John 11:25-26

 I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.

By not observing the context, all kinds of strange doctrines have been fabricated from this passage of Scripture. Some even claim that believers do not die, but somehow they have gone to be with The Lord Jesus already. Most people can't believe such wild doctrines but may pretend to do so while knowing all along in their hearts that death is hard to explain away.

If you read the whole chapter very carefully, especially John 11:24, the Truth of it will be revealed. Do not miss any words; Martha had hoped that the Lord would come soon enough to heal her brother (John 11:21-22). But now, even though Lazarus is dead, Martha expresses the hope that the Lord might raise her brother. In fact, she believes that anything the Lord asks of His Father will be done.

The Lord then makes the remark that Lazarus will rise again (John 11:23). Martha takes that right up, for she is a believer and has The Hope of the Jews, so she knew that her brother would rise on the last day (John 11:24).

On the last day, this is the key we have been looking for. It is the key to the next two verses. It is left out, but it is up to us to fill the ellipsis.

So the Lord tells her that on that last day, He will be The Power of The Resurrection and The Giver of Life. And that on that day, He will raise all dead believers, those that sleep in Jesus, making Him The Resurrection, The Hope of Israel. And those believers that are living in that last day will never die, for He will give Life to them. Now we can know what He meant when He said, I AM The Resurrection and the Life. I AM is none other than Jehovah, and He will bring immortality to all believers on the last day.

Paul speaks of the same thing when he wrote 1 Cor. 15:51-52. He makes plain that on the last day, not all will be sleeping in death, but that all will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. It will be at the last trump (Rev. 11:15), where the Lord takes over the kingdoms of this world and rules. This was no secret, for the Lord had told the same thing to Martha years before. Those who try to make you believe that this passage in 1 Cor. 15:51-52 is a part of The Dispensation of The Mystery will have a hard time convincing many that this Hope of the Jews is also The Hope of The Church. Search the Scriptures and see for they speak of Him Who is The Resurrection!

But again, in 1 Thes. 4:15-17, we find the same message. It says that the living believers will not precede the dead or sleeping believers. The dead will rise, and they, with the living believers, will be caught up in the air, not heaven, to meet the Lord as He comes to take over the kingdoms of this world and reign in Jerusalem on the throne of His father, David. And note that the setting is with the voice of the archangel and a trumpet. Also, if they are not going to heaven, where will they ever be with the Lord? If He is coming to the earth to set up His Kingdom, then they will meet Him and come back with Him and be with Him for the age or The Millennium.

Once, Paul hoped to take part in this event, but he gained a New Hope (Col. 3:1-4) and resigned himself to death till That Hope comes 2 Tim. 4:6).

1 Corinthians 15:23

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

There is no question about resurrection being The Hope of The Church of The Dispensation of The Mystery. In his last letter to Timothy, Paul warned against those who say that the resurrection is past already. This is the teaching that members of The Church go to heaven when they die. That would bypass resurrection and The Manifestation in Glory in the days to come.

Colossians 1:18 assures us that Christ is the firstborn from the dead. If that is true, then those that are His must follow the same pattern and be born again from the dead (resurrection).

The problem that has plagued so many is the time of this great event. When are they raised?

The fact that members are quickened (made alive), raised, and seated with Him in The Heavenlies now is a spiritual experience and condition. It does not answer the questions concerning The Resurrection.

The gathering in John 11:25-26; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thes. 4:15-17, and Rev. 11:15-17, is a fulfillment of prophecy concerning Israel and has nothing to do with The Mystery and its Church. This event was never hidden in God from the ages and generations.

So The Hope of The Church of The Dispensation of The Mystery is not the same as that of Israel, so we will have to look a bit further along in our Book for the answer to this vexing question.

The citizenship of this Church is in Heaven (Phil. 3:20). It is blessed with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places. These expressions give us a key to what we seek. Israel has her Hope here on earth. She awaits the Coming of her Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords, to come to earth and set up His kingdom, seated on the throne of His father, David. And their future part in the purpose of God is to evangelize the nations of the earth during The Millennium. This is The Great Commission.

So Israel will see The Coming of the Lord to earth. They will see Him unveiled here on earth. And they will see Him reign on earth.

But The Church, having a Heavenly Hope and sphere of activity, has no part in these events. It has an even greater one to look for. That is His Manifestation in Glory. He is not now seen on the earth. Neither is He seen in heaven. The time of His Manifestation is not yet come. When He is manifested there, it will not be only to The Church but to the principalities and powers there as well.

But somebody may ask if that means those evil beings mentioned in Eph. 6:12. Hardly, for first Satan and his angels reside in the lowest of all heavens, 'the air,' next stop down, the earth itself. It is from this low heaven satan will be cast down (Rev. 12:7-13) out of heaven about 3 1/2 years before "the gathering together" of 1 Thes. 4:16-17 and 2 Thes. 2:1. The Church of The One Body of Christ inhabits The Heaven of heavens far, far, above all other heavens, and we should Manifest in Christ Jesus there about 17 1/2 years earlier. As soon as Satan is cast out of the 'the air,' then Christ will meet the faithful who will inhabit The New Jerusalem, The Bride there replacing satan with Glory. This is logical and parallel with the experience of Israel entering their land and the record in Hebrews Chapter 11.

