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What Is The New Birth | Regeneration | Being Born Again – Spiritual Reading

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What Is The New Birth | Regeneration | Being Born Again – Spiritual Reading.

Many speak of the New Birth or of Regeneration without any definite conception of just what the New Birth is, and so are never sure whether they themselves have been born again or not.

As plain and clear a definition of the New Birth as we can find in the Word of God is given in 2 Pet. 1:4, “Whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.” 

From these words of Peter it is evident that the New Birth is the impartation to the one who is born again, of a new nature, God’s own nature. By being born again we become actual partakers of the Divine nature. We are all born into this world with a corrupted intellectual and moral nature.

The natural man, or unregenerate man, is intellectually blind, blind to the truth of God, “the things of the Spirit” he cannot see or receive. “They are foolishness unto him, and he cannot know them” (1 Cor. 2:14). His affections are corrupt, he loves the things he ought to hate and hates the things he ought to love.

A definite description of the affections and tastes and desires of the unregenerate man is found in Gal. 5:19, 20, 21. He is also perverse in his will, as Paul puts it in Rom. 8:7, “The mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” This state of intellectual spiritual blindness and moral corruption is the condition of every unregenerate man.

No matter how cultured or refined or moral he may be outwardly, his inner life is radically wrong. In the New Birth God imparts to the one who is born again His own wise and holy nature, a nature that thinks as God thinks (“He is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him”—Col. 3:10); he feels as God feels, loves the things that God loves, hates the things that God hates, wills as God wills (1 John 3:14; 4:7, 8).

It is evident then that regeneration is a deep thorough-going change in the deepest springs of thought, feeling and action. A change so thorough-going that Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:17, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature (more exactly, Creation): the old things are passed away; behold they are become new.” 

To use the inspired language of the Apostle John, regeneration is a passing “out of death into life.” John says in 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed out of death into life.” Until we are thus born again we are in a condition of moral and spiritual death. When we are born again we are “quickened” (or made alive), we who “were dead through our trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2:1).

There is a profound contrast between regeneration and mere conversion. Conversion is an outward thing, a turning around. One is faced the wrong way, faced away from God; he turns around and faces toward God. That is conversion. But regeneration is not a mere outward change, but a thorough-going change in the deepest depths of one’s being, that leads to a genuine conversion or genuine outward change.

Many an apparently thorough conversion is a temporary thing because it did not go deep enough, but regeneration is a permanent thing. When God imparts His nature to a man, that nature abides in the man. When he is born again he cannot be unborn, or as John puts it in 1 John 3:9, “Whosoever is begotten of God doth no sin, because his (God’s) seed abideth in him.” A man may be converted a thousand times, he can be regenerated but once.

Excerpt From – The Fundamental Doctrines Of The Christian Faith By Reuben Archer Torrey.

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What Are The Results Of The New Birth And What Follow’s When One Is Born Again – Spiritual Reading

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What Are The Results Of The New Birth And What Follow’s When One Is Born Again – Spiritual Reading.

1. The first of these results is found in:

 1 Cor. 6:19, where we read: “Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have from God?” These words were spoken to believers, to regenerated men, and they plainly tell us that when one is born again, the Holy Spirit comes to take up His permanent dwelling in the man and that the man who is born again thus becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is true that we may not always be conscious of this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, nevertheless He dwells in us.

2. The second result of the New Birth is found in:

 Rom. 8:2-4, where we read: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” 

In the 7th chapter of Romans, we have a picture of the man who is awakened by the law of God which he approves after the inward man, which he sees “is holy and just and good,” which he tries to keep in his own strength, but utterly fails to keep, until at last he comes to an end of himself and is filled with despair of ever being able to keep the law of God outside of him, because of the law of sin and death inside him, which law of sin and death says, “the good which you would do you cannot do, and the evil which you hate and would not do, you must keep on doing.”

When a man is thus brought to a consciousness of his own utter helplessness and turns to God and accepts Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus Christ gives to him who dwells in him, sets him free from this law of sin and death so that by the power of the indwelling Spirit he is enabled to obey the law of God and to get the victory over the evil things that he would not do and to do the things which he would do.

