Sunday March 13 2022

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the All Things Will Feel broadcast. I apologize sincerely that I am running extremely late this morning with the broadcast, but nevertheless, we are here and today we're going to be talking about death and the image of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15. We'll also do some correlations with 2 Corinthians 3 and offer a little bit of a critique on William Benson. So I hope everything is up and running as we have been delayed in getting here this morning. And again, you know, my apologies for that. All right, well, let's go ahead and begin. Let me make sure, just double check all of our technology just to make sure everything's going okay. Looks like we're live and everything is fine. Now, as we spoke last week, we talked a little bit about the nature of the death in 1 Corinthians 15. Our overall premise has been that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that 1 Corinthians 15 is dealing with the deliverance from sin death, deliverance out of sin death. And in addition to that, we have shown that being raised as far as resurrection is concerned has to do with being raised out of sin death, that it was the restoration of man to dominion through the victory gained by Christ over sin, death, Hades, etc. And also on last week, we pointed out the contradiction of some in Corinth who denied the resurrection, and they were denying the resurrection of the dead ones. They weren't denying resurrection per se, but they were specifically denying resurrection of the dead ones while affirming their own resurrection, while affirming the resurrection of Christ, and while affirming the resurrection of dead believers, those who had obeyed the gospel since Christ had risen from the dead. So what they were denying was the resurrection of these Old Testament saints who are called the dead ones in 1 Corinthians 15. And there were some consequences to that that they could not accept. So we showed that to be yet in their sins was to be dead, and therefore the consequence of denying the resurrection, and we just pointed out that this was sin death, separation from God from Ephesians 2 in verse 1, and 1 Timothy 5, 6, those were just a couple of passages that we pointed out. And so that was the gist of what we spoke about last week. And the last thing I'll say about last week's lesson, we do encourage you to go back and watch that if you haven't watched it already. And that is that the death, according to Romans 6 and verse 10, that Christ died as it relates to sin death, etc., was death to sin. That's what Romans 6 and verse 10 says. And the life that he lives, he lives to God. That is all about a relationship. So it's not about the raising of his body, which we never deny, and do not deny. But the death that the scripture says he died was death to sin, and that his resurrection was living to God. And hence, the believers also were said to reckon themselves to indeed be dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. So this is very, very important because it points out that relationship. The interest, I'm glad I made it too, because it was, anyway, I have a condition, and it's called sleep apnea. I'm sure some of you know that. And just ended up, you know, I was a little late last night, up late, and couldn't rise this morning on time. Anyway, let's go ahead and get into today's part of the message. So good morning to you, Eric and Amanda. Now, Israel associated resurrection with restoration or being gathered to the land. This is important because it sort of demonstrates some of the things that we're going to be talking about in the message today. But according to Ezekiel 37 verses 11 through 14, and there are other passages, but I'm going to use this one because it's very clear. They associated resurrection with restoration to the land or being regathered to the land. Verse 11 of chapter 37 says, then he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. This is the valley of dry bones, okay? And they indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. When I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves, I will put my spirit in you and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. And what's interesting also is that right after this prophecy in Ezekiel 37, one through 14, we have the prophecy of the two sticks, where he talks about both Judah and Israel being gathered together in the land. So both prophecies are related to that. Now you could say there was some what of a fulfillment with Judah coming back out of Babylonian captivity, but I think the essence of the prophecy deals with the concept of resurrection. But even just looking at it from the wording of the text, it does definitely show a correlation between their coming up out of quote graves and entering back into the land. Now, if you were to think about that and ask yourself, well, is that what resurrection is all about? That you are going to be raised up or that anybody would be raised up and put back into the land of Israel. You can also see Isaiah 26 for a similar concept of bringing Israel back into the land as it relates to resurrection. Isaiah 26, I think it's maybe around verses 13 through 19, but nevertheless, just hold that thought for a moment. And so thus the resurrection of Israel involves restoration to the land. And that's why we mentioned the term first fruits on last week, because first fruits is directly related to both resurrection and to the land. First fruits in Exodus chapter 13 verses 10 through 12. And I'm not sure whether I read that on last week, but I'm going to go and read it for today just so we get the verse in the recording. In Exodus 13, beginning at verse 11, he says, and