The Ultimate Purpose of the Resurrection, Part 4
The title for this short series of blogs could be taken to imply that there is a simple and short means of identifying exactly what is the “ultimate purpose of the resurrection.” If you, the reader, thought this was the case, I think you would be half correct. For I have proposed what I think is the straightforward and simple end goal of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ: To make it possible for our whole selves (including our bodies) to be united with him spiritually and to receive all the fullness of God’s gifts and thus be able to serve him in the way he intended when he created human beings.
However,
the writers of Scripture tell us that this end goal can only be reached through
a process. That is, God in Jesus Christ had to go through a process of
suffering, dying and being raised back to life. And we who believe, through the
engagement of our wills, must go through a process by which we abide in our
Lord, the Vine, and receive all we need for “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
Further, I contend, that Scripture tells that there is an orderly process by
which God makes the provision of spiritual life (Greek, zoe) flow from
God himself into our finite beings.
Here
is what I believe regarding that orderly process: The resurrection of Christ
makes it possible for God the Holy Spirit to gift to believing humans the full effects
of the death of Christ on the cross as our substitute. The source of the
God-human life that the Lord Jesus offered up for us is the “blood of Christ”; the
divine power of God Father, concentrated in the life-blood of Jesus Christ
himself, was released through Christ when he died. The chosen means of directly
imparting or transferring divine life to redeemed human beings is through the
Blood. And thus it is the blood that makes spiritual transformation happen;
while the death and resurrection are God’s chosen means of releasing that
divine power; we receive divine life and power through union (abiding) with
Christ.
I
am indebted to the writings of one of God’s faithful servants from a prior
generation (Andrew Murray) for this insight regarding the Blood. Since I cannot
articulate this truth any better than he did, I will cite a few choice quotes
from him.
“The life which
dwelt in that blood—the heart from which it flowed—glowing with love and
devotion to God and His will, was one of entire obedience and consecration to
Him. And, now, what do you think? If that blood, living and powerful through
the Holy Spirit, comes into contact with our hearts, and if we rightly
understand what the blood of the cross means, is it possible that that blood
should not impart its holy nature to us?" (Andrew Murray, The Blood of the Cross [Martino
Publishing: 2012], p.38.)
The Lord Jesus frequently spoke of
the centrality of the human “heart” and that to really know God one’s heart
must be open to, yielded to and filled with God himself. This is how the Lord
himself lived during his earthly journey that led to his death on our behalf. “For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21, ESV) And
it is the human heart that needs to be re-created in order for us to love God
and be a neighbor to others.
“But as the
blood could not have been shed apart from the sacrifice of ‘self’ on the cross,
so it cannot be received or enjoyed apart from a similar sacrifice of ‘self.’ That
blood will bring to us a ‘self’ sacrificing disposition, and in our work there
will be a conformity to, and an imitation of, the crucified One, making
self-sacrifice the highest and most blessed law of our lives. The blood is a
living, spiritual, heavenly power. It will bring the soul that is entirely
surrendered to it, to see and know by experience that there is no entrance into
the full life of God, save by the self-sacrifice of the cross.” (The Blood of the Cross, p.38)
I
have struggled most of my teen years and adult life to consistently live with
full integrity in relationship to God and others. And my positive response to that
struggle has mainly consisted in trying to find some kind of means (I will call
them “tools”) for righteous living—service through the local church, intensive
study of Scripture and other great Christian books, many failed attempts to
establish daily time for prayer and quiet before God and to will to be
self-disciplined in my thoughts and behavior. What was I missing? What have I
been so blind as to not understand?
Surely
I have been blind to the power of the Blood. And this has been due to my choice
to seek what I thought were spiritual solutions to my own agonizing personal
failures. The only spiritual solution available to any of us is found in the
Lord Jesus! Specifically, in the power of his life-blood. And for his life-blood
to give deliverance and wholeness I must be willing to believe that I have no
power in myself to save myself in any way. Even my ability to give myself as a “living
and holy sacrifice” (Romans 12:1, NASB) is only possible because Christ gives
me the power to do so through his own “self-sacrifice of the cross” (Murray).
This
whole series of blogs, due to the need to elaborate and clarify the several
layers of important biblical affirmations (and their theological implications),
could be interpreted as theoretical and not useful for how we actually live day
to day. I urge the reader to be open to consider how eminently practical and
helpful the biblical teaching is on the death, resurrection and the blood of
Christ. The Lord and the apostles taught it as transformative truth to all who
would hear. Holy Spirit grant us revelation to understand what the Father wills
to give us through the blood of Christ’s cross!
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