Cntrysner

Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; It think the flesh separates us from the presence of God. Christ descended to take on flesh and when the veil is remove one can see the glory of God.

Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Heb 9:16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. Heb 9:17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Before Christ ascended no man could ascend to the Holy of Holies where the Father resides, Christ had to shed His blood for remission of sin and present His body as a burnt offering for purification of sin (Heb 10:5-12) thus paving the way for members of His body. By His sacrifice ..death.. we have His will and testament and will receive the inheritance of eternal life. His testament had no power until after His death and ascension to the Holy of Hollies where prior to entry His flesh body, the body that God required (Heb 10:5), was consumed by fire (Heb 12:29 (Lev 1) to release His Spirit to indwell man (Joh 16:7), upon the indwelling we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and all of Christ’s sacrificial work is credited to us and we become a son of God and receive His inheritance. Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The Spirit of Christ (Holy Spirit) is the power that purifies and transforms us to the image of the ascended Christ (2Th 2:13,14). This is a done deal for God has sealed us in Christ yet we wait in this body of flesh to receive our eternal body in heaven (2 Co 5:1-2). Christ’s blood was shed at His death and it enabled Him to pass through the veil, that is to say His flesh, into the Father’s presence (Heb 10:19-20). His body of flesh contained our sins (1Pet 2:24) and as we see in 2 Ch 7:1-3 and 1Kings 18:38-39, God totally consumes the sacrificial body and it symbolized complete purification from sin which is in the flesh (Rom 7). Christ presented His body as a burnt offering to the Father at ascension as Abraham presented Isaac. Before the body is burned the blood must be shed (Lev 1) thus Abraham had the knife and the fire at ready to sacrifice Isaac. God provided the substitute and the ram’s body was consumed by fire. See Got Questions…what is a burnt offering…The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” actually means to “ascend,“ literally to “go up in smoke”… the “olah offering“. Christ’s body of flesh was the burnt offering at His ascension. Gen 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Gen 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. Gen 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. Gen 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a "lamb" for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. Gen 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. Lev 1:9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. Lev 1:10 And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. Lev 1:11 And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. Lev 5:7 And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. The dove represents the Spirit and twice the Spirit descended on Jesus, once at His water baptism and once at the transfiguration which was a vision of His ascension, God spoke these words… Mat 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Mat 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. Representation of the two doves is one for a sin offering as seen in the death and shed blood of the sacrifice was for forgiveness of sins but purification is still needed, the literal removal of sin is represented in the second dove as a burnt offering. The baptism of Jesus set the stage for His rejection and ultimately the cross where He was slain and shed His blood for remission of sins. His ascension was the burnt offering of His flesh body and it made it possible for His Spirit to indwell and purify the spirit of man. The old testament burnt offering had to be fulfilled in Christ, the shed blood of the cross and the burnt offering of His ascension to the presence of the Father who is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). Christ had to rise from the dead and as High Priest presented His body as the burnt offering for purification. The flesh must be reduced to ashes (Lev 6) thus the spirit/soul is purified and ascends to the Father’s kingdom to receive our eternal body (2 Co 5:1-3). Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. The fire of God is two fold it can either purify to make us eternally acceptable which happens in the twinkling of an eye or it can condemn in everlasting fire.

Amen, we can only go before the Father by humbling our selves in the presence of the perfect humanity of Christ with the knowledge we are nothing, only Christ can give glory to the Father (the Father does not glory in flesh), and we give glory to the Son who took our sin upon Himself. We can only receive eternal life through Christ, there is no other way, His perfect life. I see the ultimate will of the Father is that we must go through Christ to enter His heavenly Kingdom, it is all Christ and nothing of ourselves. The Father will only receive a perfect Son without sin and those that completely surrendered their sinful life and died with Christ and became inseparable from Christ by the gift of Christ will the Father receive. Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Amen....

