“May the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” – 2 Cor.13:14

Greetings Friends! My hope is that you and your family observed a truly happy, wonderfully renewing and beneficial Easter/Passover season this year. In the Hebrew calendar, the Passover marks a new beginning in a new year. It depicts new life for it falls in the spring season. Everything in nature complements with its spiritual counterpart where we see life regenerate and comes into bloom. Flowers are in full-blossom, the trees bring forth new leaves, fruit trees abound, with birds chirping and singing their melodious tunes in the branches. Butterflies and bees fill the air and hum away with their pollinating activities. Life is all around and surrounds us in a panorama of colors, sounds, and nature’s myriads of activities. Spring is intended to have both its physical and spiritual equals. In nature, we see the natural world “die” in winter, then experience a “resurrection” in spring. Easter is Spring’s spiritual equivalent which brings forth fresh beginnings in spiritual renewal. Summer is just around the corner bringing its own hive of activities.   

As my readers will recall, in the month of March, 2019 I shared with you the message of Jesus’ Cross – see http://bulamanriver.net/15813. In April, my message was about Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension – see http://bulamanriver.net/15948. Needless to say, we do not discount Jesus’ life as the embracing foundation and support which the scriptures assert: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him” (Act.10:38). In other words, as a human He led a sinless life and made and willingly gave Himself as the worthy sacrifice for human sin. (1 Pet.2:22; 1 Pet.1:18-20; Heb.4:15; 2 Cor.5:21)

So, what was this four-fold event in Jesus’ life mean? Does it impact upon our human reality in the outcome of life here and now, and for eternity? What exactly was God’s purpose which brings about our spiritual spring renewal and growth? In other words, what was the Father’s intent and purpose in His Son’s Life, Death (Cross), and subsequent Resurrection and Ascension? We know God the Father gave up His Son Jesus to save humanity from the curse of the sin-condition. (2 Cor.5:21) Therefore, humanity is the ultimate benefactor of this four-fold event in Jesus. So, the answer to that question is the subject of this month’s post: “After The Cross, Then What?”

What was the primary revitalizing benefit arising from the four-fold activity which undergirded Jesus’ life and death? I will answer in two words from the outset, and then set out a detail meaning – it was to bring the: “Triune Life.” What do I mean when I say, “Triune Life?” The answer is the subject of this month’s post. Many have missed this vital point of Jesus’ mission, but it is the most important aspect of His calling as foretold in His name, “Immanuel” (Isa.7:14). The “Triune Life” forms the backbone to our walk as Christian believers. I consider this as very basic to the Christian faith. For this reason, I have explained its meaning in every post I have written as an appendage (“Triune Life”) at the end of each post. But let me explain in greater detail here as it relates to the four-fold event of Jesus’ life, our Savior and Mediator.

Up to the time of this four-fold event of Jesus’ life, only the Father and Son were revealed to, and interacted with, mankind. John revealed this clearly, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17). In another passage from Romans, Paul said, “God showed His great Love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Rom.5:8, NLT). The Spirit is not mentioned. This does not mean that the Spirit was totally absent and/or disengaged, that would be impossible, for the three Persons of the Triune Godhead (Trinity) are homoousios (
https://www.britannica.com/topic/homoousios: “of the same substance”) and will always act collectively as One. I am making reference to the Spirit in the context of human rebellion in Eden, and its aftermath of being cut-off from the Spirit. This absence of the Spirit in human life resulted in human emptiness and futility, senseless pride and pursuit of vain glory, suffering, and hopelessness. Historically, the treacherous result of the work of the enemy, was Adam’s grievous act of disobedience disconnected and severed all human ties to the Holy Spirit, for they were forbidden access to the Tree of Life which represented the Spirit. (Gen.3:24)

However, it was determined from creation that Jesus, the second Person of the Godhead, would empty Himself of His divinity, become human and live a sinless life, and open the way for man to be reunited to the Spirit once more, which was undone by Adam. God introduced to humanity the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, in this fashion. Before Jesus’ crucifixion, He told His disciples, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:7-8).

