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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The True Circumcision, #5
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:19,20).
Paul wanted to know, to experience, the power of Christ's resurrection.
If Satan had the power to prevent it, Satan would have prevented the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The triumphant resurrection of Christ means that the power of Satan has been eternally overcome. Therefore the believer who is abiding in Christ is eternally victorious and indestructible.
The power by which Christ rules is the power of His resurrection Life.
Who is made [a priest], not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16).
There is no other power in the universe as great as the power of the Spirit of God—the power that raised the Lord Jesus from the spiritual prisons that are within the earth and lifted Him to the highest throne of all.
Paul's desire, that for which he dismissed all other interests, is to live and move and have his being, not by flesh and blood energy and wisdom but by the energy and wisdom that flow from the throne of almighty God. Paul understood well that the person who is living by eternal resurrection life can never be overcome. He is as Moses' bush that burns on and on and never is consumed.
The individual who is living by Christ's Life is eternally alive. The person who is living only in his flesh and blood life is perishing while he lives.
The overcomer of the church in Smyrna is promised the "crown of life" if he is faithful to death. To receive the crown of life means to be given the authority and power of resurrection life—authority and power great enough to subdue all the enemies of Christ, to compel them to bow the knee in homage and confess that Jesus is Lord.
We could change the course of the world today if we possessed that authority and power. We will possess it as soon as we are willing to die to our self-centered ambition and allow the Lord Jesus Christ to reign as God's King within us.
Paul sought to know the fellowship, the sharing, of Christ's sufferings to the point of becoming changed into His death.
If there is a "secret" to the life of victory in Christ, that secret is the personal cross of the saint. The cross of Christ, and our personal cross as well, is the "foolishness of God"—a foolishness far beyond the wisdom of men. The cross of Christ and of the victorious saint separates Christ from the False Prophet and the conquering saint from the self-seeking "believer."
As we said, we could and we would change the course of the world today if we possessed the authority and power of the crown of life, the reward promised to the conqueror in Smyrna. This crown is given to him who is faithful unto death. Rightly so!
If we were given all the authority and power we desired we indeed would become the False Prophet, destroying ourselves and those around us.
To be continued.