Whereas in a man merely awakened by the law of God, “the law of sin and death” gets a perpetual victory, in a regenerate man, the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” gets the perpetual victory. Doubtless many of you here to-day are still struggling to keep the law of God and utterly failing in your attempt to do so.

What you need is to be born again, and thus have the Holy Spirit come to dwell in you, and then to walk by the Spirit, and by the power of this indwelling Spirit to get victory every day and hour over the law of sin and death that wars in your members against the law of God.

3. The third result of the New Birth is found in:

 Rom. 12:2, where we read, “And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” From this it appears that the third result of the New Birth is in outward transformation of our lives by the inward renewing of our minds so that we no longer are fashioned according to this world.

Of course the regenerated man does not at once manifest perfectly that of which he has the germ in himself. He begins the new life just as we begin our natural lives, as a babe, and he must grow. As Peter puts it in 1 Pet. 2:2, we must “As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby.” 

This new life must be fed and developed. It is irrational, and unwarranted by the Word of God, to expect one who has just been born again, and who is consequently a babe in Christ, to be as perfect in character as one who was born years ago and who has grown to maturity. But the moment we are born again [we receive in germ all the moral perfection that is to be ours when this germ is fully developed within us and comes to its perfect manifestation.

4. The fourth result of the New Birth we find in:

1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God.” The fourth result of being born again is that the regenerated man believes that Jesus is the Christ. Of course this faith that comes from the New Birth is a real faith. The faith that John here speaks of is not a faith that is a mere opinion, but that real faith that Jesus is the anointed of God that leads us to enthrone Jesus as King in our lives.

If you are not making Jesus King in your heart and life you have not been born again. But if you are making Jesus King in your heart and life and absolute ruler of your thoughts and conduct, then you are born again, for “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is Christ is begotten of God.”

5. The fifth result of being born again we find three verses further down in this same chapter:

1 John 5:4: “For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world.” The fifth result of being born of God is that the one thus born again overcomes the world. The world is at variance with God, “The whole world lieth in the Evil One” (1 John 5:19). It is under the dominion of the Evil One, ruled by his ambitions and ideas.

The world is at variance with God in its commercial life, social life, domestic life, and all the phases of intellectual life and educational life, and is constantly [exercising a power over each of us to draw us into disobedience to God (see 1 John 5:3); but the one born of God by the power of the faith that comes through being born again, gets the victory over the world. He gets the victory over the world’s ideas, purposes, plans, ambitions. He gets the victory over the world in his personal life, domestic life, commercial life, political life, intellectual life every day.

6. The sixth result of being born of God is found in:

1 John 3:9, R. V., “Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin; because his (i.e., God’s) seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin (rather, cannot be sinning), because he is begotten of God.” The sixth result, then, of being born of God is that in the one born of God the seed of God remains; and, therefore, the one born of God is not making a practice of sin. 

Some one will ask, just what does this mean? It means exactly what it says, if we look carefully at the exact force of the words used and give due emphasis to the tense of the verbs used. First of all, let us look at the exact force of the word translated “Sin.” What does sin mean? John himself has been careful to define it in the verse itself and in the context in which our verse is found.

The first thing that is evident from 1 John 3:9 is that sin is a something done, not merely a something left undone, and not merely sinful thoughts and desires. What kind of a something done it is defined five verses back in verse 4. “Everyone that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” 

Sin here by John’s own definition (and we have no right to bring the definition of any one else into the verse we are studying) is “lawlessness,” i.e., such acts as reveal conscious disregard for the will of God as revealed in His word. So we see that sin, as used here, means, a conscious intentional violation of the law of God.

The regenerate man will not be doing that which he knows to be contrary to the will of God. He may do that which is contrary to God’s will, but which he does not know to be contrary to God’s will. It is not therefore “lawlessness.” Perhaps he ought to have known that it was contrary to God’s will and when he is led to see that it is, he will confess his guilt to God.

Furthermore, we should note the tense of the verb used in this verse. It is the present tense which denotes progressive or continuous action. A literal translation of the passage would be, “Everyone begotten out of God, sin is not doing, because His (God’s) seed in him is remaining; and he cannot be sinning, because out of God he is begotten.”

