5 Great Books About the Resurrection

Scandalous

How are Christians to approach the central gospel teachings concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus? The Bible firmly establishes the historicity of these events and doesn't leave their meanings ambiguous or open to interpretation. Even so, there is an irony and surprising strangeness to the cross. Carson shows that this strange irony has deep implications for our lives as he examines the history and theology of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection.

Scandalous is the latest addition to the Re:Lit series, which highlights important theological truths in accessible and applicable ways. Both amateur theologians and general readers will appreciate how Carson deftly preserves weighty theology while simultaneously noting the broader themes of Jesus' death and resurrection. Through exposition of five primary passages of Scripture, Carson helps us to more fully understand and appreciate the scandal of the cross.

Resurrection and Redemption

What place does the resurrection of jesus Christ have in Paul's teaching concerning salvation? Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. explains in part one that a change has taken place in Reformed theology's interpretation of the center of Paul's thought -- a change that affects how we should approach Paul"s writings. Gaffin discusses this change and the proper way to approach Paul. Part two uncovers the basic structure of Paul's resurrection theology and shows the central place of Christ's resurrection in the whole of Paul's theology. Part three discusses how Paul develops and uses this resurrection theme in several passages and in connection with the doctrines of adoption, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Gaffin's conclusion presents the implications of this study for the problems and program of Reformed dogmatics.

The Christ of the Empty Tomb

You have to hunt for the message of Easter. After all, this is not the joyous welcoming of a baby with the giving of gifts; this is the brutal death of a young man, stripped of any gifts and dignity. Yet, Jews had prayed for him, hoped for him, looked for him and lived for him for generations. But now the one who said he was Messiah was dead, killed by the very ones who had for so long anticipated his coming. How could this have happened? His disciples had spent 3 years following him. and here they were in despair - but then they found the empty tomb. James Boice, one of the church's master communicators, explains the drama, purpose and events surrounding Easter so that it can become an occasion of spiritual joy.

Spurgeon's Sermons on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus

Experience Jesus’ death and resurrection with Charles Spurgeon, one of the nineteenth century’s greatest preachers. In this collection of over forty sermons, Spurgeon takes us through The Last Supper, Jesus’ passion and death, including Christ’s cries from the cross, up to his glorious resurrection. Drawing us into the scripture text for each sermon, Spurgeon uses vivid word pictures and thought-providing concepts to make his points. His direct, practical style, wide choice of topics, and biblically-saturated discussions offer a wealth of wisdom that is still dynamic and relevant today. Both lay readers and clergy will find treasures here in Lent and Easter—and throughout the year.

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

This collection of readings, drawn from the writings and sermons of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers, focuses on the wonder of Christ's sacrifice.

In a culture where crosses have become little more than decorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even the most well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that it means. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.

So that we all may linger at the cross during the Lenten season—and stay near it the whole year through—editor Nancy Guthrie has compiled this special anthology. It draws from the works and sermons of classic theologians such as Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Ryle, and Augustine, and from leading contemporary communicators such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, John MacArthur, Skip Ryan, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enter into an experience of Christ's passion and anchor their hope in the power of his resurrection.

Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scripture and expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using the appropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readings are sure to prepare people's hearts for a fresh experience of the cross each and every Easter season.

Articles Pertaining to the Resurrection:

"The Spiritual Resurrection of Believers" by Geerhardus Vos

"The Efficacy and Benefit of Christ's Resurrection" by Wilhelmus à Brakel

"Reversing the Fall and Setting Creation Free" by Vern S. Poythress

"The Resurrection of Christ" by J. Gresham Machen

Election and Perseverance

I've been deeply encouraged and blessed by the books I've had the opportunity to read by God's grace. Lately, there are two that have providentially worked together in order to strengthen the knowledge of the gospel and the doctrines of grace in my life. Not only have they solidified my understanding of distinct doctrines, they have helped shape my comprehension of the way these truths are connected and inseparable. Most specifically, the areas of interest regarding my recent study are the doctrines of election and perseverance... two of the most comforting truths of Scripture, when understood rightly.

"What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles." (Romans 9:22-24)

"The vessels of mercy 'were by nature the children of wrath, even as others'. Both kinds of vessels were clay 'of the same lump'. What did God do toward saving the vessels of wrath? He 'endured them with much long-suffering'. Does not this show tenderness and compassion? Why did He not do more toward their salvation? Because He was 'willing to show His wrath, and to make known His power'. He saw it best, after exhibiting His long-suffering patience and His gracious readiness to pardon them on condition of penitence, to leave some sinners to reap the just rewards of their iniquity, in order that He might thus display His wrath against sin, and demonstrate His power to deal with it as it deserves. He does these sinners no wrong, simply permits them to work out their own destruction; but at the same time He furnishes a lesson to the universe on the hatefulness of sin, and the stable foundation on which the kingdom of holiness rests, not withstanding the efforts of wicked men and of devils to destroy it...