it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers and gives it to you, that you shall set apart to the Lord, all that opened the womb, that is every firstborn that comes from an animal, which you have, the males shall be the Lord. But every firstborn of donkey, you shall redeem with the lamb. And if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck and all the firstborn of man among your sons, you shall redeem. So it shall be when your son asks you in time to come saying, what is this that you shall say to him by strength of hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And thus you may recall in some earlier lessons, when I showed the Exodus motif behind first briefings 15. So that idea of the firstborn, when it says that every man in his own order, Christ, the first fruits after with those who are Christ at his coming. And of course there were two portions of first fruits. There was the first fruits at the time of the barley harvest, which was around Passover. And Exodus 23, 19 speaks of that as the first of the first fruits. And then secondly, 50 days later, you had the time of the wheat harvest, which was another offering of first fruits. And both of those can be seen in Leviticus chapter 23. In Leviticus 23 and verse 10, it says, speak to the children of Israel and say, when you come into the land, which I give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest to the priest. So that is the offering of the first fruits associated with the Passover. But then he says in verse 16 and 17, count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, which would have been the day of Pentecost. Then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two lengths of ephod. They shall be a fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord. So what you have is the first fruits offered at the time of the wheat, excuse me, the barley harvest associated with Passover. And then on the day of Pentecost, another offering of first fruits. And that would correspond with Christ who is the first of the first fruits. And then the believers who are also called first fruits, uh, with references such as James, uh, one and verse 18 of his own will, he brought us forth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creation. And then, um, Hebrews 12 and first fruits, of course, is agricultural. Firstborn has to do with the animals and with man. And so in Hebrews 12 and 23, they're called the first born ones in revelation 14 and verse four. Uh, he talks about 144,000 as the first fruit. So you have these believers in the new Testament, um, referred to as the first fruits, and those could only be first century believers. We don't have anybody after those first believers that can be considered as first fruits because, um, they wouldn't be first. That should be pretty obvious. All right. But that means since first fruits could only be offered in the land, they were only to observe that when they entered the land, that Israel was already being regathered into the land at the time of the writing of first Corinthians 15. And so, uh, it's very important when we see that, but now we've got to, I understand what the land was or is because, um, in there being raised, they were being gathered into the land. Well, the gathering into the land would be in Christ because the Bible says was an Adam all die. Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And what that simply means is that Christ is the land into which they were being gathered. Um, Ephesians one in verse 10 that he might gather together, um, in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, all things, both which are in heaven and on earth, even in him. And again, in second Thessalonians chapter two and verse one, now concerning the coming or the Pharisee of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that's also Hebrews 10 and 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, um, together as the man, as the matter of some is, well, that word assembling is the same word, uh, for gathering that we find in the previous two passages and also Matthew 24 31, he shall send his angels and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds. He would send them at the sound of the trumpet. So all of that refers to this gathering, but of course, Matthew 24 and verse 34 tells us that that gathering was in that generation. So Israel was already being gathered into the land in that generation. And that was a part of the fulfillment of the resurrection premise as we saw before. And, um, so a very, very important, um, point when we look at it, well, that goes along with those statements that we mentioned last week that were present, um, um, passive statements. It is being sown. It is being raised. So that's what they were being raised into. So to be raised in the Christ was being raised in the land and, um, very, very significant. When we look at those, those verses, uh, from that point of view, and it shows that this process was already underway and, uh, was not something that is yet in our future, but it was already underway at the time that Paul was writing. Now they were also being raised in the image of Christ. So when you look at being raised in Christ from first Corinthians 15 22, and you, uh, consider that that's being raised into the land, um, that's also being raised into the heavenly man or taking on the nature of the heavenly man or the image of Christ, because, uh, it says they were being raised in the or sown in the image of the man of dust, but they were being raised in the image of the heavenly man, uh, who was Christ and the image of God. I saw you this morning, Jack Scott, for a minute when I looked up. So I know you're here, uh, welcome, but we have a few others. I would appreciate all of you, Ron and Gail and, uh, Israel, Carlos, et