The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within you. Do you believe that? Have you ever experienced His presence? I've observed that most Christians barely have the power the get up on Sunday morning or make it to a mid-week Bible Study. These days, one would be hard-pressed to find a Christian who could muster the faith to believe for the healing of their own sniffles.

The Apostle Paul said, (Philippians 3:10), "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death...."

Notice the four statements Paul makes in this verse:
1) "that I may know Him."
2) "and [that I may know] the power of His resurrection."
3) " [that I may know] the fellowship of His suffering."
4) "[that I may be made] conformable unto His death."

Isn't that amazing? Here's Paul, an old man by this time, still zealous for his faith in Christ as he ever was, maintaining that his #1 aspiration in life is this: "that I may know Him."

Evangelist Leonard Ravenhill used to say "the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the Standard of power in the New Testament." Well put, Len. You see, everybody wants power. Everybody wants to rule the world; at the very least, the world they're living in. For some, it's getting enough food and water to make it one more day. To another, it's selling more dope than the competition. To someone else, it's done by climbing the corporate ladder or making another business acquisition. The Satanist who becomes a Christian will confess that the main draw to Satanism was the "power" that he saw exhibited there. Seems some people are overly impressed with parlour tricks.

Regardless of how we do it, "Vene, Vidi, Vici" - I came, I saw, I conquered - is everyone's personal mantra, whether we admit it or not. Fact is, we can't conquer anything that satisfies until we conquer sin in our own lives. Everything else will be found wanting.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the miracle of miracles. By that miracle, Jesus conquered Death, Hell and the Grave, proving that He was God in the flesh. Muhammed never did that. Confucius never did it. Buddha never did. With all due respect to those dead religious leaders, they could NOT do it. Nobody could. Nobody, that is, but Jesus Christ.

Easter Sunday must be Satan's high un-holy Day. Satan's empire fell at the moment of Resurrection. To those who plead with God, "Lord, destroy the work of the devil!" or pray, "Deliver us from evil," here's the truth: Jesus has ALREADY done these things.

Ravenhill said, "The standard of God's power in the New Testament is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The standard of God's power in the Old Testament was the deliverance of the people of Israel through the Red Sea which brought them finally into the land of promise. In the Old Testament the miracle is the raising of a dead nation, because they were in captivity, in Egypt, which is a type of the world. They were under the dominion of Pharaoh, which is a type of the devil, and they were brought as the Word of God says, "God called them with a strong hand. He delivered them with a strong hand and a stretched out arm." All the way from Moses to Malachi there is a constant referring to "Look what God did when He delivered Israel." Now, is anything bigger than that? Have you got a problem bigger than that? Can you imagine anything that demands on God more than that?"

Man, I love ol' Ravenhill.

GOING DEEPER WITH GOD
Because of Christ's Resurrection, WE can be Resurrected, too. He is called "the first fruits." So He is. Ephesians 2:5 says: "You have been quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins." Notice something there: it doesn't say that we WILL die. The verse says that we WERE dead. That same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will also raise you and me.

John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world - you and me - SO MUCH - that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus. The cross represents God's love; the Resurrection represents God's Power.

Imagine being the Apostle Paul for a minute. You've raised the dead and many believe you were raised from death yourself. You've healed people, cast out demons, wrote more world-changing literature than anyone in history ever would...and your greatest ambition is "I want to know Him."

Does that impress anybody besides me?

Is that your goal? It certainly is my own. Don't settle for counterfeits, my friends. Religion, ritualism, dogmatism, doctrines of devils and of men...there are many traps that the enemy has set that are intended to appease the religious nature of man and tap into our spiritual nature. They seem spiritual, sound spiritual and make us "feel" spiritual. They are counterfeits that may even raise a few goose pimples. Yet most who settle for these trappings and partake of them regularly are no deeper in their relationship with God than a committed Army soldier is endeared by the military branch of which he is a part. They'll cut you loose in a heartbeat after decades of service. Institutional Christianity is no different; "Churchianity," I call it.