Now as to the manner of getting there, the transportation, none is needed. If we, as Israel, are to have bodies made without hands in The Heavens, then it follows that our Resurrection will be there, not here on the earth, for we Manifest out from The Shekinah Light of Glory where Christ is hidden now.

Genesis 3:21

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Adam was made a living soul and afterward put in a garden eastward in Eden (Gen. 2:8). He was set in an environment of mortality, and as beautiful as everything was, the natural cycle of life Adam witnessed contained plants and animals that were being consumed, and some were dying. Adam knew the facts of death, so there was no need for God to instruct Adam what that word meant.

And Adam himself was created a mortal being, and he could only live so long, except God had provided The Tree of Life (Gen. 2:9). He was thus a candidate for immortality; he was being tested to see whether he would obey his Creator or not.

Adam was instructed that he would certainly die if he disobeyed God's one and only commandment for him. And that death was to happen on the very same day that he transgressed (Gen. 2:16-17).

Adam willfully sinned (Gen. 3:6), but he did not die on the day he sinned. Why? Some teach he did die; they say he died spiritually. The Scriptures do not agree; Genesis 2:7 says, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Adams' was formed from 'dust,' then 'the breath of life,' which is the Hebrew word neshâmâh = spirit of breath life. Then 'man became a living soul.' The soul is the Hebrew word nephesh which means living creature or individual. So a soul is a body and spirit combined to make a third thing an individual or, as Scripture says, 'soul.' All of Scripture bears this out, and even to this day, we speak of souls on a ship or plane, etc. So if Adam died that day, God would need to have taken his spirit or body, and then his soul would have died. This did not happen, so why did Adam not die as God had said he would? The answer is MERCY. God had mercy on them and found another way which is hardly ever taught, for Gen. 3:21 says God covered their sin by the shedding of blood and made a sacrifice for His children, thus pointing toward the day when He would shed His Precious Blood for them and for all mankind on The Cross.

There was a sacrifice, a substitute. One ultimately came and died in Adams' stead, and He was identified and signified by that victim, which shed its blood and gave provided its skin so that Adam might be covered. That One Who was signified by that victim animal and came and died for Adam and all of us is Jesus Christ, The Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15).

Adam knew that this innocent victim stood as a representative of himself, who should have died that day. It had died a death from which there was no return and for which there was no remedy. This was what was threatened to him, and he realized that it was what he deserved.

Coupled with the promise in Gen 3:15, this sacrifice was a picture story of what was to happen in the future. But it was not yet time for God Himself to take the place of Adam and die in his stead. That was to come later. But Adam had The Promise and could by faith obtain everlasting life and resurrection in a sure and efficacious sacrifice to be made for him in the future, even as you and I can look back to it and be identified with that True Sacrifice when The Seed of the woman came and has His Heel bruised on The Cross.

Adam did die 930 years later, but not the death that was threatened to him in Eden. He "fell on sleep" and awaits the call for resurrection. After the sacrifice was made, Adam again was a candidate for immortality, but on different conditions.

When Adam fell, he not only brought death upon himself and the forfeiture of immortality but brought the same upon countless billions of his children. They, too, can only have resurrection and immortality by being identified with or baptized into the death and Resurrection of The Redeemer, The One Great Sacrifice. They must follow their father, Adam, in this respect. Most of them follow something they need not do. Most men at some time try the fig leaves to cover themselves, but they soon discover that their own works are not sufficient; they soon wither away and drop off or turn their eyes to The Son of God.

When Adam and Eve made the aprons of fig leaves and then hid themselves, they fully expected God to appear and carry out the sentence of death. How surprised they must have been when He provided a way of escape. Maybe it was hard to believe, but they and now we learn a great lesson in The Love of God.

The record leads us to believe that Adam failed in many ways, yet his children have been taught The Sacrifice and the reason for it. The place were it occurred was where The Cherubim were placed at the entrance to the garden (Gen. 3:24).

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

The Revised Version leaves out all that is after the comma, following Westcott and Hort. But Stephens' Text gives it as quoted above, and this is the AV or KJV follows. There has been great controversy about this verse. Perfectionists just cannot see that there might be condemnation for a believer, regardless of how unjust he may be.

Terms and their definitions are greatly at fault. Christendom has taken on a 'lingo' these days from traditions and philosophies of men that pretty effectively obscures the truth of the Word of God and makes it ineffective.

For instance, these folks will quote Deuteronomy 25:1 to prove that justifying the righteous is the opposite of condemning the wicked. And they are right! But the question we have to face sooner or later is, Who are the righteous and the wicked mentioned? What is the context?

