“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him we shall also live with Him:” (2 Timothy 2:11)
Paul wrote to Timothy telling him that that this was a true and definite doctrine. This was Paul’s manner of speaking and is seen three time in his letters to Timothy and once to Titus. Two big things to study here, if we be dead with Him and we shall also live with Him.
Did we die with Jesus? This is a big doctrine in Christianity. Paul wrote: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) He doesn’t say he was, but that he is crucified with Christ. For Paul, it was a daily dying of the flesh because as a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus, a believer in Jesus, born-again, born of God creation, we still have to live in this flesh. And the flesh is a selfish and egotistical tyrant which wars with the born-again of God spirit. It hasn’t been saved. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17) In writing to the Romans, Paul makes another statement. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Romans 6:6) In God’s world the past, present and future are all known at the same time. This shouldn’t surprise us.
On this earth the past and present are known. We just don’t know the future. Parents have the best example of this. When they see their grown-up son or daughter lawyer or executive, they see their little baby, the little toddler and teenager who was already showing talents that would guide him or her to their positions as grown adults. That’s the same with God, except that He is able to see the future. All this to point out that the Lord saw our old sinful and darkened spirit die with Jesus on the cross. And we had to die so that we could be born-again of Him. Our reborn spirits are pure, holy, righteous before God. We would not be able to come to God if we didn’t have a pure, holy and righteous spirit. But our flesh which was not redeemed is what the Holy Spirit changes in the process of sanctification as sin in the flesh is revealed.
The other big doctrine is that we shall live with Him. This is the eternal life God has promised, and that Jesus spoke about. Jesus spoke about it when He spoke about His sheep. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” (John 10:28) A verse we all know is John 3:16. It is the foundational Scripture of Christianity. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) And we will be eternally with Christ. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John14:3) We will be with Jesus forever.
There is one more point about being with Jesus. Did you realize that because the Holy Spirit indwells, Jesus is with us even now? The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are One. This is a divine thing that we don’t understand here on earth. While it’s the Holy Spirit Who indwells, the Father and Jesus are present also. When Jesus spoke of sending the Holy Spirit He said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:18-20) He said, “...I will come to you...” when He spoke of sending the Holy Spirit. This is beyond our comprehension. It’s a spiritual truth we cannot understand. But we will.
Both Truths are difficult to understand. They are spiritual and can only be understood in the spirit. We believe everything Jesus said because the Holy Spirit gives us the assurance of the Truth, even if we don’t understand it. He gives us peace over it. We praise the Lord because of it. And it’s biblical. The three criteria of Truth.
Comments