Human relationship with God has to be a “complete” one, where all three Persons of the Trinitarian Godhead are involved in human salvation. Hence, Jesus’ messianic name, Immanuel (meaning, “God with us” – Isa.7:14), revealed His mission to manifest God’s fullness to mankind. The Scripture states how humans are made God’s own children where God Himself said, “I will put my Spirit within you, I will be their God, and they will be My people” (Eze.36:26; Heb.8:10) But the Holy Spirit could not enter human life and bring God’s whole Being (“God with us”), until the fulfillment of the four-fold event of Jesus’ life – His Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Then, when the Day of Pentecost came, the Spirit was poured out upon humanity beginning from Jerusalem. (Act.1:4-5; 2:1-4). Jesus was and is our Mediator, who lived a perfect life for us, took our body of sin to the cross and put it to death, raised it righteous in His resurrection, and brought it to the presence of the Father in His ascension, so we can live with and experience God in His Tri-Personal completeness. So, all of humanity was embraced and taken up in Jesus’ now glorified humanity. (Rom.4:25; 2 Cor.5:15)

From that moment when the Spirit came and joined Himself with humanity on Pentecost, only then the whole Being of God in His Tri-Personal Godhead of the Father, Son, and Spirit was joined to and with mankind. It was then, that Jesus had completed His mission as revealed in His messianic name by the prophet Isaiah – “Immanuel” meaning “God with us” (Isa.7:14; Matt.1:23). This was God’s plan for sending His Son and continues to this day with every person who is called to accept Jesus, following Peter’s inspired words on Pentecost. This union between the Trinitarian God and humans is what I call the “Triune Life.” Peter explains how a person can be unified to the Triune God and begin living the “Triune Life”: “Therefore…be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do? Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Act.2:36-38).

The sin-condition entered the human race through Adam’s fall, and it is the second Adam, Jesus Christ, by defeating the devil in the temptation, living His sinless life, and dying at His cross upon Calvary, who brings the sinless-condition by bringing back the Holy Spirit who sanctifies humans before God the Father through Jesus. Paul said, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor.15:22). Of course, “…be made alive” means to be given immortality, for sin brings eternal death. (John 3:16, 18; Rom.6:23) Human immortality (like Jesus) is God’s ultimate goal for mankind.

What Peter said to his listeners was clarified by Jesus earlier where He calls the “Triune Life” a born-again event in the human life. He said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5, 8). Yes, the Father has given His Son to save humanity from sin (John 3:16), the Son has given His life as the only worthy sacrifice for sin (John 10:18; Phi.2:8), and now the Spirit gives of Himself and comes and indwell the human life to make humans God’s holy temple. (1 Cor.6:19) Listen to the inspired words of the apostle Paul, “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through Him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by His Spirit” (Eph.2:19-22). For the first time since Adam’s fall, God has fully manifested Himself in His Tri-Personal Being to humanity through the Father, Son, and Spirit, making the “Triune Life” possible since Eden.

For humans, living the “Triune Life” is the underlying purpose for their creation from the beginning when God uttered the immortal words, “Let US (Father, Son, and Spirit, and the holy angelic hosts) make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule…” (Gen.1:26-27, parenthesis and italics my emphasis). Why is it vital for humans to live the “Triune Life?” Because in a nutshell, that was what God gave humanity at creation, it is the human birthright gift conferred by God Himself upon mankind. However, by deception and lies, the devil stole it from our first parents. Adam and Eve followed the enemy, and disobeyed God. So, God’s purpose has always been to restore humanity’s divine birthright He gave at creation, which was restored by Jesus in the four-fold event of His Mission: His Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension to His heavenly High Priestly office. There is a fifth activity of Jesus that must never go unmentioned and is all-encompassing in its importance – Jesus’ ‘inauguration’ as the glorified human High Priest in heaven, who forever makes intercession for humanity before the Father in perpetuity. (Heb.6:18-20; 7:21-22; Psa.110:4)

At creation, the Father created our first parents from the soil of the earth (Gen.3:19). Jesus was the “the Word” or Spokesman who communed and related with our first parents, and the Spirit was the Love of God that was represented in the “Tree of Life” who made the Love-relationship possible. (Rom.5:5) Adam and Eve rebelled against God by choosing to eat the fruits of the “Tree of Good and Evil” and rejecting the fruits of the “Tree of Life.” (Gen.3:1-7) By rejecting the “Tree of Life” humanity shunned and was shut-off from the Holy Spirit, but Jesus subsequently brought the Spirit back to humanity on the day of Pentecost.

