Most Holy Call to Pray (CTP, 19th April, 2021)
Topic: : Prevailing unto the Resurrection of the Dead
Minister: Rev. Kayode Oyegoke
We are warring with spirits who have taken an oath against the redemption of man. These beings have vowed that man will not be redeemed unto God. God is, however, determined to bring men back to Him; He will not joke with redemption. He has taken an oath that men will be saved to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25)
Evil spirits that peddle sin are anti-resurrection spirits that teach men only one lesson: how to die. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15). The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and pride of life are forces or agents of death. Satan designed the world to kill, and teach mankind how to die (i.e., how to be separated from God).
The world is a body of sin and death; and the only antidote against her is the teaching of the resurrection from the dead. This teaching is the “small light” out of the “great light” of the resurrection of the dead (Phil. 3:11). When the resurrection from the dead is taught, the operations of certain angelic forces, namely- principalities and powers, might and dominion- are activated. The peak activities of the resurrection of the dead are overseen by angels of God. Thus, ministers of the Gospel who teach along the line of this kind of resurrection open the floor for these ministering spirits (Heb. 1:14).
In the Sanctuary, we learn the lesson of the resurrection from the dead in preparation for the higher learning of the light of the resurrection of the dead. God raised Jesus from the dead not as Christ, but as the Son of God (Eph. 1:20). To come into both resurrection states, the soul needs to be enlightened by the learning of the doctrine of Christ and God. The issue of enlightenment is crucial for the Church. To enlighten the saints is to teach the Church how not to die; it is to raise the Church from the dead.
“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Jesus promised to raise up the temple (His body) in three days. This means that when He died, God was raising a building in Him. Jesus’ soul did not commit sin; but His soul was offered up for sin. Sin was laid upon His soul, and as such He had the tendency to sin in hell. This is why He had to pray through at the garden of Gethsemane to gain enough power against the third day (Matt. 26:36-56). Hence, at His death, Jesus underwent a building that made Him overcome sin completely.
We need help not to be embittered with God concerning this issue of the resurrection of the dead. “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46). This statement means that Jesus trusted God completely. The glory of God had never visited hell; yet, Jesus was taken to Abraham’s bosom for God to test the work that He had wrought in Him. Jesus reversed the programme of death by His sacrifice.
Jesus went into hell without the Holy Ghost. The Lamb must go to the cross before His shearers dumb (Isa 53:7). To go “before the shearers” is for His spirit to be torn, removing the grace that was upon Him and causing Him to die. After He died, grace sealed Him, and He was then taken as a sacrifice into hell. Jesus was escorted to hell by evil spirits, not by the angels of God. Jesus entered into hell as the weakest captive because the entire sin of the whole world was upon Him (Isa. 53:6).
The evidence that a man is being built is seen in his thoughts. Jesus obeyed everlasting life in His thoughts and finished the program of Eternal Life. Jesus prevailed against iniquity and attained a stature (of the resurrection of the dead) that pleased God. Even after He was made sin, He was not bitter against God. Jesus prevailed against death; He prevailed unto the resurrection of His body.
Satan's desire is to ascend to where God is and be like the Most High (Isa. 14:14). His desire to be like the Most High is his search for a solution to the anomaly that his hand made. However, the throne of God cannot be gotten by unrighteousness. There is a standard God has set! Earthly thrones can be manipulated, but the throne of God cannot. Though Jesus rose out of hell, Satan cannot - he is perpetually a hellish being.
Jesus obeyed God and God showed Him how to come out of death. “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:8). The death of the cross is a path of obedience. The death on the cross did not end with Jesus dying on the cross; rather, the cross was a gateway into a greater obedience that He had to fulfil. Though Jesus was laid in the grave, He did not commit sin. He prevailed over hell and death by His obedience to God.
“But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas…” (Matt. 12:39). The sign of the prophet Jonah is the only sign God would give to an unbelieving generation. Jonah demonstrated the experience of Jesus in a figure. He was in the belly of the fish for three days and cried to God (Jonah 2:1-4). This exemplified Jesus’ experience in hell.
The last key of obedience is the key for the resurrection of the body. The last trumpet will not be blown on earth until a company of people have fulfilled obedience to a certain degree that will call for this trumpet. Such people that have fulfilled this obedience will experience a change of their body. The reason why our bodies still house death is because of the properties of wicked works in our souls as a result of disobedience.
We must pray and stay in obedience so that hell and death would not prevail. It is possible to be built above hell (Matt. 16:18). Hell will be weakened by the message and teaching of the everlasting light. God wants to make us stronger than death, and it is possible. There are different degrees of obedience required to inherit immortality. Men will come into the resurrection of the dead by trembling and godly fear. Jesus can give us immortality; but we need to obey Him (Phil. 3:10).