It is not taught here that one born of God never sins in a single act, but it is taught that he is not going on sinning, not making a practice of sin. Of what he is making a practice appears in 1 John 2:29, “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone also that doeth righteousness is begotten of him.” 

The result, then, of being born again is that the one begotten again does not go on consciously day after day [doing that which he knows to be contrary to the will of God, but he does make a practice of “doing righteousness,” i.e., doing that which is conformed to the will of God as revealed in His Word. The new nature imparted in regeneration renders the continuous practice of sin impossible and renders the practice of righteousness inevitable.

7. The seventh result of the New Birth is found in:

1 John 3:14, R. V., “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death.” The seventh result of being born again is that we love the brethren. We should note carefully what the thought of “love” is as brought out in the context. It is not love as a mere sentiment.

It is love in that higher and deeper sense of a desire for and delight in the welfare of others, the sort of love that leads us to make sacrifices for those we love, or as we read further down in this same chapter, verses 16-18, “Hereby know we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s goods, and behold his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.” 

This makes it very evident that what the Holy Spirit here means by love is not a mere affection or fondness for others, not a mere delight in their society; it means that deep and genuine interest in [their welfare that leads us to go down into our pockets when they are in need and supply their need; it leads us to sacrifice our own interest for the sake of their interests even to the point of laying down our lives for them. 

The objects of this love are “the brethren,” i.e., all those who are begotten of God, as we read in 1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God: and whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” 

Any man who is born again will love every other man who is begotten of God. The other one who is begotten of God may be an American or a German, or an Englishman, or a negro, or a Chinaman, or an Indian. He may be educated or uneducated; but he is a child of God and a brother, and as such if you are born of God, he will be the object of your love. This is a searching test of whether or not one is born of God.

8. The final result of being born of God that we will consider this morning is found in:

2 Cor. 5:17, R. V., “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): the old things are passed away, behold, they are become new.” 

The ninth result of being born again, including all the other results that we have been considering, is that in the regenerate man, old things are passed away, they are become new. In the place of the old ideas, old affection, old purposes, old choices, are new ideas, new affections, new purposes, new choices.

Excerpt From – The Fundamental Doctrines Of The Christian Faith By Reuben Archer Torrey.

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What Is The Importance Of The New Birth | Regeneration | Being Born Again – Spiritual Reading

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What Is The Importance Of The New Birth | Regeneration | Being Born Again – Spiritual Reading.

For just a few moments let us look at the necessity of the New Birth. This is set forth in one of our texts and in the verses following, 1 John 3:5, 6: “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” 

We see here that the New Birth is a universal necessity, and we see why it is a necessity. The words translated, “Except a man be born,” etc. more literally translated would be, “If any man be not born out of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

And why he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God the following verse says, and that is because all that one gets by natural generation is “Flesh” and the Kingdom of God is spiritual, and, therefore, to enter it one must be born of the Spirit. No matter how refined and intelligent our ancestry, no matter how godly our fathers and mothers may have been, we do not get the Holy Spirit from them.

All we get is “flesh.” It may be refined flesh, moral flesh, upright and very attractive flesh, but it is flesh; and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” nor “inherit the kingdom of God.” The flesh is incapable of improvement. No more “can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots” than can a man who is unregenerate attain to a life pleasing to God. (See Jer. 13:23.) He must be born again. 

The necessity is also absolute and imperative, so absolute and imperative that Jesus said to Nicodemus, though he was a man of most exemplary morality, a man of high moral and spiritual education, a teacher of Israel, a leader in the religious life of Israel, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7.) Nothing else will take the place of the New Birth.

Men are trying to substitute education, morality, religion, orthodoxy, baptism, outward reform, “new thought,” “theosophy” or the knowledge of God, and other such things, for the New Birth; but none of these, or all of them together, are sufficient, you must be born again. There is absolutely no exception to this rule. As Jesus says in John 3:3, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except any man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Excerpt From – The Fundamental Doctrines Of The Christian Faith By Reuben Archer Torrey.