cetera. Thank you for, uh, for tuning in this morning. Now they were being transformed into life and into the image of the heavenly one. Some time ago, um, when I was at the radio station, I had a debate with on the image of God. And he argued that the image of Christ was the same human body of Christ. As a matter of fact, uh, he had a statement that when we were trying to nail down the propositions for that debate, he said that the visible physical body of Christ was slash is the image of God. And, um, when I stated that that was a statement that he had made during our, um, you know, narrowing down the propositions for the debate, I submitted that to him as his quote. And he says, I am more than happy to affirm that. Now it seems we got sorted down to the brass tacks of the debate or, you know, to the final preparations. And he started having problems, uh, with wanting to defend that. But what he was saying was that it was the actual physical body of Christ. And that was the image of God. Well, I actually affirmed, uh, that Christ, the new covenant man in glory is the image of God. And I believe that's what first Corinthians 15 is, uh, is talking about. Uh, someone says they are missing audio. I don't know if that's the case, but I hope that, um, we are still, um, still broadcasting, uh, and it shows it that everything is fine. Now we had already had an earlier written exchange that might've happened a couple of years before that, but I happened to, um, have that in my notes. There were some things that went on during the debate, you know, such as I didn't get my, um, responses from him to my questions until about 10 o'clock the night before the debate was to occur. And he had had mine for two weeks earlier, but nevertheless, uh, because of that, I didn't pull this quote, but here's a quote that he made concerning it. And it applies directly to the image of Christ in first Corinthians 15. Uh, even though he was commenting on second Corinthians, but it's very interesting because it's a direct contradiction to his view of the image of God that he advanced for first readings 15. And his whole point in bringing this particular quote up was we were having a discussion on whether second Corinthians chapters three through five related to number one, the same body of first Corinthians 15, and, uh, whether or not it was a covenantal transformation from one body to the other, from the body of Moses to the body of Christ, as opposed to being a chapter related to, or a, a group of chapters three through five, particularly to the raising of man's body out of the tomb. So anyway, this was his, his, um, uh, quote, let me make sure that I got it here. He says it is worthy to note, and we will revisit this later that Paul tells us that we, meaning they were already being transformed into the image of Christ by the Holy spirit. I want you to let that sink in for just a moment. It is worthy to note, and we will revisit this later that Paul tells us that they were already being transformed into the image of Christ by the Holy spirit. They were not waiting for millions of Jews to be killed by Rome so that this could really take place. Yet we lose track of the point. The point here is that bell asserts that the term, and let me try to get this one metamorphosis means bodily change. Actually, that is a stretching of the term, a slight distortion that would squeeze the term body into, and the usage closes to the next question into, and the usage, I think he means closest to the next question, uh, referred to his own body, which bears the marks of persecution. And I think by that, he's referring to a chapter four, where Paul mentions, um, uh, the persecutions that he was going through in his body. Now I want you to note again, and I tried to emphasize that. So you would see that, that Vincent was saying that they were already being transformed as Paul wrote first Corinthians, when he wrote to the church in second Corinthians chapter three, that they were already being transformed into the image of Christ by the Holy spirit. And they were not waiting for the destruction of the temple. In other words, we simply say that resurrection was consummated in 70 AD associated with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. And he was saying, well, this transformation was already going on, which we agree. We agree that the transformation into the image of Christ was already taking place. We even argue that from first Corinthians 15, because of the present passive verbs that are mentioned there, uh, it is being so it is being raised. And if it's being raised in glory, being raised in power, being raised in the image of Christ, that means they were already in the process of being transformed into the image of Christ in first Corinthians 15 as well. And so the particular verse that he's citing is a verse 18 of chapter three in second Corinthians, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. Now there are several problems that we want to point out with his taking this view on second Corinthians chapter three and verse 18, and particularly in the chapter, uh, from about seven through 18, that change, which he admitted was covenantal change. And the reason he admits that it's covenantal change is because one of the reasons I should say, because I don't know all of his reasons, but one of the reasons he admitted that it was covenantal change was because it did not have the word body in the text. And his assumption was that the first use of body in the context was Paul's physical body. And therefore that set the tone for what followed in chapter four down through chapter five and thus arguing for a physical body resurrection. However, the covenantal change that we see in second Corinthians three and verse involves a transformation