The foremost aim of the gospel is to raise men from the dust and cause them to sit on the throne. Any gospel that does not accomplish this is not correct. The enemy came to steal, kill and to destroy. He stole every good thing and virtues from the souls of men, causing them to depreciate over time. At the point of death in the garden, the evil seed killed man’s spirit, entered his soul and began to instil ways that caused him to depreciate over time. The depreciation we have today is so terrible and many souls have been robbed and devastated. When men are destroyed they are only fit for the lake and this is the intention of the enemy. Jesus has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). The point of having life more abundantly is to sit on the throne. This is why Jesus is giving us substances that make for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3)
The milk of the word teaches a believer to hang his life on words; a reality that is not seen. In receiving healing and other natural provisions, the believer receives substances from the word of God that deliver such provisions. The substances for healing are received tangibly within the believer and he begins to walk by those substances till he receives his healing. When higher light shines, the same scriptures that deliver the milk substances are better understood. However, the principle is still the same because substances must first be given before we can engage the word of righteousness and its demands.
The milk of the word trains a heart to depend on substances of the word. This is an important training for the heart because it prepares the believer to engage better substances when the revelation of Christ is unveiled. The difference between the milk of the word and the word of righteousness is that the latter has demands that must be borne by the soul. When we understand the revelations of Christ as they come, it ministers instructions that we must bear and align with. Quickening cannot occur without obedience to commandments .
Paul got to a point where he was confident that those who followed in his steps would end up in God (Phil. 3:17). This is because he was fervently following after the excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus so that he could attain the resurrection of the dead, and anyone who must follow him must do likewise (Phil 3:8-11). Paul also warned that some other men walked differently and as enemies of the cross of Christ, their walk would end them at destruction (Phil 3:18-19). It takes a kind of walk to end up in destruction. Similarly, it takes the right kind of walk to end up in eternal life. This is why God is bringing substances that would cause us to be resurrected.
There are substances responsible for raising the soul to partake of resurrection of the dead. The soul must first partake of the resurrection from the dead that the spirit already took part of at new birth. The soul must then take part of the resurrection of the dead because the first resurrection from the dead can be lost. We must be careful in this regard and learn to yield to the spirit at these times because there is no sitting on the fence; every soul is either living or dying. Those who did not move as the cloud moved in the wilderness opened themselves to be consumed by wild beasts of the field.
Those men “whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” are those who are on the path to destruction (Phil. 3:19). We are to mind the things of Christ as He is being revealed (Col 3:1-2). For us to walk worthy of the Lord we must first receive the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding (Col. 1:8-9). Our walk is very paramount to our resurrection from the dead and of the dead. We must therefore mind spiritual things. Revelations bring us substances of Christ that we are expected to mind for us to be quickened.
Christ was also given commandments that He obeyed for Him to be quickened. These commandments are what make up the laws that fabricate Him.
The essence of the first training of faith that is in Christ is to make us spiritual by teaching us to detach from earthly things. As we obey the commandments of faith, we gradually detach from earthly things and begin to see a hope that transcends the earth. This earth can easily become the hope of any believer because it can be seen, As the stature of resurrection is being painted to us, we see the beauty in it and begin to desire it over earthly things. We must become desperate about treasuring things like godliness and causing our hearts to let go of anything and pursue after it. Certain men were still attached to earthly things despite that the treasures of resurrection had been painted to them and they became fit for destruction because of that attachment (Phil 3:18-19).
Faith comes to detach us from earthly attachments. Preferring a brother to oneself is a means to detach one from earthly things. As a man prefers his brother, he loses his own natural placement before men; but he gains life instead. With understanding, we would walk in the light of such commandments easily and gain life along the way. When we mind earthly things we would not be able to take advantage of spiritual things. We must not cleave to things. We cannot count earthly things as precious and pursue after spiritual things as well; we have to count one of them as dung. Many men have set up places of refuge in natural acquisitions and status only to discover that such things are a refuge of lies.
Our resurrection is hinged on our conversation. “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil 3:20-21). Our conversation in Christ is what would bring about the resurrection from the dead in the soul. The soul must have first taken part of the resurrection from the dead for him to have this conversation that would bring about the resurrection of the dead.
As certain evil spirits see our progress, they begin to make attempts to stop us by tempting us out of the way. Jesus was faced with such temptation when He was given the instruction to restore the ear of one of the men who came to capture Him. That commandment was going to determine His success. Obedience to commandments makes the heart tender as a heart of flesh. A heart of flesh can not refrain from doing what is right.
The soul must engage in the conversation of Christ for a godly man to be raised who can engage in the conversation that would fashion the body. The body can not be fashioned if the soul has not first partaken of the resurrection of the dead. Resurrection is in stages; a man can not hear the last trump if he has not heard and taken heed to the other trumps. Before the final resurrection, the conversation of Christ can still give some measure of life to the body.
We ought to walk not minding earthly things but the things of Christ. Doing faith truly detaches a man from the earth and enables him to hold spiritual things. If we do not hold spiritual things, we can not grow. Therefore, let us take heed to hold on to the substances that are being given to us at our various stages, either small or great.