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What Is The Fact Of The Resurrection Of The Body Of Christ And Our Bodies – Spiritual Reading

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What Is The Fact Of The Resurrection Of The Body Of Christ And Our Bodies – Spiritual Reading.

Turn first, please, to II Tim. 2:8, “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to my gospel.” Here Paul explicitly declares that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead according to the gospel which he preached. Now what was raised? Certainly not His soul. That did not die. Turning to Acts 2:27-31, we find that the soul of the Lord Jesus went into Hades, the abode of the dead.

These are Peter’s words, spoken on the day of Pentecost, there recorded, “Because thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, neither wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption (i.e., in His body). Thou madest known unto me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of gladness with thy countenance. Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.” 

Peter here declares that the soul of Jesus went to Hades and that it was “His flesh,” i.e., His body, that was kept from corruption and afterwards raised. Turning now to I Cor. 15:3, 4, we read these words of Paul: “For we delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures.” 

Paul here declares that Jesus Christ died and was buried and was raised. What was raised? Paul says, that that which “was buried” was raised. But what was buried? Not the soul of the Lord Jesus, but His body. Peter makes this even plainer, if possible, in I Pet. 3:18-20: “Because Christ also suffered for our sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit; in which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison; which aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” 

These words clearly mean that it was the body of Jesus that was put to death, but that the spirit still lived and went into Hades; so it was the body that was raised and to which the spirit that had not died or become unconscious came back. I Cor. 15:12-19 removes all possibility of doubt on this point on the part of any man who goes to the Bible to find out what it actually teaches and not merely to see how he can twist and distort it to fit it into his own preconceived opinions.

Paul’s Spirit-given words here read, “Now if Christ be preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? (Mark, not no immortality of the soul, but no resurrection of the dead.) But if there is no resurrection of the dead neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we witness of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up if so be that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable.” 

There is no honest mistaking the plain meaning of these words: by the “resurrection of the dead” Paul plainly means a resurrection of the body; and in the whole chapter, beyond an honest doubt, he is not talking about the immortality of the soul, but the resurrection of the body. The whole argument turns on that, and Paul here clearly says if the body of Jesus was not raised, then the whole Christian system is a sham and our faith vain and that we Christians of all men are most to be pitied.

For if the body of Jesus was not raised, and if our bodies are not to be raised, then we Christians are making tremendous sacrifices for a lie. Paul says further that if our bodies are not to be raised, then Christ’s body has not been raised and Christianity is a humbug. Christianity as taught in the New Testament stands or falls with the resurrection of the body of Jesus and the resurrection of our bodies.

There is no room in this argument of Paul’s for “Pastor” Russell’s doctrine, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was not a resurrection of the body that was laid in the grave, the body that was crucified, and that the body of Jesus Christ, the body that was laid in the sepulchre, was carried away and preserved somewhere, or else dissolved into gases. Paul says here, if the body that was laid in the sepulchre was not raised, “then is our preaching vain” and your “faith also is vain.”

In Luke 24:5, 6, the angels at the tomb from which the body of Jesus had disappeared are recorded as saying to the women who were seeking the body of Jesus to embalm it, “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen.” Now what were the women seeking? The body of Jesus to embalm it, and the angels say that what they were seeking was not there but was risen, had been raised.

Furthermore, in the remainder of the 6th verse and verse 7, they say:“Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” Here they told the women plainly that what was crucified, which of course was the body of Jesus, was raised. If the actual, literal body of Jesus had not been raised, then these angels were liars.

Do you believe that? These are only a few of the very many passages in which it is very clearly taught that the very body of Jesus was raised from the dead. The body of Jesus was raised from the dead and our bodies shall be raised from the dead, else Christianity is a lie from start to finish.

But Christ was raised from the dead and we shall be raised. Or, as Paul puts it in the 20th verse of this same chapter, “But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are asleep.” Our resurrection, the resurrection of our bodies, will be the harvest that follows the resurrection of the body of Christ, which was “the first fruits.”

Excerpt From – The Fundamental Doctrines Of The Christian Faith By Reuben Archer Torrey.