Excerpts from John Piper on "what is the will of God and how do we know it".... I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2) The term “the will of God” has at least two and possibly three biblical meanings. First, there is the sovereign will of God, that always comes to pass without fail. Second, there is the revealed will of God in the Bible — do not steal, do not lie, do not kill, do not covet — and this will of God often does not come to pass. And third, there is the path of wisdom and spontaneous godliness — wisdom where we consciously apply the word of God with our renewed minds to complex moral circumstances, and spontaneous godliness where we live most of our lives without conscious reflection on the hundreds of things we say and do all day. Next week we need to sort this out and ask what Paul is referring to in Romans 12:2. But today I want to focus on the phrase in Romans 12:2, “by the renewal of your mind.” Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We are perfectly useless as Christ-exalting Christians if all we do is conform to the world around us. And the key to not wasting our lives with this kind of success and prosperity, Paul says, is being transformed. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.” That word is used one time in all the gospels, namely, about Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration (the mountain of “transformation” — same word, metemorphōthē): “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2). I point this out for one reason: to make the point that the nonconformity to the world does not primarily mean the external avoidance of worldly behaviors. That’s included. But you can avoid all kinds of worldly behaviors and not be transformed. “His face shown like the sun, and his clothes became white as light!” Something like that happens to us spiritually and morally. Mentally, first on the inside, and then, later at the resurrection on the outside. So Jesus says of us, at the resurrection: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). Transformation is not switching from the to-do list of the flesh to the to-do list of the law. When Paul replaces the list — the works — of the flesh, he does not replace it with the works of the law, but the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19–22). The Christian alternative to immoral behaviors is not a new list of moral behaviors. It is the triumphant power and transformation of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ — our Savior, our Lord, our Treasure. “[God] has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). So transformation is a profound, blood-bought, Spirit-wrought change from the inside out. If you long to break loose from conformity to the world, If you long to be transformed and new from the inside out, If you long to be free from mere duty-driven Christianity and do what you love to do because what you love to do is what you ought to do, If you long to offer up your body as a living sacrifice so that your whole life becomes a spiritual act of worship and displays the worth of Christ above the worth of the world, then give yourself with all your might to pursuing this — the renewal of your mind. Because the Bible says, this is the key to transformation. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The problem with our minds is not merely that we are finite, and don’t have all the information. The problem is that our minds are fallen. They have a spirit, a bent, a mindset that is hostile to the absolute supremacy of God. Our minds are bent on not seeing God as infinitely more worthy of praise than we are, or the things we make or achieve. The Bible says we have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man” (Romans 1:23). And the image in the mirror is the mortal image we worship most. Here is the deepest disease, infecting everything else. Our mental suppression of liberating truth is rooted in our hardness of heart. Our hard hearts will not submit to the supremacy of Christ, and therefore our blind minds cannot see the supremacy of Christ (see John 7:17). This brings us finally to the remedy and how we obey Romans 12:2, “Be transformed in the renewal of your mind.” First, before we can do anything, a double action of the Holy Spirit is required. And then we join him in these two actions. The reason I say the Holy Spirit is required is because this word “renewal” in Romans 12:2 is only used one other place in all the Greek Bible, namely, Titus 3:5 where Paul says this: “[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” There’s the word “renewal” which we’ve seen is so necessary. And it is renewal “of the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit renews the mind. It is first and decisively his work. We are radically dependent on him. Our efforts follow his initiatives and enablings. Now, what is the double work that he must do to renew our minds so that all of life becomes worship? 2 Corinthians 3:18 sets the stage for the answer: What does the Spirit do to “transform” us into the image of the God-exalting Son of God? He enables us to “behold the glory of the Lord.” This is how the mind is renewed — by steadfastly gazing at the glories of Christ for what they really are. But to enable us to do that, the Spirit must do a double work. He must work in two directions: from the outside in and from the inside out. He must work from the outside in by exposing the mind to Christ-exalting truth. That is, he must lead us to hear the gospel, to read the Bible, to study Christ-exalting writings of great, spiritual men, and to meditate on the perfections of Christ. This is exactly what our great enemy does not want us to do according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” Because to see that for what it really is, Paul says, will renew the mind and transform the life and produce unending worship. And the Spirit must work from the inside out, breaking the hard heart that blinds and corrupts the mind. The Spirit must work from the outside in, through Christ-exalting truth, and from the inside out, through truth-embracing humility. If he only worked from the outside in, by presenting Christ-exalting truth to our minds but not breaking the hard heart and making it humble, then the truth would be despised and rejected. And if he only humbled the hard heart, but put no Christ-exalting truth before the mind, there would be no Christ to embrace and no worship would happen. What then do we do in obedience to Romans 12:2, “Be transformed in the renewal of your mind”? We join the Holy Spirit in his precious and all-important work. We pursue Christ-exalting truth and we pray for truth-embracing humility.