The verse in question reads, "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." Of course, the judging must be according to the law given at Sinai. And this law was given to a people who had been redeemed that night in Egypt by virtue of the blood being sprinkled. And that same people were also redeemed from Egypt by the strong arm of Jehovah. And these same people had been given the atonement at Sinai, which was to make a redeemed people fit to enter the presence of Jehovah. So then the righteous and wicked mentioned in the verse above were a redeemed people, and that by the blood of the lamb.

But among these are both righteous and wicked men. Note the slothful and wicked servant of Matthew 25:26, yet a servant of his master. Was he not unjust? And so we find the just and the unjust before the judges in Deuteronomy 25:1. But they are redeemed men. There is no word to indicate that the wicked man is an unbeliever. That is not the question. It is solely a matter of works.

This leads us up now to our text again. In the chapter before (Romans 7), Paul speaks of his own experience with the two natures in the child of God. His new nature is just, and the old is unjust. He can walk after either one. To walk after the old nature only brings condemnation. He would become a castaway, a thing which he feared. See 1 Corinthians 9:27. If there is no condemnation of any kind to them which are in Christ Jesus, then why did Paul take such pains to walk uprightly and not unjustly? Is it possible that a workman could not be ashamed? See 2 Timothy 2:15.

In the light of Romans Chapters 7 & 8, one of the most dangerous doctrines is that of sinless perfection, no condemnation to the believer regardless of his actions. And this is one of the great dangers of right division. Beware (Colossians 2:8).

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit (Romans 8:1).

The condemnation that comes upon the believer because of faulty walk and wicked works is not the same condemnation that is spoken in the context of life and death. Take John 5:24, for example:

 John 5:24, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

This is a great comfort to the believer, the knowledge he has the gift of life that can never die. John 3:16 gives us the facts of life, but that is just the start, just the beginning. There is a purpose, and that purpose is being worked out by means of two Dispensations or families of God, and each is considered a firstborn. One is the firstborn of the nations of the earth, the other is a group that is a firstborn among principalities, powers, mights, and dominions in Heavenly Places.

There can be no condemnation of the believer to death, but there can be condemnation if he does not walk after the new nature. When Nathan said to David, "Thou art the man" (2 Samuel 12:7), there was condemnation. The sword was not to depart from the house of David till he died.

And in the early days of The Apostles and the ministry in Jerusalem, a man and his wife, new converts, walked in the way of the flesh, and they died suddenly. There was condemnation!

Now again, to our text, Romans 8:1. Notice the little word NOW, this word is entirely disregarded, and the verse is made to mean that there is some future judgment concerning life and death and that those in Christ cannot come into condemnation then. That could not be true for the simple reason that one either has life here and now or he does not. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12). It is as simple as that. For the rest of mankind, all future judgment after death has to do with their works. "He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

In our chapter, Romans 8:9, we are told that if any man has not the spirit of Christ (the new nature which is created in the believer), such a one is none of His. This is condemnation unto death. But Romans 8:1 has to do with walking, not life.

We would now like to make some more applications to The Dispensation of The Mystery. We have already hinted that this principle carries over into The Church as well as The Kingdom.

Again we must be reminded that this is not a judgment concerning life and death, but it is about the walk of those who are in Christ Jesus.

At one time we all had a walk which was not according to the spirit, and were by nature the children of wrath (Ephesians 2:2; Colossians 3:7).

Members are to walk in good works which God hath before ordained that they should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). This is after the spirit.

Members are to walk worthy of the calling (Ephesians 4:1) and to walk worthy of Christ (Colossians 1:10). Again, this is walking after the spirit.

We are not to walk as other Gentiles walk, i.e., those alienated from the life that is in God. See Ephesians 4:17.

Then there is a threefold walk for the believer in Ephesians 5:2, Eph. 5:8, and Eph. 5:15. He is to walk in love, the relationship of husbands and wives. He is to walk as a child of light, the Shekinah glory that shines from The Holy of holies. This is in relationship to children and parents. And one is to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. This is the relationship between masters and servants. So this threefold walk takes in all human contact with others. And this walk is summed up in Romans 8:1 as walking after the spirit, the new nature in the believer.

In Philippians 3:16, Paul could say that he walked according to the spirit and exhorted others to do the same, that all have the same mind. In the next verse (Phil. 3:17), he tells them to walk according to his example. But in Phil. 3:18, he speaks of those who walk not after the spirit, but after the flesh, who mind earthly things and whose god is their belly. Their end is the destruction of their works. See parallel in 1 Corinthians 3:15.

It is plain that in The Dispensation of The Mystery, one may be unjust, walk after the flesh, and be a workman that will be ashamed when his work is assessed. There are two classes of those who are in Christ Jesus; the just and the unjust, the faithful and the wicked and slothful.

Another Scripture to ponder is Colossians 2:6, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." This is not walking after the flesh. It is a warning that one could walk in the flesh, even though having received Christ Jesus the Lord. And why not? Because there is condemnation. There is sorrow and loss for such in this life, as with David.

So let us retain the last half of Romans 8:1 and heed the warning lest we suffer loss.