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What Will Be The Character Of Our Resurrection Bodies – Spiritual Reading

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What Will Be The Character Of Our Resurrection Bodies – Spiritual Reading.

1. First of all, we know that the body which is raised will not be exactly the same body that it was when it was laid in the grave.

This appears from I Cor. 15:35-38: “But some will say, how are the dead raised? And with what manner of body do they come? Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not in the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but God giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.” 

Here we are told that our bodies when they are raised will not be exactly the same as our bodies when they are buried, any more than the wheat that springs from the kernel of wheat that is planted is the same as the kernel that was planted. But just as what grows from the seed comes from the seed and bears the most intimate relation to the seed, so our resurrection bodies come from the body that is buried and bear the most intimate relation to it.

The resurrection body is the outcome of the body that is buried. It is the old body quickened and transformed; or, as Paul puts it in Phil. 3:20, 21: “Jesus Christ . . . shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.”

2. The next thing that the Bible teaches about our resurrection bodies is that they are like the glorified body of Jesus Christ.

This appears from the verses just quoted, Phil. 3:20, 21: “The Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the work whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.” 

Christ’s resurrection body was not the same body that was laid in the sepulchre. It was the old body transformed and delivered from the limitations of the body that He had while living here among men, and new qualities imparted to it, and our bodies will also be transformed into the likeness of this glorious body of Christ and thus delivered from the limitations to which they are subjected now, and new qualities imparted to them.

It will be a transformed body; the character of its transformation is indicated by the transformation that took place in the body of Jesus Christ. Some suggestion as to what that transformed body of Jesus Christ was like is found in that anticipation of His resurrection which was seen by Peter, James and John on the mount of transfiguration.

Matthew in his description of the appearance of Jesus at His transfiguration, tells us that “His face did shine as the sun, and his garments [became white as the light” (Matt. 17:2). Luke tells us that “the fashion of his countenance was altered and His raiment became white and dazzling” (Luke 9:29). Mark tells us that “He was transfigured before them: and his garments became glistering, exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them” (Mark 9:2, 3).

3. The next thing that we are told about our resurrection bodies is that they will not be flesh and blood.

In I Cor. 15:50, 51 we read, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Paul is here talking about our resurrection bodies. It is in the resurrection chapter he says this, and he distinctly tells us that our resurrection bodies will not be “flesh and blood.”

4. But while our resurrection bodies will not be “flesh and blood,” they will have “flesh and bones.” 

This appears from what our Lord Himself says about His own resurrection body in Luke 24:39. Here we read that Jesus said: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye behold me having.” 

As our resurrection bodies are to be transformed into the likeness of His, we also must have “flesh and bones” in our resurrection bodies. Some have fancied that they saw a contradiction between what our Lord says here and what Paul says in the passage quoted above (I Cor.15:50, 51), but there is no contradiction. “Flesh” we shall have, but not “flesh and blood,” i.e., not flesh, the animating principle of which is blood.

The question arises, What takes the place of the blood in our resurrection bodies? The answer seems to be that in the present life, “blood is the life” of the natural body, but in the life to come our bodies are to be, as we are told elsewhere in this same chapter, “spiritual bodies,” i.e., bodies, the animating principle of which is the Spirit of God, not our own blood. Our not having “blood” in our resurrection bodies involves many great and glorious possibilities, upon which we cannot dwell now.

5. In the fifth place (and closely connected with 3 and 4), our resurrection bodies will be incorruptible.

We read in I Cor. 15:42: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.” The thought of this word “incorruption” is that the body is not subject to decay, it is imperishable.

Our present bodies are decaying all the time. We are perishing every day and every minute. My present body is disintegrating while I talk to you. But the bodies that we shall receive in the resurrection will be absolutely free from the liability to corruption or decay. They cannot disintegrate or suffer decay or deterioration of any kind.

6. The next thing that we are taught about the resurrection body is that it is a glorious body.

This comes out in the first part of the following verse, I Cor. 15:43, “It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory.” Some idea of the glory, the [glorious beauty, of that body is suggested by the representation of our glorified Lord that we have in Rev. 1:13-17: “And in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace, and his voice as the voice of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead, and he laid his right hand upon me saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last.” Our resurrection bodies will be like that.