Signed, sealed, and delivered... I’m His. Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

You tell me, it is described as a shout, the trump of God and the voice of the archangel. I prefer strings….

The trump of God (1Co 15:52, 1 Th 4:16) is a singular trump and is a call to believers for a group or personal event in time to ascend and be with the Lord overcoming death, yet in Revelation the 7th trumpet is a series of trumps and is for judgment and God‘s wrath. 1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 1Th 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. In 1Co 15:52 and 1Th 4:16, both trumps are a high calling to the body of Christ resulting in ascension to be with the Lord (Joh 14:3)and a transfiguration into a body eternal in the heavens. The personal event is every man in his own order at death and is the trump of God, and the group event is they that are Christ’s at His coming in the air and is the last trump for those that remain (1Co 15:23). In context Paul is speaking of those that God will bring with Christ (1Th 4:14) and then those that are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and (2Co 15:52). Paul spoke of the death of believers who have the high calling (Php 3:14-21) as being absent from the physical body and present with the Lord in glory with the Father (2Co 5: 1-8), this transfiguration happens in the twinkling of an eye (1Co 15:52), meaning we will never see death (Joh 8:51, 11:26). The physical body dies and is left behind and we will receive a spiritual body eternal in the heavens (2Co 5:1). This new body has always been in heaven eternally and it is part of the mystery Paul revealed in 1Co 15:51, resurrection of the flesh was certainly not a mystery at that time. The mystery is a rising or ascension leaving the corrupt physical body behind. It will be as Job said… All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust (34:15). 1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Corruption is in sinful flesh through Adam and it will not inherit incorruption or glorification (1Co 15:44-45). 1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. The sleeping Paul referred to (1Th 4:14) who are absent from the physical body and present with the Lord received their new eternal body in the heavens (2Co 5:1-8). 1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. The sequence of events… those that die in Christ rise first in their own order and are the ones that God will send with Christ when He leaves glory then those that are alive and remain will be caught up leaving their physical body behind to meet them in the clouds. Paul is consistent with His teaching, when the physical body of the earth is put off, those in His Body as members, receive their glorified body that is eternal in the heavens (2Co 5:1) . 1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Some try to tear Christ asunder saying… paraphrasing---"""His body was dead in the grave, His spirit returned to God, and His soul descended into hell""". His divinity would disallow such a thing, Christ was not merely a man and became the life giving Spirit (1 Co 15:45). Christ took our sins into His flesh body and died in the flesh but not in His spirit or soul. Christ was never a damned disembodied spiritless soul and neither will we be if we are members of His ascended Body. God the Father was in Christ on the cross (2 Co 5:19) via the Holy Spirit and He never left Him. I also edited the original post.

It is slow but not as slow as me....

Let me be clear, I believe Christ died in the flesh for our sins and His flesh body did not see corruption. I have said nothing to the contrary.

Spirit to spirit is how God communicates to the inner man (soul) by His spirit breath or words which gives life. This connection is complete via the Spirit entering us and transforming our spirit, it is a new birth by the Fathers seed who is Christ in us the Hope of Glory. The same Spirit seed in us when we leave our flesh body at death will transform us into the image of the ascended Christ which is a spiritual body.