and transition from the ministry of death to the ministry of life. And as we mentioned, it is also a transformation, uh, from the body of Moses or from the ministry of death or from glory, depending on which one of those you want to use to the image of Christ. If you look in second Corinthians three verses 17 and 18, and there are a lot of correlations that can be mentioned in the chapter, but in verse 17, notice what the text says. Now the Lord is the spirit. Well, that is a correlation between first Corinthians chapter 15, where in that text in verse 45, it says, and so it is written. The first man, Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life giving spirit. So those are, those are, uh, parallel texts, if you please, in terms of what it says about Christ in verse 17. Now the Lord is the spirit. What kind of spirit was the Lord? He was a life giving spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And that implies the deliverance from the bondage in which they were under, uh, under the old covenant. But he says, but we all with unveil faith, behold a face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed. So they were being transformed into this life, giving spirit into the image of this life, giving spirit in verse 17. And there is one of the correlations between first Corinthians chapter 15 and second Corinthians chapter three, which he admits is covenantal change. And that being the case, then we have, um, first Corinthians 15 as argued by futurists and by other people who want to talk about individual bodies and human bodies being transformed. Uh, we have this statement that it was already in progress. The process was already underway and it's a transformation into the image of God. Now, why would William Vincent say that in second Corinthians chapter three, because he recognized that this is a present indicative passive verb, this metamorphosis, which is the root, uh, verb and, uh, just indicates the transformation of a, uh, worm to, uh, you know, like a caterpillar to a butterfly, but it's a process. It's not an instantaneous, uh, action. Uh, it was a process. And so it's a third person singular, um, present indicative passive form of the verb cardigan. Oh, and that means to follow his logic and interpretation of the verb tense in second Corinthians three in verse 18, we have the same concept again in first Corinthians 15 and verse 26, because the text there says that, um, the last enemy, which is being destroyed is death. It's the same word cardigan. Oh, but it's used in the present, um, indicative passive form. And so that means that in first Corinthians 15, they were being transformed out of death into life in real time. At the time that was right, that was written. And now we have a transformation from the ministry of death in second Corinthians three into the ministry of life. So how are those different? How were through two transformations from two types of death into two types of glory and two images of Christ all at the same time, all before the Romans killed millions of Jews, but that was his position. And so just from that, if you're following the lesson and why, um, uh, and what I'm saying, it indicated that, uh, his position was contradictory and that he winds up with a double this and a double that and a double everything as far as the resurrection is concerned. Now the word cardigan is used four times in second Corinthians chapter three, every single time it is used, it is used in the present indicative passive voice. And, um, meaning that all of the times that it's used, it is a transformation that was in process. Let me, uh, give you some of those one is in verse seven. It says, but if the ministry of death written and engraved on stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away. Well, the word cardigan means to disanul or to a null. And so it was simply saying, and some translations will say this, or even in the interlinears, it will say which glory was being a null. That means that when they looked on Moses's face, after he had came down from the Mount, it, uh, shown with this glory, uh, that was audited so that Israel couldn't steadily look at him. They were afraid to look at him. So he had to put this veil over his face, but the point of the text is that that glory was already passing away on Moses's face. And Paul uses that example. I think it's X to the 34 uses that example of the glory that was passing on Moses's face to his transformation, uh, doctrine in second Corinthians three to talk about the fact that the old covenant, which was the ministry of death was passing away, even as Israel yet read it. And even as they were yet seeking to follow it. And so in the, uh, additional verses that follow, uh, and I won't read them all, uh, because it's a trend, it's a, uh, correlation and a, um, transition from the ministry of glory, which was the old covenant glory, which he says had no glory in this respect because of the glory, which far exceeded it. And that means, uh, that it was weak in the glory that it had. So these are the same similar ideas that we find in, uh, first Corinthians 15, but in verse 11, we have the term used again, where he says for, if what is passing away, what is being an old same word, Cardigal was glorious. What remains or is remaining is much more glorious. Now watch in verse 12. He says, therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. Well, how many hopes did Israel have? They only had one Ephesians four in verse four and acts 28, 20. Their hope was resurrection, uh, acts 26, six through eight acts 24, uh, 14 and 15, et cetera. So their hope was resurrection. So this hope that he's speaking of in this transformation out of the ministry of death into the ministry of life is the same hope of resurrection that