So, man has been living without the Spirit (Tree of Life) since sin entered human life after Adam’s fall. (Gen.3:23-24) Since Adam was banished from Eden and God’s presence, mankind was left with no option but to eat solely from the fruits of good and evil. That is what consist of the human spiritual diet since the fall. The consequences has seen nothing but ruin and waste for mankind. Our dark human history display this truth for all to see. How is that? Because the “Tree of Good and Evil” represented mankind’s solitary life in himself/herself based upon fear and sin. It is the opposite of the outgoing collaborative divine “Triune Life” of God based upon Love and outgoing concern for another. Since the fall, humans have been deciding for themselves what is good and bad, what is right and evil, what is honorable and corrupt. God has been left out. God is not solitary as other religions espouse about their own deities. In the Christian faith, God is three Persons in One Triune Godhead whose only motivation is Love. (Matt.28:18-20; 1 Pet.1:2; 2 Thess.2:13; 1 John 4:8, 16) 

God is One but He is not solitary, He is a Loving, collaborative, Trinity. He is not independent, but interdependent in the Father, Son, and Spirit. Because they are codependent they are One, not three. They consist in their singular substance of Love. (1 John 4:8) If God is One Tri-Personal Being, then it follows that “God is Love,” for Love cannot exists in solitary existence. (1 John 4:8, 16; John 3:16) We can see how the “Triune Life” works with God: when the Father expressed His Love for sinful humanity, He gave up His Son as an expression of that Love. The Son also Loved humans and freely gave Himself up to become the Immanuel and become the sacrifice to save humanity. The Spirit empowered Jesus’ humanity at His baptism in the Jordan River. That is the collaborative “Triune Life” and Love in action. Love can only thrive in communion where there is more than one person. All of creation has the stamp of Creator’s underlying interconnected Triune Being – there is no other way God could create the physical world and all matter aside from the impression of His Triune Being and lens.

The collaborative “Triune Life” founded upon Love that Adam forsook for the self-centered life in himself from the devil, was the only weight of reality concerning human destiny that is of utter value going back to man’s creation and continues to this day. And this was the sole purpose of Jesus’ mission and the four-fold mediatory events in His life: to bring back the “Triune Life” that was lost in Eden. His followers continue the same mission and is no different today. (Matt.28:18-20) The “Triune Life” speaks of the communion of the three Persons of the Triune Godhead where the divine Love is the underlying motivation from eternity. It inspired all their thoughts, energy, and actions. God is uncreated, without beginning nor end, and has existed eternally in His Tri-Personal Being of Love before He created the universe and this earth, and all living things in creation, both seen and unseen. Their Love for each other was and is their only motivation, and is the glue which holds them together as One indivisible God. (Deut.6:4)

Jon Tal Murphree, in his book titled, “The Trinity And Human Personality,” gives us a thought-provoking insight into the nature of God in His Tri-Personal Being. He describes the Trinity as Persons who “occupy” the others’ personalities in one substance, hence, exists forever in their indivisible Oneness. The three act as One. Each One transposes Himself into the others without confusing His personality with the others. Through Love their diversity and unity are so inextricably interwoven that the Father, Son, and Spirit do not exist as persons alongside each other. Each One constantly has perfect access to the other’s complete thoughts and feelings. Each is utterly transparent to the others with no secretiveness – each reflecting the others. In this unity, the act of three is the act of one, and the act of one is the act of three. We witness the manifestation of God’s singular nature in Their Love for and in each other! This occupation in each other explains how Love works and brings about a relational Oneness which Adam shared with the divine, which through Jesus, we can now share with the Triune Godhead in Christ.

When Jesus prayed to the Father, “Not My will, but Yours be done,” it was the only way Jesus could have responded in His relationship with His Father because they both intrinsically occupy each other in one divine substance of Love. Of course, Jesus was not locked into blind compliance, but He was free and made the choice to freely and gladly obey His Father. He was free to choose like any human would, for where Love is, there must of necessity be freedom. Jesus freely chose to joyfully obey the Father. Love and freedom are opposite sides of God’s divine nature. Paul makes this clear, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor.3:17). God created humans with individual personality accompanied with gifts bestowed out of His great Love. Humans do not lose their individual personality when they enter into a relationship with God and His Love. Transposing oneself to another person does not mean we confuse our God-given unique individual personality. This act of occupation of one another is a call to unity in our diversity. It’s a life of collaborative living. It’s a life of transparency, integrity, and honor. In truth, the divine Love is the very essence which liberates us to the point of discovery of our fullest potential as we grow and flourish in each of our unique gift and personality, and how each completes the other as we relate with one another.