Do you want a deeper revelation of Christ? There is something about the Resurrection that we have yet to grasp. My wife and I recently had a well dug on our property. They had to dig over 500 feet to find it but there was cool, clear water down there that just had to be untapped. Let's tap into the Resurrection a little bit more. Everything we know about Christianity balances on that one occurrence, the crowning miracle of God. For if there is no resurrection, we are yet in our sins.

WE'RE GONNA DIE!
What was so unique about the Resurrection? Others in Scripture had experienced resurrection, after all. Elijah raised the widow's son (I Kings 17:17-24). Elisha raises the Shunammite's child (II Kings 4:32-37). Peter raises Dorcas (Acts 9:36-41). Paul raised Eutychus to life (Acts 20:9-12). Jesus Himself is recorded as having raised a few. What is the difference between these resurrections and His own?

First: theirs had no power in itself nor did theirs offer any power to anyone else.

Second: they were all called forth from the dead by Jesus or some other man of God. Jesus wasn't called forth by anybody.

Third: when they were resurrected, some were wearing burial cloths. Jesus walked out and left those rags in the tomb like a caterpillar slips out of a cocoon.

The biggest difference between His Resurrection and anybody else's was that, eventually, they all died again. Years ago, while I was praying and asking God for a friend's healing, He reminded me that everyone Jesus healed eventually died. What was the purpose for those who come back - cheated Death - as we say? To bring glory to His name, I imagine. To share the experience with others that they might repent and receive Him, I guess. God has a plan, that's all I know.

Everyone who was resurrected died twice. They must have, unless they're all hiding away in secret somewhere, like an ace relief pitcher awaiting "the nod" to get into the game. But Scripture states: "It's appointed unto man once to die and then the judgement," (Hebrews 9:27). In general, yes, that's true. Any exceptions in Scripture involved Jesus or those He used - and currently IS using - to do so. That's right, people are STILL being raised from the dead around the globe. Some might say, "But Enoch and Elijah didn't die!" The end of Revelation says they will after lying about in the streets of Jerusalem. Perhaps they'll die from a terrorist's bomb in a nightclub. Who knows. God says in Adam all die. That means we're ALL gonna die.

Matt 27:50-53 is telling us something strange happened after Jesus "gave up the ghost." It says: "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice ["Tetelestai!" a Greek word meaning "It is finished" or, literally, "Paid in Full!"], he gave up His spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people."

Only after Jesus' resurrection did these resurrected Saints enter Jerusalem, confirming once and for all that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Can you imagine living there and seeing all these resurrected people walking around town? The Scriptures are silent as to whether these saints testified about Jesus; it only points out that they walked the streets of Jerusalem. Their presence alone was proof enough that Jesus was no ordinary man. Their resurrection could only confirm the fact that Jesus was the Messiah.

We could only speculate about what happened to these people. One thing is certain: They were the firstfruits of what will happen when Jesus returns (1 Thess 4:16-18). The fact is, their function as witnesses was fulfilled.

MEET MR. RESURRECTION
Jesus declared,"I AM the resurrection." Get that? The Resurrection isn't mere Christianity at all; the resurrection IS A PERSON!

In Acts 24, Paul asserts that because Jesus rose, EVERYBODY will rise. Jesus was the LAST Adam (1 Cor 15:45). God expects us to have the world, our flesh and the devil under our feet. It's certain that our uncertain emotions will get in the way as they rise and fall with our bank account balances and circumstances. Jesus said we will have MANY troubles. But He went through life in His own flesh, too. He knows life can be tough as nails.

The best part of Christ's Resurrection is, and I say this selfishly, I admit, that He raised ME from the dead! That's right, God perpetuated that particular miracle in US! I was a zombie, walking about in pursuit of life, stinking the high heavens. I was smelly, and others experienced the rotten stench of my existence. At the end of the Book of the Revelation, Jesus says: "Listen, I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive and I have the keys of death and of hell." I take comfort that I won't die one minute sooner than God wants me to. He knows when my work is completed. Nobody will destroy me before the appointed time. Besides, I could be the most healthy physical specimen of a man and I could get run over by a beer truck while jogging or drive off a cliff while racing to a loved one's death bed. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," (Psalm 116:15).

Romans 6:8 says: "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him."

The Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead is the Spirit that quickens us, because man is dead in trespasses and in sin. That's why some people cannot acknowledge that they're sinners. They're not rejecting the Gospel. Truth is, they never actually heard it. Sure, their human ears heard it, but dead people - zombies - are pretty unresponsive as a whole. A kernel of corn looks lifeless and dead until it is watered and begins to decay. Then, life springs forth and produces many more kernels. Get the analogy? So, we keep watering. The harvest comes when it's TIME to come.

No man comes unto the Father, unless the Father draws him (John 6:44).

Paul wrote, to the Christian people living in a depraved cesspool called Corinth ( 2 Corinthians 5:17), "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation." That's Good News! He makes a brand new YOU! No patch jobs here! Romans 6:4,5 states: "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."

Like a butterfly leaving a cocoon perhaps?

LOOK UP!
Look at Colossians 3:1, 2. Paul says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things 'which are beneath.'"

Why do we see such radical changes in some people but, in others, we'd never know they've ever entered a church? It's one thing for God to make things possible, it's quite another for us to appropriate these things. Romans 2:12 says: "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven all trespasses..." Now look at verse 20: "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Do's and Don't's) after the commandments and doctrines of men?" Romans 3:1 "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, 'wherein' Christ sitteth on the right hand of 'the Father'"

Seek the high life, the holy life, that which is ABOVE. Walk the Spirit-Life, the life of prayer, the life of inspiration, the life of joy. Remind yourself today, not while on your death bed. Start victorious living NOW. Tozer said: "Remember this: that while you and I are on earth we are passing through enemy territory." Yes, it's hostile country. The enemy is going to open fire even at our newest recruits. The world doesn't like what we do. It doesn't like what we say. It doesn't like the way we act.

You must draw, moment by moment, upon the Resurrection Life of Jesus. That Resurrection Life of Jesus is the Spirit who raised up Jesus form the dead. Gone is every sin that man has ever committed from here to eternity past and future. No matter how "badly" you may have sinned, it makes no difference. Sure, there will always be consequences for our sins, but nothing will never separate us from God's love. The Word says that Jesus was raised from the dead and He die no more. And because He lives, we shall live also.

Ravenhill said, "Jesus is risen. He's cut off from the world. He lives in it, but He is not of it. Again, I can't explain what this does to me, but when I think that for 40 days and nights He didn't say a word to the world...Makes me wonder...if God turns His back on America before long we are in for an awful, awful lot of trouble. Worse than we've ever dreamed of. Maybe if Gabriel could shout a word to America right now, or to England, or to Australia, so called civilized countries, he'd say, what Jesus said: "Oh, Jerusalem, oh Corazin, oh Bethsaida, if thou knewest the day of thy visitation." We don't know how blessed we are... We've food, we've clothing. You think it might take a judgment, or prison to get some people really together? To break down bad spirits, and unforgiving spirits, and hardness of heart? Will it have to be done in tears, because it hasn't been done at the cross through the love of the Lord Jesus?"

Selah. That's good stuff.

Let's aspire, by the grace of God, moment-by-moment to trust in the Resurrection Life granted to us by Jesus Himself. He died that we might be cleansed, purified, that we might lead a victorious life and, thereby, advance His cause. The resurrection life of Jesus quickens our mortal bodies.

Don't resist. Though the war has been won, there's a mop-up operation that needs to be tended to.

Let's roll!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael's mission is to bring Discipleship and Encouragement to the Body of Christ. Since 1999, he has broadcast over 300 hundred inspirational articles and a dozen booklets on subjects that will interest the thinking Christian, all designed to accelerate the process of spiritual development in God's people.

He is the founder of t.e.a.m. ministries (team1min@aol.com). An Author, Pastoral Counselor and Teacher, his eMail broadcasts, known as "Your Town for Jesus" are reaching millions around the globe WEEKLY. Write team1min@aol.com if you'd like to SUBSCRIBE.

A licensed/ordained minister, a Certified Workplace Chaplain, and a Professional Member of NIBIC, he has ministered in Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, College and Cowboy churches. He is also a Speaker on the Christian Speaker Network and may be available to speak to your church or Christian group.