws here is that of Jesus loudly proclaiming — even singing
clamorously and poetically — and putting on exhibit Satan himself and all his
demonic forces to show and demonstrate that their power and authority was
finished.
Satan
had committed a crime for which he was judged and sentenced. His crime was thievery and murder. He killed someone — Jesus — who was not
subject to his authority.
We
have already noted in the past that under universal law, slaves were considered
as property. They were not regarded as
human beings, and therefore had no right to protest their treatment by Satan.
Jesus
took us with Him, in Him, and was in us when He went to the grave and was
buried in the tomb. (Colossians 2:12)
By
the same token, when Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father, we were
raised in Him, with Him and He in us.
Notice
exactly how Paul phrases this in Colossians 2:13.
Colossians 2:13: “He
re-animated [us] con-jointly with Him; and at the same time obliterated,
demolished and wiped totally clean the decrees of judgment (and accompanying
sentence of death) that had been written against us.” (RAC Translation & Amplification)
So
what happens each time we eat and drink at the Table of the Lord? We eat and drink of the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Thus, we have “Christ in us!”
But
notice, once again, how Paul parallels this to Water Baptism.
Colossians 2:12 (Amplified Version): [Thus
you were circumcised (and entered into His Covenant) when] you were buried with
Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new
life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He
raised Him up from the dead.
We
enter into the Covenant through Water Baptism.
(1) The corpse of
sin gets buried. The “non-person” slave,
subject to Satan is put in the grave.
(2) We as new,
reanimated, living, breathing creations — re-made in the image and likeness of
God — come forth from the grave as beings not subject to the Law of Sin and
Death.
(3) Just as Jesus
did, we make an open show of principalities and powers in triumph and joyful,
noisy song by virtue of having entered into this New Covenant.
(4) Water Baptism
not only engages the Covenant for us with Him, it also puts on notice Satan,
his archangels, his magistrates and all his demonic foot soldiers that their
power or authority over us has been broken and demolished once and for all!
(5) Without Water
Baptism, even though we were in Christ and He was in us when He died and was
buried, and then rose from the dead, no covenantal step has been taken on our
part to demonstrate our acceptance of
the New Covenant.
Without Water
Baptism — and this is an act of faith — nothing has taken place that says to
Satan and his armies, “Your authority and power over me has been broken. Your right to torment me, your right to steal
from me, your right to take my life — without legal consequence — has been
broken by the Blood of the Lamb.”
Remember
how John saw this picture?
Revelation 12:11 (RAC Translation & Amplification): And
they (the faith-filled and faith-acting believers) subdued, conquered and
prevailed over Satan, gaining complete victory by the Blood of the Lamb [shed
through his painful beatings and suffering, and death on the Cross] and the
Word of their testimony [the evidence, report and record given] (that they too
were in Christ when died and rose again] spoken, sung and acted upon in Water
Baptism;
And they did not love, adhere to and cling to their souls, their
mindsets and their old thought processes, willingly and determinedly putting
their souls, their mindsets and their old thought processes to death.
What
precipitated this statement by John?
What was it that he witnessed when he was transported into the
heavenlies in and by the Spirit?
Revelation 12:10: And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of
our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down, which accused them before our God day and night.
The
accuser — our accuser — is finished! But
that “finishing” is accomplished through faith.
We finish him by the Word of our testimony.
We
give evidence, first-hand testimony as
personal witnesses by virtue of the fact that we were in Christ when he
died, that we were in Christ when He rose from the dead, and that we have
entered into the new Covenant with Him.
We
further give first-hand testimony to the fact that He became The Lamb That Was
Slain which took away the curse and all our sins.
Finally,
we can testify that we have acted upon the Covenant extended to us by being
buried with Jesus Christ in baptism; and that we have been raised to New Life
in Christ!! We are in Him! We are in Him! We are in Him!
So then, if any person is grafted into and immersed in the
Anointed One (and His anointing), he is a new fabrication -- a newly formed
being; the previous life [the lifestyle and the old characteristics thereof]
has perished; you can see and perceive for yourself that every part of one's
being is an unprecedented substance -- a new species. (II Corinthians 5:17, RAC Translation &
Amplification)
Again
we have a confirmation of the promise we see in Paul’s general letter to the
Hebrews – that same promise with which we began this Coffee Break. We were in Christ Jesus when He died. Thus the old “us” HAS indeed died. Jesus enabled our original appointment with
death to be kept.
When
Jesus rose from the grave, we rose with Him.
We were in Him, and we ARE in Him today.
The new and redeemed “us” is alive in Christ minus the death penalty.
And we still have more ground to cover. See you next week.
In case you are
missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday
worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM
Pacific. That conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#. We are now making these
gatherings available by Skype. If you
wish to participate by video on Skype, my Skype ID is regner.capener. If you miss the live voice call, you can dial
(712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in
later. The video call, of course, is not
recorded – not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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