7. Furthermore, our resurrection bodies will be powerful.

Or as we read in the last half of this same verse (1 Cor. 15:43), “It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.” Then all our weariness and weakness will be forever at an end. In our present bodies our bodies are oftentimes a hindrance to our highest aspirations, they thwart the carrying out of our loftiest purposes, we cannot put into execution our loftiest purposes, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” But in our resurrection bodies the body will be able to accomplish all that the spirit purposes. The redeemed body will be a perfect counterpart of the [redeemed spirit that inhabits it. No deafness, dimsightedness nor blindness, no tired hands and feet, no maimed soldier boys coming home from the war.

8. It will be a heavenly body. 

This appears from the 47th to the 49th verses of this same chapter. “The first man is of (literally, out of) the earth, earthy: the second man is of (literally, out of) heaven: as is the earth, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” The thought plainly is that our present bodies are of an earthly origin and an earthly character, but that the transformed body will be of a heavenly character.

Paul explains it at length in 2 Cor. 5:1-4 where he says, “For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. For verily in this (i.e., in this present earthly house, earthy body) we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven (i.e., our heavenly body): if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For indeed we that are in this tabernacle (i.e., in the present earthy body) groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon (i.e., with our heavenly body), that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life.”

9. Our transformed bodies will be luminous, shining, dazzling, bright like the sun. 

This is seen in many passages. For example, Matt. 13:43, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” This is to be taken literally for it is in the interpretation of the parable and not in the parable. This suggests what we have already seen about the transfigured body of Jesus in Matt. 17:2, where we are told that “His face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as the light.” We have the same thought also in the Old Testament in Dan. 12:3, where we are told, “And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.” 

They shall shine literally as well as figuratively. Some suggestion of what the luminous glory of our faces and forms in our resurrection bodies will be is seen in the light that Paul tells us that he saw beaming from the person of Jesus when the glorified Jesus met him on the Damascus road. In Paul’s description of what he saw on that occasion, as given in Acts 26:12, 13, we read, “Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining around about me and them that journeyed with me.” The light that Saul saw, as is evident from the whole account, was the light that shone from the person of our glorified Lord, [and in our resurrection bodies we shall be like Him.

10. Three interesting facts regarding our resurrection bodies are stated in Matt. 22:30 and Luke 20:35, 36.

In Matt. 22:30 we read: “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven.” In Luke 20:35, 36 we read: “But they that are counted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection of the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: for neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Taking these two passages together, we learn that our resurrection bodies are like the angels, that we do not marry in our resurrection bodies and that these bodies cannot die any more.

11. Though all these resurrection bodies are glorious, they differ from one another, each one having its own peculiar glory. 

This appears from 1 Cor. 15:41, 42: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection from the dead.” Glorious as all our bodies shall be, there will be no tiresome uniformity even of glory in the world of resurrection bodies. Each body will have its own peculiar glory.

12. Let us say finally in regard to the character of our resurrection body, that the resurrection of our body will be the consummation of our adoption, i.e., of our placing as sons, our manifestations as sons of God.

In Rom. 8:23 we read: “We, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption (i.e., our placing as sons), to wit, the redemption of our body.” 

The resurrection body will be the consummation of our placing as sons, i.e., in the resurrection body it will be outwardly manifested that we are sons of God. Before His incarnation Christ was “in the form of God.” (Phil. 2:6), i.e., in the visible appearance of God. So shall we also be in the resurrection, for our bodies shall be like His.

This throws light upon what Paul meant when he said in Col. 3:4: “When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall we also with him be manifested in glory.” And also it throws light on what John meant when he says in I John 3:2, R. V.: “Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

Excerpt From – The Fundamental Doctrines Of The Christian Faith By Reuben Archer Torrey.

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When Will The Resurrection Of The Body Take Place – Spiritual Reading

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When Will The Resurrection Of The Body Take Place – Spiritual Reading.

