Alive part 5
I like the Law of First Mention. You know, where the first time a word is used in the Bible sets the tone for how it is used thereafter. So let's look at the first time the King James Bible uses the word, "alive." Genesis 6:19, "And of every thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female." To me that's pretty perfect. "Alive" means put in the ark. And it doesn't just mean struggling along. It means KEPT alive. Jesus, the lifter of our heads, keeps us from falling. The ark protected the people and animals from the flood. From the cleansing of the world. The ark brought them out of the old world and into the new world. The ark landed on Mount Ararat- the curse is reversed. Everything that had gone wrong because of Adam's sin--getting us into trouble with sin and death--was undone when we were put into the ark and kept... and MADE... alive! God put us in the ark when He put the Ark (Jesus) in us! Jesus is the quickening Spirit. That's why I always say, "God doesn't just want to be a PART of your life. He wants to BE your life, because He IS life!" We always seem to try to like fit God in to whatever else we're doing. Or "make time" for Him here and there. But He's so much bigger than that. LOVE is so much bigger than that. LIFE is so much bigger than that! I mean, what part of abundant do we not understand? What part of eternal, and everlasting, are we not getting? What part of Ephesians 3:20 are we missing? "Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." We limit God... and we limit LIFE. We are capable of so much more than we think we are. Because we are in the Ark. Because the Ark is in us. Because we are in the Kingdom. Because the Kingdom is in us. Because we are in LOVE. Because LOVE is in us! That's what it means to be alive. That's the difference between life and death. And that's the difference between merely "living" (Adam was a living soul) and being truly ALIVE! Dead to sin. Alive unto God. Not aware of unbelief, but always aware of the love of our Father. Living, and moving, and having our being in Him even as He lives, and moves, and has His being in us! Brought into the Ark to be kept alive. Made alive. Brought out of the power of darkness and into the Kingdom. Brought out of death and into life. Unless you see "heaven" as life and "hell" as death then it's not really a heaven and hell issue. And if you see that death AND hell were thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14), then you see that it's not an issue at all. It's exactly what Jesus came to give us. "The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly!" (John 10:10). We ARE alive. We ARE loved. So we ought to start living. Ought to start loving!