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The Sure Mercies of David

How shall the dead be raised? With what body do they come? Victor Hall with David Falk, David Baker and Murray Wylie

Special Edition: RFI Regional Seminars, Nov 2008

Scriptures are quoted from NASB, NKJV, KJV and RSV. Where italicised emphasis is used in Scripture references, these have been added and do not appear in the original translations.

Cover design by Dan Proud

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Contents

Preface 5

CHAPTER 1 The heart of the Christian faith 11 Members of His body 12 Eternal life 14 His mercy beseeches us 15 His flesh is our life 16 The whole gospel 18

CHAPTER 2 The sure mercies 19 A living hope 20 Inward – outward 22 Substance and life 23 Isaiah’s prophecy – the sure mercies 24 Christ descended from Abraham and David 26 Two reference points 27 The fathers of faith 28 The apostles’ message 30 The Pentecost declaration 31 Paul’s message about the resurrection of Christ 32 Glad tidings 34

CHAPTER 3 The bread of life 35 Christ in flesh 36 The bread out of heaven 37 The bread of God 38 I am the bread of life 39 Eating the words of life 41 Receiving Him 42 Participation in the word 44 Sealed toward the adoption 44 Eating and drinking 45 New birth and adoption 46 His flesh – the new creation 48 Mortal but with no corruption 50

THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID

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Our flesh 51 Raised at the last day 53 Passover and unleavened bread 54 The first Passover 55 The second Passover 56 The third Passover 57

CHAPTER 4 Wonders for the dead 59 Dead in trespasses and sins 61 The land of forgetfulness 62 The Lord remembers 63 The Lord remembers His covenant 64 Why have You forsaken Me? 66 The cry of remembrance 67 Do this in remembrance 69 The blessing of the communion 70 The most holy offering 72 Salt and oil and the most holy meal offering 74 If the firstfruit is holy 75

CHAPTER 5 The new creation 77 Stages of the new creation 78 The Son of Abraham 81 The incarnation – the word becoming flesh 82 Jesus is Yahweh Son 84 Understanding incarnation 85 Jesus is the new creation 86 The new creation in the womb 87 Jesus is the Son of Man 88 A new culture of strong consolation 90

CHAPTER 6 The promise to David 93 The faith of David 95 The key of David 97 Raised to the glory before 98 Raised to the intrinsic throne 99 The finished mystery 102

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CHAPTER 7 The way of life 105 The Lamb – the Father’s offering by covenant 106 The Lamb’s book of Life 107 Behold the Lamb 108 The blood of the Lamb 108 The lamb and the bread 111 The last supper 113 Gethsemane – blood and oil 114 Gethsemane – watching and praying 115 Gethsemane – drinking the cup 115 Sin-sick and sin bearer 117 The full extent of the curse 118 The separation of the sin offering 120 I will draw all men 121 The Firstborn from the dead 122 His blood – fully poured out 123

CHAPTER 8 Resting in hope 125 Anointing of the Holy One 126 Our remembrance 127 The seal of the covenant 128 The sign of Jonah 128 Crafting our resurrection bodies 129 The hope of resurrection 130 The word comes calling 131 Being built together 132

CONCLUSION Sure mercies in the morning 135 Lovingkindness – mercy 136 Teach my hands to war 137 The land of the living 137 Learning the everlasting way 138 David’s horn of strength 139 His mercy will follow us 140

Preface ‘How shall the dead be raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ 1 Cor 15:35. These questions have been the subject of theological debate for centuries, although in many ways, few substantial conclusions have been made. Yes, the resurrection of Jesus is preached with great fervour and triumph. But do we understand what this means for all believers who die in faith? How does His resurrection guarantee our resurrection at the last day? We need to return to the simplicity of the words of Jesus and the testimony of the apostles on this all-important subject.

The physical body of Jesus is the substance of every believer’s resurrection body! This is our most vital consideration. Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’. John 11:25. As the disciples beheld and touched His physical body, they were handling the very substance or, we could say ‘the DNA’ of their own resurrection bodies. This is a most glorious truth, but how is it possible? How does His life become our life, and how does His flesh become our flesh? The apostle Paul called this process ‘the adoption’, which is fulfilled in the resurrection at the last day.

The resurrection at the last day is called ‘the adoption’ because it gives us the redemption of our physical bodies. Rom 8:23. Christ transfers His life to us through the adoption. He transfers the zoe life He has received from the Father, to us. He gives His life to us and makes it ours. Jesus said, ‘He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will


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raise him up on the last day’. John 6:54. As we ‘eat and drink’ we have eternal life, here and now. The inner man is being renewed day by day. At the same time, we groan inwardly waiting for the redemption of our physical bodies. In the resurrection, our lowly bodies will be transformed to the likeness of His glorious body. Phil 3:21.

The adoption is only realised within the ‘many-membered’ body of Christ – the church. When Jesus gives us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink, He offers us participation ‘in Himself’. He grants us real and tangible participation and fellowship in His corporate body. Jesus said, ‘He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me’. John 6:56. Accordingly, we need to tarry for one another at communion to truly participate in the fellowship of Christ. This ‘fellowship of giving and receiving’ is our participation in Him.

The adoption is only realised as we ‘eat and drink’ and commune with Christ in fellowship with His people. Some people attend churches simply because they have friends and family there. Many have their own religious ideals and believe that others should accept, support or tolerate their viewpoint. They believe that this kind of fraternity is the fellowship of the body. However, this is most certainly not the fellowship of Christ. We must abide in the body and not be separated from its substance and fellowship. If we abide in Him, we will realise the substance and glory of the resurrection life that He has named for us.

Eating and drinking is our participation in the offering of Christ by which we receive His zoe life. We recall the words of Paul, ‘Is it not the communion [lit. participation]?’. 1 Cor 10:16. By this means, we keep Christ’s feast – the Feast of

Preface

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Passover – which is His offering for us on the cross. Nevertheless, our participation in His offering cannot be with the ‘old leaven’ of our familiar ways or religious traditions. We must keep the feast with the ‘unleavened bread of sincerity and truth’. 1 Cor 5:8. If we do not participate in this manner, we will never find life. We are cut off from resurrection life as surely as the Israelite who refused to purge leaven from his house during the Feast of Passover, was cut off from the nation of Israel.

The terror of a resurrection body without the substance of Christ’s zoe life is frightening in the extreme. This is nothing more than a resurrection to eternal corruption and death. A little knowledge can be dangerous when it comes to the subject of the resurrection. Many Christians surmise that the resurrection regenerates mankind to a form of perfect humanity, similar to the existence of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before the Fall. This is not the case. Let us say again that the physical body of Jesus is the substance of every believer’s resurrection body, ‘fashioned like unto His glorious body’. Phil 3:21.

Christ is the source of our life forever. Jesus said, ‘I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me … he who eats this bread will live forever’. John 6:57,58. We feed daily upon necessary nutrients for our natural lives. In the same way, having been born of God, we continue to eat and drink the life that He gives. We feed on Him because He is the source of our eternal life. When we eat and drink in a worthy manner, we live because of Him. Beyond this, we will eat and drink of His life for eternity in the kingdom of God.


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Christ supplies His life to us by calling us into an everlasting relationship with Himself. In the fellowship of Yahweh, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit do not live independently of one another. They abide in love, which is the ‘fellowship of giving and receiving’. As the Son of the Father and the glorified Son of Man, Christ eternally receives life from the Father and lives by this life. In this same way, we live eternally as we participate in fellowship with Christ. Indeed, He is the bread of life! ‘He who eats this bread will live forever.’ John 6:58.

In the day of resurrection, those who have died in Christ will come with Him, calling to the earth. They will come with Him as He commands the earth to hear. ‘O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!’ Jer 22:29. The earth shall receive the substance of the life of the word that we have become in Him. And those who have died in Christ will awake and arise from the dust, standing up in ‘zoe-fied’ flesh. ‘The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.’ 1 Cor 15:52. All believers will be raised to inherit their resurrection bodies, giving them full participation in the new heavens and new earth.

For those who are alive and remaining, the substance of their life laid up in heaven will be brought to them by Christ. By the command of His voice, their mortality will be fashioned into His likeness and immortal zoe life. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in a flash of light, their earthly, mortal bodies shall respond to His word that recreates their flesh according to the substance of His zoe flesh. Paul writes, ‘I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed … the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed’. 1 Cor 15:51,52.

Preface

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When we were born from above, He brought to us the substance of His life that changed us and birthed the inward man. So also, in the resurrection of the last day, He will bring to us the substance of His life to change us and birth the outer man. Indeed, as Paul says, ‘we shall all be changed’. 1 Cor 15:52. In Christ’s second coming, He calls to the earth, enabling us to be born from the dead and stand up in the ‘inheritance at the end of the days’. Dan 12:13.

CHAPTER 1

The heart of the Christian faith

‘The sure mercies of David’ are the promises made to David concerning the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of all believers at the last day. This is a natural progression from our earlier publication, The Heir of All Things. In many ways, it is a highpoint because it carries the theme of the mystery of God in flesh from His incarnation, right through to the resurrection, the ascension, and into the new heavens and new earth. This subject addresses the very heart of the Christian faith.


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In this publication we aim to answer the question raised in the subtitle, ‘How shall the dead be raised? With what kind of body do they come?’. 1 Cor 15:35. We recall the words of Jesus, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’. John 10:10. What is this life that Jesus came to give us? If our preoccupation as Christians is receiving the life of Jesus, then we need to understand the nature of His life. And we need to know how we receive His life. If our lowly bodies are to be conformed to His glorious body, we need to understand how this transformation occurs. Indeed, He works ‘wonders for the dead’ and these are ‘the sure mercies of David’.

And so we’ll ask the question, ‘What is the process for achieving resurrection, and with what body will we be raised?’. The answers are here in this study. We will have a tangible, physical body, exactly like the one in which Christ rose from the dead. We will be like Him in every way and not just in moral and spiritual character.

Members of His body So we need to examine what is meant by ‘the body of Christ’. This includes His individual physical body and His church, which is also called His ‘body’.1 Eph 4:12. What is the connection between these two? How does His immortal life come to be manifested in our mortal flesh? 2 Cor 4:11. How does He give us His flesh to eat? John 6:52. Does life now have any connection to the matter of our resurrection bodies? From where do we obtain the physical elements of a resurrection body

1. ‘Body’ is Gr. ‘soma’ in both cases

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which will be the same as that of Christ, who walked with them for forty days?2

So little is said in our modern world about the resurrection. In fact, what is said is often quite fanciful and gives no answer to the question, ‘With what body do we come?’. The answer is absolutely plain and fills the Scriptures from beginning to end. Christ came to the human race as a descendant of Abraham, and then of David, to demonstrate one thing clearly. Their Salvation – and ours – would come into flesh, survive death and rise in a tangible body, as One who was their physical heir. The Saviour of mankind would not be a disembodied spirit, nor would anyone else become a kind of angel or spirit in the resurrection.3 Both Abraham and David were wrought upon and strengthened to become ‘fully convinced’ that their salvation and resurrection would come in the lineage of their own flesh. Rom 4:21. Each had to believe that the Messiah would be their heir, their very own descendant. God would come into flesh; into their fleshly lineage. Then, by adoption into Christ, every other believer could become a son of Abraham as much as Christ was. The aim of this wondrous purpose of God was not to make us the natural seed of Abraham.4 Rather, it was to show us clearly that the seed of the word in us, together with our inclusion in the very body of Christ, would ultimately bring us to a resurrection body

2. The Scriptures record that Christ was seen by over 500 brethren, and that He was visible and tangible, eating and relating with His disciples for forty days after His resurrection. Acts 1:3; 1 Cor 15:6. 3. The reference to being ‘like the angels’ is only with respect to the superceding of marriage. Matt 22:30. 4. The whole human race does not descend, genetically, from Abraham, rather from the three sons of Noah. Equally, there is no case that only the descendants of Abraham are the heirs, as if others (the Gentiles) are merely theoretical heirs through Christ. The case here is that, in Christ, we are heirs of a substantial ‘body’ for the new heavens and earth.


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like His. The Scriptures call us the children of Abraham, precisely to reinforce this most amazing point. Rom 4:16.

So we are talking here about what we will ‘be’ and how we will ‘appear’ in the resurrection. Plainly, we will have a body of flesh such as Christ had. He was seen and touched. He recognised, ate with and related to His friends and relatives, just as we will do.5 For forty days He walked with them in His resurrection body. And concerning this body, the apostle John said, ‘We have seen with our eyes … we have beheld and our hands handled, Him who is the Word of life.’ 1 John 1:1.

Eternal life Of course, we are also dealing here with the subject of eternal life. But we need to hear this expression ‘eternal life’ in a new way. The gospel is addressing ‘your life’ and ‘my life’ so that we gain the eternal life that was planned for us in Christ. This life involves a body of expression and is never apart from a body. Again, remember the subtitle, ‘With what kind of body do they come?’. 1 Cor 15:35. So then, as soon as Christ comes in the flesh, in Mary’s womb, we are seeing something that has to do with your life and my life. He is the One Seed of Abraham who includes every one of us. He is also the seed of David. Having tasted death, He was raised in the flesh to His original throne as Yahweh Son, the second member of the Godhead. He was given the glory He had before and the name above every name. It is into this name that we are baptised.

5. The ‘flesh and blood’ that do not inherit the kingdom refer to the mortal, corruptible system of digestion by which all biological forms presently exist. Flesh itself has surpassed death, in Christ. His blood has been poured out, so that the life principle of blood is not biological in the resurrection.


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This is a very quick overview, but it’s important to see how vast this subject is. Indeed, much of the Scripture is about how we join Christ, who is without corruption, and how we take on incorruptible bodies for the new heavens and new earth. And this is not just about us, for God Himself has an inheritance here, in the flesh. We read that the tabernacle of God is to be with men. Rev 21:3. The Father has been revealed in the flesh of His only begotten Son and, ultimately, His life is revealed in a multitude of sons brought forth for the new heavens and new earth. The Son will be revealed, glorified and admired in His bride who will be brought forth from His side and presented to Him without spot, wrinkle or blemish. 2 Thess 1:10; Eph 5:27. And as the final mystery, the Holy Spirit is also to be revealed in flesh in such a way that the new heavens and new earth are populated, not through procreation, but by the new creation.

Let us never lose the impact of the statement, ‘The Word became flesh’. And let us also understand that He became flesh, never to depart from it.

His mercy beseeches us This astonishing picture helps us to humble ourselves to the mercy of God, and this is our subject. While there are only two direct references to ‘the sure mercies’, there are countless other references to ‘mercy’, ‘mercies’ and ‘lovingkindness’ in both Old and New Testaments, which reflect this subject. Perhaps one of the most notable is in the book of Romans, where Paul says, ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service’. Rom 12:1.


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The mercy of God, in its full intent toward our eternal destiny, is such that we must present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Our bodies are involved here, and not just now, but in the resurrection. ‘The body is … for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.’ 1 Cor 6:13,14. The message is already clear. Our bodies are for the Lord. They are members of Christ and will be raised by His power. The passage continues, ‘Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?’. 1 Cor 6:15. So we are to understand that our bodies are the members of His body. And there’s more. The point reaches a crescendo. ‘He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.’ 1 Cor 6:17.

His flesh is our life If we could hear what is contained in this verse, the picture would be clear! ‘Spirit’ is not something mystical, something other than what is tangible. God, who is Spirit, is the absolute substance of everything, including the physical flesh in which we live. Christ was already substantial when He came down from heaven as the ‘living bread’. John 6:51. He clothed Himself with our flesh, as His flesh. This is the flesh that He gave for the life of the world. John 6:51. He was the full expression of every life, of every one of us. He was ‘broken’ so that this ‘bread’ could be distributed to the world; that is, to every one of us. 1 Cor 11:24. Paul says, ‘Now we are members of His body, of His flesh and bone’. Eph 5:30; 1 Cor 6:15; Col 1:24. In fact, our final judgement will be based on our ‘deeds in the body’. 2 Cor 5:10. There is nothing mystical about being members of the body of Christ.

Let us ‘trumpet’ this message right from the start. The mercy of God is that He has given us His flesh to eat. Whatever we eat and


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drink of Christ while in our mortal bodies, whatever God works and forms within our very person, is what He raises at the last day in an incorruptible body! John 6:54. We are ‘longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven … that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who wrought us for this very thing is God who has given us the earnest [down-payment], of the Spirit.’ 2 Cor 5:3-5. God is already working to form what will be raised.

What does His incarnation really mean? Fundamentally, He took on our flesh as His and made His tabernacle with men forever. Rev 21:3. It was not just that God took on our humanity to die our death and show His power through resurrection. His incarnation focused on taking on our flesh as His, so that He could give us His flesh as the substance of our resurrection bodies.

By giving us His flesh to eat, by His word, we could overcome death and inherit eternal life, body, soul and spirit. This is the answer to the questions, ‘How shall the dead be raised? With what kind of body do they come?’. We are raised by the voice of the Son of Man and given a body as it pleases the Father, which is fashioned like Christ’s glorious body. Phil 3:21. We recall the words of Paul, ‘God gives it a body as He pleases’. 1 Cor 15:38. We are sown in the likeness of Christ’s death and raised on the last day as a result of our participation in His body.

Simply, He came down from above so that His flesh could be joined to ours and we could be raised in the likeness of His resurrection. His flesh has been given to us as our life, which is to be our life forever. ‘When Christ who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.’ Col 3:4.


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The whole gospel The gospel must give us these kinds of answers. If not, we are left with a mystical, intangible kind of faith, professing ‘new birth’ but not understanding how our physical bodies are actually involved. Alternatively, we can be left with a very sacramental faith, where we imagine that taking communion bread and wine will give us eternal life. In both these cases, the truth is near, but not near enough.

Religion without a clear knowledge of ‘how the dead are raised’ is an empty deception. We should ponder on the horror of mystical practices and religious codes that are devoid of genuine zoe life. How many believers fail to apprehend abundant living? They regress to mere legal, religious assertions, but have no real assurance of eternal life.

So let us go to the Scriptures. Let us hear and see the message of the gospel with fresh ears and eyes. As the prophet Isaiah said, ‘Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live.’ Isa 55:3.

Let us understand how to be ‘built together’ as the body of Christ, as ‘one bread’, as a ‘new lump’, to use Paul’s expression. Eph 2:22; 1 Cor 10:17,5:7. Our study of the ‘bread of life’ in chapter three will show us the need to purge leaven. Leaven represents the contamination that must be purged from our lives and houses. Christ is the ‘unleavened bread’ of heaven. If we are to join ourselves to the body of Christ, then corruption must be purged so that we are brought forth as incorruptible, in Him. Only then are our lowly bodies conformed to His glorious body. Phil 3:21. This is the heart of the Christian faith.

CHAPTER 2

The sure mercies

There are two direct references to ‘the sure mercies’. One is in the book of Isaiah, and the other is in the book of Acts, where Paul uses the phrase to speak of resurrection. Isa 55:3; Acts 13:34. Of course, there are many other references applicable to this vast subject. Both Peter and Paul develop the subject of ‘the sure mercies’.

The first declaration connecting David and the resurrection of Christ is made by Peter in his Pentecost sermon. Here, the people ‘gladly received’ the word about Christ’s resurrection and were baptised. Acts 2:41. The next plain statement is made by


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Paul at Antioch. In this account, he says, ‘We declare to you glad tidings … God … has raised up Jesus … He has spoken thus: “I will give you the sure mercies of David”.’ Acts 13:32-34. These matters are indeed glad tidings to be gladly received.

The most comprehensive statement of God’s mercy is that He raised the Son of God, in flesh, to the throne. He did so in fulfilment of a promise to David that One from his own body would be raised to sit in his throne. Acts 2:30. That is why Paul quotes the prophecy about the sure mercies of David. The significance of this is not that Christ was the extension of David’s throne. Rather, David saw himself, and all of us, raised in flesh to sit with Christ in His throne. David’s throne is elevated to the very throne of God.

A living hope This is why Peter exclaims in his letter, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’. 1 Peter 1:3.

We all have a living hope because Jesus has been raised from the dead. By resurrecting Christ the ‘Firstfruits’, He has made a way for us to be raised from the dead also. 1 Cor 15:20. This is fulfilled in the day of resurrection – the culmination of the Lord’s great mercy toward us.

But let us understand what Peter means by a ‘living hope’. The hope is not just a future goal, but living, here and now. In fact, it must be living in us now or there is no hope. God has prepared us for the very purpose of having a house from heaven and has given us His Spirit as the firstfruits. 2 Cor 5:2,5; Rom 8:23.

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The gospel is this: we can be joined to His flesh; to the body that has already been raised to the throne. We have a house in heaven already. Hence Paul says, ‘Our citizenship is in heaven’. Phil 3:20. According to His rich mercy, we can be raised and seated with Him in heavenly places, here and now, even though we are not yet physically raised from the dead. Eph 2:4-6.