So, when the gift of the Spirit came upon humanity on Pentecost, man was made to enter the most vital phase of his relationship with God: experience God in His fullness where we are made to live the “Triune Life,” just like Jesus did when He walked this earth. Jesus was given the Spirit at His baptism in the Jordan to set the example for mankind that human relationship with God is incomplete without the Spirit. Living the “Triune Life” means to live the “miraculous life.” The Spirit is the provocateur of divine miracles, and ultimately human resurrection. (Act.10:38; Rom.8:2, 9, 11) God is divine and humans are mortal, but when the two are bound as one, miracles occur. This has been God’s plan from creation, and continues after Adam took humanity down the path of rebellion, fear, and sin – to restore the “Triune Life” and therefore the “miraculous life” that is the human birthright. Embodied in that life is the promise of immortality. ((John 3:16; Rom.8:11) Humanity has come a full circle from where he started in Eden. From here on, the “Triune Life” means humans have become benefactors of God’s grace and receive the complete support of God in His complete Being and Love. Remember, God as our Father from eternity, cannot live nor act solitarily in Himself, because it is not in His nature to do so. He can only live and act collaboratively in Love and freedom with the Son and the Spirit – always! And now, through Jesus He invites humans to share this divine “Triune Life” with Him. Love is the substance they are made of, for the Scripture tell us, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8).

One of the reasons humans find the concept of the Trinity teaching hard to grasp is because ever since the fall of Adam, man has never known any other way to live but the “solitary” self-centered mode of thinking and behavior which is diametrically opposed to the free collective Triune way of God’s outgoing Love. Man has been living this ‘solitary’ self-centered way since Adam’s fall. So, it is man’s natural and only inclination. It will decidedly take the presence of the Spirit, time, effort, motivation and change and experience to have the “Triune Life” grasped by the human spirit and consciousness. But with the help of the Spirit’s power defusing the “solitary life” humans will adapt to and adopt the “Triune Life.” (Gal.5:22-26)

Man has never seen this Triune way of life manifested in human experience since the fall. It was not until Jesus came on the scene and revealed the Father and the Spirit openly more than two thousand years ago that it entered human consciousness. Jesus’ miracle-working and sacrificial life was a summary of this Trinitarian way of life. Only One who emanates from the Trinity could live the “Triune Life” and thus impart the same to man, and that was Jesus’ mission given Him by the Father. Today, humans are invited to live that life in Christ’s glorious life, and through the Spirit’s sanctifying power before the Father.

When Christ came, He made the “Triune Life” possible to mankind, for He was fully God originating from the Triune Godhead, and fully man now glorified by His resurrection and ascension. It could not have been done before Christ came and completed His four-fold messianic role. So, when man is called by God, He imputes Jesus’ four-fold saving activity upon the believer. By accepting Jesus as Savior we become Him, living a unified, two-pronged existence – one is the divine existence which Christ brings to humans, and the other is his mortal, physical existence in the Spirit’s power. (1 Cor.3:16; Gal.2:20) Upon receiving Jesus, man’s divine being exists in heaven under His High Priesthood where we exist under His continuous mediation. Man was never able to be joined to this divine “Triune Life” of God until Christ came – and until man expressed faith in Christ’s work, and reborn spiritually in the Spirit’s power. This is the essential meaning of the name Immanuel ascribed to Jesus, for it reflects His role of unifying “God with us” (Matt.1:22-23; Isa.7:14).

For the Christian, the mention of the name of God, must always convey His Tri-Personal Being in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matt.28:19) Speaking and entrusting His mission to His disciples and followers, Jesus final instruction was, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt.28:18-20). To “baptize” means to “induct” into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or the “Triune Life.” They were to teach believers about this amazing truth of the “Triune Life” Jesus has made possible.

