A NEW BODY Like Jesus!
“We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.”2 Corinthians 5:2
In order to walk God’s Way of Agape, we must be willing to take every thought captive.
*”Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God…”
2 Corinthians 10:5
Jesus Ascension
*Acts 1:9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.
The apostles saw their Lord lift off and head home. On a cloud, no less.
Clouds play an important role in the coming and going of the manifest presence of God. The glory cloud led and protected Israel in the wilderness. The glory cloud filled the tabernacle and the temple. Prophets continually describe clouds as part of God’s earth-rumbling arrival. A cloud rolls onto the mountaintop during Jesus’ transfiguration. And Christ told His followers that He we would see Him return one glorious day riding on a cloud.
One remarkable thing about the ascension is that it affirms Christ’s physical body went into Heaven following his resurrection.
Some Christians imagine that Christ shed himself of his humanity and returned to being a completely spiritual being when he went back to Heaven. *But this is false according to the Bible recalling the witnesses that were there .
John 20:17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
*He could have “dissolved” or “disappeared,” but instead Jesus Physically ascended to a place, from which he will physically return to earth in the same physical body.
Philippians 3:20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
*So Jesus became a man (first coming, incarnation), defeated death and assumed his eternal body as a man (resurrection), and went back to Heaven as a man (ascension) and will return as a man (second coming; and as our firstfruits raising our self-same bodies as bodies like his).
He will reign over the New Earth as the God-man. He has become a permanent member of the human race.
Luke 21:27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory.
Matthew 26:64 Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
So if you’re ever wished you could walk the earth with Jesus, like his disciples did, good news…if you know Him, you will. You will have a new (raised) body and it will be a New (raised) Earth, but it will really be you, it will really be Jesus, and it will really be Earth.
* No sin, no death, no curse. I will be me without all the bad parts, and the Earth will be Earth without all the bad parts. (New bodies are not non-bodies, and new earth is not non-earth, any more than a new car is a non-car.)
As Job put it, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27)
*The Resurrection of Christ was the event that accomplished salvation and verified Christ’s victory over death,
* but it was the Cross of Jesus Christ that showed us the grace of God. Everything that God wants us to know about Himself comes together in those crossbeams.
****Our entire purpose in life is to elevate the Cross. Think on Jesus Christ there. In your mind’s eye, picture Him stretched out against the sky.
What’s He doing up there? Answer:
*He’s subbing for you and me.
* He’s taking God’s wrath for your sin. *He’s satisfying the just demands of a holy God.
* He’s paying the price that God’s holiness requires so that you and I can be forgiven. In the place where our blood should have stained the ground, Jesus hung as our substitute.
You can’t understand the Gospel until you understand this idea of substitution. Jesus’ death was in the place of every person who has ever lived. I am in that line. You are too. Each of us deserves to die in payment for our own sin, BUT Jesus stepped in and took that penalty for each of us.
The Lord has spoken to you through His written word. All you have to do is to put your trust in Him and believe what He has said. Refuse to allow fear to have a place in your heart or to allow doubt and unbelief to undermine or destroy your faith. Stand your ground of strong belief and be unwavering.
* Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
*We humans are guilty of lying, deception and misleading others, but God is TRUTH. In Him there is no shadow or turning. He is totally forthright, honest and integral. Further His track record proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that anything He says he will do, he has performed it completely. You can totally depend and take God at His Word!
Revelation 1:7 Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him—
* Look forward to leaving this planet. Do you have eternal plans? In other words, are you building God’s kingdom? Do you have your spiritual blueprints and instructions? Are you investing in the Kingdom?
Lord Jesus, You are the perfect investment. Your Kingdom is the best investment. Thank You for letting me get in on the ground level. You took all the risk. You paid the price. And You let me reap the benefits.
Lord I rejoice in the knowledge of your soon coming again! Thank you for your grace and mercy that have set me free from the bondage of sin and death and given me a hope and a future. I am indeed grateful that I am ready, and hopeful for your glorious and triumphant return. Come Lord Jesus! Come. In Jesus name, Amen.