God wishes to 'make known the riches of His glory', and to this end He makes some vessels of mercy, 'preparing them afore unto glory'. We may say, in a word, that when God looked upon the lump of sinful humanity He decided to deal with it in the way which would best serve the purpose of displaying all the attributes of His glorious character, and thus promote the highest ends of His moral government. He might destroy the whole lump; He might transform the whole lump; or He might divide it, and make some vessels unto honor, and others to dishonor. His justice calls for the first course; His benevolence calls for the second; His wisdom calls for the third. By this course He illustrates both His justice and benevolence, and at the same time secures the highest ends of His unerring wisdom. In the case of those who are lost, God permits their self-destruction despite the entreaties of His benevolence. In the case of the saved, God, by the invincible power of His grace, rescues them despite the demands of His justice. In the case of both classes, the compassionate Christ is 'over all, God blessed for evermore' (Romans 9:5)...

Salvation is all of grace, and that it can, therefore, be no reflection on any attribute of God's perfect character if He decline to put forth His saving power on behalf of any given sinner, or number of sinners." (R.C. Reed, "The Gospel as Taught by Calvin", pp. 111-113).

"The faith that saves (a gift of God, according to Ephesians 2:8-9) is so nurtured and cared for by the Spirit of God that no genuine believer apostatizes... it is precisely because the power of God is manifested in preserving the Christian's faith that he can be assured of never losing his salvation...

In describing Christ's work as the Mediator of our salvation, Calvin explains how we are heirs according to God's pledge:

'[The Mediator's] task was to restore us to God's grace as to make of the children of men, children of God; of the heirs of Gehenna, heirs of the Heavenly Kingdom. Who could have done this had not the self-same Son of God become the Son of man, and had not so taken what was ours as to impart what was His to us, and to make what was His by nature ours by grace? Therefore, relying on this pledge, we trust that we are sons of God.' (The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.12.2)

The perseverance of believers in the faith is also clearly taught in John 17:

"Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.'" (John 17)

Here we are privileged to listen in on what has been called the High Priestly Prayer of Christ. In it, He speaks of believers becoming 'one' so that 'the world may believe that You have sent Me' (v. 21). This prayer has been consistently understood by liberals (and, sadly, of late by conservatives, as well) as teaching that organic union (or, at least, corporate expressions of unity) among Christians will lead the world to believe in Christ. If that were true, then Jesus' prayer has never been answered in the affirmative. Indeed, it could only be declared an utter failure...

The unity for which He prayed was not a horizontal unity among men; rather, He prayed for a vertical unity with Himself, as He is one with the Father... The entire prayer is a petition that genuine believers may not be 'lost' as Judas was (v. 12). Since Christ was about to leave His own, He prayed that God would continue to 'guard' them, just as He previously had 'kept' them under His watchful care (v. 12). And He prayed not only for the apostles, but also for those who would come to believe under their preaching (v. 20). The kind of guarding that Jesus had in mind is explained in verse 21: 'that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.'

The unity involved in these words is a unity with the Father and the Son, a unity that is as inseparable as that which these members of the Trinity enjoy...

God doesn't make a promise, then change His mind. He never hands us something with one hand, only to take it back with the other. He would never give eternal life to a person and then later kill him spiritually. Eternal life is just that—life that lasts eternally in God's presence. God is true to His word.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." (Romans 8:28-30)

Calvin writes:

"Those whom He appointed beforehand, He also called; those whom He called, He also justified' [Romans 8:30] that He might sometime glorify them. Although in choosing His own the Lord already has adopted them as His children, we see that they do not come into possession of so great a good except when they are called; conversely, that when they are called, they already enjoy some share of their election. For this reason, Paul calls the Spirit, whom they receive, both 'Spirit of adoption' [Romans 8:15] and the 'seal' and 'guarantee of the inheritance to come' [Ephesians 1:13-14]; cf. 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5]. For He surely establishes and seals in their hearts by His testimony the assurance of the adoption to come." (The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.24.1)

A very important verse that makes the truth about apostasy clear:

"They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us." (1 John 2:19)

John is addressing the fact that certain gnostic teachers who had been in the fold had left and had begun teaching their heresy. Previously, they had seemed to be true Christians, because they gave no outward indication of their heretical belief. But their false views of the nature of Christ solidified and came to the fore, and they found that they could no longer fellowship with genuine Christians...