Immediately we can see why the theme of ‘the body of Christ’ is central to the New Testament. Our lifelong preoccupation is with ‘coming to Him’, to be ‘joined’ to the Head of the body, so that we can ‘grow up’ and be ‘built together’. 1 Peter 2:2,4; Eph 4:15,16, 2:20. By this means, we heed the admonition of Jude to the beloved brethren. ‘Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.’ Jude 20,21.

We are building, believing, praying, keeping, loving and waiting. We have received mercy already, as Peter says. 1 Peter 1:3. According to Paul, we are receiving mercy as we present our bodies to be the living members of Christ. Rom 12:1. Then Jude says that there is an ultimate mercy unto eternal life, for which we anxiously wait. Jude 21.

We have a ‘most holy faith’ in this living hope! Jude 20. We learn, along with patriarchs such as Job and David, that God is establishing something in us now that will be raised at the last day. Thus Job’s immortal words become real to us. ‘And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.’ Job 19:26. We learn, as did David, that our flesh can ‘rest in hope’ of the resurrection on the last day. Psa 16:9. This was David’s revelation and his faith. As he said, ‘I shall be satisfied when I awake with Your likeness’. Psa 17:15. We too are waiting


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eagerly for this day when His sure mercies are fully revealed. The apostle Paul said, we ‘groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body … we wait eagerly for it’. Rom 8:23,25. But let us not forget that we have the ‘firstfruits’ of the Spirit within us, here and now. Rom 8:23. The substance of resurrection life is already birthed within us.

This is why David said his flesh could rest in hope. In the midst of David’s trials, the Spirit of Christ was harnessing David to His ‘once for all’ sufferings, and thereby establishing in him that which would be raised at the last day. Heb 10:10.

Inward – outward The New Testament clarifies this entire operation. We are to be born from above now, and then born from the dead at the last day. The inward man is to be renewed day by day. 2 Cor 4:16. The outward man will be renewed in the resurrection. 2 Cor 5:1-4.

First, we must be begotten inwardly and then continue to eat Christ’s flesh through the living word. This message is declared in the Gospel of John from chapters three to six. Then, in the last day, we will be begotten from the dead, outwardly, by the same living word. Jesus said that ‘all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth’. John 5:28,29. Some will come forth to a resurrection of life and some to a resurrection of judgement. The Son will call to the graves just as He spoke to Lazarus when He called him to ‘come forth’ after he had been dead for four days. John 11:43.

From the moment we are born from above, our eternal sonship is illuminated to us. We have been born to see the kingdom of God, as Jesus said to Nicodemus. Then, we press forward from

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glory to glory, being transformed, as we keep beholding that glory. 2 Cor 3:18. We receive this unfolding illumination as we continue to eat and drink of Him. Like the disciples on the Emmaus road, He is made known to us ‘in the breaking of bread’. Luke 24:35. If we continue in this illumination, all that remains is for the outward man to be changed in the resurrection. When we see Him as He is, we shall be like Him. 1 John 3:2.

It’s important to our theme, in practical terms, to understand the correlation between the activities of hearing now, and being raised then. The adoption commences now and is fulfilled in the resurrection. What begins now, inwardly, is fulfilled outwardly in the resurrection.

Substance and life We need to abandon the mystical notion that heaven will be full of disembodied spirits, or that sinless bodies will suddenly materialise in the last day. No, there is a process of receiving the ‘living word’ and eating the ‘living bread’, so that we are illuminated to see what we shall be. John 6:51; 1 John 3:2. We will be like Him in every sense.

Now, when we talk about ‘the word’ that we receive and eat, this is something very specific. We read that God has manifested ‘His word through preaching’. Titus 1:3. The book of Romans refers to the ‘word of faith which we preach’. Rom 10:8. So there’s a capacity in the word, through preaching, to be the substance of our eternal life. Jesus made this clear. ‘The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and … life.’ John 6:63. He meant that His words were the substance of our resurrection bodies.


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And His blood is the very life-blood of the eternal being of every individual.

The ‘Word of life’ which we eat now becomes the flesh of our resurrection bodies at the last day. The word has the capacity to give substance and life. This is exactly what Paul explains when he says that the ‘first Adam’ was a ‘living soul’ and the ‘last Adam’ (Christ) was a ‘life-giving Spirit’. 1 Cor 15:45. This ‘life-giving’ word has the ability to ‘zoe-fy’ every hearer. This is why Paul could speak freely about the life of Christ, which ‘I now live in the flesh’; and about filling up ‘in my flesh’ a portion, a share, on behalf of the body of Christ. Gal 2:20; Col 1:24.

We must understand this entire faith interaction, for the bread from heaven has come down to zoe-fy the inward man. John 6:32. Then, in the last day, the same voice of the Son of Man will call to the graves to fashion each outward man with a body that is like His glorious body. Phil 3:21.

Isaiah’s prophecy – the sure mercies Let us now consider the words of Isaiah. ‘Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you – the sure mercies of David.’ Isa 55:3. If we come to Him and hear His word, our souls will live. This promise that our souls can live by hearing the word of the Lord cannot be quickly passed over. Indeed, this is exactly what the New Testament teaches. We must hear and live.

Isaiah then mentions the Everlasting Covenant. And what is this Everlasting Covenant? It is ‘the sure mercies of David’. We recall the verse, ‘I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you – the sure mercies of David’. This is foundational to our understanding. The mercy of the Lord revealed to David is

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nothing less than the fulfilment of the Everlasting Covenant. It’s clear then that He desires to include our flesh in the loving fellowship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the hope of the gospel; the living hope established by the resurrection of Jesus. According to the desire and intention of our heavenly Father, we are ‘predestined to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ’. Eph 1:5. It has always been the Lord’s intention to reveal His life in the flesh of mankind. Behold the tabernacle of God is with men!

So why is David mentioned? It is because the purpose of God, as it unfolded, was established in very specific aspects with David, just as it was established very specifically with Abraham. Indeed, the Lord made covenants with both Abraham and David as the purpose of the Everlasting Covenant was progressively revealed to mankind. ‘The Lord has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body”.’ Psa 132:11. Of course, the fruit of his body was Christ. The glorious truth here is not so much that Christ would sit upon the throne of David. No, it is much more than that! Christ would gather up the throne of David and raise it to the glorious heights of His own throne – the throne of Melchizedek.

The house and kingdom of David are caught up into the kingdom of the Son – the eternal context of a multitude of sons revealed in glory. Accordingly, the Lord says, ‘I have sworn by My holiness, I will not lie to David. His descendants shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before Me.’ Psa 89:35,36.


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Christ descended from Abraham and David Christ is called the son of Abraham and the son of David. We realise immediately that there are many implications in these statements, both in relation to Himself and in relation to us. When we consider these two fathers of faith, it’s the matter of their ‘flesh’, and hence our flesh, that interests us. Christ was the Seed of Abraham; the Heir brought forth from Abraham’s own body. Consequently, Paul speaks of what Abraham found ‘according to the flesh’. Similarly, Christ was the fruit of David’s body ‘according to the flesh’. Rom 4:1, 1:3; Acts 2:30. The simple message is that Christ descended, in the flesh, from the lineage of these fathers when He was born in the womb of the virgin Mary.

The promise to Abraham focuses on the way Christ partook of the flesh and blood of mankind, becoming the ‘Seed of Abraham’. Heb 2:16. According to this promise, He has included us in the One Seed, Christ. We read, ‘In your Seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed’. Gen 22:18. The promise to David focuses on the way that Christ overcame death in the flesh by the power of resurrection and has been raised to sit at the right hand of the Most High. According to the sure mercies revealed to David, we are included in the likeness of His death, and hence the likeness of His resurrection. We have been raised to sit with Him in heavenly places with the guarantee of an eternal inheritance. The prospect of our flesh being resurrected, as promised to David, is the central thrust of ‘the sure mercies of David’ theme.

Indeed, a sure promise was delivered to David. He foresaw that his descendant, the fruit of his own body, his own physical heir, would overcome corruption and be raised from the dead.

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Acts 2:29-31. This One was Christ. Again we note that the marvel of this was not merely that Christ would descend from the line of David. It was that by His triumph in flesh and His resurrection, David’s own resurrection was ‘a sure mercy’. In fact, all who would believe in the ‘Anointed’, the Messiah, both before the cross and after, could be raised with His ‘likeness’. Psa 17:15.

The pattern of the Scriptures is amazing. In fulfilling the sure promise delivered to all the faithful saints, including Abraham and David, Christ did indeed come in the flesh. He took hold of our flesh as His. Then He gave His flesh for us, so that we would have life. He overcame the power of death while He was still in the flesh. He was raised in a body of flesh to the throne. As a result, our flesh can rest in the hope of being raised with Christ. In the last day, we will be changed. The corruptible will put on an incorruptible body to participate in the new heavens and new earth. That’s the whole of the matter.

Two reference points So the story is quite straightforward and it is built around Abraham and David as the two reference points. Although similar in many ways, these two men differed in what God promised to them and in what they learned and prophesied. Both met Melchizedek. Abraham met Him when He offered him bread and wine. David met Him in the Spirit when he foresaw Christ’s death, resurrection and glorification as Melchizedek. Gen 14:18,19; Acts 2:25. David was taught beforehand, by the Spirit of Christ, about the sufferings by which Christ would overcome the power of the grave, to take His seat as Melchizedek. 1 Peter 1:11; Psa 110:1-3.


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The faith of Abraham and David was toward our flesh being adopted by Christ and then resurrected. This is the simplest construction. First, Christ took hold of our flesh, joined it to His, and then gave us His flesh to eat. Second, God raised Christ, in flesh, to the throne and restored to Him the glory that He had before. John 17:5; Acts 2:33. This gives to us – as we are baptised into the name of God which is above every name – the hope of being ‘with Him in His throne’. Phil 2:9; Rev 3:21.

So the Everlasting Covenant is assured in two steps – incarnation and resurrection. The first aspect relates to Abraham, where Christ, as the seed of Abraham, includes every one of us. The second aspect relates to Christ as the heir of David, the Son in flesh. As the son of David, He authored a pathway through death to the throne of His own original glory, where the church is raised to sit with Him as His bride in the new heavens and new earth.

The fathers of faith Our subject bursts open around these few reference points. At once, we realise that all the fathers understood the promise of attaining incorruption. Earlier we referred to the monumental words of Job. ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.’ Job 19:25,26. Many of the Old Testament fathers, prophets and believers testified of the process by which the hope of incorruption was established in their flesh, right there and then. 1 Peter 1:10,11. And so for us, here and now. Whether the cross was future or a fact of history, the promise is the same.

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The remarkable thing is that those illuminated fathers were not just prophesying, in advance, of Christ. They were learning the sufferings of Christ in their day. Peter explains this in his letter. ‘The Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.’ 1 Peter 1:11. Through the Spirit of Christ that was in them, the earlier prophets were inquiring diligently, and also teaching the generations to come, about the work of the cross.

We well remember what happened when Abraham asked, ‘Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?’. Gen 15:8. He was visited with a prophetic understanding of the cross. David, similarly, was caused to walk through the ‘pains’ and ‘sorrows’ of the cross of the Messiah as he learned to rejoice in the ‘good inheritance’ and ‘lovingkindness’ of the ‘right hand’. Psa 16:6,17:7. These patriarchs and others understood the offering of Christ. By participation in His offering, they would attain to the resurrection. The process is the same, whether before the cross or after.

‘Why should it be thought incredible’, Paul challenged King Agrippa, some time after the day of Pentecost, ‘that God raises the dead?’ Paul was very clear in his argument. The twelve tribes, serving night and day, had hoped to attain this promise of the resurrection. Acts 26:6-8. This was what the patriarchs had understood. They knew exactly what was revealed to Abraham and David. God would resurrect ‘flesh’ – a man like them – from the loins of Abraham and David, to the throne. And this Messiah would establish the same hope for every one of His brethren. Deut 18:15; Psa 22:22, 122:8.


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The apostles’ message Let us now shift the focus to the apostles. We find that Peter and Paul were both absorbed with the sure mercies of David. They both understood that Christ, having been raised in flesh to the throne, had received the ‘glory’ that He had ‘before the world was’. John 17:5. He was now active in His own Melchizedek administration. ‘You are a priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek.’ Psa 110:4; Heb 7:17.

This is the matter that Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost. ‘The Lord said to My Lord.’ Acts 2:34. Peter was declaring that the resurrected and ascended Christ had now received everything that the Father was giving and restoring to Him. And now He was pouring out the Holy Spirit – ‘this which you now see and hear’ – for the purpose of composing His many-membered body. Acts 2:33. Men and women were hearing the message of sonship in their own languages. As they heard the word, they were coming to be baptised into the name of the ascended son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 2:38.

Let us stress again that not only was He in full possession of His zoe capacity as Son of Yahweh, but that He had been glorified with the glory that He had before; that is, His intrinsic capacity as a King-Priest. This is what David had seen and rejoiced in, long before. And so it was to David’s own words that Peter and Paul resorted as they addressed the Jewish hearers, ones already familiar with the patriarch’s psalms.

So what is the heart of the Pentecost sermon? It was ‘the sure mercies of David’. Peter and Paul, along with the other apostles, filled with the ‘firstfruits of the Spirit’, were now very much aware of the fulfilment of the promises made to David. These

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sure promises were to apply to every believer. They were verified and fulfilled by the resurrection of Christ.

This was the fulfilment of God’s covenant with Abraham and David. Christ’s resurrection signified the resurrection of all of those, in all ages, who had believed and participated in the process of the cross by which the inheritance was assured.

The Pentecost declaration We should carefully read what Peter said in his Pentecost sermon and observe how clear the message is. ‘For David says concerning Him, “I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence”.’ Acts 2:25-28.

Peter is quoting the words of David. At one level, David was speaking about Christ. However, he also understood, for himself, that the promise of having everlasting life would be made possible in Christ. He could see Christ active at his own right hand and so he rejoiced and his flesh rested in hope. David was not just speaking about Christ. He knew, with assurance, that he himself would not be left in Hades. Through the resurrection of Christ, his flesh would be raised as incorruptible at the last day. This is a major point.

We must be baptised into Christ once we understand what David understood and Peter declared. Acts 2:38. As Peter’s sermon goes on to say, it wasn’t David himself who ascended to heaven. However, he did witness the transaction between the


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Father (the LORD) and ‘my Lord’ (my Adon) in which the Son was granted the throne of Melchizedek. His intrinsic kingship and priesthood were handed back to Him by the Father. David saw Christ the Son and called Him ‘my Lord’, just as Moses had done. Ex 34:9. David understood, by revelation, that his Lord and Saviour had been raised to His intrinsic throne. He had elevated David’s flesh and throne to the glorious heights of the throne of Melchizedek, thus including him in an everlasting kingdom. As Christ has taken the substance of His flesh from the flesh of David, so also David could rest in the hope of a resurrection body inherited from Christ in the last day. These were the sure mercies promised to David.

Paul’s message about the resurrection of Christ By way of further orientation, let’s peruse Paul’s words on this same subject of the resurrection of Jesus. ‘God raised Him from the dead … and we declare to you glad tidings – that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You”. And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: “I will give you the sure mercies of David”. Therefore He also says in another psalm: “You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption”. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.’ Acts 13:30-37.

All the seeds of our study are contained in these verses. Christ’s resurrection fulfilled the promises made to the fathers, including David. By resurrection, Christ was begotten from the dead.

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Hence the Father says, ‘Today I have begotten You’. Indeed, as we read elsewhere, Christ was the Firstborn from the dead. Col 1:18; Rev 1:5. We also find the repeated reference to ‘corruption’ and to the fact that the Holy One saw no corruption. Christ was mortal but not corruptible. Indeed, despite being sent ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh’, Christ overcame corruption in the flesh. Rom 8:3. He ended sin for all of us while still in the flesh, while still on the cross, before the ‘finish’. This is why we take up His cross and join His body in the work of the cross, where we are ‘made complete’ together with Him. Heb 13:21. This is a most significant point. David was caused to learn this as the Spirit of Christ drew him into His own sufferings.

The gospel message is not just that Christ was raised with an incorruptible body so that we can mysteriously receive one also. No, there is much more. By the time His work on the cross was ‘finished’, He had put sin to death and established incorruption in His flesh. This was now a path of life that was open for all of us, in Christ. This is what David saw. This is why he prayed to be led in the ‘way everlasting’. Psa 139:24.

So, then, once Christ had died to sin and put sin to death, it remained only for Him to be raised in a glorious body – the same glorified body as believers will inherit in the resurrection of the last day. Phil 3:21. This is the timeless gospel to which we must come alive. This is what Abraham saw in a vision. This is what David learned in the bitterness of his experience, being pursued by his enemies, as we read in the psalms. This is what Jesus proclaimed as He stood before them and could be heard, seen, looked upon and touched – physically. 1 John 1:1. He was right there before their eyes, not in a vision, but in the flesh, as the tangible proof that every believer could have the very substance of


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eternal life, exactly as Christ possessed through incarnation and resurrection. He was joining them to His flesh, as partakers, by adoption. This was certainly what John understood when he spoke of receiving the ‘Word of life’.

Glad tidings Returning to Paul’s Antioch address, his next statement becomes the high point. ‘Therefore’, forgiveness of sins is preached to us. Acts 13:38. And furthermore, everyone who believes can now be justified. Corruption can be removed! This is the message. We are to be properly justified, here and now, so as to inherit the sure mercies of David, in Christ. We too can be raised to incorruption, not by simply waiting and hoping, but by participating in a process for the removal of sin. This is our subject. These are the ‘glad tidings’.

Investigating more deeply, we see that Paul is dwelling on the fact that the very word spoken by David concerning no corruption, was prophetic of Christ. Christ was the One who would see no corruption. And certainly, in those three days in the tomb, His body did not corrupt. And there’s more. Paul highlights the glad tidings that Christ’s resurrection establishes our resurrection. We are the children of the fathers to whom the promises were made. Like David, we will all fall asleep and suffer corruption. But we, along with David, will have a resurrection to incorruption, just as it was promised. God will give us the sure mercies of David. This is the amazing hope established by the resurrection of Christ.

CHAPTER 3

The bread of life

In his first letter, the apostle John writes about the ‘Word of life’. Having heard, seen, looked upon and handled this Word, he was describing ‘the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us’. 1 John 1:1. This was the bread of life that came down from heaven. In this chapter, we are giving consideration to the Father’s life coming down to us. What is the nature of this life? How does it come to us? And how can we appropriate it?


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Our major point has been established already. Christ came down as the bread of life to give us His flesh as the substance of our bodies that will be raised at the last day. He came to give us life and the flesh of our resurrection bodies. He came to be the bread of life for the world. ‘If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever … whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’ John 6:51,54.

Christ in flesh The apostle Paul recounts that God sent forth His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Rom 8:3. He also refers to the fullness of time when God the Father would send forth His Son, born of a woman. Gal 4:4. As we have said, Christ came in the flesh, to lay hold of the flesh of man – the seed of Abraham. Heb 2:16.

Now here is an important point. In His incarnation, born of a woman, Christ was everything that we are, but He was more than we are. He was the new creation. We must not conclude that His flesh was the same as our flesh or we will do violence to the truth of His incarnation. The lesser was caught up in the greater. His flesh, His substance, was from the Father, while at the same time He humbled Himself to adopt the flesh and blood of mankind. His flesh was more than ours. It was zoe flesh. If this is not true, there would be no reason for Him to give us His flesh to eat.

Christ was a new creation in the womb of the virgin. He did not begin in the womb as a living soul, in the way that we do. He was the pre-existent Son of God, the One who carried all our names with Him into the womb. This is an outstanding clarification and one that must not become distorted by all the mystique and fable that surrounds the wonder of His birth.

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This new creation was the zoe life of God. This was eternal life and it was in the flesh forever. Christ was the fullness of the Father’s life, in the flesh. He was not just a miracle child. That’s why the New Testament uses the word ‘zoe’ to distinguish the life of the Father manifested in the Son from all other forms of life. Zoe life is distinct from psuche life, which is the individual identity and soul life of every human being. And it is also distinct from bios life, which is natural, biological life.

When the Lord breathed life into Adam, he became a living soul with psuche life and bios life. He was a living being with human identity, in a biological body. However, he did not have zoe life. According to the eternal counsel of God, zoe life would only be given to the world by Christ, the bread of God, coming down from heaven. Christ is the fullness of zoe life. He is the substance of zoe life. That’s why He declares Himself to be the bread of life, the ‘resurrection and the life’, who gives life to the world. John 6:33.