we have in first Corinthians 15. They are identical. So if we're talking about a body or transformation from a body in first Corinthians 15, we would have to be speaking of the same thing in second Corinthians three less. We have two different kinds of deaths and two different kinds of all of those things that I'd mentioned before. So very, very important. Now in verses 13 and 14, we have this word cardigan. Oh, once again, unlike Moses who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was being a no, what was passing away. So here again is this verb used in the present indicative passive voice. And then in verse 14, but their minds were blinded for until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the old Testament because the veil is being annulled in Christ. So you talked about the removing of the veil in Christ. That's the ministry of death that was being unknown as they turned from Moses to Christ. Well, Moses represents Adam. You could say this is Adam on steroids, maybe if that's an appropriate way to look at it. But that just comes from earlier studies that we did in Romans chapter five, when the text says that through one man sin into the world and death through sin, so that death passed upon all men because all sin. And then in verse 14 of Romans five, it says, nevertheless, death reign from Adam to Moses. And that also takes in consideration Romans chapter five, and verse 20, moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. So it wasn't a different offense. It was the same offensive Adam that abounded through Moses. So to be in Adam, just like first Corinthians 15 would say, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all should be made alive. Then you have the same thing when you're dealing with the transformation out of the old covenant of Moses, as in Moses all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. So there's your body right there in first Corinthians 15. It's the body of Moses. And it is the same death, only in an exasperated situation, a much expanded detrimental situation, because of the law that entered so that the offense might abound, and therefore, this transition from the two. And so as we said, and as we're winding down, you're going to have two transformations from two types of death, two types of glory or inglorious state to the more glorious state, two images of God, and how much sense does that make? And how were they being transformed into the human physical form of Christ already underway before Rome killed millions of Jews, as he states, it just doesn't make any sense. And so all of these correlations in second Corinthians, chapter three, align perfectly with the correlations or with the teachings of first Corinthians 15, a transformation from death and life, or from death to life, and the transformation from the ministry of Moses, the old covenant to the new covenant are all there. And I encourage you to go back and look at those. And you will see because if they're transformed out of that ministration of death, then that means that they are transformed from sin, they're transformed from death, they're transformed from Hades. And this liberty that they receive in Christ is the victory that is mentioned in first Corinthians 15. Just a couple of correlations, and then we'll close for this morning. We talked about this passing away glory from the verb kardigeo. And again, that was this present participle, a middle or passive, either way, you want to look at it from that point of view. That means that since death is associated with the corruptible, that their transformation out of it, according to second Corinthians three would be to transform them into the incorruptible. What else can you make of the image of Christ? What else can you make of the glory of Christ? What else can you make of the liberty that is found in Christ? It would have to be the state of incorruption. And we've already mentioned just moments ago about the transformation out of Adam slash Moses into the image of the image from that old covenant glory meant to remove the veil. And by the way, you can look up Isaiah 2568 and also see where the veil would be removed in connection with resurrection, and to the life giving spirit, which was Christ. And therefore, it means that to be under the law was corruption. And that's why you have that in first Corinthians 15. Well, I hope that that helps a little bit in better understanding the image of Christ, that it could not be a transformation into the human body of Christ. It doesn't relate to bodies being transformed in any fashion, but it relates to being transformed into the glorious new covenant presence of Jesus Christ. And that is second Corinthians and first Corinthians 15. But that lays the groundwork even for the following chapters in second Corinthians chapter three, verses or chapters four, five, and actually six, all the way up to about verse one of chapter seven, to show you that whatever body is being spoken of as far as the transformational change is the body from the body of Moses to the body of Christ. And we submit to you that that's what the image of Christ is all about. I haven't even touched on all the passages related to the image, but at least I think that one was a bit important because it shows you the correlation between the nature of the death in first Corinthians 15, the fact that resurrection was about regathering Israel into the land, that the land is Christ himself, and that also means that was their resurrection and that it is the transformation into the image of Christ. So with that, I want to thank you for listening. We appreciate you, look forward to being back with you again on next week. May God bless you all and please share the message with your friends and family and others. Thank you.