I thought it was you thus no quote...what denomination are you? Did not say that, I said some say Some try to tear Christ asunder saying… His body was dead in the grave, When I said "His divinity would disallow such a thing" refered to the whole statement "His body was dead in the grave, His spirit returned to God, and His soul descended into hell". We do know His flesh did not see corruption (Act 2:31). Christ was not merely a man. Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Christ was forsaken in His flesh not His Spirit.

Yes, that is the problem “this vile flesh” and it must be put off, it is the body of sin and it must be destroyed (Rom 6:6) and dissolved (2Co 5:6). Phil 3:31 tells us we will receive a body like His glorious body. This glorious body is the body Christ received after He was transfigured and ascended back to the Father. Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Before creation Christ was one with the Father in one Spirit Body not a body of flesh and bone and definitely not a reconstituted body. It is said that no flesh will glory in God’s presence (1Co 1:29). Christ described the one Spirit body that we have faith in and Paul verifies the oneness as one Spirit body. Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; Eph 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, Eph 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. John described Christ’s glorified body as a light bright as the sun. Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. Paul was struck blind by Christ’s ascended glorious transfigured image and it was definitely not the visual image of Christ resurrected. Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Act 9:8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. Act 9:9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. Christ did not receive His glorified body until he returned to the Father and received the glory He had before the world began and before He took on flesh. Whatever form His resurrected body was it was not His glorified body after ascension. Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Act 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. Paul differs with you about the body at death …(2 Co 5:1-6)..when he is absent from the body he will not be found naked but clothed upon with a glorified body from heaven and if you are alive and believe in Christ you will never die (Joh 11:26). 2Co 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened….the burden is the vile flesh and it wars against the spirit. It is as Paul said in Gal 5:17... For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. The new body…Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. “Made in heaven” means not of earth’s elements. 1Co 15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be… Christ has already come into this world in the form of the Holy Spirit and we that have faith in Christ were raised to walk in newness of life. The Lord is that Spirit….Our body is changed into Christ’s same image and it is not your old body of flesh reconstituted. 2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. As far as death is concerned… Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him… Hath everlasting life means never die (Joh 11:26). Paul said there is One body for those in Christ, just as the Father and the Son are One in one spiritual body before the world began we also shall be one with Them, no flesh body needed. A believer at the moment of death is transfigured in the twinkling of an eye, they are never found naked but are clothed with a body that is eternal in heaven (2 Co 5:1) and present with the Lord. This heavenly body has been in heaven eternally and again it is not one’s reconstituted flesh. We worship God with our spirit and Christ the Hope of Glory (Col 1:27) is in us with His Spirit, it is spirit to Spirit, the same spirit that God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul. John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Rev 1:10) and that is how he was able to witness and worship the Glorified Christ. At death those that do not have faith in the higher calling (Php 3:14) which is ascension, not the grave, will descended in death. We that believe have eternal life and will be present with the Lord when death comes knocking. He will be present the Lord in the eternal body from heaven (2 Co 5:1-2). No rebuilt flesh body for the body of Christ, flesh is dirt and of the earth and it shall return to dirt. Never heard that one before…“we need to go to Hades so we can have unhindered fellowship with the Lord“. Hades is part of this world, we are not of this world and the captives were set free from that bondage when Christ descended. Christ’s is in us and will never leave us, no need to go to Hades for a unhindered fellowship. God is God of the living not the dead (Mat 22:32-31). No waiting…2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Changed into Christ’s image (2 Co 3:18)…transfigured as Christ was to receive the eternal heavenly body. Heb 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:…a body is required to be sacrificed for sin. Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Joh 8:52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Believe in Christ and you will never die.

Some try to tear Christ asunder saying… paraphrasing---"""His body was dead in the grave, His spirit returned to God, and His soul descended into hell""". His divinity would disallow such a thing, Christ was not merely a man and became the life giving Spirit (1 Co 15:45). Christ took our sins into His flesh body and died in the flesh but not in His spirit or soul. Christ was never a damned disembodied spiritless soul and neither will we be if we are members of His ascended Body. God the Father was in Christ on the cross (2 Co 5:19) via the Holy Spirit and He never left Him.