The bread out of heaven We should now examine Jesus’ encounter with a large group of His disciples, where He spoke of the ‘true bread out of heaven’. John 6:32. From the very outset, it is evident that He was referring to something that mankind does not naturally possess – nor do we have the capacity to produce it.

This account was set in the time of the Passover and unleavened bread. Jesus had just finished breaking the five barley loaves to miraculously feed five thousand people. A large crowd continued to seek Him because they ate of the loaves and were filled. Their forefathers had received the bread of heaven as manna in the wilderness. John 6:31,49. These were examples of


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miraculous provision. However, neither of these provisions was the ‘true bread’ out of heaven. John 6:32. We know this because the Israelites in the wilderness and the five thousand were soon hungry again. Jesus said, ‘Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died’. John 6:49. The bread had no capacity to overcome their corruption and mortality. Jesus was using these comparisons to say, ‘It is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven’. John 6:32.

The bread of God The true bread is the ‘bread of God’. John 6:33. This is an amazing statement. This bread is the very life of God the Father. Let’s reflect on the early chapters in John’s Gospel. The Word, who had made the world, was now ‘in the world’. John 1:3,10. The Word was now declaring that whoever received Him would have ‘the right to become children of God … who were born, not … of the will of man, but of God’. John 1:12,13. All who received His word would be born from above; that is, born ‘of God’.

We should bear in mind that this bread was not, first of all, Christ’s intrinsic life. It was the Father’s zoe life. Christ was the ‘bodily’ expression of every name given to Him by the Father. Col 2:9; John 6:39,17:11. The pre-existent Son laid aside the prerogative to express His intrinsic life. Yahweh the Son, the second member of the Godhead, emptied Himself to the bosom of the Father and took up the Father’s life in a body ‘prepared’ for Him. Heb 10:5. He committed His life and hid His own life, in a sense, in the bosom of the Father. Then He willingly received and bore witness to the Father’s life. So He was indeed the ‘true bread’ given by the Father, in that the life He manifested was not His own. John 6:32. He was sent by the Father to be the


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author of eternal salvation and sonship. Heb 5:9. This is where the apostle John began his Gospel account. ‘In Him was life.’ John 1:4. He was the substance of the Father’s zoe life. He was the whole zoe life, in one body.

So before we saw Him, full of grace and truth, the pre-existent Son had already become the ‘only-begotten Son’ of the Father. John 1:18. He came from ‘the bosom of the Father’, ready to declare the Father. John 1:18. He was born of the Father, Himself, as the Father’s Firstborn. He was the bread of firstfruits, foreshadowed in the Old Testament symbol. Lev 23:20. And as the Lamb of God, He was the burnt offering, the ascending aroma. After that, He was the offering for sin, carrying every name, every son, into death. He was the One Seed, the one ‘grain of wheat’, who would not abide alone. He did not abide in death. By resurrection, He became the Firstfruits from the dead, bringing forth a multitude of sons in Himself. John 12:24. Indeed, by resurrection, He would verify the eternal future of every son who would receive Him and obey the word of their sonship. ‘All that the Father gives Me will come to Me … this is the will of the Father … that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing.’ John 6:37,39. John explains it all so clearly. ‘As the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself … even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.’ John 5:26,21.

I am the bread of life After the miracles of the ‘loaves and fish’, Jesus began to speak about the ‘true bread from heaven’. John 6:32. The crowd responded, ‘Lord, always give us this bread’. John 6:34. They were keen to eat this kind of bread continually. However, Jesus had


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more to say and soon confronted them, ‘I am the bread of life’. John 6:35. He, Himself, was the bread.

The significance of this interaction should not escape us. This was the reason why many began to grumble and withdraw from Him. John 6:41,43,60. The willingness to receive Him, and thereby receive His word, became the point of separation. The people would have to receive this lowly Messenger, One who was born of a woman, in mortal flesh.

Christ was establishing the mode by which the bread of life would come to us. It would be carried in the word of Christ. And this word would be committed to lowly messengers. This was the first cause of offence. They could not accept Him as the Messenger, nor believe that He could bring anything supernatural to them. ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says ... ?’ John 6:42.

Also of great significance is the fact that Jesus said, ‘I Am’. There are a number of times throughout His ministry when Jesus prefaced a statement with ‘I Am’. And He did this in His full authority as Yahweh Son. We recall that He said, ‘Before Abraham was, I Am’. John 8:58. Ultimately, the bread of life is the life of the Father and the intrinsic life of the Son. By eating the bread of life, we participate in the body of the Son, seated at the right hand of the Father in His intrinsic throne. Accordingly, Jesus said, ‘Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before?’ John 6:61,62.

It is sobering to think that our Saviour was trying to reveal the two aspects of His sonship. He was the Father’s begotten Son,


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sharing the bread of the Father’s life. At the same time, He was declaring His full authority as Yahweh Son. This is the amazing truth. The bread of life, received as we hear His word, is the opportunity to participate in the body of the Son. He is now at the right hand of the Father with the glory He had before.

Eating the words of life Perhaps it’s little wonder that the people were confused. How could they ‘eat’ His flesh? However, there’s not much excuse when we see how clearly Jesus explained it. ‘It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.’ John 6:63. This became the testimony of Peter, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ John 6:68.

In the first place, the bread of heaven is coming to us as a word. John began his Gospel, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. John 1:1. And indeed, the Word became flesh. John 1:14. It is this matter of the ‘word’ that needs to come alive to us. The word we are to hear is the word of our zoe life. It’s the word of the Father’s will for each son – your life and my life. His word defines our entire predestination, both now and for the new heavens and new earth.

Remember, Jesus, the bread of the Father, came in a body prepared by the Father. Christ is the express image of the Father’s life, the full image. Heb 1:3. He’s the whole will of God expressed bodily. Col 1:19,2:9. And this sonship includes all those whom the Father has given Him; and He has come to bring many sons to glory. Heb 2:10.


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Jesus is the bread of the zoe life of all sons. His word is this bread. This is what John means when he speaks about the ‘Word of life’. ‘We have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.’ 1 John 1:1,2.

This is the word of the Father, hence it is begetting and birthing. The living bread is carried in the preached word of those who proclaim sonship and call others to ‘receive Him’. And ‘as many as received Him, to them He [gives] the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name’. John 1:12. Indeed the word of God, which lives and abides, is the substance of eternal life.

Receiving Him As Christ comes, we must receive Him. ‘He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.’ John 1:11. The Scriptures make quite a point about ‘receiving’ those whom the Father sends. ‘He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.’ Matt 10:40. The marvel of the faith of Mary was that she believed and received the word. Then that word became flesh in her mortal body. John magnifies this theme even further when he says, ‘As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become sons of God’. John 1:12. By receiving the word, Mary became ‘the mother of my Lord’. Luke 1:43. She was not yet born from above, but she, along with all those who received Him, received the right to become a son of God. This was fulfilled when Jesus breathed upon them in the upper room after His resurrection.

The provision of living bread is the right of participation in the fellowship of His body. In the Gospel of John chapter three, we


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read that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born from above. In chapter six, Jesus speaks about ‘eating and drinking’ and living by Him. Like a newborn babe, we must eat and drink of Christ, feeding on His word and growing by it. When we eat and drink of Him, we are participating in Him, receiving His life for the day of resurrection. This only occurs in the fellowship of His body. As John said, ‘We proclaim to you … that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ’. 1 John 1:3. We are called to be part of the ‘one bread’. 1 Cor 10:17. The living and abiding word is calling us into the ‘new lump’ – the body of His flesh. 1 Cor 5:7; Col 1:22.

This fellowship, this participation in the bread of heaven, grants us the substance of His resurrection in the inner man. The full picture is that Christ has laid hold of the flesh of man and condemned sin in the flesh. Now He commends His zoe flesh to us, for He wants it to be ours on the resurrection day. Right now, of course, we are to be baptised into His name, so that we can be members of His living body. As we hear a word and receive it, we lay hold of His flesh. As we continue to receive His word and obey it, that word becomes life in us. We are eating of that life – the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We are being built together and growing up as members of His body. 1 Cor 5:8.

If we try to live the Christian life without hearing, receiving and obeying a word of zoe life, we are without hope in this world. 1 Thess 4:13. And if we hope only in this life, with no faith for resurrection, then as Paul says, ‘We are of all men most to be pitied’. 1 Cor 15:19.


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Participation in the word When the ‘Word of life’ comes to us, there are two critical points of participation. First, we must actively participate in the encounter with a messenger; with a preacher, teacher or witness who is sent to us. We receive both the messenger and the word of our sonship proceeding from Him to us. Resident within that word is the faith of our sonship. If we receive this word, we apprehend the power of our own sonship.

Second, upon receiving the word of sonship, this word immediately compels us to join and participate in the corporate ‘bread’, the body of Christ. 1 Cor 10:17. Christ is the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. He is the living bread; and we only have life as we participate in His body, in the fellowship of the Son. 1 Cor 1:9. This is what John meant when he said, ‘In Him was life’. John 1:4. Certainly, there is life in the first word that proceeds to our hearts. However, we have no continuing sonship outside of fellowship and participation in the body of Christ, the one loaf, the one lump.

Sealed toward the adoption There is a seal of our sonship that is set upon us as we genuinely enter the corporate Christ. 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13,4:30. We receive this seal as we are baptised into Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. How are these a seal? Is it because they are sacramental steps that we take? No, baptism is a seal because we are baptised into the process of His death and raised into His zoe life. The Holy Spirit is a seal because He brings the firstfruits of the resurrection power of the age to come. Heb 6:5. The presence of the Holy Spirit is a genuine foretaste, not only a promise. 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:14.


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Those who are baptised into Christ are baptised into His death and then proceed in the likeness of His death and burial, to the likeness of His resurrection. Rom 6:5. This is a daily activity by which we reckon ourselves dead to sin and present ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead. Rom 6:11,13. We are being raised with Him, through faith, to walk in the newness of zoe life and to apprehend the likeness of His resurrection. Col 2:12; Rom 6:4,5. Thus we proceed as those who are ‘sealed’ all the way to the redemption of the body in the resurrection of the last day. Rom 8 :23.

‘If anyone is in Christ’, Paul says, ‘he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new’. 2 Cor 5:17. Christ is the new creation and we must be in Him. The only thing that avails, or is effective, is the new creation, as Paul said to the Galatians. He exhorted them to ‘walk by this rule’. Gal 6:15,16. What he meant by this was the rule, or measure, of the new creation. The measure of the new creation is the presence of zoe life in our lives. When we walk by this rule, we have ‘peace and mercy’ within His body, the ‘Israel of God’. Gal 6:16.

The new creation is Jesus Christ. It is not a fusion of us and Him. We add nothing to Him through our new birth by the word. This is the rule of the new creation. And so we have peace. Why? Because the rule of zoe life means that leaven is being purged and we are indeed becoming the new, corporate ‘lump’. 1 Cor 5:7.

Eating and drinking When Jesus speaks of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He is offering us participation in His body, in the one bread. Jesus’


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words are clear. ‘He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in Him.’ John 6:56. We are to abide in Him and He will abide in us. This certainly is something new: a new creation.

As we eat and drink, we put on the new man who is created in the image of God. Eph 4:24; Col 3:10. His body was broken, in the same way that He broke the bread at the last supper. 1 Cor 11:24. His flesh was given for the life of the world. John 6:51. In a similar way, He poured out His blood; and this blood is now the life of the world, or at least of those who receive it. He has clearly made a way for His zoe flesh to be made substantial in all who receive Him.

As we said earlier, those listening to Christ stumbled when He told them that eating this bread was the only means of receiving eternal life. And the notion of ‘eating and drinking’ is a source of stumbling in our day also. Why is this so? Perhaps there are a few reasons. First of all, it involves hearing and receiving the word of a confronting messenger, who is delivering the word of zoe sonship. Most of all, the point of offence is that partaking of Christ actually means living in substantial, member to member relationship. It involves interacting, speaking, loving, showing kindness and, in every way, reaching out to the tangible community who belong to the flesh of the body of Christ. Mystical, independent religion doesn’t require any such interaction. But then, neither does it offer any eternal zoe life.

New birth and adoption The whole transaction between Christ and believers is a ‘life’ matter. It is new birth by the process of adoption. It’s not a mystical transfer by sacramental participation. Adoption is a


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genuine transfer of His life to us, as we’ll study in chapter seven. By adoption, our lives are transferred to Him and His zoe life is transferred to us. Accordingly, the inheritance of the adoption is new birth, both inwardly and outwardly! This occurs inwardly when we are born from above and outwardly when we are born from the dead on the day of resurrection.

We have no participation in the new creation apart from new birth and adoption. It is vitally important that we make this point. The new creation is not a synthesis, as if Christ merely adds something to us, or we somehow add something to Him. No! He is the new creation. And Paul is absolutely clear that we must be ‘in Him’ to have any participation in this new creation. ‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.’ 2 Cor 5:17.

This is why eating His flesh and drinking His blood is so important. When Christ offers us His body and blood, He is granting us participation ‘in Him’, in the new creation. Jesus said, ‘He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me’. John 6:56. This is the first phase of the adoption. By the intrinsic capacity of Yahweh Son, our great High Priest, we are redeemed by His blood and placed in the ‘position of a son’ in Him. ‘It shall be that in the place … there they shall be called sons of the living God.’ Rom 9:26. Having come into Christ, into the position of a son, we come to the Father through Christ. We recall the words of Jesus, ‘No one comes to the Father except through Me’. John 14:6.

This brings us to the second phase of the adoption, which is new birth in the inward man. The Father sends forth the Spirit of the Son into our hearts. This is the Seed of Christ, the seed of our own sonship – and all our names are in that Seed. It is the


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work of the Father, by the Holy Spirit, to birth this seed within our hearts. As this Seed comes to us, crying out ‘Abba, Father’, it brings illumination and faith for our individual sonship. This illumination is the evidence of new birth, for ‘the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit’ that we are sons of God. We receive a ‘new name’ from the Father, which no one knows but him who has received it. Rev 2:17.

This process of adoption continues for the remainder of our lives as we grow up into our inheritance as sons of God. It is not complete until we are born from the dead on the day of resurrection. This is the final phase of the adoption. Accordingly, we ‘groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body’. Rom 8:23.

His flesh – the new creation Jesus initiated the process of adoption when He was ‘born of a woman’ and ‘born under law’. Gal 4:4. He became ‘as we are’, so that we can become ‘as He is’. It is vital that we understand the difference between His flesh and our flesh. God didn’t infuse divine nature into our human flesh. He didn’t synthesise zoe life to the psuche life that we already have. Rather, He adopted human flesh into a completely new creation. And He has given us the flesh of that new creation to eat.

Formerly, we may have imagined that ‘new creation’ takes place as God adds the Holy Spirit to our flesh, in a kind of fusion or union, so as to transform our corrupted flesh to reveal more and more of His zoe life. This is built on the pantheistic idea that God is infused in everything (pan) that is good, and that everything good must be of God. But this is not the truth. The


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old and the new are not synthesised into a human-religious mixture.

It’s not hard to see that Christians have allowed pantheism to creep into their thinking. What’s the result? Many think that ‘goodness’ is the evidence of God’s Spirit at work. This may at times be true, but may also be completely false. The question is one of new creation. Have we joined the new creation, the body of Christ? The evidence will be that we love the brethren, with a power to lay our lives down, just as Christ did. 1 John 3:14. Again, there is only one new creation, one body of Christ. The great presumption in Christian thinking has been that new birth gives each of us the right to be a son of God without the fellowship of the body of Christ.

The real need is to understand His incarnation more clearly. Remember, Christ’s was not a birth like ours. He did not begin at the point of conception. He was the pre-existent Son, with the entire Everlasting Covenant transaction already accomplished. He was the Father’s begotten Zoe Son, revealed in human flesh, as the new creation. It was the zoe life of the Father, in the person of His Son, that entered Mary’s womb through a word that she believed. As John said, ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. John 1:14.

Did Christ take on our full human condition? Yes, indeed. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was the Son of God, but now became the Son of Man. Was He mortal? Yes, He came to suffer the death of mortality. So was He corruptible? No, His flesh was zoe flesh. He was the new creation, not just human flesh infused with divine life. The Person of the Word had become flesh. This was a new creation that included every one of us. We were adopted as members of His body.


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Mortal but with no corruption Although Christ was mortal, He was not ‘death-doomed’ by the corruption of sin. Peter emphasises exactly what David had understood: that the ‘flesh’ of the ‘Holy One’ would not ‘see corruption’. Acts 2:31; Psa 16:10. Certainly, He would face all the temptation, onslaught and hellish terror of sin. He would drink the ‘cup’, indicating the full taste of sin and death, but ‘without sin’. Heb 2:9, 4:15. He would offer Himself ‘without spot’. Heb 9:14. So here’s the important thing. Except for the blood that was completely poured out, His flesh was not fundamentally different after His death. His blood was poured out to become an eternal fountain, but He did not die from blood loss. He died as an offering, as an action of total surrender to the Father’s will. No one took His life from Him, for He ‘laid it down’ of His ‘own initiative’. John 10:18.

Let us be clear. He stood before the crowd. He spoke of giving His flesh for the life of the world. He was the full substance of every resurrected believer in the age to come. He was visible and tangible zoe flesh. When He broke the bread and distributed it among them, He said, ‘Take, eat, this is My body’. Matt 26:26. Again, remember what John said. ‘That which we have heard, seen, looked upon and our hands have handled.’ 1 John 1:1.

As we know, He was ‘touched’ with the feeling of our infirmities. Heb 4:15. His compassion and empathy would have been palpable as He moved among the crowds. No wonder the multitudes sought His touch and reached out to touch Him, even the hem of His garment. And of course, His physical touch did bring healing. Matt 14:36; Mark 5:27; Luke 8:46. He was the life-giving Spirit, able to heal and quicken the mortal bodies of those who touched Him.


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The picture is becoming clear. After the resurrection, Jesus walked among them for forty days in a glorified resurrection body. He was able to be touched and handled by them. John 20:27. He was able to participate in biological functions such as eating fish. But of course, He had no dependency on this. He lived by the zoe life of the Father. He described Himself as no longer being ‘flesh and blood’, but rather ‘flesh and bone’. We recall that Paul said, ‘Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God’. 1 Cor 15:50. Christ’s blood had been completely poured out and was not re-introduced into His body. Luke 24:39. This was the glorified, resurrection body to which all believers could look forward.

We should not forget that a ‘firstfruits’ of this resurrection power, belonging to the age to come, was with the early church apostles. Indeed, this same zoe life is with all who have been baptised into His name, into the likeness of His death and resurrection. In His name, miracles were done by the apostles’ hands and even as people touched their handkerchiefs. Acts 3:7, 19:12.

Our flesh When John said, ‘We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father’, he was referring to the glory of the Father manifested in a mortal yet incorruptible body. John 1:14. In complete contrast, our flesh is bound to corruption and destined to death.

In every way, our lives are dead in trespasses and sins. However, Jesus laid hold of our sinful flesh and condemned sin in the flesh. Rom 8:3. Christ came in the fullness of zoe life to lay hold of our


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corruption, carrying it into death and bringing us to the glory of sonship, by the power of His resurrection.

The ‘death that He died, He died to sin’. Rom 6:10. He also put sin to death. However, He was not killed by sin. He was tempted and tested in every way. He was crucified in weakness, yet He was incorruptible. 2 Cor 13:4. He overcame the power of death, while still alive, in a body of flesh and blood. Let us not forget this foremost truth. The weakness of God, manifested in the flesh of mankind, was stronger than men. 1 Cor 1:25.

This is what David saw and marvelled at in his psalms. ‘Therefore my heart is glad.’ Psa 16:9. He knew the Holy One would not see corruption. And as a result, this same seed of David would be ‘declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead’. Rom 1:4. And every believer, with David, would learn the same ‘path of life’, awaiting the resurrection day. Psa 16:11.

So the very substance of resurrection life is already with us, if we are joined to Him by baptism. Having heard the voice of the Son of Man and received His word, our inward man is being renewed. We are revealing Him in our ‘holy conduct and godliness’ because the body is ‘for the Lord’, and ‘the Lord for the body’. 2 Peter 3:11; 1 Cor 6:17. The ‘hidden’ persons that we are, in Him, are being substantially built up; and our inner members are being recovered from death, day by day, as we proceed toward our earthly departure. 1 Peter 3:4. As the outward man perishes, the inward man is growing in capacity, joyful in the prospect of receiving full expression in the resurrection.


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Raised at the last day At present, in our earthly walk, we accept that there is a contradiction. As we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we participate in the power of His resurrection. We experience abundant life in the inner person. However, the outward man continues to perish and decay. Nevertheless, we do not lose heart. 2 Cor 4:16. Our essential persons are being renewed. What Jesus said is true and we hold fast to His words. ‘He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’ John 6:54.

