Resurrection Now

Jesus! You are risen! You are risen indeed!

“Break through, oh Lord!” I cried. Through the cloudy mist, through the cacophony, the mass of cobwebs, the constant pull of sins and distractions. “I want to know You in the full glory of Your Resurrection. Break through!”

Would He break through?

Jesus Christ rose for the dead, living for me.

A fact I’d known since childhood, since birth, it seemed. A fact trumpeted throughout the New Testament, again and again. Definitely a fact. Of course.

It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again,
who is at the right hand of God, who also constantly intercedes for us.

Grateful? Yes, of course, grateful. My sins were forgiven. Every time I failed, I knew I was forgiven again. You’d better believe I had many opportunities to be grateful.

But would He break through?

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, living in me.

So where was He? In a little compartment inside my heart? In my bodily “house,” occupying some “rooms” but not others?

Or was He, through the Spirit, permeating every fiber of my being?

Break through . . .
Break through my dim understanding . . .

Jesus Christ died for me . . .
. . . and I died with Him.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead . . .
. . . and I rose in Him.

So what’s THAT supposed to mean?

I am crucified with Christ. But I live. But not really I, really Christ in me.
And I live this life in this body by the faithfulness of the Son of God.

Break through . . .
. . . Break through my unbelief . . .

You are risen with Him, through the mighty power of God,
who raised Him from the dead.
You were dead in your sins, but He made you alive together with Him.

I was dead. But in His glorious Resurrection, I was raised. Resurrected. Not just out of the grave, but into the heavenlies.

And now you are risen with Christ.

New life, new life in you.

Have you heard it before? Only ten thousand times?

So keep your eyes fastened on those things which are above, in the heavenly places

where Christ is seated

. . . where you are seated . . .

. . . where God the Father is . . .

. . . the heavenly Jerusalem . . .

. . . divine wisdom . . .

 . . . the Father’s good and perfect gifts . . .

I strain my eyes to see, I strain my ears to hear.

I have longed for one thing, and that I will pursue. I want to dwell in the presence of the Lord all my life, to behold His beauty, and to ponder Him.

But look! I’m lifted up!

He will lift me up high on a rock.
And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me.

Above the clouds and cobwebs. Above the cacophony.

To fasten my eyes on things above. . . .

I can see past the clouds and cobwebs. Instead of breaking through, He lifted me up . . . above. In Christ.

And there He is, the Victorious One, seated in the heavenlies! And I am in Him. In Christ, the Risen One, I am risen to New Life. Risen indeed.

I will fasten my eyes on Him, believing. I will continue to trust, even with dim understanding.

I will sing. I will sing praises to the Lord!

***
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