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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Believing About Jesus or Believing In Jesus?, continued
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7—NIV)
How do we eat His flesh and drink His blood? Every day we are presented with a portion of evil, of death. If we deny ourselves, turning to Christ in order to overcome the temptation to evil, we are given the body and blood of Christ in our inward nature.
If, on the other hand, we choose to yield to the evil, the spiritual death being presented to us, we are not given the body and blood of Christ in our inward nature. We remain a corrupt adamic creature.
If we will pray, God will help us make the right decision. Our part is to wait on the Lord every day, meditate in the Scriptures, assemble with fervent believers (if possible), serve, give, and do all else that is part of normal Christian living.
Above all we must reckon ourselves dead on the cross with Jesus and alive with Him at the right hand of God.
The Christian life is a protracted fight against evil. Christ gives His own body and blood, the hidden manna, to those who are willing to fight the good fight of faith. Those who overcome are given to eat of the Tree of Life.
We are seeking to attain the first resurrection, the resurrection out from among the dead. We are passing before the Judgment Seat of Christ right now as we confess our sins and turn away from them.
If we would be ready to be changed into immortality when the Lord appears, we must have been judged previously. It is not possible to be changed into immortality and after that pass before the Judgment Seat of Christ. The change into immortality is the sentence of the court that occurs after we have been judged worthy of life in the Presence of Christ.
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53—NIV)
We humans are only dust. When we first receive Jesus we receive a touch of eternal life. We still are dust but now we have a portion of God in us.
Now we must lay hold on eternal life. Now the struggle each day is to choose life. It is a fight because evil and death want to maintain control over us. This is why the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation are devoted to "overcoming." Either we are overcome by evil and death, or else through the Lord Jesus Christ we overcome the evil and death that come against us each day.
We are in a fight for the crown of eternal life!
To believe in Jesus is to persevere each day in the fight against evil; to eat His flesh and drink His blood each day so His Life in us may overcome the spiritual death that continually presses on us.
Can you see the difference between believing the things about Jesus and believing in Jesus? There is no eternal life in believing the things about Jesus. The life comes when our belief in Him leads us to press into Him each day, just as did the Apostle Paul, as we strive to attain the resurrection which is out from among the dead.
To be continued.