Whatever we have attained in this life by eating and drinking is what He will raise. Eph 4:13; Phil 3:11. He has been raised to the Father’s right hand and has reserved an inheritance for us in Himself. Our citizenship is in heaven. Therefore Paul says, ‘I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day’. 2 Tim 1:12. This is all according to His purpose, whether we live or die. ‘To live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Phil 1:21.

Who then will be raised to immortality? According to the words of Jesus, it is all whom ‘the Father gives Me’. John 6:37. The Father has set His seal upon Him and upon those who are ‘in Him’ by adoption. This is the seal of sonship. The Father draws all men to behold the Son and believe in Him. By this means, the Father gives us to the Son. John 6:44. Jesus said, ‘This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day’. John 6:39. ‘Those you gave me I have kept.’ John 17:12.


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Passover and unleavened bread To conclude on the theme of the bread of life, let us see how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Passover feast and its accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread. Lev 23:5,6.

The coming of Christ is referred to as the ‘appointed time’, the ‘right time’, and the ‘fullness of time’. Gal 4:2,4. These times are appointed, particularly because they coincide with Israel’s sacred feasts. The Gospel of John recounts that Jesus participated in three separate Passovers through the course of His ministry. John 2:13,6:4,12:1. As we recall, the first aspect of Passover was the sacrifice of a lamb. John the baptist proclaimed concerning Jesus, ‘Behold the Lamb of God’. John 1:29,36. Knowing that the second aspect of the Passover feast was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it’s not surprising that with each account of the Passover there is an accompanying expression of purging leaven. Remember, as Paul teaches, we are to purge leaven if we are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

On the first occasion, Christ purged the temple of the corrupt money changers. On the second occasion, Christ purged the leaven of unbelief that seeks a sign rather than the word. This leaven is variously called the leaven of Herod, of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Matt 16:12,8:15; Luke 12:1. On the third occasion, the final Passover, He intensified the purging of leaven amongst His closest disciples.

Across these three situations, a single theme is emerging. They are all about the ‘three-day’ sign by which Jesus’ many-membered body will be brought forth from the grave. In the first instance, He speaks of the temple of His body. In the second, He teaches them how to eat His flesh, the bread of life. In the third


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and final Passover – His own ‘feast’ as the Lamb of God – He brought forth the bread of His broken body as the basis for participation in His death and resurrection. So the pattern is clear: the temple of His body, the flesh of His body, and ‘here is My body’. This is the three-day sign expressed throughout the Gospel of John.

The first Passover The beginning of Jesus’ signs was with the miracle provision of wine at the wedding in Cana. ‘This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.’ John 2:11. This was immediately before the first Passover, as we read. ‘After this … the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves.’ John 2:12-14. As we know, Jesus took a ‘whip’ and cleansed the temple of those who had turned it into a house of merchandise. John 2:15,16. We could say that He was purging leaven from His Father’s house.

The response of the Jews was to demand a sign that justified His authority to ‘do these things’. John 2:18. As we would expect, Jesus’ only answer was to refer to the ‘three-day’ sign. He said, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up’. John 2:19. Unbeknown to them at this time, He was speaking of the temple of His body and the way a multitude of sons would be brought forth in Him. In other instances, He referred to this as the sign of Jonah, saying that the Son of Man would dwell in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. We’ll consider this further in chapter eight. Our reason for mentioning it here is to show that the Jews were demanding a


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sign. Their belief or unbelief was completely dependent on His signs. However, seeking a sign does not produce faith. It is the word that produces faith, for ‘faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ’. Rom 10:17.

John records that after He was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered His reference to the three days. Accordingly, ‘they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken’. John 2:22. This was the evidence of genuine faith. We must progress from believing in Him because of signs, to believing the Scripture. And more than this, we must believe the messengers who speak His word to us.

The second Passover ‘Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.’ John 6:4-6.

The miracle with the five barley loaves and two fish took place when the second Passover was at hand. Until then, many had been following Him ‘because they were seeing the signs that He was performing on those who were sick’. John 6:2. Then they followed Him because they ‘ate of the loaves, and were filled’. John 6:26. Jesus needed to shift their focus from seeking signs to receiving Him and His words of zoe life.

Accordingly, Jesus began to speak of Himself as the ‘bread of life’, the ‘unleavened bread’ of sincerity and truth. John 6:41; 1 Cor 5:8. They would need to eat of Him and drink of Him if they were to find eternal life. However, as soon as He began to speak that way, His followers began to grumble. John 6:42,43.


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Why did they need to listen to the humble son of a carpenter? This was the first evidence of leaven in their lives. Then they began to argue with one another, saying, ‘How can this man give us His flesh to eat?’. John 6:52. As they continued to disbelieve and reject Him, they sought to justify themselves. Their offence reached a climax when Jesus told them that unless they ate His flesh and drank His blood, they had no life. Even His disciples were struggling with this hard saying and many ‘walked with Him no more’. John 6:66. The very word that should have become the cornerstone of their lives and faith became a stumbling stone and a rock of offence.

By means of this kind of offending dialogue, Christ purged from among His disciples those with the leaven of unbelief. Even at this time, Jesus knew ‘who it was that would betray Him’. John 6:64. Of those who departed, many had followed Him because they saw His signs or they ate the loaves and were filled. Again, we note that sign-seeking is not sufficient to establish faith. We must firstly receive His word, because ‘faith comes by hearing’. Rom 10:17. In stark contrast to those seeking a sign, Peter testified, ‘You have the words of eternal [zoe] life … we have believed and come to know’. John 6:68,69. Peter was evidently hearing and receiving the words that Jesus spoke.

The third Passover In the events of the last Passover, Jesus fulfilled all the elements of the feast by becoming the Passover Lamb of God. He also offered His disciples the bread, representing His body about to be broken. He had already taken a servant’s towel and washed their feet, challenging them, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me’. John 13:8. They were ‘clean’, He said, but not all of


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them, ‘for He knew who would betray Him’. John 13:8-11. Even in these final hours leading to His Gethsemane arrest, He was still washing, cleansing and ‘purging leaven’.

When he took the morsel of unleavened bread, He gave it to Judas and said, ‘What you do, do quickly’. John 13:27. By this means, He purged the leaven of the betrayer from among them. Evidently, Judas had failed to purge leaven from his life and was therefore ‘purged’ from their midst. As each disciple, in turn, ate this unleavened bread, he entered a great test of faith. The Scriptures record that they all forsook Him that night. However, Jesus had prayed for them while they endured this process of purging. ‘I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition.’ John 17:12.

Peter denied Him three times and wept bitterly. Nevertheless, he wept the tears of repentance as he embraced the purging of leaven. He turned again and was able to strengthen his brothers. Jesus appointed him to shepherd and tend the flock. In direct contrast to Judas, Peter had passed the test of unleavened bread. In like manner, Paul wrote, ‘That I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things’. 2 Cor 2:9,13:5; 1 Cor 3:13. Along with the other disciples, Peter was brought forth in the new lump – the body of Christ – revealed on the day of Pentecost.

CHAPTER 4

Wonders for the dead

We have considered Jesus as the bread from heaven who gives life to the world. He said, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst’. John 6:35. And building to a climax, He continued, ‘Everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day’. John 6:40. With these amazing words, Jesus answered the question of the psalmist that echoes throughout the ages. ‘Will you perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise


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and praise You? Will Your lovingkindness [mercies] be declared in the grave?’ Psa 88:12.

Certainly, the Lord’s mercies have been declared in the grave. The Father did not allow His Holy One to see decay, and raised Him from the dead. The real ‘wonder’ is that as we eat the bread of heaven we are included in His resurrection body. We are joined with every other member and we are ‘holding’ the immortal, incorruptible Head. Col 2:19. And we are looking to the day when we are fashioned with glorious, incorruptible bodies like His. Eph 4:16; Phil 3:21.

The Lord does indeed work ‘wonders for the dead’. As we eat and drink, we receive zoe life in ourselves, in the inner man. John 6:53. Further to this, as we eat and drink, our flesh rests in hope of the resurrection of the last day. The outer man is perishing and destined to be laid in the grave. But the real ‘grave’ is the power of death that can consume our entire person, not just now, but eternally, where our ‘worm’ of corruption ‘does not die’ and our ‘fire’ of judgement ‘is not quenched’. Isa 66:24; Mark 9:44.

This is the real issue that is being played out day by day, in every life. Some are growing up and being built up together, into a temple of God, through the Spirit. Eph 2:22,4:15; 1 Peter 2:5. Others are being progressively overcome by the relentless power of death, with no ability to withstand the onset of an everlasting corruption, which will finally be ignited by everlasting burning. Isa 33:14.

The believer is one who puts on Christ, daily. He lives by faith and rests in hope. Finally, he dies in faith, knowing he will be raised by the word of Christ at the last day. Will those who are

4. Wonders for the dead

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departed ‘rise and praise You’? Psa 88:10. Indeed they shall. This is the fulfilment of ‘the sure mercies of David’.

Dead in trespasses and sins We know the answer to the psalmist’s question, but there is still a need to ask it. We must come to terms with the fact of our ‘death’. We are dead and we now seek the ‘wonder’ of resurrection life. In our fallen condition, we are dead in trespasses and sins. Eph 2:5. We are not born with zoe life, nor are we evenly poised between heaven and hell. In Adam all die! 1 Cor 15:22. For every one of us, ‘sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned’. Rom 5:12. We are dead, despite the wonder of human life, and must accept that there is no prospect of resurrection other than by the way that Christ has laid out. ‘I am the way’, Jesus said. John 14:6. So it’s no use confusing ourselves by trying to imagine how God will judge those who seem innocent in our eyes. We must humble ourselves to the truth of His incarnation and ask whether God can bring mercy to the grave.

Before we received the bread of life, we all walked according to the course of this world, as slaves of sin and enemies of God. Rom 6:6; Eph 2:2. Indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, we were children of wrath by our very nature. Eph 2:3. Recalling the words of Jeremiah, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?’. Jer 17:9.

The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes accounts that God ‘set eternity in their heart’, yet no one can find out the work which God has done ‘from the beginning even to the end’. Eccl 3:11. We have some sense toward eternity and an unquenchable thirst for understanding. Yet we cannot discover by reason, either the


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work of God or the ways of our human heart. Eccl 7:25. We have eternal existence, but we do not have the eternal life that Christ came to bring. The ‘work that God has done’ from the beginning to the end, the eternal zoe life that He has prepared beforehand for each individual, is only declared by the bread from heaven. Eccl 3:11; Eph 2:10. Without this bread of zoe life, we are ‘reckoned among those who go down to the pit’ and we are ‘without strength, forsaken among the dead’. Psa 88:4,5.

The land of forgetfulness On the positive side, we know that the name of every son was foreknown in the heart of the Father. More than this, every person ‘whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren’. Rom 8:29. We are foreknown and predestined to be sons of God.

However, from the very beginning, mankind has rejected this predestination. The psalmist described himself as being ‘like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and who are cut off from Your hand’. Psa 88:5. When we are dead in trespasses and sins, we are remembered no more. We are completely ‘cut off’ from the hand of the Lord. We are assigned to the land of forgetfulness. Hence we can only ask, ‘Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness? And your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?’ Psa 88:12.

We read in the book of Jeremiah, ‘I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.’ Jer 23:39,40. When the Scripture speaks of the land of


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forgetfulness, it is not referring to the Lord’s memory of a person’s existence. It would be absurd to suggest that the Lord is forgetful. We know He is omniscient – knowing all things. Where can we go from His Spirit? And where can we flee from His presence? Psa 139:7. We cannot flee from His presence, and yet, in the Fall, we were cast from His presence. We became aliens from the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. We remember the words of Nehemiah to those who opposed the rebuilding of the walls, ‘You have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem’. Neh 2:20. This literally means ‘no memorial record’, meaning not having citizenship in heaven.

The Lord remembers The Lord’s remembrance is relative to His foreknowledge. He only remembers and ‘knows’ that which He foreknew and predestined. In other words, He knows and remembers the ‘you’ and ‘me’ that He foreknew, but exercises no remembrance, as such, of those who relegate themselves to the land of forgetfulness. It’s when we ‘reject’ the ‘word of God’ that we judge ourselves ‘unworthy of everlasting life’. Acts 13:46. That’s how we become appointed to disobedience, rather than being appointed to eternal life. 1 Peter 2:8; Acts 13:48.

So when Jesus said of the hypocrites, ‘I never knew you’, this was a universal statement and a warning as well. It was not just a statement about a small group of misguided unbelievers at the end of the world. Matt 7:23. As a result of the Fall, this really applies to every person in the loins of Adam. God doesn’t know us. We have all been forgotten, cast off and assigned to everlasting reproach and humiliation. This is the beginning point in understanding our condition as a fallen humanity.


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Therefore, unless the Lord works ‘wonders for the dead’, we can only live in the expectation of a resurrection to eternal judgement. Psa 88:10. ‘It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgement.’ Heb 9:27.

With this in view, we begin to understand the desperation of the psalmist. ‘What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?’ Psa 89:48. In the same way, the apostle Paul cried out, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?’. He was referring to the deception and wickedness of his heart, as well as to the corruption and decay of his body. On both counts, he was able to answer the question with, ‘Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!’. Rom 7:24,25.

The Lord remembers His covenant The psalmist asked the question, ‘Has God forgotten to be gracious, or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion?’. Psa 77:9. And so, as a starting point, we accept that we have certainly been delivered over to death. We are dead in trespasses and sins until the Lord remembers His covenant. When He speaks to us and when we hear, it’s then that we can join ourselves ‘to the Lord, in an Everlasting Covenant that will not be forgotten’. Jer 50:5. As the Lord promised, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, You will not be forgotten by Me’. Isa 44:21.

We are delivered from the ‘body of this death’ because the Lord remembers His covenant. Then, in love and mercy, He sends the bread from heaven which gives life to the world. He does so in fulfilment of the Everlasting Covenant conceived in His own loving dialogue as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now the word of the gospel that comes to our ears is flowing right out of this


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dialogue. The Father, ‘rich in mercy, because of His great love … made us alive together with Christ’. Eph 2:4,5.

The Lord delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt because He remembered His covenant. We read in the book of Exodus, ‘So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’. Ex 2:24. The psalmist subsequently rejoiced in the substance of this deliverance as it applies to all men. ‘He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.’ Psa 105:8. In this same way, the Word became flesh in the womb of the virgin in the fullness of time. This was the ‘appointed time’ determined by the Everlasting Covenant. And further to this, ‘While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly’. Rom 5:6.

We are not remembered as individuals until we are remembered in the One Seed, Christ. He is the Seed of the covenant. That’s why the word of our sonship calls us immediately into the ‘one bread’. All our names, our full descriptions, the intricate details of our DNA – everything is known in Christ the Seed. He is the forerunner in every way. He’s been forsaken, ‘cut off’ and forgotten for our sake; and He’s been remembered and drawn out of many waters for our sake. Psa 18:16. That’s David’s repeated message in his psalms. Psa 69:1,2.

In fulfilment of the Old Testament ‘scapegoat’, Christ Himself went out to a ‘wilderness’, to the land of forgetfulness, as the sin offering. Lev 16:8-10. He was cut off from the land of the living, taking our sin and trespasses as far as cherem itself.6 Isa 53:8.

6. Heb. ‘devoted’, either to destruction or to God.


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Christ was truly accursed and ‘devoted to destruction’ for our sake. He was reckoned among those who go down to the pit, just so that we can be remembered in Him.

Why have You forsaken Me? We recall the words of Jesus, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’. Mark 15:34. Jesus was cut off from the land of the living because ‘He who knew no sin had become sin’. Accordingly, He suffered outside the gate in the place of the sin offering. He had taken the cup of sin given to Him by the Father. This was literally the ‘cup of His wrath’, the ‘chalice of reeling [trembling]’, as described by Isaiah. Isa 51:17. He drank the cup to the dregs, fulfilling His own words, ‘The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink all of it?’. John 18:11. As He drank the cup of ‘reeling’, He became sin for us. And as the sin-bearer, He took hold of the chalice of God’s wrath as the full weight and judgement of our perdition fell upon Him. He was cut off from the land of the living, forsaken, despised and rejected. Isa 53:3,8.

Indeed, the divine Seed had gone into the ground and was abiding alone. John 12:24. Darkness covered the face of the earth for the last three hours before His death. We recall the Messianic words contained in the psalm of Heman. ‘I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength. Forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more. And they are cut off from Your hand. You have put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the depths. Your wrath has rested upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves.’ Psa 88:4-7.


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And further to this, the psalmist cried out, ‘O Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do you hide Your face from me?’ Psa 88:14. We could say that the ‘sun was ashamed’ and that the face of the Father turned away from Him. Isa 24:23. And we also rejected Him and hid our faces from Him. Isa 53:3. He drank the cup of our sin and endured the fullness of our eternal judgement. We recall the words of Isaiah, ‘Your iniquities have made a separation from you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you’. Isa 59:2.

The Father had made Jesus’ soul a guilt offering, and as the Son drank this cup, He ‘poured out Himself to death’. Isa 53:12. He took the cup of our sin and corruption. Nevertheless, remembering the sure mercies of David, the Father did not allow His ‘Holy One to undergo decay’. Psa 16:10.

The cry of remembrance As the High Priest of the covenant purpose, our Saviour cried out from the ‘lowest pit’; from the ‘darkness’. Psa 88:6. Thus He transformed the place of forgetfulness into the place of remembrance. He interceded for our remembrance. The Father heard His cry and delivered Him.

The psalmist Ethan spoke these prophetic words, ‘How long, O Lord, will You hide Yourself forever? … remember what my span of life is … where are Your former mercies, O Lord, which You swore to David in Your faithfulness? Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants; how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples.’ Psa 89:46-50. Indeed, Jesus suffered the reproach of all mankind outside the camp. And yet, He returned with seven sprinklings of His own blood to activate the mercy of God


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for all believers. Accordingly, the Father remembered Christ and His covenant with David.

We read elsewhere in the psalms, ‘Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.’ Psa 44:24-26. We read the same thing in Ethan’s psalm, ‘I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David”.’ Psa 89:2,3.

We know from the Scriptures that from the horror of darkness, the seed of David came forth as the Firstfruits from the dead. The word of the Father called to Him and He was raised by the glory of the Father. The Son cried to the Father, ‘You are My Father, My God and the rock of My salvation’. And the Father remembered His promise to the seed of David. ‘I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him.’ Psa 89:26-28.

As the Firstfruits came again from the dead, all those who would be His were made alive and remembered in Him. Let us remind ourselves again, God’s ‘remembrance’ is not just cognitive memory. The point is that He remembers His covenant in order to fulfil it. Where He has formerly hidden His face, He remembers the Everlasting Covenant according to His mercy. God is faithful and He cannot deny Himself. This is the covenant and oath between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. His mercies endure forever.


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Do this in remembrance When we eat the bread of the communion, we participate in this remembrance. ‘This is My body … do this in remembrance of Me.’ Luke 22:19. Our current reflection adds new meaning to this word, ‘remembrance’. Certainly, we are remembering Him as we receive bread and wine. Yet more than this, we are remembering what God remembers. All our names are known and remembered in the One Seed of David – in Christ. So we are remembering the bread of heaven and His offer to participate in the remembrance of God. We have a memorial! We are remembered before Him.

The bread which we eat is the substance of His resurrection body. As we eat His flesh, we are becoming ‘as He is’. We recall the words of John, ‘as He is, so are we in this world’. 1 John 4:17. If we rightly discern the body of Christ, love is being perfected and we have confidence in the day of judgement. Nevertheless, if we do not rightly discern the body, then this very same bread and cup will be the substance of our judgement.

The bread of life will endure forever, but if it is rejected, it will perpetuate everlasting corruption. ‘I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.’ Jer 23:40. Again, this is the meaning of ‘depart from Me, I never knew you’. For those whom He casts away, reproach and humiliation is their covering. And this reproach will not be forgotten.

The cup which we drink can also have two effects – blessing and wrath. It is intended to be a cup of blessing. The cup indicates our participation in the sufferings of Christ which are working for us an eternal weight of glory. Nevertheless, if we


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drink in an unworthy manner, it is also the ‘wine of His fierce wrath’ which Babylon is made to drink. Rev 16:19. This is the cup of reeling, the chalice of His anger. Because the Lord always remembers His covenant, Babylon is remembered as well and she is given her cup of His fierce wrath ‘for her sins have piled up as high as heaven and God has remembered her iniquities’. Rev 16:19, 18:5. With this in view, we eat and drink with sober judgement, knowing that we are partaking of the most holy offering.

The blessing of the communion Resurrection is the blessed outcome of eating and drinking, which is participation in the communion. There are two fundamental elements of blessing. We recall that after His resurrection, ‘Jesus took the bread and blessed it’. Luke 24:30. In a similar way, Paul speaks of the ‘cup of blessing, which we bless’. 1 Cor 10:16. We need to consider the blessing of the blood and the blessing of the bread.