Believers when they leave the body are not dead, they received eternal life from the life giving Spirit and the Lord is that Spirit. 2Co 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Adam ate of the tree which gave him the knowledge of good and evil or the capacity to know he was sinful in the flesh. The act of eating the fruit did not make Adam sinful, it was disobeying God that sin entered the world. The penalty of sin is the process of physical death to all mankind, God did not say that Adam’s spirit would die but said dying you shall die (lateral translation Gen 2:17). God clarifies the meaning of what death Adam would die and the process of how he would die. Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. When Adam disobeyed in eating the fruit the process of physical death began. The word says sin is in the flesh (Rom 8:3), it does not say sin is in the spirit. Adam’s problem was his flesh which gave him the desire to sin (Gal 5:16-21). We know the spirit of man which came out of the Father is at war with the flesh and that the Holy Spirit communicates with our spirit at salvation (Rom 8:16). If we are born with a dead spirit it would be impossible for God to communicate with us. The spirit is God’s breath and a conduit for God’s Spirit and it can not die (Ecc 12:7). The soul is judged by the spirit or the flesh so walk in the spirit via the Holy Spirit..

Gen 1:27 So GodH430 createdH1254 (H853) manH120 in his own image,H6754 in the imageH6754 of GodH430 createdH1254 he him; maleH2145 and femaleH5347 createdH1254 he them. H6754 tselem tseh'-lem From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol: - image, vain shew.

If you are saying the spirit is the breath of life that God placed in Adam at creation, how then can a soul live when the breath of life is dead?

I don’t believe Adam (mankind) lost the (express) image of God because he never had it. Christ was born of a woman in the image of Adam (man) and became a life giving Spirit in the image of God. Image is begotten from a seed which produces likeness. In Adam’s case the seed was God’s word (breath of life - spirit) placed in a vessel of dirt and Adam was born in the flesh in his own image… the image of man…Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image. The flesh is from the ground and is as dirt and the dirt flesh can receive a seed (Spirit) and be born again. In Christ’s case the seed was God’s Spirit not the seed of man but born of a women in man’s image, Jesus was God in a body of flesh thus did not need to be born again. Adam like all of mankind needed to be born again of the Spirit. Born again was not possible until Christ became the life giving Spirit when he returned to the Father and then descended as Spirit to indwell us giving us eternal life through the process of being born again of the Spirit. To have the image of God all mankind must be born of the Spirit not born in the flesh. When God said …let us make man in our own image it was fulfilled in Christ not Adam.