The “Triune Life” gives a new worldview that is divine and all-embracing at its core. Through it, the mind opens vistas of perspectives a person would not otherwise comprehend in his/her “solitary” fallen human worldview. Humanity requires a higher level of consciousness in the landscape of human existence, be it in our social, political, educational, in business and industry, and in every other aspect of governance. This will bring about a pristine and seamless connectedness in our eternally-vested interactive world and environment. This is rudimentary and vital to the human journey upon earth since all of creation operates in a inter-connected universe, meaning, nothing exists in solitary existence. In other words, creation is the reflection of God’s own likeness in His interconnected Triune Being. Everything God creates reflects His Trinitarian Being. Christ came to free our minds from the prison of the enemy of man and open the human consciousness to a realm unknown and unperceived by man because he has been living the “solitary life” of the devil since Adam’s fall. Every problematic issue faced by humanity today, pressing or otherwise, springs from the self-centered solitary mindset of people, whether they are leaders or ordinary citizens.

The Gospel, when understood as a rebirth of humans (primarily in the mind) into the “Triune Life” way of living, sets forth an objective, uncolored, empirical vantage point in the relationship of humans with his natural interactive environment under the auspices of God’s divine nature of Love and freedom. Humanity will then be made to move forward and discover their true potential as beings made in the image of the divine, and cease to live a life under the futile, solitary, and inward-looking mode of life. The human personality was made and given as a gift to reflect the divine Loving Trinitarian Personality so we may live up to our true destiny as humans. Paul said this, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph.2:10). The first step must be the leap from our forlorn incarceration and rebirth into true freedom in the “Triune Life.”

In practical terms, how does a person live the “Triune Life” God desires we live with Him, through His Son, and in the power of the Spirit? The answer to this question is truly what human life is about. To live this way is to live in God’s likeness and image. It is to enter a consciousness unbeknownst to the human mind. So, the purpose of the “Triune Life” is to harmonize the human heart and will in all its spiritual and physical responses with the divine Loving will of God. Space will not allow me to give justice to the answer, so I ask that you go to my post, titled, “How To Live The “Triune Life” at: http://bulamanriver.net/8036. My hope is you will be inspired by it, and that you will see that the hope of humanity hangs in the balance – literally!

I will close with the blessing Paul gave the Corinthian Church by encouraging one-ness in the “Triune Life” as the Godhead is One in the Father, Son, and Spirit: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Cor.13:14).

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* as a Bulamanriver.**  Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

 Kiang
(Your Servant In Christ)                                                                                                                  

* Triune Life: The “Triune Life” is a way of life. It’s foundational tenet is based upon the Love of God, because it is the nature of God. Love is both a noun and a verb. We are called Love because we live by Love as God’s own children. It means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means as children of God we live the 3-dimensional life within the Tri-Personal Being of God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life man lives in himself under the influence of the devil. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036. Also at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, you may obtain a copy from Amazon.com; xulonpress.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online book outlets. All proceeds will go towards furthering the work of Gospel around the world.

Mssion Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

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Greetings again Friends! Wherever you are in the far-flung corners of the world, may the peace of Easter be with you and your loved ones. In this Post I will follow through from my previous month’s post, “The Cross.” There are two important aspects of Jesus’ life we will touch upon after His death upon the cross: His resurrection and His ascension.

“HE IS RISEN!”

“He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead, just as He said would happen. Come, see where His body was lying.” (Matthew 28:6)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Even though Jesus told His disciples of His impending death and resurrection, they found it too incredulous to be believed. Then when they heard from others that Jesus had indeed risen, it left them speechless. When He miraculously appeared before them, they were left gasping for breath. Jesus told one doubting disciple, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed” (John 20:29).

Yes, the Christian life is a life of living faith. Paul stated the anchor upon which the Christian faith is centered and upon which it revolves: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor.15:17). Indeed, powerful words concerning the Christian faith. The cross would be meaningless if Jesus had not risen. The resurrection is the foundation upon which the Christian faith is built. We cannot believe the cross (death of Jesus Christ) and deny His resurrection. They are both one and the same expression of His Messiahship. His life and all the prophecies concerning His calling as the Messiah would have all been fiction, a fabrication, if His resurrection from the dead had not happened for real. If it were not for the resurrection, mankind’s fate would have ended in the grave and no further. Mankind’s future of receiving the divine gift of immortality would not be possible.