The cup of blessing redeems us from the curse of the law; that is, from suffering eternal death. The sufferings of Christ are a complete and finished work. By a complete suffering, He is able to end all suffering. He wipes away all tears. Our sufferings are now a portion of ‘His sufferings’. As we participate in ‘His cursing’, which is His dying on the cross, we fellowship in the pouring out of His life. This ‘pouring out’ of His life gives us blessing, and by it our sins are remitted and we are brought back from cursing and death. By adoption, we are placed into the position of sons in the family of God. The blessing and work of the blood gives us the adoption. The blood of Christ brings back our remembrance as joint-heirs with Christ. Hence He


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said, ‘Do this in remembrance of Me’. Luke 24:14,20; 1 Cor 10:16-18.

The blessing of the bread makes us joint-heirs with Christ by giving us ‘the blessing of Abraham’. Gal 3:14,23-26,29;4:6. The blessing of Abraham is the substance and capacity of our sonship. It is Christ’s flesh. His body is the substance of our sonship. As we eat the bread of the communion, His flesh becomes our flesh. His sonship becomes our sonship. Consequently, we have joint-heirship with Him and every other believer. We are part of His corporate body, jointly sharing in His sonship. Therefore we jointly share in the substance and capacity of His zoe life. As the blood places us in the position of a son by adoption and gives us His life, so also by adoption the bread gives us the right to participation in the substance of the body of Christ – both His individual body and His corporate body. We recall the words of Paul, ‘Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread’. 1 Cor 10:17. By this participation we receive the zoe flesh of Christ as our flesh for the resurrection. On the day of resurrection, the Father completes the adoption by making His flesh our individual possession as a son of God. The Father gives us the same life and capacity as Christ Himself. He fashions and transforms our lowly bodies into the likeness of His glorious body. Rom 4:17; Phil 3:21. We will be like Him for we will see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2.

Participation and fellowship are part of our worship in Spirit. The blessing of the communion is not transubstantiation. Transubstantiation would only pull the flesh of Christ down to sustain us in our mortality. Like the Israelites eating the manna in the wilderness, it would give us nothing in relation to a


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resurrection to eternal life. To physically eat Christ’s flesh and blood would fulfil the Messianic words of David in Psalm twenty-seven. ‘When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh [at Calvary], My enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.’ Psa 27:2. They stumbled over Christ the stumbling stone because they refused to be built on Him. His enemies and foes refused the fellowship of His sufferings. They refused to come into fellowship with Him through adoption, to be born from above and receive His zoe life.

In contrast to this, we abide and feed on Him in the adoptive context of the body of Christ by receiving the ‘Word of life’. It is His word that calls us forward into fellowship and, therefore, to a genuine participation in His zoe life. The apostle John proclaimed the ‘Word of life’, so that ‘you may have fellowship with us’. 1 John 1:3. His flesh and blood are zoe life, which becomes our life by receiving His word in the fellowship of the body of Christ.

The most holy offering When we eat the bread of the communion, we are participating in His ‘most holy’ offering. In the book of Exodus, the daily lambs of the burnt offering were accompanied by the grain and drink offerings. Ex 29:38, 40. These symbolic offerings pointed to the bread and wine of our participation in Christ, our Passover. The grain offering was called ‘most holy’. Lev 2:10. When a grain offering of firstfruits was brought, the ‘memorial portion’ was an offering made by fire. Lev 2:14-16. While the Old Testament calls the grain offering ‘most holy’, our English translations don’t do justice to the original language. The Hebrew meaning is ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, which immediately


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reminds us of the cry of the seraphim in the book of Isaiah, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory’. Isa 6:3. Similarly, in the book of Revelation, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come’. Rev 4:8.

When we consider the testimony of the seraphim, we are reminded that Paul declared that Jesus was ‘seen by angels’. 1 Tim 3:16. The heavens declare the wonder of the mystery of God manifested in flesh. Paul’s words in the book of Timothy are indeed our common confession. ‘Great is the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.’ 1 Tim 3:16. With the prophets, the seraphim and the apostles, we bear testimony to the Living One, ‘the Holy One of Israel’. Isa 1:4.

In His fulfilment of the ‘most holy’ grain offering, Christ saw no corruption; neither in His life, nor in His death. His flesh did not corrupt in the tomb. He had journeyed all the way out to cherem and back again, without any decay. He had offered Himself without spot to God and He was raised incorruptible, to appear to His disciples for forty days before ascending to the throne.

Christ, the ‘Most Holy’ grain offering, has now appeared as the Firstfruits from the dead. He is the substance of our resurrection bodies as we partake of His most holy offering. By eating and drinking, we are included in Him. Hence the apostle Paul spoke of ‘Christ the firstfruits’ and ‘after that those who are Christ’s at His coming’. 1 Cor 15:23.


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Salt and oil and the most holy meal offering All of the offerings in Scripture are symbolic of some aspect of Christ’s offering on the cross. Let’s consider again the great prophetic words of David. ‘For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy.’ Psa 16:10,11. Here, David speaks of the most holy offering. And he draws our attention to the two essential ingredients of the meal offering – salt and oil. He speaks of no decay according to the salt of the covenant. And he likewise speaks of the fullness of joy as the oil of the offering.

Concerning salt, we read in the book of Leviticus, ‘Every grain offering of yours … you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering’. Lev 2:13. The salt of the covenant, mixed in the bread of firstfruits, is the preserving agency of zoe life itself. Lev 23:20. Salt is not some kind of restraining grace by which we slowly improve, from glory to glory. We only ‘have salt’ in ourselves and become the ‘salt’ of the earth when we have the salt of His life, given by covenant. That’s the meaning of the covenant of salt. It is only that which is born of God that cannot sin, for the seed of the life of God is incorruptible. 1 John 3:9. This explains David’s point about ‘no decay or corruption’. This is the meaning of ‘having faith to the preserving of the soul’. Heb 10:39. When we have salt in ourselves, as in the meal offering, He is preserving His life in us. Again, like the firstfruits, we will be preserved until the day of harvest and resurrection.

Then, in relation to oil, we read, ‘If your offering is a grain offering … it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. You shall break it into bits and pour oil on it’. Lev 2:5,6. The oil mixed


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in and poured upon the bread is the Spirit of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It indicates the oil of gladness. Psa 45:7; Heb 1:9. The oil is the symbol of zoe life mixed in, and poured upon, the ‘body’ prepared for the Son. Heb 10:5. He is the Anointed, the Holy One of Israel. Hence, the psalmist spoke of the ‘fullness of joy’.

This holy anointing oil is truly the oil of joy for mourning. Isa 61:3. And Jesus promised us, in relation to His resurrection, ‘No one will take your joy away from you’. John 16:22. So the most holy offering describes ‘the path of life’, the way of the cross. Psa 16:11. If a man enters into it, he will become a certain firstfruits entering into the joy of the Lord. The oil of joy will be upon his head. Psa 23:5.

If the firstfruit is holy We are familiar with the words of Paul, ‘If the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy’. Rom 11:16. These words describe our relationship to Christ.

Jesus was the most holy Offering. The Father presented Christ to Himself, alive, as the Firstfruits from the dead. He was the Frstfruits and we were begotten in Him, in the one new lump. Christ was raised, and ‘afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming’, will be raised also. 1 Cor 15:23. He is holy. He is the answer to the ‘memorial portion’ of the firstfruits offering. He is the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so the message is that as we eat that bread, we too are holy; our names are remembered. We become a ‘kind of firstfruits’ and we partake of unleavened bread as the very substance of our daily lives.

Of course, if we do not have the Spirit of Christ, we do not belong to Him; we are not part of Him. But if the same Spirit


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that raised Christ does dwell in us, then He will make us a new lump. He will enliven our mortal bodies. He will renew us in the inner man and transform us from one degree of glory to another. Then, in the last day when the trumpet sounds, we shall be changed.

According to ‘the sure mercies of David’ we shall be made alive with Him, laying hold of the substance of our resurrection bodies. The voice of the Son of Man will speak to the ‘graves’ in the sense that He speaks to all who have fallen asleep. At that time, some are still ‘alive and remain’ on the earth, and these will also be changed by the exertion of His power. Corruption will be clothed with incorruption and mortality will be clothed with immortality. These are the sure mercies of David by which all corruption is finally overcome.

CHAPTER 5

The new creation

The sure mercies of David are the guarantee of resurrection for all believers in preparation for the new heavens and new earth. We are reminded of the words of Jesus, ‘Behold I am making all things new’. Rev 21:5. This declaration is made from the throne of the Son, in the time of the end. However, it proceeds from the Godhead dialogue ‘before’, to its fulfilment in the time of the end. Eph 1:4,2:10. In this chapter, we will overview the various stages of the new creation.

At each stage, the new creation is brought forth by a word. The word calls into being that which does not exist. This was the


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focus and substance of Abraham’s faith. Rom 4:17. He understood that the Father, first of all, is the source of all things new. He is the One with the power to birth and beget. Nevertheless, it is the Son who empties Himself to make room for all things new. We know that He emptied Himself to become the Word of the Father, the fullness of zoe life in the flesh. This was the very ‘beginning’ of the creation of God, the point of conception. Hence, ‘In the beginning was the Word’. John 1:1. The Word is the beginning and sum of all things new. Before the foundation of the world, the Son became the new creation according to the dialogue and covenant intention of Yahweh Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This was verified when the Father testified, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’. Psa 2:7. This testimony is echoed in each progressive revelation of the new creation. It was true in the covenant dialogue before creation. It was also true at His birth, His death, His resurrection and ascension. Heb 1:5.

The clearest example of the Son’s capacity was at Calvary, where His flesh was broken open to make room for us, in Himself. Calvary is the demonstration of the Son’s unique capacity to empty, make room and include us. Going out to death and coming again from the dead, He brought forth a new creation in Himself. ‘Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.’ 2 Cor 5:17. We must remember that Christ was the new creation in the womb of Mary. Nevertheless, coming back from the dead, He included us in Himself.

Stages of the new creation So let us briefly consider the stages of begetting; the phases of the new creation. This will lay out a summary of the whole

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circuit of Yahweh Son from His intrinsic throne, to the bosom of the Father, to the womb of the virgin, to the cross and the tomb and then back to the Father’s right hand. The descending and ascending of the Son of Man enabled the course by which the Everlasting Covenant was fulfilled.

In the first stage of the new creation, Yahweh Son stepped down from His throne. He emptied Himself of His intrinsic name and glory to the bosom of the Father. By receiving the very life which the Father had in Himself, He was begotten as the Son of the Father. He stooped again to conceive creation, which is thereafter attributed to the Son, albeit He was creating on behalf of the Father – the Source of all things. The faith of the Son in humbling Himself to create the heavens and the earth brought about the great angelic fall, where Lucifer himself was cast down.

At the appointed time, the Son emptied Himself again to become the seed of Abraham in the flesh of the virgin Mary. He was begotten in a body of weakness for the suffering of death. This Child from the womb of the virgin (a descendant of Abraham) verified the flesh of Abraham by becoming his seed. We said earlier that the Son was mortal, but not death-doomed. He was accepting the suffering of death – our death – but His was the death of offering. He came to make offering to His Father, to lay down His life. It was not taken from Him. By this means, He delivered us from ‘so great a peril of death’. 2 Cor 1:10.

Having already emptied Himself to the Father and then to the womb of the virgin, Christ proceeded to Gethsemane where He poured out His soul to death. In a body of flesh, a body of mortality and weakness, He emptied Himself again. This pouring out of His blood was the sum of all emptying, as He


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Himself said, ‘This is My blood … poured out for many’. Mark 14:24. The pouring out culminated when the spear was thrust into His side once His work was finished, draining all blood and water from His body.

As we look across the unfolding purpose, we should note that emptying always precedes a begetting or a birth. In each stage of emptying and begetting, a word from the Father establishes the next stage of the new creation. Having emptied to His death on the cross, it was the Father’s word that birthed the Son from the dead. Having been identified as the seed of Abraham in His incarnation; He is the son of David with respect to the resurrection. The overall aim was to verify the flesh of both Abraham and David, thus making substantial all the promises made to their seed. He was begotten from the dead as the son of David and thus walked with the disciples for forty days as the prototype of a resurrected ‘son’ of God in the flesh.

To strengthen the whole point, we note that for those forty days there was no house in heaven. For forty days, the disciples were able to see, look upon, handle and thoroughly associate with the physical substance of their resurrection bodies. Again, we recall John’s clarity, ‘What we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life’. 1 John 1:1.

So when He ascended into heaven, the Father proclaimed, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’. Heb 5:13. Further to this, He proclaimed, ‘Sit at My right hand … You are a Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek’. Psa 110:1,4. This was the culmination of all the stages of the new creation in Him. He had become the Firstfruits, and the names and heavenly houses of all sons were verified in Him as He ascended to His intrinsic glory. Thus we hear His voice proclaiming, ‘Behold, I

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make all things new’. Rev 21:5. Indeed, it will be new! There will be a new heavens and a new earth.

The Son of Abraham With this in view, we can now discuss the faith of Abraham and David in more detail. We noted earlier that Jesus is called both the son of Abraham and the son of David. Each of these fathers of faith received a distinct promise. Hence, they each had a particular faith for the bringing forth of the new creation. The emphasis of Abraham’s faith was the begetting of the new creation in weakness. The emphasis of David’s faith was the begetting of the new creation with power.

In the accounts in the book of Genesis, Abraham was preoccupied with the bringing forth of a son from his own body. His encounters with the Lord were to do with bringing forth a son and heir, despite his old age. Over and above this, however, a more profound discourse was taking place. The Almighty was revealing to Abraham that He Himself would become his Son. Yahweh Son Himself was speaking to Abraham. ‘I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’ Gen 15:1. Christ would become his seed, the reward of his faith. In this Seed, ‘all the nations of the earth would be blessed’. Gen 18:18; Gal 3:8.

This was the amazing covenant made with Abraham. Abraham could be the father of the divine Seed, while at the same time he could be included in that Seed. Abraham believed to be both a father and a son. Let us never forget that Abraham did become the father of the holy Child, who was called the son of Abraham. This was the outcome of Abraham’s faith encounter. So it was for Mary also. It is clear then that Abraham was ‘strengthened’


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in faith to bring forth the very substance of Christ in his own flesh.

The wonders of this covenant were sealed by circumcision. Gen 17:10-13. Circumcision was the seal of his faith for an heir ‘according to the flesh’. Likewise, it was a sign of the cutting off of the flesh, the body of sin. This would enable the ultimate fulfilment of God’s covenant, in the flesh, in the resurrection.

The incarnation – the word becoming flesh In the book of Galatians, Paul takes up the theme of the seed of Abraham. He tells us plainly that Christ is the Seed, singular, and that all the promises of the covenant are directed to Him. He is the One Seed who included all of us in Himself.

Christ’s descent from the line of Abraham was realised at His incarnation – His birth in flesh to Mary. ‘But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.’ Gal 4:4,5. We’ll now focus on the word becoming flesh in the womb of the virgin Mary.

What is the essence of the incarnation? Did Christ merely take on human form by a divine miracle, to provoke mystical speculation and religious reverence? Was there more to it? We agree with traditional theology that Jesus was fully God and fully man. However, Christ was more. He is the new creation, the fullness of zoe life.

Certainly, Christ took hold of the ‘seed of Abraham’, as distinct from the nature of angels. He was everything that we are in terms of weakness and temptation. Heb 2:16-18,4:15. But quite

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simply, His flesh was not, and is not, the same as ours. He is more than we are. He is the new creation. He caught up the lesser into the greater. It was the person of the pre-existent Son who took hold of our flesh as the seed of Abraham. This was a divine person becoming flesh, not a miracle conception intervening in our mortal tragedy. This was the One who came down from heaven, as the sum of the Father’s will.

Accordingly, there are three distinct aspects to the incarnation.

First, Jesus is Yahweh Son. He is ‘fully God’. It is Yahweh the Son who emptied Himself all the way to the womb. He is the pre-existent Word, who ‘was God’ and became flesh in the womb of Mary.

Second, He is the Son of God, already begotten in the bosom of the Father. He is the sum of the new creation. Everything conceived in God was brought forward to the womb of Mary by the overshadowing of the Most High. As the ‘only begotten in the bosom’,7 He now proceeded to become the ‘only begotten’ Son of Man in the womb.

Third, Jesus is the Son of Man. Matt 9:6. Having laid hold of our flesh, He is indeed ‘fully man’. He is the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, partaking of the flesh and blood of mankind.

Again, let us not assume that because He was mortal, He was anything less than zoe life in flesh. He carried no sin or corruption, even though He was set to become fully acquainted

7 . Note that John identifies the ‘only begotten Son’ as the One ‘who is in the bosom of the Father’ and who is now declaring Him. The term, ‘bosom’, is being used to signify birth, as in Numbers 11:12 and Isaiah 40:11.


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with it. He was, in all points, fashioned as we are and yet without sin.

A knowledge of Christ and of how He gives us the bread of our eternal lives relies absolutely on understanding that He was fully Yahweh, fully Zoe (begotten) and fully man. He cannot just be a ‘God-man’ to us or else we cannot possibly be like Him. And we certainly would have no concept of how His body is the substance of our resurrection bodies. Failure to understand this has led to trite reverence, mysticism and to a very feeble notion of ‘new birth’, a sort of infusion into our human living.

Jesus is Yahweh Son We recall the account when Jesus said to the Jews, ‘Before Abraham was born, I AM’. John 8:58. Here, Jesus used the ineffable, the unutterable ‘name’. The Jews promptly picked up stones to throw at Him. Later, at His arrest, He responded to the Roman cohort with the words, ‘I AM’. The impact of His words caused them to draw back and fall to the ground. John 18:6.

So there is no doubt that Jesus was Yahweh Son. Of course, this was not apparent in His earthly ministry because He had ‘emptied Himself’ of all His intrinsic glory. He had laid aside His own prerogatives and was revealing the Father, not Himself. This is the same spirit of sonship that we are to manifest. ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.’ Phil 2:5. Yahweh Son humbled, stooped and bowed to become the Father’s firstborn Son. By this means, He emptied Himself to make room for something new. This was, of course, ‘the new creation’, inclusive of us.

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When Yahweh Son emptied Himself to the Father’s bosom, He inherited the body prepared for Him. He was the sum of the new creation. At this point (which the Scriptures simply call ‘today’), the Father swore an oath. First, He said, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’. Psa 2:7. And second, He said, ‘You are a priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek’. Psa 110:4. By this means, the Father reactivated the intrinsic capacity of the Son to make all things new. It was the intrinsic capacity of the Son to create ‘in Himself one new man’. Eph 2:15. Remember, it is the Father who begets and the Son who creates.

Yahweh the Son had emptied all His intrinsic prerogatives to the bosom of the Father. And yet the Father reactivated His intrinsic capacity as King and Priest, according to the Order of Melchizedek. The intrinsic name and glory of Yahweh Son remained in the Father’s keeping. Nevertheless, the only begotten Son proceeded from the bosom of the Father with all His intrinsic capacity to reveal and priest the Father’s life.

Understanding incarnation Proceeding from the bosom of the Father, the only begotten Son emptied Himself all the way to the womb of the virgin Mary. He became the Word in flesh. This is the incarnation. It is difficult to comprehend the extent of His humbling. He partook of human flesh and blood and continued to humble Himself, pouring Himself out to death, all the way to cherem – to eternal death. This was all for our sake, ‘that through death He might …. deliver those who through the fear of death were subject to slavery all of their lives. For assuredly … He gives help to the descendant [seed] of Abraham.’ Heb 2:14-16. Where would we be without these sure mercies?


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We will need to hear John when he speaks of the Word becoming flesh. John was referring to the Word who ‘was God’. He was, and is, Yahweh Son – ‘I AM’. The Word that became flesh was pre-existent. Unlike it is for us, existence for the infant Jesus was precognitive. We begin at the point of conception and then have to be caught up, in Christ, to the life that was foreknown and predestined for us. It is important to dwell on these things.

Jesus is the new creation The Scriptures, and particularly the writings of John, contain many references to Jesus as the ‘Son of God’. Perhaps the most quoted verse is, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’. John 3:16. The fact that Jesus was the Son of God seems straightforward enough. However, this was something completely new in the fellowship of Yahweh. The world in its mystical and pantheistic disposition fails to recognise this fact.

Here is the truth. Yahweh Son was not always the Son of the Father. He was, and is, a co-essential Member of the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, we read in Paul’s letter to the Philippians that ‘He did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself’. Phil 2:6,7. When He emptied Himself, becoming the only begotten Son of the Father, He was the new creation.