John the Baptist was preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins it was not an act of obedience after receiving remission. Christ was without sin thus did not need to repent and be water baptized for remission of sins. John prepared the way for the Lord and after He was manifest He ushered in a new and living way not just for remission but for eternal life, thus His witness to the world would be greater than John's.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. It is Christ that changes us. Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Image of the earthly is a body made from dirt and it will return to dirt (Gen 3:19), image of the heavenly is a Spiritual body of oneness (Eph 4:4, Joh 17:21-22) with God. Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image (H6754), after our likeness (H1823): Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. The Father said let US make man in our image in verse 26, then the singular God is used in verse 27, thus the US reveals the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the singular tripartite eternal God, in other words, the Father, and the Son who is Christ, before creation, were Spirit in a singular Spirit Body , not flesh, not bone, not human. The Father and the Son are one as is the spirit and soul of a living man are one. The Spirit is the vessel of unlimited power that performs the will of the Father and Son and our body gives us the ability to operate in this earthly realm. We do not pray to the Spirit and the Spirit does not speak of himself (Joh 16:13). Adam was created in God’s image as tripartite.. body, soul and spirit not in the express image of God who is Spirit, Spirit, and Spirit. Heb_1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image (G5481) of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Adam’s image his own… H6754;From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol: - image, vain shew. Adam’s likeness.. H1823 From H1819; resemblance; concretely model, shape; adverbially like: - fashion, like (-ness, as), manner, similitude. Ascended Christ’s express image of God… G5481 from G5482; a graver (the tool or the person), that is, (by implication) engraving ([“character”], the figure stamped, that is, an exact copy or [figuratively] representation): - express image. 1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Flesh was Christ’s covering like you would put on clothing which is not a part of you, lest your nakedness be revealed, but Christ when His flesh was removed during His transfiguring ascension returned to the Father in glory and again received the Father’s express image and was not naked because of the Spirit oneness in one Spirit Body He had with the Father before He became flesh. Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Sin is in the flesh and Christ took our sins into His sinless body of flesh (1 Pet 2:24) becoming our sacrifice, no flesh will receive glory in the Father’s presence (1Co 1:29) for God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29) and the flesh profits nothing (Joh 6:63). Got Questions…“The noun flesh (sarx in Greek) refers to “the physical aspects of a person in distinction to the nonmaterial soul.” Technically, flesh describes the body’s soft tissue but is often used in the New Testament to indicate the “sinful nature” or the seat of sin and rebellion against God in humanity. In the Old Testament, flesh is frequently used in reference to mortal humans in contrast with God, a life-giving Spirit. The term translated as “profit” in John 6:63 means “to be of use, help, aid, facilitate, accomplish.” Man was formed from dust and God breathed spirit into that vessel or house and man became a living soul. Our spirit has to have a body to be housed in or it would be non functional having no consistence, the living soul was created with spirit. Without a spirit or a body the soul is not functional. Without any one of the three, a vessel to contain, a soul, or a spirit there is no wholeness and in essence not a living tripartite man. Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The flesh is a covering vessel or tent for the spirit soul, it merely house’s and gives a consistent shape or image. 2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2Co 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. From God’s breath (spirit) the soul was created and with out the spirit the soul is not functional, death without recovery. Soul and spirit are the essence of a living man who is housed in a earthly body. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Rom 8:16). The spirit in man cannot die (it is God’s breath) for without a functioning spirit, God would not be able to communicate with a lost soul with a dead spirit with His Spirit. It is said by some that the spirit returns to God at man’s death and the soul descends while the body returns to dust. I submit that only after the final judgment of non believers is God’s spirit removed. When a believer at death or rapture leaves the earthly body his spirit soul goes to it’s eternal home and is clothed with God’s Spirit body (express image) and we become one with the Father and the Son. Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one (Spirit Body); and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. Without the spirit the soul has no life in it, thus damnation and death with out recovery. This verse is used as proof text that the spirit returns to God at death… Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. But we read in context that it refers to the time of judgment or when believers go to their eternal home … Ecc 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Ecc 12:5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Some try to tear Christ asunder saying… His body was dead in the grave, His spirit returned to God, and His soul descended into hell. His divinity would disallow such a thing, Christ was not merely a man but a life giving Spirit (1 Co 15:45). Christ took our sins into His flesh body and died in the flesh but not in His spirit or soul. Christ was never a damned disembodied spiritless soul and neither will we be if we are members of His ascended Body. God the Father was in Christ on the cross (2 Co 5:19) via the Holy Spirit and He never left Him. Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The bema seat is a doctrine of works, a sleight of hand, to bring us back under the judgment of law. This doctrine teaches punishment or loss of rewards and attempts to elevate a Christian over another which can not be accepted as a member of the one body of Christ (1 Co 12)…it is Christ that works in us thus His Body gets the rewards not us individually. To me this doctrine of judgment is robbery, all the rewards belong to Christ , there are none outside of His Body. We should strive to walk as Christ walked becoming servants in this world and denying personal gains through righteous works thus suffering no loss or judgment when we leave this world. The Spirit in us is the fire that judges us daily and will never leave us (Eph 1:13-14), it is as Paul said, “I die daily” (1 Co 15:31). 1Co_3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Php_3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Php_3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Adam was a type of Christ, I believe Adam took Eve’s sin upon himself not wanting to be separated and deny His own body (Eve). God said, it is good for man to not be alone and the two shall become one flesh.