The unbelieving mind thinks of the idea of the resurrection as preposterous, originating in religious zeal that borders on the fanatical. A 2010 Barna Group poll showed that only 42 percent of Americans said the meaning of Easter was about Jesus’ resurrection; just 2 percent identified it as the most important holiday of their faith. “More people have problems with Easter because it requires believing that Jesus rose from the dead,” said James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author. Yet, it is the only hope the Christian faith holds out to its followers. How do we prove to skeptics this cornerstone of Christian belief? Everything about Christianity hangs in the balance on this one focal point of the Christian faith – did Jesus die on His cross upon Calvary and rose from the dead as He and the prophecies said He would? (Psa.22; Isa.53; Psa.16, esp. V.10)

The New Testament account of the resurrection from Matthew’s gospel goes as follows, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.” ⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell His disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” He said. They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me” (Matt.28:1-10).

The resurrection responds to the ancient quest for answers to the question of life, death, and the afterlife. Ancient philosophers, theologians, and sages have long sought to unlock the answers to the afterlife. There are only two certainties about life that no one can deny: life and death! Every day we experience either one of these two opposite manifestation of human reality – to exist (life), or to cease to exist (death)! Our awareness of death arise out of life itself. In other words, we would not know death were it not for life. Life always takes precedence. Humans are given to experience these twin realities not as a matter of choice, but because an external Entity superior to man has determined how human existence is offered to humanity. (Heb.9:27) If you and I had a choice, life would be our natural and only option. Death is a curse we would avoid at all cost.

So, everything about human existence cannot be answered within our mortal frame of reference without an external involvement. So, we are compelled to look outside ourselves for answers to life and death. Hence, our search for answers ends with an entity we call God. Or we may choose the path of atheism and conjure our own answers to the questions of life, death, and the afterlife. Most religions accept the external input of a deity, only their beliefs differentiate them. So, the search for meaning about life, death, and the afterlife leaves us face-to-face with an Entity we call God or Creator. God Himself knew this, or should I say stage-managed it, so humans have no other way but to turn to Him for important answers about life and death. We are left with no option but to come one-on-one with our Maker.

If we concur on the above discourse about life and death, then we have come to the same logical conclusion that the answers to them can come from no other source apart from the Creator. For Christians, His answer is articulated in His Word the Bible, and more specifically His Son, Jesus. One of Jesus’ title is the Word of God. (John 1:1) Jesus is the Personified Word of God, the Bible is the written Word of God. Jesus’ human resurrection answers man’s eternal search to the meaning of life, death, and the afterlife.

God tells us He is the source of life – life originates and exudes from His divine Trinitarian Being. He is the spring of life. (Gen.2:7; 1 Sam.2:6; Act.17:25) If that is so, where did death come from? It cannot come from God for only life proceeds from Him. Death was imposed upon man as a penalty for sin. The Bible categorically states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom.6:23). When Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, sin entered our human existence, and death followed. God told our first parents, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen.2:17).

Paul said, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, in this way death came to all people, because all have sinned” (Rom.5:12). Yes, no one is sinless, therefore the death penalty hangs upon all mankind. Paul goes on to say, “For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Rom.5:15, 17) Paul explains how God’s Love for mankind is expressed through His Son. Jesus gives humans this passage from penalty of death to immortality, “For if we have been united with [Jesus] in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Rom.6:5). Yes, God gave us His Son so that through His death on the cross we may not have to face death ourselves, and through His resurrection we will receive immortal life.  

So when God created Adam it would have been contrary to His nature and who He is to subject him and humanity to death in any way, shape, and form. The totality of the environment in Eden was wrapped up in one element which defines who God IS: life, life, and life without end! Death is the exact antithesis of who God is in His nature. He declared Himself to His enslaved people in Egypt as “I AM that I AM” (Exo.3:14). It means ‘to be,’ which means to exist in everlasting life. Adam had life to its fullest and completest divine expression that a human can experience at the highest physical level possible! Adam existed in God’s presence, the Source of both spiritual and physical life. Adam did not know what death meant, it had no meaning with him, although he was warned of it. (Gen.2:17) It is impossible for God to make death happen because it is synonymous with sin, and God and sin (death) can never coexist.