The Son was both the beginning of this new creation and the ‘sum’ of the new creation. This is the meaning of ‘from Him and through Him and to Him are all things’. Rom 11:36. The Son contained the new creation in Himself. The Father had committed His life and His fullness to Him. Accordingly, the name of every foreknown and predestined son was contained in

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the One Seed – Christ. John recounts, ‘God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son’. 1 John 5:11. He is the only begotten Son and we must be begotten in Him. Hence, ‘if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation’. 2 Cor 5:17.

So the Father is the everlasting source of all things new, but then He has committed His life, word and will to the Son. This is the ‘body’ that is prepared for the Son, as He says: ‘A body You have prepared for Me … behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God’. Heb 10:5,7. The will of the Father and the name of every son have been committed to the Son. Indeed, our names have been written in ‘the Lamb’s Book of Life’. Rev 217. This is the meaning of the ‘scroll of the book’. Psa 40:7.

The new creation in the womb The new creation was brought forth from the womb of the virgin Mary. ‘When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.’ Gal 4:4. The power of the Most High overshadowed Mary and brought forth everything that was birthed in the covenant dialogue of the Father’s bosom. On the Mount of Transfiguration when the Father declared again, ‘This is My beloved Son’, ‘a bright cloud overshadowed them’. Matt 17:5.

Mary had this same experience when the Word of the Father came to her. The Word in her flesh was the only begotten Son. By the work of the Holy Spirit, the Word was conceived in her womb and brought forth in the flesh of mankind. For this reason, ‘the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God’. Luke 1:35. The Word, the life-giving Spirit, had been born in her flesh. He was the new creation in the womb of the virgin.


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Remember, the only begotten Son, the Father’s Seed, contained the name of every predestined son in Himself. All the promises are made to One Seed. Seed is the Greek word ‘sperma’, conveying the sense of supernatural conception. However, this was by no means a biological conception. It was by a word, not by the deposit of sperm, or an embryo. The Word in flesh was not merely the synthesis of the Spirit of Christ and the egg of a mortal woman. Neither was Mary a surrogate mother without participation in the birthing process. Concerning ‘the Holy One’, she was told by the angel, ‘You will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus’. Luke 1:35,31. It was a genuine conception, while also much more than a natural conception. A miracle took place in the womb of Mary. The new creation was brought forth, by a word, into the flesh of mankind. While Mary’s miracle was unique, her faith to hear, believe and receive became as much a prototype of true faith as did the faith of Abraham.

Jesus is the Son of Man The Holy One brought forth from the womb of Mary was the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham. He was the only begotten Son of the Father. But He was also the son of Abraham. Accordingly, He is declared to be the Son of Man forever. And He will never relinquish this aspect of the new creation. Having ascended to the glory He had before, He is the ‘glorified Son of Man’. This is a marvel. We are reminded of the words of Jesus, ‘When the Son of Man comes in His glory … He will sit on His glorious throne’. Matt 25:31.

Our key point is that, by incarnation, Yahweh verified the flesh of Abraham. Abraham had believed to conceive a son, but

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beyond that, he believed that zoe life would be revealed in the flesh of mankind. This promise was fulfilled in the womb of the virgin. By this means, the flesh of Abraham was verified as belonging to Christ and, indeed, his faith was substantiated. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Thus Abraham’s faith was activated to bring forth an heir from his own body.

We recall that it was the Lord Himself, Yahweh the Son, who proclaimed this promise to him. He said, ‘I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward’. Gen 15:1. Abraham believed that Yahweh the Son would become the Seed from his own flesh. Paul asked the question, ‘What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?’. Rom 4:1. He found the faith to reveal the only begotten Son of the Father in his flesh. By this means, he participated in the faith of God.

Further to this, he believed that in his seed, Christ, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. He believed for the adoption of all believers, including himself, as sons of God. He believed that the multitude of sons brought forth from this ‘singular’ Seed would be as ‘numerous as the stars of heaven’.

With this in view, we must say again that the flesh of Jesus was not the same as our flesh. He partook of our flesh and blood for the purpose of suffering death as the sin offering. However, this was not the primary reason for His coming. Jesus said, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly’. John 10:10. His flesh gives life to the world. It is the flesh of zoe life. As we ‘eat His flesh’, we receive life in ourselves and the inner man is being prepared for the day of resurrection when our lowly bodies will be fashioned like His glorious body. His flesh, conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, is the substance of


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our resurrection bodies. Truly, the lesser is blessed by the greater! This is the truth of the new creation.

A new culture of strong consolation Should we not then dwell on the magnitude of what we have just discovered? We certainly observe the wonder of the natural creation – the expanse of the heavens and the works of His fingers. Nevertheless, ‘how much more’ is the wonder of the new creation! If we hardly understand the intricacy of the natural creation, how can we fathom the glory of the new creation in the virgin’s womb? How great is this glory if it surpasses everything of the natural creation? What if the God who shone out of darkness were to shine in our hearts! 2 Cor 4:6. What wealth of treasure has been invested in the body of Christ! And there’s more. What if this body, while still in weakness, were to grow up into the immortal Head? Is there more? Yes! What are we to think of the resurrection and of the new heavens and new earth?

What do the Scriptures say of all this? Simply, ‘it is impossible for God to lie’. Therefore, we have ‘strong consolation’. Heb 6:18. We have ‘fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us’. Indeed, ‘this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek’. Heb 6:18-20.

What if whole congregations of people were to embrace this kind of strong consolation as an entire culture, a way of life, a way that governed their faith, thoughts and actions? ‘What manner of persons’ would we be, in ‘holy conduct and

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godliness’, hastening the coming of the day of God, looking for the new heavens and new earth, knowing that the present elements will be dissolved with fierce heat? 2 Peter 3:11,12.

CHAPTER 6

The promise to David

As we continue to discuss the bringing forth of the new creation, we will shift our focus to David. We have examined the promise made to Abraham and certainly, the promises made to David are not substantially different. Both Abraham and David believed in God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things which are not. They both lived in faith for the new creation. They both understood the multitude of sons that Christ would bring forth. Abraham saw his descendants like myriads of stars and David spoke passionately about the ‘brethren’, the ‘great congregation’, the ‘captivity led captive’,


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the great ‘company’ and ‘the fountain of Israel’. Gen 22:17; Psa 133:1,35:18,68:11,18,26.

Building upon the faith of Abraham, the faith of David extended to a further revelation of the new creation. Specifically, David’s faith and experience direct our attention to the resurrection, where Christ is begotten from the dead, with power.

Referring to this particular stage of the new creation, Paul called Jesus ‘the son of David’. He says to the Romans that ‘His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh … was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead’. Rom 1:4. As the seed of David, Christ is the new creation made alive from the dead by resurrection. God verified the flesh of David, raising it in Christ when He was seated at the right hand of the Father with the glory He had before.

The sure mercies of David direct us to understand the nature of this life and ‘the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe’. Eph 1:19. In the first instance, this power is working to renew the inner man so that we are changed from glory to glory. In Christ, the new creation, the Father is bringing His zoe life to our inner man in preparation for the resurrection of the last day. And more than this, we know that God ‘has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power’. 1 Cor 6:14.

Again, the promise of God that His own Son would descend from Abraham, draws our attention to His incarnation and birth in the flesh, to Mary. He is the One Seed who has included us all. His flesh and blood, given to us now, provide the very essence and form of our resurrection body. We could call it the DNA of our resurrection bodies, in the sense that the material of

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what we are to be was all there in that body of Christ and is now made available to us by eating His flesh.8 Immediately, we can see where the DNA of our resurrection comes from. It is through the virgin’s womb. Nevertheless, our resurrection was assured when David’s flesh was verified by the resurrection of Christ and His ascension to the Father’s right hand.

The faith of David Let’s review Peter’s great sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Remember that the ‘Pentecost’ of the New Testament was the celebration of the Feast of Weeks, or Firstfruits, from the Old Testament. This was the time in the Jewish religious calendar for the presentation of the firstfruits from the wheat harvest. Knowing this, it’s not surprising that the central feature of Peter’s sermon was the resurrection and ascension of Christ, the Firstfruits.

After quoting various passages including some from the book of Joel, Peter focused immediately on the dialogue of the Everlasting Covenant. It’s important to read Peter’s discourse as a step by step account of the whole matter.

8. This answers the question about the molecular DNA of our resurrection bodies. The DNA of our mortal and biological bodies returns to the dust. When the voice of the Son of Man calls to the dead, the dead will hear His voice and live. The DNA of our resurrection bodies will come from Christ. This is what His incarnation and victory over corruption mean to us. He was given to the human race with the DNA of Abraham and David, but as a new creation with zoe life, all DNA was caught up into Him; the lesser caught up into the greater. Now the flesh that He gives us to eat gives us life in our inward man. And it is also the substance, the DNA, of our resurrection bodies. This is the house reserved for us in heaven that we inherit in the resurrection. This explains why we are to give our bodies as living sacrifices now, and why we are to live accountably and righteously in these bodies. Our bodies are members of Christ, the immortal Head. In the resurrection, the word of the Son of Man, acting like water with dust, will recreate the outward form of our persons, in bodies like His that rose from the tomb. This is a physical body, able to be recognised, touched and known. Luke 24:31.


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He begins by referring to Jesus the Nazarene, ‘a man attested to you by God … by miracles … and signs which God did through Him in your midst’. Acts 2:22. In other words, this descendant of Abraham, from Nazareth, is God’s new creation, now visible in the flesh of Abraham.

Second, He’s been ‘delivered by the determined counsel … of God’. Acts 2:23. According to Peter, this dialogue and Everlasting Covenant was itself the catalyst for His death. Of course, His death is a fundamental statement of offering and giving, rather than simply the default consequence of mortality and corruption. Peter established categorically that it was impossible for Him to be held by the power of death. Acts 2:24.

David was always central to this proposition. Peter quotes him as saying, ‘I was always beholding the Lord in my presence’. Acts 2:25. He learned by the Spirit of Christ that the Lord was at his own right hand, establishing his kingdom forever. David understood his kingship on Melchizedek’s throne, holding it in trust for the Lord who was at his right hand. He understood that his throne was supported and verified by Yahweh the Son. He looked to the day when the Messiah would be verified as the rightful Heir of all things, able to exalt all His brethren, in one Spirit, to the same throne.

David was the anointed king. However, Peter also called him a prophet. He was the father of Israel and he took up the priestly ephod, ate the sacred bread and sat before the mercy seat. Taking these four statements, we can see that he participated in all four of the administrations of the Living One.9 He understood

9. These four administrations are kingship (lion), priesthood (ox), fatherhood (eagle), and prophetic ministry (man).


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the oath which was sworn to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne. And so it’s not surprising that he looked ahead and spoke so clearly about the resurrection of ‘my Lord’ to the throne of Melchizedek.

David believed that the fruit of his own body, his own lineage, would overcome corruption and be raised from the dead. It was to this faith and this hope that Peter was calling the multitude on the Day of Pentecost. David was dead and buried, but Peter’s message was clear. David’s own resurrection was guaranteed, as surely as Christ was now at the right hand and as surely as the firstfruits of the Spirit were being poured out on all flesh that day. The sure mercies were assured to all who would be baptised into Christ.

The key of David Not surprisingly, Christ addressed the church in Philadelphia as ‘He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David’. Rev 3:7. The power of resurrection is what the Scriptures call the ‘key of David’. This is the key held by Jesus, the Living One, who overcame the power of death. We recall that Peter said it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. The key of David is the key of hell and of death. Rev 1:18.

Why is it ‘the key of David’? It’s not because he possessed the key and then gave it to Christ. It’s an issue similar to ‘the sure mercies of David’, which could just as well have been called ‘the sure mercies of Christ’. It’s the engaging of the human race, of human flesh, that’s in view in these amazing themes. The key belongs to Melchizedek. It is the key of Him who is able to shut the mouth of Sheol and open the gate of heaven, for all flesh.


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The authority of Yahweh Son was held in trust by David upon the throne of Melchizedek. David lived in the faith of this key, in the same way that he lived in the faith of being seated on the throne of Melchizedek. David himself slept among the fathers and suffered decay. Nevertheless, he rested in hope knowing that this key had been given into his hand. Again, this is the key of hell and death; and by this, the last enemy – death – is destroyed. David understood that in the flesh of Christ, death could not hold him.

Raised to the glory before Approaching His death, Jesus asked, ‘Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was’. When Jesus used the term ‘before’, He was speaking of before He emptied Himself to the bosom of the Father. Of course, this denotes something that is outside of time. It was the emptying of Yahweh Son that initiated ‘the beginning’. Hence the Scripture says, ‘In the beginning was the Word’. John 1:1.

Regarding this ‘glory before’, Jesus was speaking of His intrinsic name and glory as Yahweh Son. When He emptied Himself, He entrusted this to the Father’s keeping. He committed Himself to revealing the glory of the Father. Hence John says, ‘We saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father’. John 1:14. Jesus glorified the Father by establishing the context in which many sons could be brought to glory. Now, approaching the culmination (and finish) of this work, He prayed that the Father would glorify Him.

The first step in this glorifying activity occurred when the Father raised Him from the dead. We recall that ‘Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father’. Rom 6:4. It is


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the glory and power of the Father that gives life to the dead. This is the glory and power which Jesus now possesses such that He can say, ‘I will raise him up on the last day’. John 6:39,40,44. According to His own testimony before Pilate, Jesus said, ‘You shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven’. Mark 14:62. This is the glorified Son of Man, endued with all power from on high.

Nevertheless, the ‘glory He had before’ is something more. It is His glory as the intrinsic King-Priest after the Order of Melchizedek. This was reactivated by the Father when He ascended. The Father said to Him, ‘Sit at My right hand … You are a Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek’. Psa 110:1,4. By this means, the Father verified the intrinsic Son’s capacity as King-Priest. This is the assurance that His intrinsic capacity is at work within us, to establish us in the sure mercies of David. Accordingly, Jesus said, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working’. John 5:17.

Raised to the intrinsic throne We read in the book of Ephesians that Jesus has ‘ascended far above all the heavens’. Eph 4:10. He has returned to His own intrinsic throne, the throne of the Son. Before this, the Son was raised to sit with the Father in His throne. When we are speaking of thrones, we are referring to the throne of the Father and the throne of the Son. Remember that a ‘throne’ is the symbol of authority in a kingdom, and ‘sitting’ indicates rulership and rest once a work is complete.

The Son rested in the bosom of the Father having completed the Father’s work. This occurred as He said, ‘Father, into Your


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hands, I commit My Spirit’. Luke 23:46. Jesus ascended to the Father’s bosom in His immortal flesh on the day of His resurrection, after saying to Mary, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father’. John 20:17. Having ascended and returned, He invited the disciples to ‘touch Me and see’, later that day in the upper room. Luke 24:39.

After walking with the disciples for forty days, Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives. Having fulfilled the Father’s will and work, He took His seat in the Father’s throne as the glorified Son of Man. The next aspect of His ascension and glorification was when the Father said to Him, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’. Psa 110:1. He likewise said, ‘I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord, He said to Me, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give you the nations as Your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as Your possession”.’ Psa 2:6-8.

Whenever we are considering the right hand, we are always observing a son and an heir. That heir may be no better than a slave in so far as he has not yet inherited. Alternatively, he may have taken up the right of his throne. In laying aside His prerogatives, Yahweh the Son emptied Himself and took the form of a slave. He was indeed a slave until He took His seat at the right hand of the Father. This explains why David beheld the Lord, always, at his right hand. David was holding the throne of Melchizedek in trust ‘until He comes whose right it is’. Ezek 21:27. This is the meaning of the prophecies to Judah: ‘the sceptre shall not depart from Judah … until Shiloh comes’. Gen 49:10. And so Christ came as the son of David, the Son of the right hand. Then, having ascended and taken His seat at the


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Father’s right hand, He received the full inheritance of the firstborn. This is what David saw when He prophesied, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand’. Psa 110:1. He received the nation as His inheritance and caught up the throne of David into an everlasting kingdom.

Further to this, Jesus said, ‘What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before’. John 6:62. This is referring to the intrinsic throne of Yahweh Son to which Jesus has been raised in a resurrected body of flesh. This occurred as the Father declared by the word of the oath, ‘You are a priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek’. Psa 110:4. He is truly the Son of Man at the right hand of the Father with the glory He had before. God has bestowed upon Him the name which is above every name. Phil 2:9. This is the throne to which we have been raised to sit with Him in the heavenly places. Hence He says, ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father in His throne’. Rev 3:21. This is the throne of Melchizedek. This is the throne of His kingship and priesthood.

Gloriously, when we are baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we become members of His body seated in His intrinsic throne. He is the immortal Head of the body of Christ. And we partake of His body when we eat and drink the communion. Hence Jesus said, ‘I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table’, in the same way He grants us to sit with Him in His throne. Luke 22:30. When we eat and drink the communion, we are granted participation in the throne and kingdom of the Son.


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The finished mystery We have considered the substance of our inheritance according to the promises given to both Abraham and David. Nevertheless, we must also consider the inheritance of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit in the flesh of mankind, according to these same promises. This is beyond the scope of this volume, but a few preliminary comments will be helpful. The finished mystery involves the revelation of all Three in the flesh of mankind. The unique name and person of all Three must be revealed. This is the meaning of the words of Paul, ‘So that God may be all in all’. 1 Cor 15:28.

The name and zoe life of the Father is revealed in the flesh of the only begotten Son and the multitude of sons who are brought forth in Him. As the Firstborn among many brethren, the Zoe Son has raised the flesh of mankind to the Father’s throne. Accordingly, our zoe life is hidden with Christ in God, ready to be revealed in the resurrection of the last day. This is the inheritance of the Father, fully revealed by the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Now we must also consider the inheritance of Yahweh Son Himself. Let us briefly review His ascension. When Christ ascended to the Father’s throne, the Father and Holy Spirit declared, ‘You are a priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek’. Heb 5:6. According to this word of the oath, His intrinsic kingship and priesthood were reactivated. We’ll say again, He ascended ‘through the heavens’ to resume His seat in His own original and intrinsic throne. And most importantly, He has taken the flesh of mankind with Him to His throne – the throne of Melchizedek!


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He is now both the Zoe Son and the intrinsic Son with ‘the name above every name’. When we are baptised into His name, we partake of His zoe life and His intrinsic life. Accordingly, the bride which comes forth from His side as ‘flesh of His flesh’ is both the flesh of the Father’s zoe life and the flesh of His intrinsic life. This is the inheritance of Yahweh Son, fully revealed by the Father and the Holy Spirit, when the bride is presented to Him without spot, wrinkle or blemish.

In the same way as the Son revealed the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit reveals the name of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit as the Helper (Gr. paraclete) also has this capacity to reveal another. Then, by the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, the church has this same capacity to ‘paraclete’, by remaining joined to Christ in fellowship. When we observe the power of the Holy Spirit in His activity among us, we are in fact observing the revelation of Yahweh Son by the Holy Spirit. We recall the words of Jesus, ‘He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you’. John 16:14. It is the particular work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Yahweh Son and all His intrinsic life.

So what do we know about the revelation of the Holy Spirit in His intrinsic person? A close study of the three feasts of Israel – Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles – gives us the beginning of an answer. In essence, the three feasts reveal to us the name and life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

First, the Father’s name and life are revealed in the Feast of Passover. The offering of this feast is the Father’s Lamb. The Son, who is the Father’s Paraclete, reveals the Father. This principle continues through the two subsequent feasts. One is revealed by the Other in each feast.


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Secondly, the Son’s name and life are revealed in the Feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is poured out in this second feast. Having been poured out on ‘all flesh’, the Holy Spirit is revealing the kingdom capacity of Yahweh Son. Jesus had said beforehand that the Helper would do this: that He would ‘take of Mine’ and reveal it to us. John 16:15. This dimension of Pentecost, enabling and expressing the Son’s life, continues right through the church age, until the bride is joined to Him, ‘without spot’. Eph 5:27.

Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles reveals the name and reward of the Holy Spirit. The Feast of Tabernacles typifies and explains the events that consummate the finished mystery of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This final feast fulfils the atonement of the church and the marriage of Christ to His bride. The Holy Spirit brings forth the harvest of this age and receives His inheritance in the bringing forth of the firstfruits of the age to come. So it is that the mystery of God is finished, the tabernacle of God is with men and God is ‘all in all’. Rev 21 3; 1 Cor 15:28..

CHAPTER 7

The way of life

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and quoted the words of King David, ‘You have made known to me the ways of life’. Acts 2:28. This is the way of zoe life. Having considered the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham and David, we will follow the ‘way of zoe life’ from the last supper to the cry, ‘It is finished!’. Accordingly, we will focus upon the transfer of our lives to Him and His life to us.