We must maintain that those who denounce the faith never had true faith in the first place. They may have been among believers, but they were not of them...

True believers remain in the faith and in the church. They endure to the end.

"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned." (Hebrews 6:4-9)

"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:26-29)

While he knew that true believers would not repudiate their Savior, the writer recognized the possibility that some among his readers might not be genuine Christians after all. Therefore, he shows that people may become a part of the visible body of Christ, participating in all of God's wonderful benefits that are provided for the life of the church, but eventually turn their backs on everything they have experienced. There is no way to renew such people to a genuine profession of faith, he says, because there is only one true message—the very one they have rejected. So he describes how great a dishonor to Christ it is for one to hear and taste the gospel only to reject it, and how terrible are the consequences...

To teach that a saved person may be lost is to impugn the fatherhood of God. It is to say that He so poorly raises His children that many become delinquents who 'drop out' or must be disowned by Him... Hebrews says that the Lord 'disciplines' each of His children in order to bring them into line when they go the wrong way; if they receive no discipline, the book teaches, they are illegitimate:

"and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.' It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom His father does not discipline?" (Hebrews 12:5-7; cf. Proverbs 3:11-12)

God disciplines all of His legitimate children, and His discipline gets positive results. God does not allow rebellious children to wander away from the family or become so incorrigible that He must put them out. Those members who leave, or who are permanently put out of the church, as we have seen, are false professors. Calvin writes:

"Wherever punishment is for vengeance, there the curse and wrath of God manifest themselves, and these he always withholds from believers. On the other hand, chastisement is a blessing of God and also bears witness to His love, as Scripture teaches (Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:5-6)." (The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.4.32)

Perseverance is the result of true faith, nourished and maintained by the Spirit. But the believer himself must continue to exercise it. He may never sit back and say, 'I'm saved, I may do as I please, since I can never be lost.' To think that way indicates either that he has received very faulty teaching or that he is not a believer.

This precious doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, coming down to us from the Reformation, must be preserved at all costs. We may neither abandon it nor compromise with those who would do so. The certainty of salvation, which Calvin so dearly wished His congregation to know and which he bequeathed to subsequent generations, must not be lost." (Jay E. Adams, "A Certain Inheritance", chapter 15 in "John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine and Doxology", ed. by Burk Parsons)

So, as we have seen from these pastors (in light of Calvin's instruction), these two inseparable doctrines are beautifully and terribly interwoven. The beauty? Christ has, by His active and passive obedience, secured salvation for His sheep. As a Christian, you are the beloved of God, chosen before the foundation of the world to be justified by the gracious instrumentation of faith, which has united you with Christ and set you apart to persevere through sanctifying discipline en route to future glorification. If you confess Christ as your Lord and Savior and have repented of your sin—if you continue to stand firm in the faith and live a life of perpetual repentance that is worthy of gospel—strive to finish the race, for while there are trials, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The terror? If you do not believe the gospel—if you do not trust in Jesus Christ as truly man and fully God... as your Savior from sin... as the one and only Mediator between God and man—you are outside of Christ and are on a treacherous path to destruction. The trials you experience are quite possibly a manifestation of the wrath of God and you are dead in your trespasses and sins. If the undeserved gracious atonement of Christ has not been applied to you through faith, the just wrath of God in future condemnation awaits you.

If you, the reader, identify yourself with the former, may the biblical doctrines of election and perseverance be an encouragement to you. Rest in the accomplished work of Christ and look to Him as the author and perfecter of your faith. He has conquered death and our life is inseparably hid with Christ on high. If you identify yourself with the latter, I implore you... repent of your sin, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in His death, burial and resurrection. He lived a perfect and sinless life of obedience under the Law, and willingly laid down His life to be crucified as a substitution for those who trust in Him. While all of mankind is sinful, and all of mankind is deserving of death (the penalty for sin), He was without sin and yet punished for it, so those who are united with Him in His death/resurrection (through faith) would be considered righteous by God and looked upon as they were the sinless Christ. Trust in Jesus, abide with persevering faith, and by the sanctifying Spirit make your calling and election sure.

Daily Reading: Complete In Him

I continue my study of Michael P.V. Barrett's "Complete In Him" in chapter 5...

Chapter 5: Union with Christ (The Security of the Gospel)

"To them [His saints] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27, ESV)

"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority." (Colossians 2:9-10, ESV)

We should find our complete satisfaction in Christ. We have been filled with the supreme One... this is no mere fascination; it is consumption. We should be consumed and overwhelmed with Jesus.