Adam and Eve existed in the ‘circle of life’ because God IS LIFE!  Death was the result of disobedience imposed upon man as a consequence of sin. Death was man’s choice, not God’s! So, we understand the resurrection in relation to who God is in all His manifest Being: the fountain of all life physical and everlasting life! Hence, man’s destiny will always be about immortality, and death is just a temporary blip until sin and death is totally removed forever through Christ’s continuing mediation in heaven today. (1 Cor.15:55-57) That brings us to the next aspect of this post: Jesus’ Ascension to Heaven. Let us now look at this event in Jesus’ life which finally sealed humanity’s destiny of immortality pictured in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and finally His ascension.

 ASCENSION OF JESUS

“He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Act.1:3-11).

Mankind’s resurrection and ascension to immortality was inaugurated by Jesus Christ by His own glorious human resurrection followed by His ascension to heaven 40 days later. The purpose of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was to return to His eternal Trinitarian existence He had with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Jesus’ ascension made possible a momentous act never done before – He took our humanity, glorified it in Himself through His bodily resurrection, and forever joined mankind to the life of the Triune Godhead in His ascension. The Trinity has changed its complexion forever when God the Father glorified Jesus’ humanity in His resurrection and ascension and sat Him at His right hand. Now, Jesus sits at His Father’s side as mankind’s eternal High Priest.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Therefore, it was necessary for Him (Jesus) to be made in every respect like us (human), his brothers and sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people…Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”  (Heb.2:27; Heb.4:14-16).

Yes, Jesus is our High Priest and our Atonement offered eternally on the altar of sacrifice in heaven for our absolution so that divine perfection with the Father will abide and remain forever. Jesus told the disciples another vital promise concerning His return to the Father, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth” (John 14:15). It is only through Jesus’ mediation as High Priest for mankind before the Father that the Holy Spirit is made available perpetually to mankind for the purpose of sanctifying human life before the Father. We see how the three Persons of the triune Godhead is eternally involved in the salvation of mankind. I call this living the “Triune Life.”*

Though our human resurrection and ascension is something we look forward to in a future event in hope, the most important thing Jesus did for man is to bring the “Triune Life”* which believers can live now. Thereby, it is logical to conclude that by joining our humanity with the Triune God, the Father and the Spirit is forever joined to humanity in a real sense through Jesus, the Immanuel, who is both God who glorified our humanity in Himself. It was for this very reason of uniting our humanity to the Godhead that Jesus made this ultimatum, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). This is undoubtedly the weightiest aspect of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension – to join humanity to the Triune God and give passage for the Spirit to enter mankind on the day of Pentecost. Through the divine triune input of the Father, Son, and Spirit, we carry on the work of the Father which Jesus started and commissioned His disciples to continue on earth. So, His departure was a necessary part of mankind’s initiation into the life of the Triune Godhead and the Spirit being made one with mankind.

Most of all, the Scripture is very clear about the most important aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work – it is by the Spirit’s power that humans will be sanctified and eventually resurrected to immortality. (2 Thess.2:13; Rom.8:11,13) Paul affirms this, saying, “If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you” (Rom.8:11). Human resurrection to immortality is made possible only through the Spirit’s power and presence as it was with Jesus who glorified humanity by resurrecting humans to immortality. Paul articulates this process further by saying, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor.3:16; also John 7:37-39; 1 John 4:13; 1 Cor.6:19, NLT). While Paul is drawing attention to the issue of church unity in Corinth, he is indirectly confessing the truth about Jesus’ ascension in joining the Spirit to human life. A temple is a place of worship where God and man meet. The Bible says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom.8:9). And if anyone does not belong to Christ then he cannot be conformed to Jesus’ image and likeness in His resurrection and ascension. (Rom.8:29).

Jesus promised, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you… On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” (John 14:8, 20). Here again we see Jesus affirming man’s eternal unity with the Father and the Spirit which Jesus makes possible. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal.2:20). What we see is Jesus’ life being incarnated into the life of the believer on earth to be followed by a resurrection into immortality at Jesus’ second coming. But how is this process of salvation done in reality? Through the Holy Spirit!