This is what we call the ‘adoptive transfer’. By this we mean the transfer of life by which our adoption as sons takes place. We recall the words of Paul, ‘He has rescued us from the domain of


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darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son’. Col 1:13. We have been ‘predestined to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will’. Eph 1:5. It is ‘through’ Jesus that this adoptive transfer takes place. We will consider that the path from the upper room to the finished work were ‘steps’ in this adoptive transfer.

The Lamb – the Father’s offering by covenant When we follow Jesus on this ‘way of life’, we are indeed following the Lamb. We are familiar with the cry of John the baptist concerning Jesus, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’. John 1:29. The Scriptures are built upon this ‘way of the Lamb’. Whenever we are beholding the Lamb, we are seeing the fullness of offering and the fullness of judgement. The first offering accounted for was the firstborn of the flock where Abel offered up a lamb with its fat portions. Gen 4:4. We know that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. The Scriptures conclude when the Lamb is both the lamp and the temple. Rev 21:22,23.

Let us first consider the Lamb as the Father’s offering by covenant. The pre-existent Son, having offered Himself to the Father, became the Father’s Lamb; the Father’s offering. The pre-existent Son emptied Himself of His name and glory to the Father’s bosom. By this we mean that He laid aside all His intrinsic prerogatives. In response, the Father proclaimed, ‘You are My Son’. And as the Father had life in Himself, He gave it to the Son to have life in Himself.

Accordingly, the Son took up the body prepared for Him; that is, the body of the Father’s zoe life. Immediately, the Son offered Himself to God – a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice. He was the Father’s Lamb, foreknown before the foundation of the

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world. The name of every foreknown and predestined son was transferred to the Son – the Lamb of God. Hence, the adoptive transfer is itself made manifest by the Lamb. Peter recounts that the lamb ‘was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for the sake of you’. 1 Peter 1: 20.

The Lamb’s book of Life So, all predestined ‘names’ were written in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world. Of course, this is the book of which David spoke in his psalm, ‘In the volume of the book it is written of Me’. Psa 40:7; Heb 10:7. David understood that his name, along with all his predestined works, had been written in this book. Psa 139:16. Not only is every name recorded in this book of zoe life, but the predestined deeds and ‘works’ of every son are recorded there as well. Rev 20:12,21:27.

The book of Revelation is clear that every son will be judged when this ‘book of life’ is opened and we will be ‘judged from the things which were written in the books’ according to our deeds. Rev 20:12,13. Those who call on the Father (Peter reminds us) need to remember that He judges impartially ‘according to each one’s work’. 1 Peter 1:17. Peter continues to declare that we are being redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb who was foreordained before the foundation of the world. 1 Peter 1:19,20. The Lamb is the sum of the divine nature, now manifestly given by covenant to many sons, whose foreordained work and final judgement are all written in the Lamb’s book of life.


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Behold the Lamb We must give further consideration to this transaction in the Father’s bosom. The Son emptied Himself of all His intrinsic prerogatives to become the Father’s Lamb. The Son’s name and glory remained in the Father’s keeping, but the Father reactivated the Son’s intrinsic capacity as King and Priest. Christ didn’t glorify Himself to be High Priest, but the Father said, ‘You are My Son’, and ‘You are a Priest forever’. Heb 5:5,6; Psa 110:4. This is most significant. The Son is both Priest and Lamb, from ‘before’ the foundation of the world.

John begins his Gospel with, ‘In the beginning was the Word’. John 1:1. This ‘Word’ is the articulation and communication of the Father’s will by the Lamb of God. John the baptist took up this point straightaway. As soon as John saw Jesus, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’. John 1:29.

John’s word is an imperative. It is a command to ‘Behold!’. This is exactly what each of the disciples did. They saw! And the Lamb said, ‘Follow Me’. They saw Him and immediately followed. John was one of those who saw. He heard the call, saw, looked upon and touched the Word of life. 1 John 1:1. This word of zoe life was the Lamb. And this is what we must do when we see the Lamb. We must hear, see and follow.

The blood of the Lamb Now, concerning blood – the blood of the Lamb! We should think of blood as the capacity of His life, and as His capacity to be poured out as the source of our life. We can say that the essence of His life is in the blood. The substance and form of His life is in the bread. This explains why Jesus was so insistent that

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we drink His blood and eat His flesh. This is our faith participation in the communion. And this blood is essential to the effective process of our adoption as sons. We cannot become sons of God without His life becoming ours.

We recall that a lamb, offered as a burnt offering, was the foundational offering. We note from the Scriptures that in morning and evening sacrifices, every other offering made by fire was placed upon the foundation of the lamb as the burnt offering. The lamb is the foundation and sum of all offering. All other offerings are an extension and expansion of the lamb.

The Lamb of God was ‘foreknown before the foundation of the world who has appeared in these last times’. 1 Peter 1:20. When the Son offered Himself to the Father, through Eternal Spirit, the three persons established the foundation of covenant by blood. This was ‘the blood of the Everlasting Covenant’. Heb 13:20. According to the book of Hebrews, every covenant was ratified by the shedding of blood and by the death of the testator. The Son became the ‘lamb slain’ in the true temple, before creation.

So Their way of life, testified to us, begins in earnest at the last supper: ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’. Mark 14:24. The picture is clear. The blood of the Lamb, poured out within the Everlasting Covenant, has ‘in these last times’ been poured out for many. This blood enables four primary operations and each of these operations is applied by priesthood.

First, the blood is the life. Hence, the Scripture says that the life of the flesh is in the blood. Lev 17:11. The pouring out of blood as in the Old Testament sacrifices was primarily to indicate the


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supplying of life for many. Jesus implicitly tied flesh and blood together when He spoke of giving His life to the world.

Second, the blood is the agency of redemption. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. 1 Peter 1:18,19. The sprinkling of Christ’s blood bore witness from Gethsemane until the spear pierced His side. In all His wounding, the process of redemption was operative and effective, bringing us back from the death of sin. Our redemption is the tangible outcome of the ransom paid. He gave ‘His life a ransom for many’. Mark 10:45. When we say ‘ransom’, we firstly mean the entire cost to God to give us His zoe life. Only in a secondary sense do we understand the ransom to be the cost to buy us back from sin. So the blood redeems us from the death of sin. But more than this, the blood gives us His life.

Third, the blood is the agency of remission, which denotes both forgiveness and removal of the causes of the transgression. We read, ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins’. Heb 9:22.

Fourth, it is the blood that cleanses us from all sin, perfecting us and presenting us without spot and blemish. Eph 5:26,27. The great multitude described in the book of Revelation have ‘washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’. Rev 7:14.

The summary and high point of the shedding of blood is that, having brought us back from the dead, He is giving us His life. He ‘brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant’. Heb 13:20. He is the Shepherd, leading us in the way of life. We follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

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The lamb and the bread Now let us follow the theme of the lamb from the time of Abel to that of Moses. Remember that the lamb is always the symbol of the living sacrifice – the burnt offering. It is not firstly the offering for sin. As the Lamb of God was the living sacrifice, we are thus urged by the mercies of God to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Rom 12:1.

Long before the children of Israel came out of Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb, the fathers of old showed faith in the continual burnt offering of a lamb. As we said earlier, Abel’s was the first of these notable offerings ‘of his flock’. Gen 4:4. The Lord responded with acceptance and Abel obtained testimony. Heb 11:4. When Noah left the ark, he immediately offered burnt offerings from every clean animal. Again, the Lord smelled ‘the soothing aroma’ of this offering and responded by confirming His Everlasting Covenant. Gen 8:20-22. This is the pattern that emerges. God responded with a word, a testimony. Later, Abraham built altars and called upon the name of the Lord. Gen 12:8,13:4. He continually built altars and testified, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering’. Gen 22:8. More than this, he taught his children to do likewise.

So burnt offering began well before the time of Moses. The fathers of faith were not making offerings for sin. Rather, they understood that by presenting burnt offerings, they were participating in the covenant purpose of God. The continual offering of lambs – morning and evening – was established in the time of Moses. ‘It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations … where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.’ Ex 29:42. The people offered and God spoke.


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The principle here is that when we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, the Lord responds with the word of the covenant. This word is the ‘bread of life’ coming to every person who is making offering. This is the bread of God which gives life to the world. It is the bread of Christ’s zoe sonship as the Firstborn of the Father. When we eat this bread, we are receiving the substance of His zoe life.

This is how the ‘adoptive transfer’ works in relation to the Lamb and the ‘bread’. As we join the Lamb – the Burnt Offering – and present ourselves as living sacrifices, our lives are transferred to Him. The Lord responds with a word, sending the bread from heaven. As we eat this bread, His life is being transferred to us. We are being renewed in the inner man in preparation for the resurrection of the last day. As we participate in the offering of the Lamb and receive the bread of His zoe life, the adoptive transfer is fully active in the fellowship of giving and receiving.

This explains why the Passover lamb was always accompanied by unleavened bread. This unleavened bread represented the bread from heaven; the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We are to receive and manifest the substance of what He is, which is unleavened bread. Since the true bread is unleavened, the receiving of it must involve purging of leaven. We must not mix anything with the word except faith. We must purge all leaven, lest we be puffed up, arrogant and overcome with all kinds of corrupt cultures.

To summarise, it takes both lamb and bread to establish us in the adoption. This was illustrated for us at the original Passover, when the children of Israel slew the lamb and then purged leaven from their houses. This was the substance of their three-day journey to join the sacrifice of the Lord. Translating the

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implications of the Old Testament into the New Testament, we desire to join the three-day journey by participating in Christ. This is ‘the way of life’. We must join the Lamb and then purge leaven in order to establish worthy houses. This is the most basic explanation of our way of life.

The last supper The clear offer to join Him in this way – the way of the Lamb – began in the upper room with the offer of the bread and the cup. So we follow the Lamb to His poignant encounter with the disciples in the upper room. We recall His words, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer’. Luke 22:15. In the upper room, Christ ate the Passover with them. And then on that same day, He became the Passover Lamb. He was the sum of all offering, ‘once for all’. Heb 7:27.

In the bread of His final meal – the last supper – Jesus offered the disciples participation in His body. He was transferring the disciples to Himself. He was including them ‘in Himself’ – in the body of His offering. And so they ate the bread – the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth – and He was transferring His life to them. The adoptive transfer was active among them. They received the substance of His Spirit, although they were not yet born from above. They were receiving life, just as He’d said, ‘I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me’. John 6:57. This participation in the last supper was confirming their zoe life, their adoption, their sonship in Him. The identity of each son was confirmed as He gave them the bread of life. As they ate of His flesh and drank of the blood of the New Covenant, that bread was becoming the substance of their resurrection bodies for the last day.


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Gethsemane – blood and oil From the upper room, they accompanied Him to the garden of Gethsemane. We will first consider Gethsemane as the place of blood. As Jesus cried out concerning the cup He was about to take, He sweated drops of blood from every pore in His body. Luke 22:44. In fulfilment of the Old Testament type, this was the first of seven sprinklings that would bring Him to the finished work. The way of life – the blood-sprinkled new and living way – had now begun. The Lamb of God was truly pouring out His soul unto death.

Further to this, the priests of old were ordained for the work of ministry by the application of blood and oil. ‘And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he and his garments shall be consecrated.’ Ex 29:21. This was a critical point in the ministry of Christ as our great High Priest according to the Order of Melchizedek. He came down to the garden of Gethsemane, which is the oil press. Certainly, the oil of Eternal Spirit – the essence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – together with the blood of covenant life, was sprinkled upon His garments. He was ordained for this hour and the power of darkness. Luke 22:53. He was strengthened by oil and by prayer.

There were two distinct, yet critical, applications of the oil upon Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. The first was the anointing oil, applied with the blood and sprinkled on His garments to consecrate Him as our High Priest. The second application was the pure olive oil poured upon Him and mixed in His offering as the Father’s Firstborn – the Firstfruits. In this way, He was the fulfilment of the memorial portion of the grain offering.

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Gethsemane – watching and praying We recall that Jesus told Peter, James and John to ‘watch and pray’, and then He went a ‘stone’s throw’ further. This is more than a description of a distance. We know that the casting of stones represents the judgement of the law. When Jesus went a ‘stone’s throw’ beyond them, He went to the place of cursing and everlasting judgement. Thus, Jesus established two modes of participation in the garden. We must follow the Lamb all the way to Calvary, but He has walked the way of cursing so that we walk the way of blessing. Hence, the cup that the Lord gives us is a ‘cup of blessing’.

We must participate with Him and drink this cup. ‘Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?’ 1 Cor 10:16. Hence, Jesus commanded His disciples to ‘watch and pray’ with Him. Having eaten His flesh and drunk His blood at the last supper, they now had the Spirit of Christ dwelling within them. Nevertheless, they had to activate the capacity of His Spirit within them by prayer. We know they stumbled at this point. Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour … the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’. Matt 26:40,41. Jesus returned to find them sleeping for sorrow. They were not praying. They were not imbued with the empowering oil of Eternal Spirit. And that night they all forsook Him.

Gethsemane – drinking the cup The adoptive transfer is evident, once again, in this matter of cups. Jesus accepted the cup of sin on our behalf. The cup He gives us is a portion in His sufferings that are working for us an eternal weight of glory. Paul said, ‘I rejoice in my sufferings for


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your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions’. Col 1:24. Our share in His cup of suffering becomes for us the cup of blessing. And so, the adoptive transfer is at work. An exchange occurs. One ‘cup’ is taken out of our hand and the other He gives us is the one we ‘indeed drink’. Recall the verse quoted earlier, from Isaiah: ‘Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of reeling, the chalice of My anger; you will never drink it again’. Isa 51:22. Jesus was the One who drank ‘the cup of reeling’ and ‘the chalice’ of the Father’s wrath so that we may drink the ‘cup of blessing’.

The cup that the Father gave Jesus to drink had two facets. First, it was the cup of reeling, the cup of sin itself. Accordingly, He was made ‘sin-sick’, we could say. Second, it was the cup of the wrath of God, the full extent of His anger. Jesus was cursed for our sake. ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’ Gal 3:13. Three times, Jesus prayed to be strengthened. And then at the midnight hour, He ‘nevertheless’ took the cup. Matt 26:36-46. Soon he would be ‘betrayed into the hands of sinners’. Matt 26:45.

This was indeed the hour of darkness when the angel of death sought His destruction. Satan had entered the heart of Judas and during those very Gethsemane hours, he was betraying Jesus. He arrived with the Roman cohort and betrayed the Lord with a kiss. It is apparent that the disciples were unable to follow the Lamb at this point. Peter rose up and confronted the officers of the high priest. Nevertheless, Jesus said, ‘The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?’. John 18:11.

The Scriptures specifically record that ‘they came and laid hands on Jesus’. Matt 26:50. This is particularly important. By this

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means, the sins of the world were imputed to Him in the same way that the high priests of old confessed the sins of the nation over the sin offering. We recall the words of John the baptist, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’. John 1:29.

Sin-sick and sin bearer Indeed, the iniquity of us all was made to rush upon Him. He was weighed down, burdened and sin-sick. Jeremiah’s words are applicable here. ‘Woe is me, because of my injury! My wound is incurable. But I said, “Truly this is a sickness, and I must bear it”.’ Jer 10:19. Certainly, Jesus was made sin-sick by the Father’s hand upon Him, afflicting Him and making His soul an offering for sin. However, He was also the sin-bearer. He was truly taking our infirmities and carrying away our diseases. Matt 8:17.

Like the scapegoat of old, all our infirmity and sin was imputed to Him. The elected scapegoat was to bear and carry away all iniquity. We know that in His appearance, Jesus was marred more than any man. By oppression and judgement, He was taken away from the land of the living. According to the prophet Isaiah, ‘He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows … smitten by God, and afflicted … He was wounded for our transgressions … the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed’. Isa 53:4,5. Reflecting on these words of Isaiah, the apostle Peter reminds us that Jesus bore our sins in His body and by His wounds we are healed.

God promised that if we would keep His covenant, He would ‘remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt’. Deut 7:15. Conversely, if we


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refuse to keep His covenant, ‘the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you … miserable and chronic sicknesses’. Deut 28:59. How do we keep His covenant? We keep it by following the Lamb. Thus we find the way of life. We are healed because we are redeemed by His precious blood. In seven wounds, He sprinkled His blood and took away our sin. This can be likened to the Old Testament cleansing of a leper, where the person had to be sprinkled seven times before he was healed and pronounced clean. Lev 14:7.

The sprinkling of His blood culminated in another wound – an eighth wound – when the spear was thrust into His side. John reported that ‘immediately blood and water came out’. John 19:34. This was living water. In the book of Revelation, John described this as the ‘river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb’. Rev 22:1. ‘On either side of this river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit … for the healing of the nations.’ Rev 22:2. As He was lifted up, becoming a curse for us, all the works of the devil and the curse of the law were removed. As this water flowed from His side, the curse was broken. Not surprisingly then, it is John, in his revelation, who recounts, ‘There will no longer be any curse’. Rev 22:3.

The full extent of the curse When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, the full extent of the curse was upon Him. ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’ Gal 3:13. The full extent of the curse is the ‘power of death’ itself. This curse has two facets. First, it is the death that reigned from Adam to Moses on account of sin itself. This affects all men, such that the psalmist cried out, ‘What man can live and not see

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death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?’ Psa 89:48. This is the curse of mortality and corruption. Second, it is the death that is imputed by penalty of the law. This is the curse of the law.

We could consider that Jesus began to suffer these two facets of the curse when He appeared before the high priest and then before Pilate. Of course, this suffering ‘at the hands of wicked men’ culminated in His lifting up. When Jesus stood before the high priest, the curse of the law was imputed upon Him as they condemned Him to death for blasphemy. This accusation was a lie and had no power to kill Him. Nevertheless, He was ‘judged’ by the custodians of the law. The high priest tore his robes and said, ‘What further need do we have of witnesses?’. The whole council responded by saying, ‘He deserves death!’. Matt 26:65,66.

Jesus began to suffer the full extent of the curse of mortality and corruption as He stood before Pilate. In this place, He was suffering at the hands of Gentiles. ‘And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head.’ John 19:2. We recall that ‘thorns and thistles’ are likewise the product of the curse from the beginning. Gen 3:17,18.

Both of these facets of the curse are in the venom of the serpent. First, death (mortality and corruption) was the result of the serpent’s lies and deception. Satan, the serpent of old, is the father of lies from the very beginning. Second, death is imputed as the curse of the law. We recall that Satan is our adversary at law. He stands before the throne of God, day and night, as ‘the accuser of the brethren’. Accordingly, when Jesus was lifted up, fulfilling the type of the serpent in the wilderness, He became the full extent of the curse. He was truly cursed for our sake.


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The separation of the sin offering Jesus was indeed the sin offering. He who knew no sin became sin and He became a curse for us. 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13. Accordingly, the judgement of God fell upon His zoe body through the accusation of the law in the hands of Satan and the hands of evil men. Nevertheless, we know that Jesus did not open His mouth. He absorbed the serpent’s venom, deception and lies. Being reviled, Jesus did not revile in return. He sought no justification. Thus the testimony of the Lord prevailed. The truth was declared. We recall the words of Jesus: ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I Am’. John 8:28. He was proven to be the spotless Lamb of God, bearing our sins in His mortal body. Thus a separation was made between the serpent and the Lamb, between the lie and the truth.

As the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus fulfilled the law and nailed it back into its proper place. He was truly the ‘One offering’, ‘once for all’. Heb 10:14; Rom 6:10. He abolished the enmity of the law and accordingly, destroyed him who had the power of death. The serpent was lifted up to be cast out and destroyed. This fulfilled the words of Jesus concerning His lifting up, ‘The ruler of this world will be cast out’. John 12:31.

More than this, as the spotless Lamb of God and the ‘sin-bearer’, Jesus condemned sin in His flesh. Having become sin, He carried it out in Himself to be judged. Again, a separation was made! With every drop of His precious blood, sin was dying and He was coming back from the death of sin. As He died, so also sin died. It was taken away to judgement. Nevertheless, ‘the death He died, He died to sin’. Rom 6:10. A separation was made between the body of sin and His zoe body which was doing the will of the Father. By oppression and judgement He was taken

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away; the body of sin was cut-off and destroyed. By seven wounds, He came back from the death of sin as the Firstborn from the dead.

I will draw all men Jesus Himself testified, ‘If I am lifted up, [I] will draw all men to Myself’. John 12:32. In seven wounds, Jesus preached peace to those who are near and those who are afar off. He reconciled Jew and Gentile in the body of His flesh, putting to death the enmity. And His blood draws all men. We are redeemed and brought near by the blood of Christ.

