Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Mat 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
Mat 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
Mat 27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
This was the moment I realized a greater picture of the Love Jesus had for all mankind. While I actually do not see myself as a saint, the rest fits very well to my walk within the flesh of following religion being spiritually dead. That grave was indeed opened for me and I was released.
I should say at the beginning here that I haven't yet been able to figure out who is Posting what here and so I can never be quite sure who it is that I am responding to.
Anyways, I was struck by the words above saying: "That grave was indeed opened for me and I was released".
You know what I find so astonishing in here lately?
It's how people are admitting things and/or stating ideas which are exceedingly enlightened; even though they might stumble a bit trying to explain it in a cohesive manner.
Take this statement for instance: "That grave was indeed opened for me and I was released".
This is mentioned in Hebrews 6:1&2 where it says: "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment."
The doctrine of "resurrection of the dead" is one of the most important pillars of our Christian experience.
Ephesians 2:1 says that we were dead through our trespasses and sins. This does not mean that our inner-man did not exist before; only that it was alienated from real life with his Creator because it was not functioning after His laws.
The death of the outward man means the separation of the inner man from the body. A dead body does not remain unchanged. It is subjected to destructive influences of decomposition and decay.
In a similar way, a person who is inwardly dead is subject to the destructive forces of hate, jealousy, lies, uncleanness, depression, etc.
While the inwardly "alive" person lives after the law of Life in Christ Jesus which manifests itself in joy, peace, and strength in the inner man, the inwardly dead person functions after the law of sin and death.
Many Christians think that a believer goes to heaven only
after he dies. If so, how can his ways and citizenship be in heaven? How is a Christian able to fight and conquer in the heavenlies if he is not already present there?
It says: 'And
raised us up with him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Eph 2:6). This is implicitly uses past tense verbs. He who is in Christ, that is, he who belongs to His spiritual body of which He is the Head, is resurrected from the dead and now dwells in heaven, in the Kingdom of God, which is the good part of the Kingdom of heaven.