There remains but one question to be considered and we can deal with that very briefly. That question is, when will the resurrection of the body take place? This question is plainly answered time and again in the Bible. For example, it is answered in Phil. 3:20, 21: “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.” 

Here it is plainly declared that the transformation of our bodies into the likeness of the glorious body of Christ will take place when the Lord Jesus whom we are awaiting shall appear from heaven. The same thought is given in I Thess.4:16, 17: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

The question will arise in some of our minds, what about us in the meantime if we chance to die before the coming of the Lord? This question also is plainly answered in II Cor. 5:1-8: “For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle (our present bodies) be dissolved (die and decay) we have a building from God, a house not made with hands (our resurrection body that we are to get at the coming of the Lord), eternal, in the heavens. For verily in this (i.e., while living in this present body) we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven (our resurrection body) if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

For indeed we that are in this tabernacle (this present earthy body) do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed (i.e., not that we would merely get rid of our present bodies), but that we would be clothed upon (i.e., that we would receive our resurrection bodies) that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life. Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit (i.e., the Holy Ghost, whom we have received as the earnest of the full redemption in our resurrection bodies which are to be obtained at the coming of the Lord). 

Being therefore always of good courage and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body (i.e., while we are still in our earthly life in this present earthly body) we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith not by sight); we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body (i.e., to have our present earthly body die even before we get our resurrection bodies, which we shall not get until the return of the Lord), and to be at home with the Lord.” 

The teaching of this plainly is that if we die before the return of the Lord and therefore before we obtain our resurrection body, our spirits are unclothed, i.e., they are unclothed from this present body and not yet clothed upon with the resurrection body, but that we are “at home with the Lord” in conscious blessedness, in a condition that is far better than that that we are in in this present life (see Phil. 1:23, R. V.), but not so perfect as that condition which shall be when our redeemed spirits are clothed upon with our resurrection bodies. 

It will be at the return of the Lord Jesus that we get our full redemption. That is one reason why “we wait” (literally, assiduously wait) for Him (Phil. 3:20, 21, see Greek). That is one reason why we long for the return of the Lord. There are many reasons why we long for the return of our Lord. All the great problems that are confronting us at this present time in national and international life, in social, commercial and political life, will be solved when He comes, and will never be solved until He comes; and for these reasons we long for Him.

But we long for Him also because while this present body serves many a useful purpose for the redeemed spirit that inhabits it, it is often a hindrance. It is often subject to aches and pains, to frailties, and it is a constant temptation to folly. But when our Lord Jesus comes again He will transform this present body of our humiliation into the likeness of His own glorious body and at that time we shall know what “full salvation” means, when we shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our Father.

Excerpt From – The Fundamental Doctrines Of The Christian Faith By Reuben Archer Torrey.

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Feeding And Drinking – Miracles, Signs And Wonders Done By Jesus

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Feeding And Drinking – Miracles, Signs And Wonders Done By Jesus.

Jesus helps the disciples to catch a great number of fish

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Luke 5:4-11

Jesus feeds four thousand people with seven loaves and a few little fish

Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”
34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.”
35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

Matthew 15:33-38

This story can also be found in: Matthew 15:29-39 / Mark 8:1-10

Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two small fish

One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

John 6:8-14

This story can also be found in: Matthew 14:13-21 — Mark 6:30-44 — Luke 9:10-17

Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding

And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”
11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

John 2:3-11

Jesus causes his disciples to catch a large number of fish

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”
They answered Him, “No.”
6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. 9 Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”
11 Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.
14 This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.

John 21:3-14

John

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Resurrection And Raising People From The Dead – Miracles, Signs And Wonders Done By Jesus

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Resurrection And Raising People From The Dead – Miracles, Signs And Wonders Done By Jesus.

Jesus raises and resurrects Lazarus from the dead

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11:38-44

Jesus raises and resurrects the son of the widow of Nain from the dead

And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.”

Luke 7:12-16

Jesus raises and resurrects Jairus’s daughter from the dead

While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.” 50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” 51 When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. 52 Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” 53 And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.
54 But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” 55 Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 56 And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Luke 8:49-56

This story can also be found in: Matthew 9:18-19, 23-26 — Mark 5:21-24, 35-43

John

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