John recalled, ‘What we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life.’ 1 John 1:1. The first effect of redeeming blood is that we may behold the Lamb, looking upon Him whom we have pierced. And looking upon Him, we believe. Jesus said He would be lifted up ‘so that whoever believes’ will have eternal life. John 3:15. Faith is born and activated in our hearts. ‘But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke”, we also believe.’ 2 Cor 4:13.

When we behold the Lamb, we are compelled to follow and participate with Him. Truly the love of Christ constrains us, having concluded that One died for all, therefore all died. As we look upon Him, we behold our own sin dying in Him. We also behold the testimony of ‘I Am’, back from the death of sin. And more than this, He is back from the dead as the ‘great Shepherd of the sheep’. Heb 13:20. In seven wounds, He has brought us back from the death of sin ‘in Himself’. As we participate in the Lamb, we are brought back from the dead as the sheep of this ‘great Shepherd’.


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The blood of Christ thus speaks concerning our redemption and sonship. Indeed His blood equips us ‘in every good thing to do His will’. Heb 13:21. We find faith to do the work and will of God. In the first instance, it is the work of God that we believe. ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’ John 6:29. All that is required of us is that we look upon Him whom we have pierced, beholding the Lamb and following Him wherever He goes.

The Firstborn from the dead Jesus is declared to be the Firstborn from the dead. In seven wounds, He was the spotless offering and thus a full propitiation for sin was complete. He had triumphed over sin and death. His work was now complete. In faith, He cried, ‘Why have you forsaken Me?’. Having been smitten and forsaken of God, the Father’s face had been turned away from Him. This cry ascended before the Father and He could not deny the remembrance of our great High Priest. Right there, the Father received Him again and the everlasting doors were opened for the King of Glory. Thus He could cry, ‘It is finished’. He was evidently the Firstborn from the dead.

As One alive from the dead, He was the firstfruits of a new creation. He was the wave offering, the firstfruits of those who sleep. As His sheaf was waved, so also our names were waved before the Father in Him. Thus He could rest in hope, having opened to us ‘the way of life’. He entered into rest with the cry, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit’. Luke 23:46. By this means, He offered Himself to God. No one took His life from Him. When the soldiers came to put Jesus to death so that He was removed from the cross before the high day sabbath, He

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was already dead. In seven wounds, He had become the sum of all offering and the Firstborn from the dead.

His blood – fully poured out The eighth wound was the fullness of Christ’s emptying of Himself. When the spear was thrust in His side, blood and water flowed out. We have already spoken of the symbolism of the water. With respect to the blood, remember that the life of the flesh is in the blood. In the eighth wound, this blood was completely emptied from His body, never again to be His life source. In that sense, it was never re-admitted to His veins. This last wound was the sum of the previous seven wounds. Clearly, Christ poured out His soul unto death. His death was an offering, not just a mortal expiration. No-one took His life from Him.

And now, having been poured out, His blood still speaks. It ‘speaks better than the blood of Abel’. Heb 12:24. It speaks a better message than Abel’s because this is the blood that becomes the very source of life as we partake of it. Our participation in His blood is a participation in the very life of Christ Himself. This life that we drink is the life of the Zoe Son of the Father. It is indeed the Father’s life, ministered to us by the Son. His blood is the life of the world. Of course, ‘the world’ here includes those who behold the Lamb, believe and follow Him. The blood avails nothing for those who do not believe.

His blood is forever the life of His corporate body. It is an everlasting foundation. The psalmist rejoiced, ‘They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house, and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life.’


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Psa 36:8,9. This is the end of the journey on the way of life. We apprehend a fountain of life!

CHAPTER 8

Resting in hope

We recall the great prophetic cry of the psalmist, ‘My flesh also shall rest in hope’. Psa 16:9; Acts 2:26. The Lord spoke to Daniel saying, ‘Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake to everlasting life’. Dan 12:2. And He said further, ‘As for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age’. Dan 12:13. The promise of rest is the promise of comfort and peace. This is ‘the sure mercies of David’.


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Yes, we have the promise of rest. And we who believe, enter that rest. This is the reward of those who have believed and fulfilled all His will. Daniel was admonished to go his way and sleep. His rest was the reward for a lifetime of sonship. Those who enter the rest of Christ will indeed awake to everlasting life. It is for us an ‘allotted portion’ at the end of the age.

We could suggest that the sure mercies of David avail only for those who rest in hope. We should ‘fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to come short of it’. Heb 4:1. In the negative sense, the Lord Himself has sworn in His wrath concerning those who disbelieve, ‘They shall not enter My rest’. Psa 95:11. This is the judgement upon those who do not work the works of God; that is, those who do not believe and don’t do the works prepared beforehand. They have not fulfilled their own sonship. Having heard the word, it did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith. ‘The one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works.’ Heb 4:10. When we enter His rest, we rest in hope.

Anointing of the Holy One We rest in hope because the Holy One saw no decay. Jesus is the Holy One of God, anointed with the oil of gladness and joy. Jesus was certainly anointed in that fellowship and dialogue before the foundation of the world. The Father rested at the beginning and the Son was anointed. As the Father rested, even so the Son entered into the Father’s rest, fulfilling His word and thus bringing many sons to glory.

Let us consider again for a moment that the oil of joy is mixed with, and poured upon, the bread of the firstfruits. This is the joy of resurrection. And we anticipate this joy in the day when

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He says, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant … enter into the joy of your Lord’. Matt 25:23.

Our remembrance We know our flesh is corrupting. Nevertheless, we hold fast to the promise of the Lord’s remembrance. The psalmist rejoiced in a God ‘who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever’. Psa 136:23. We will consider again the remembrance of our names. Every family derives its name from the Father. However, every name has been committed to the Son in the Lamb’s book of life.

Christ is the seed of Abraham and the seed of David, and we are remembered in that covenant Seed. All our names were lost. We were without hope in the world, dead in trespasses and sins. Nevertheless, because death could not hold Him, the Seed could fall into the ground and die and come forth as the memorial portion of the firstfruits. This brings the remembrance of our names. And this is the miracle of the cross.

By death, Christ Himself went out to the land of forgetfulness. Calvary is the place of forgetfulness. The faith of the Son was indeed the faith to lay down His life to the point of death. No-one took His life from Him. More than this, because He is remembered as the firstfruits of the Father, He is able to activate our sonship in Him. He has justified the ungodly and brought us near. We are justified by His blood and brought forth into the position of a son. On Calvary, Christ has been remembered and we are remembered in Him. This was the cry of the thief on the cross, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’.


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The seal of the covenant Jesus was brought again from the dead by the blood of the Everlasting Covenant. We’ll consider here that the blood is the seal of the covenant. This seal, or sign, is the guarantee of the Lord’s remembrance. It is the promise of God to complete and fulfil His own covenant will. We recall that very first covenant sign and seal when the rainbow was in the cloud. ‘When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the Everlasting Covenant.’ Gen 9:16. The blood as the seal of the covenant is indeed the guarantee of remembrance for the lost. It is the guarantee of life from the dead.

Further to this, the Holy Spirit is the seal of the New Covenant; the evidence that God has received us as sons in Christ. He is the earnest, or foretaste, the guarantee of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the constant reminder that we ought to walk worthy of our calling. By this means, we will fulfil our sonship ready to be apprehended by the glory of the Father on the day of resurrection – the redemption of our bodies. Hence we have a guarantee of resurrection. It is ‘Christ the firstfruits’ and ‘after that those who are Christ’s at His coming’. 1 Cor 15:23. And recalling the words of Paul, ‘the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His”.’ 2 Tim 2:19.

The sign of Jonah In contrast to seeking the fulfilment of the Everlasting Covenant, the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for signs. This was truly religion without zoe life – the evidence of unbelief. Jesus responded by saying, ‘An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign

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of Jonah the prophet’. Matt 12:39. He then proceeded to liken the three days and three nights that Jonah spent in the belly of the whale to the three days and three nights that He would spend in the heart of the earth.

This sign of Jonah speaks of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. It likewise speaks of the day of Passover, the day of Unleavened Bread and the day of Firstfruits. It is the three-day operation by which Jesus is raised from the dead as the sheaf of firstfruits.

In another instance, Jesus was asked by the Jews to show them a sign of His authority. He responded, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’. John 2:19. In this way, He spoke of the same three-day operation. In those three days where He rested in hope, the Father brought forth the temple of His body. He crafted the corporate context of the body of Christ. And likewise, He crafted our resurrection bodies with Christ and in Christ. Consequently, He raised us up with Him in the sheaf of firstfruits.

Crafting our resurrection bodies According to the sign of Jonah, the flesh of the Son of Man would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. What happened during that time? We suggest that there was an interaction between our corruptible flesh – represented by the dust of the earth – and His incorruptible body. An ‘adoptive transfer’ took place that transformed our bios into the likeness of His incorruptible zoe flesh. Hence the substance of our resurrection bodies, begotten in the womb of the virgin, was crafted in the heart of the earth. The psalmist testified, ‘My


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frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the depths of the earth’. Psa 139:15.

The heart of the earth is the resting place of our corruptible flesh. As the Lord said to Adam, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’. Gen 3:19. Accordingly, the psalmist said, ‘Our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.’ Psa 44:25,26. Likewise, the psalmist said, ‘My soul clings to You, Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it, will go into the depths of the earth.’ Psa 63:8,9.

The Holy One saw no decay even though His flesh descended to the heart of the earth. While our bios, our biological body, is perishing, we can nevertheless lay hold of His zoe life as we eat the bread of heaven. We are renewed in the inner man and our flesh rests in hope of the resurrection of the last day. ‘He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’ John 6:55. The Father has crafted our individual resurrection bodies. This is the guarantee of the sure mercies of David.

The hope of resurrection Our flesh rests in this hope. It is the hope of resurrection. Resurrection is the begetting and glorifying work of the Father. This is His unique capacity. He gives life to the dead, but more than this, He begets those things that do not exist. He calls forth the new creation, giving it a body as He pleases.

This is the hope of resurrection as we apprehend the substance of the living bread of Christ. He is the substance of our resurrection bodies. He is the Seed, the very DNA of our

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resurrection bodies. When we speak of DNA, we are referring to that essential ‘pattern’ of zoe life found in the only begotten Son.

When this Seed was sown into the ground, into the heart of the earth, He did not abide alone. Nor did His body see corruption. He was raised by the glory of the Father, coming forth and bringing much fruit. And as Christ was raised from the dead, we have come forth in that Sheaf. He is the Firstfruits and we are His. He is the Firstfruits of those who sleep. Our resurrection body is crafted in Him; that is, in the temple of His body.

By this process, the Father gives to each seed a body as it pleases Him. Each individual body is an expression of the glory of sonship foreordained in the heart of the Father. This answers Paul’s question in his letter to the Corinthians: ‘How shall the dead be raised? With what kind of body do they come?’.

When Christ was raised from the dead, He was raised in immortality. In His resurrection body, He walked the earth for forty days. He was indeed the bread of heaven walking among His disciples. He walked with them as the ‘prototype’ of our resurrection bodies. He had not yet ascended to the Father’s right hand. He had not yet received the name above every name. He was, nevertheless, the full revelation of zoe life.

The word comes calling The word that comes calling is the word of our sonship. If we believe this word, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Jesus is justifying the ungodly by faith. All we need to do is believe and co-operate with the word that is coming to us. The word proceeding is the bread of God, coming down from heaven. As we receive it, we


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are joined to it. It is giving us life and the faith of God is coming to us. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word.

This word of faith is indeed the faith of the Son and it has within it the power of its own conviction and intention. When we obey this word of our sonship, it is defining our life and bringing forth the capacity of our sonship to live and fulfil it. We must mix faith with the word coming and thus receive the zoe of Christ, the power and motivation of our sonship. The word is the very faith and life of God Himself. When we believe and receive that word, it defines our life and our work. This faith is made manifest, for it is the very expression of new life coming to us.

According to this our inward man is being renewed and transformed by the word of zoe life coming to us. And our bodies, though perishing, are nevertheless being quickened and made alive. As the word comes, it is making substantial our eternal sonship. On the day of resurrection (that is, the day of anastasis), the word will come calling to the graves. ‘O, Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.’ Jer 22:29. The dead will hear the voice of the Son of Man and live. Those who are asleep will arise to their allotted portion. Those who are alive and remain will be changed. 1 Cor 15:51-53; 1 Thess 4:15. We will be raised with Him. This is the fulfilment of the adoptive transfer. The resurrection is guaranteed by the sure mercies of David.

Being built together The Father has crafted our resurrection body in Christ – in the temple of His body. However, we only apprehend the substance of this promise as we commit ourselves to being ‘built together’ in His body. We are to be built together as a spiritual house. We

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are to be a royal priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices. We must be built together as members of His body to inherit the substance of our resurrection bodies on the last day.

It is the five-fold ministry grace of Christ which builds us together. This is the grace of Christ. We are being crafted together so that we can present offerings commensurate with our sonship. It is the grace of God the Father which crafts our sonship so that we can fulfil His will.

We must be crafted to fit together. For many, this becomes a point of offence. Christ is the chosen and precious cornerstone of the spiritual house, the temple of His body. If we receive His word, then He is the precious foundation. And we will not be disappointed on the day of resurrection. Nevertheless, Christ is also the stone that the builders reject. For those who disbelieve, He is the stumbling stone and the rock of offence. We must not be offended by the word of Christ. If we withdraw from walking with Him, we lose the substance of our hope.

Concerning this matter of being built together, Peter began with the exhortation to put aside ‘all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander’. 1 Peter 2:1. Paul referred to these as leaven. If leaven is not purged, then the word of Christ will most certainly become a stumbling stone and a rock of offence. We must come to Him and be built together. Then, as we are being built together into His body, leaven is purged from our lives. This is the practical interface between our corruptible life and His incorruptible body. This is the meaning of ‘resting in hope’ for the sure mercies of David.

CONCLUSION

Sure mercies in the morning

It has been amazing to realise that David learned the way of Christ. He was not just looking forward, prophetically, toward the Messiah. Rather, he learned to account, to reckon, through faith, that his life and his sufferings belonged to Christ.

Long before him, Abraham learned faith whereby the promise of God wrought a change in his very flesh, enabling an heir from whom Christ would eventually descend. David too, in the same


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faith, foreseeing the One who would come from his own body, allowed the Spirit of Christ to teach his hands to war, so that he could join the victory of his Descendant, Christ, in the morning.

The words of his songs show how clearly he understood the sure mercies that were moulding his life and which would be fully manifested at the dawn of the next age. Suffering the unjust oppression of his enemies, David entered the process of the cross, just as we are to do. There he repeatedly proclaimed in song the dimensions of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, by which the sure mercies would be confirmed.

In Psalm seven, David refers to the ‘congregation’ who will surround the Lord when He rises up and returns on high. ‘O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; save me … deliver me … arise, O Lord … lift Yourself up … rise up for me to the judgement You have commanded! So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You; for their sakes, therefore, return on high.’ Psa 7:1,6,7.

Lovingkindness – mercy We read of ‘lovingkindness’ so often in David’s writings. In most cases, this is the same Hebrew word as ‘mercies’, used in the book of Isaiah in the context of ‘the sure mercies of David’. Isa 55:3. When he speaks of the Lord’s lovingkindness, David is looking forward to the time when he awakens with the likeness of God, in his flesh. ‘Hear … O Lord … give ear to my prayer … You have tested my heart … show Your marvellous lovingkindness [mercy] by Your right hand … keep me as the apple of Your eye … deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword … as for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.’ Psa 17:1-15.

Conclusion – Sure mercies in the morning

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Teach my hands to war David understood the power of death – the destruction that was set to feed upon him and consume his life. Psa 49:14. He learned to cry out until he was heard. His Deliverer set his feet on a rock and taught his hands to war against the ‘strong enemy’, the ‘violent man’; against those who were ‘too strong’. Psa 18:17,48. Psalm eighteen is perhaps the fullest possible expression of the dimensions of the cross, taught to David by the Spirit of Christ. ‘The pangs of death surrounded me, the sorrows of Sheol … in my distress I called upon the Lord.’ Psa 18:4-6.

‘My God … why have You forsaken me? … O lord, do not be far from me.’ Psa 22:1,19. ‘Remember ... Your lovingkindness … keep my soul.’ Psa 25:6,20. ‘Let Your lovingkindness ... preserve me.’ Psa 40:11.

The land of the living David believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the ‘land of the living’, meaning the land of resurrection power, both now and in the final dawning. Psa 27:13,116:9. He also called it ‘the land of uprightness’. Psa 143:10. Isaiah records that the Messiah was ‘cut off from the land of the living’, for our sake. Isa 53:8. Accordingly, David cried out, ‘Save me for Your mercies’ sake’. Psa 31:16.

Like Christ, David had his ears opened to know the way of participation in true offering. Psa 40:6. He had insight into the ‘volume of the book’ – the whole body that was prepared for Christ. Psa 40:7; Heb 10:7. David understood the ‘great congregation’ of the righteous, the collective nation of brethren, the great ‘company’ of those who would proclaim the word. Psa 40:10,68:10,11.


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This was the land of the living. This is where David wanted to find fellowship with his brethren. And despite the awareness of his failures, David found the place of justification, of no transgression, of imputed righteousness, that was being offered to him. ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit’, he cried. A man could be thoroughly washed and his transgressions could be blotted out. Psa 51:17,2,1. So, then, if enemies ran against him, David could pray with dignity and resignation, ‘The mighty gather against me ... they run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine … awake to help me’. Psa 59:3,4. ‘You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth.’ Psa 65:5.

Learning the everlasting way David teaches us that there is an everlasting way to walk in which the fear of death has no power over us. As we walk in this way, God searches the hearts and tries the ‘reins’ of a man. Psa 26:2,139:23,24. There is no avoiding the battle with our enemies. What shall we render to the Lord? We will take the cup of salvation! If we would walk in the land of the living and if we would believe and therefore speak, reckoning toward Christ, then our confession will be that we are ‘greatly afflicted’. Psa 116:10. We must reckon that our death is precious in His sight. Psa 116:15. Why is it precious? Because it joins us to His death.

David’s testimony answers the whole inquiry of man. Can we exceed death? Is there life after death, and with what kind of body will individuals arise? Can the inward man resist the encroachment of death, the erosion of the soul? Can the outward man overcome mortality? ‘Those who are foolish …


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death shall feed on them … but God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me.’ Psa 49:13-15.

David’s horn of strength Crying out and engaging with the Messiah, the Anointed One, David learned the ‘secret of the Lord’. Psa 25:14. He learned to walk in a ‘tent’ – in the tabernacle of God – through the very same experience as Christ. His ‘horn’ was exalted and his lamp lit. Then he rested in hope, knowing that he would awake with the likeness of God. Psa 27:5,132:17,17:15.

It was said of David through Ethan the prophet that, ‘My mercy shall be with him, and in My name his horn shall be exalted’. Psa 89:24. The ‘horn’ in Old Testament writings referred to a projection of power and is linked with the root word meaning ‘to shoot out rays of light’. A clear indication of its meaning lies in the fact that the glory shining from Moses’ face was represented in ancient artworks as a protruding horn from his forehead.

So the exalting of one’s horn and the lighting of his lamp were similar images. ‘I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.’ Psa 132:17.

A marvellous collection of images develops in the poetic Hebrew writings when we see the exalted ‘horn’ linked with rays of light. Then there is the reference to the faithful saints coming forth as free-will offerings from ‘the womb of the morning’ with the dew of youth, the dew of lights and with lovingkindness proclaimed in the morning. Psa 92:2,110:3.


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His mercy will follow us We must all journey as David did. We must learn the ‘everlasting way’, even as Christ Himself travelled through deep waters to the Father’s bosom. The grave is never satisfied and destruction never says, ‘It is enough’. Prov 30:15,16. Accordingly, we cry out, ‘Answer me speedily, O LORD; my spirit fails! Do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit. Cause me to hear Your mercies in the morning, for in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You.’ Psa 143:7,8.

We must wait upon the Lord until He inclines His ear, hears our cry, brings us up out of the miry clay, sets our feet on a rock, establishes our steps and puts a new song in our mouth. Psa 40:1-3. He will make our feet like those of a deer and teach our hands to war. Psa 18:33,34.

The enemy – the violent man – is too strong for us and so, together with Christ, we cry out for the Father to draw us out of the deep waters. He is our refuge, our rock, our fortress, our strong tower. Psa 18:2,16,17,48. Indeed, we run into His name – into the fellowship of His anointing. As we set our love upon Him, we are heard and received. Psa 91:14. He delivers our feet from the pit and sets them upon the paths of righteousness. Psa 40:2,23:3.

As we learn to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He anoints our head with oil, and our cup – the cup of salvation – overflows to others. Surely His mercy follows us all the days of our lives. We shall rise from the dust and dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psa 23:1-6.


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His sure mercies are new every morning, all the way to the dawn of the new heavens and new earth.

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