Jesus tells us the role of the Spirit, “He will glorify Me, for He will take from that which is Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:14, Berean LB). So, we see the purpose of the Spirit is to live and walk in the life of the believer as a temple and make Jesus’ life become a reality, thus, fulfilling the promise, “I will not leave you orphans…I will come to you.” Jesus said, “He (Spirit) will not speak on His own, He will guide you into all truth. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you” (John 16:13,14). Therefore, the ascension brings to reality the promise of Jesus that He will personally come and live in the believer through the Holy Spirit’s power. When we think of the life of Christians living the incarnated life of Jesus today it is contingent upon His ascension to make it a reality. It is quite simple, the ascension was necessary for the Holy Spirit to come and make Jesus’ incarnation in believers possible.

The account of the ascension is recorded as follows in the Book of Acts, “After His suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven” (Act.1:3-11).

What is the work of Jesus that the Spirit will articulate in the world? Jesus Himself answers, “And when He comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged” (John 16:8-11).

Here, Jesus explains sin very simply – it’s a person’s refusal to believe in Him as Savior: “Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.” So, sin has to do with faith – faith in Jesus! It’s very simple, very plain, sin is more than an individual act of sin, it is our refusal to believe in the Messiah who atones and cleanses us from sin as humanity’s High Priest in heaven today. Sin is the condition of man’s self-determination controlled by the devil, and righteousness is the condition of the Spirit inspired by Christ. In our fallen state of existence, we exist in the sin condition, and the only way out is to step out from it into the sinless and righteous condition of Jesus through the Spirit’s presence. Hence, Jesus speaks of being “born again” into a new life in the Spirit. (John 3:1-8) You can read my post titled, “Holy Spirit Manifests Jesus’ New Humanity in Man” at: http://bulamanriver.net/10075

Why does the passage above says, “concerning righteousness (sinlessness) because I go to the Father?” Because Jesus has ascended to the Father’s right hand and remain as man’s eternal High Priest mediating for man’s absolution and right standing with God the Father. The Bible says of Jesus, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 5:1, 5-7). Paul says, “There is one Mediator between God and man, the Word of God who is Himself a man, Jesus Christ” (1 Tim 2:5). A High Priest stands between sinful man and our holy God mediating on man’s behalf for all human shortcomings. Paul says, “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (as mankind’s High Priest) (Rom.8:36, my emphasis).

Dove, Symbol of Holy Spirit and God’s Love and Power  Descended upon Man on Pentecost fulfilling the Prophet’s Prophetic Vision: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” (Joel 2:28). (Pic: Wiki Commons)

When Jesus said, “Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged” it means Christ has defeated the instigator of sin, Satan. Judgment came about when Jesus was victorious over the devil in the temptations in the Judean wilderness, and when He died upon Calvary on His cross as the final answer to sin.

So, that is the 3-fold message the Spirit brings to the world – it is about Jesus saving us from sin once for all time; Jesus becoming our righteousness through His High Priestly mediating role in heaven; and Jesus bringing judgment by defeating the enemy the promoter of sin in mankind through the temptations and His death on the cross! This is why the ascension is of utter importance to the whole world.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com.

Blessing:

Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* as a Bulamanriver.**  Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

Kiang,  

(Your Servant In Christ)

* Triune Life: The “Triune Life” is a way of life. It’s foundational tenet is based upon the Love of God, because it is the nature of God. Love is both a noun and a verb. We are called Love because we live by Love as God’s own children. It means a life lived according to the image and likeness of God. (Gen.1:26-27) It means as children of God we live the 3-dimensional life within the Tri-Personal Being of God, as opposed to the ‘solitary’ 1-dimensional life man lives in himself under the influence of the devil. It means God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, lives and walks in you. Man’s union with the Triune God, or “Triune Living,” is made possible by Jesus, who Himself, is one in substance and reality with the Triune God, who took our humanity into the very Being of the Triune Godhead. To live the “Triune Life” is the miraculous expression of the Spirit in us. The miraculous life is the promise of the New Covenant, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them” (Ezek.36:27) You can read more at: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036

**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website, www.bulamanriver.com, where you can order a copy of my book, “Bulamanriver – The Miracle of Triune Living” Or, you may go to the directory banner at top and click “Mission” where you will find more information.

Mission Statement: Read the Triune Life Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.

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