Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 10/13/2024
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First Signs of Life
“However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.” I Cor. 15:46
As a warning, I’m using a hermeneutic that is dangerous at worst and frowned upon at best. I am about to take an isolated passage of Scripture and elevate it to the status of general principle. The portion of Scripture from I Cor. 15:35 to 58 is beautifully encouraging to all true believers. It’s a snapshot of our future abode and a brief summary of how we get there. It is truly worthy of an in-depth study, which I encourage everyone to do.
Today we are going to consider a pattern that is expressed in vrs.15:46, and how it translates into life in the kingdom. Paul is making a bold statement to emphasize the correct order of what he has just expressed. If it only applied to our span of life and what comes next we could rest in that esteemed value, but considering the boldness and the placement of the verse leads me to believe that we can glean much more.
As believers, and only for believers, we live in two worlds, the natural and the spiritual. We were born into the natural world by natural causes and we were born again into the spiritual by the rebirth that we experience in Christ. Jesus speaks of this in Jn. 3:5&6, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This, once again, is an emphatic principle. Notice the order. I should add that it is not to say that unbelievers are not affected or even in tune with the spiritual realm, but there are only two kingdoms; the kingdom of darkness which brings bondage, and the kingdom of light in which there is freedom.
Presently, anyone listening to my voice lives in both worlds. It’s like having dual citizenship, but I would suggest that we, more accurately, are citizens of heaven and aliens here on earth.
Eph. 2:4-6 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Col. 3:3 says, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
We presently have access to the spiritual, but clearly that access is veiled and limited compared to what we shall know and experience in glory. That which gives us glimpses into the spiritual realm are Scriptures and supernatural events like signs, wonders, miracles, prophecies, dreams, visions, etc. The precursor to such experiences is often the natural order. It’s called the “natural order” for a reason.
In Acts 2:19&20, Peter, quoting Joel, says, “I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath; Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.” Notice the order
In I Kg. 19:11&12, the prophet Elijah experiences some natural phenomena; “but the LORD was not in” the wind the earthquake or the fire. They got his attention though! Then,
“a still small voice.” came to him. Notice the order
Last week we discussed the majesty and wonder of God expressed in Ps. 104. I hope that everyone went outside and experienced it firsthand. Sometimes God will use unusual natural events to especially grab our attention and to say that something supernatural is coming. The birth of a baby is a beautiful natural event but the birth of a baby to a virgin is an attention grabber.
Heb. 9 goes into detail of how the earthly tabernacle had a divine order, but in verse 23 the author calls them “copies of the things in heavens.” They were natural, temporal, subject to corruption, and passing away. Paul says, in II Cor. 3:11, “For if what is passing away (the natural) was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.” This is a principle.
“God is no respecter of persons” Acts 10:34, but He is a respecter of principles; the divine order that He has established.
I say all this to point out that, “in the last days,”’ says God, ‘” That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;”’
We should be expecting this, but we’re not…usually. This morning I was mostly expecting pancakes. Therefore, God will often grab our attention by stirring something in the natural.
These are the last days just as surely as they were when Peter gave his first sermon shortly after his baptism in the Holy Spirit. Peter was following Jesus’ instruction, “He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father.” Acts 1:4. Nothing very supernatural there; just a simple instruction. Obedience to God’s revealed order will open up the supernatural order to us. Deut. 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Prov. 3:32, “For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD, But His secret counsel is with the upright.”
Prov. 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
Remember, we are “kings and priests to our God.” Rev. 5:10
Today’s takeaway is to be watchful and expect supernatural things. God is revealing Himself to His children in these last days. Something in the natural, personal, or global, may be the drum roll to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; what some call revival!
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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