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3, ESV)

"Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." (1 John 3:24, ESV)

"...we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit." (1 John 4:13, ESV)

"regardless of our personal failures, imperfections, and sins, the merit of Jesus Christ encompasses and subsumes all of our service to Him." (p. 94)

IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS

"The fact that our personal behavior neither adds to nor distracts from our acceptance before God in Christ is not license to sin or reason to abandon the pursuit of personal purity... Right thinking about the gospel produces right living in the gospel." (p. 95)

United to Christ Representatively

"Christ is the federal, covenant or representative Head of His people... [He] stands as our legal representative before God" (p. 96)

Adam; a representative man...

"For as in Adam all die..." (1 Corinthians 15:22a, KJV)

"Man needed a new representative who could and woul fulfill the requirements for life. God appointed His Son to that position. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only One divinely chosen and qualified to be the Savior of sinners." (p. 96)

"...even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22b, KJV)

"In His Incarnation, the eternal Son of God partook of the same flesh and bloof as those He came to represent—His brethren, the children given to Him." (p. 97)

"For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, 'I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.' And again, 'I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:11-14), KJV)

Psalm 8...

"a messianic song highlighting the greatness and grace of God and pointing to the Lord Jesus as the only means by which fallen man can come to the enjoyment and experience of the priveleged rank God assigned to man in creation." (p. 97)

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet" (Psalm 8:4-6, KJV)

"The first word for 'man' emphasizes man's fr,ailty and mortality. The second expression, 'son of man' (Adam), also underscores man's inherent weakness and insignificance as earthy." (p. 97)

1 Corinthians 15...

"The apostle speaks of a man ('the last Adam', 'the second man') who, unlike the first man, honorably and unfailingly fulfilled the high station God intended for mankind." (p. 97)

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven." (1 Corinthians 15:45-47, KJV)

"the Seconf Person of the Eternal Trinity was temporarily diminished to a position lower than that of the angels [Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7] in order to perform the necessary obedience to merit and restore life to the race of which He was the Head." (p, 98)

"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (1 Corinthians 15:49, KJV)

Romans 5...

"unquestionably the most explicit bible exposition contrasting the corporate effect of Adam's disobedience with the corporate effect of Christ's obedience... God's just imputation of our guilt to Christ and His equally just imputation of Christ's righteousness to us are righteously legal acts because Christ is our covenant Head, our representative." (p. 98)

"I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages..." (Isaiah 49:8b, KJV) [see also Isaiah 42:6]

United to Christ Mystically

Mystical Theology: "Spiritual truth that surpasses human comprehension because of the transcendence of its nature and significance..." (p. 99)

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20, KJV)

A Spiritual Union

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love..." (Ephesians 3:17, KJV)

"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." (Colossians 2:12, KJV)

"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:20-22, KJV)

"As evidence that we have the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit not only that we are the children of God, but also that we share with Christ everything from His sufferings to His glorification (Romans 8:16-17)." (p. 101) [see also Romans 8:9]

A Spiriual Communion

Union with Chris's Death

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20, KJV)

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Romans 6:4-6 KJV)

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Corinthians 5:14, KJV)

Colossians 3...

"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (v. 3)

"Mortify therefore your members..." (v. 5a)

"put on the new man..." (v. 10b)

Union of Christ's Resurrection

"By His death, our Savior 'abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel' (2 Timothy 1:10, KJV)." (p. 103)

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:5-6, KJV)

"For if [since] we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection... Now if [since] we be dead [died] with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (Romans 6:5, 8, KJV)

"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:12-13, KJV)

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Colossians 3:1, KJV) [see also John 14:19-20]

"It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him" ( 2 Timothy 2:11, KJV)

"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:17, KJV) [see also 2 Timothy 2:12]

Colossians 3...

1. "We are to seek the things that are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God." (p. 104)

2. "We are to set our affections on things above.

Union with Christ's Session

"As part of His earned exaltation, after His resurrection He ascended into heaven and took His seat of honor at the right hand of His Father... inexplicably yet absolutely, so did we." (p. 104-105)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3, KJV)

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us... hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4, 6, KJV)

"WE OUGHT NOT TO LIVE ANY PART OF OUR LIFE HERE WITHOUT THE CONSCIOUSNESS THAT WE ARE IN REALITY THERE." (p. 105

That is all for this week's edition of Daily Reading... Have a great week, worship well... Soli Deo Gloria!

Links...

"Beginning at Moses" (Michael P.V. Barrett's book on Christ in the OT)

Election (an article by B.B. Warfield)

The Principle of Imputation (a sermon/lecture by Phil Johnson)