OVERVIEW OF KEY TOPICS 

MAN BEING CREATED A LIVING SOUL = SPIRIT SOUL AND BODY 

THE FALL OF THAT VERY GOOD NATURE AND THE ENTRANCE OF DEATH 

THE SALVATION OF THE SON=CROSS, HADES, TOMB AND RESURRECTION 

THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

THE RESURRECTION OF MAN 

THE PRIZE VS THE GIFT 

BRIDE–SHIP, FIRST FRUITS AND HARVEST, MILLENNIUM 

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Genesis 2:7“The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. [1 Corinthians 15:45]  

UNDERSTANDING the spirit, soul and body of man….  

Genesis reveals man as a living soul, and that man is a triad being is discovered from additional Scriptures. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1 Thessalonians 5:23] And… “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” [Hebrews 4:12] 

(Quick overview of that dynamic state before and after the fall.) 

Through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and then the curse of God; Death (separation from God and thus a loss of wholeness) has entered in and has ruined the unanimity or “..very good..” state of the soul with the spirit and body. Especially after re-birth of the spirit (John 3:3); the carnal soul and sensuous body are at enmity with the reanimated spirit led by the Holy Spirit. [Romans 8:7 typed in Genesis 25:22,23]      

The body which covers us and serves us, a living soul, and connects us to this earth, is formed at conception and is born from the womb of a woman into this earth and matures in a few years. This body will be our eternal body, to cover and serve us forever, although it is born into this World under a curse from God (Genesis 3 with Romans 5:12) and will therefore return back unto the dust in a relatively short time. As it is appointed in the curse that men’s bodies shall now die and corrupt. [Hebrews 9:27] 

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” [Ecclesiastes 12:1,7]  

The Holy Spirit reveals through Solomon that the body goes to the earth, but the“spirit” of man returns to God at death …who gave it (possibly with the first breath?) The return unto God of our spirit is further evidenced from New Covenant Scripture. When Stephen’s spirit was anointed by the Holy Spirit and after he had spoke by that unction so powerfully, described in the 6th and 7th chapter of Acts, it resulted in the Jews stoning him. In the 59th verse it is written: “…And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And even more telling are the Words of Jesus in the last moments from on the Cross it is written, “And when Jesus cried with a loud voice, he said, Gather, into thy hands I commend my spirit….” 

So it is we have Scriptural understanding of where our body goes upon death, and where our spirit goes upon death. Where then do “I” go, the essence of me, that which is conscious as a living being and in what form and state will I be? Let us read Job 17:16, 26:6; Psalm 86:13; Proverbs 1:12; Isaiah 14:15; 1Samuel 28:11-14; 2 Peter 2:12; Luke 12:5; Luke 16:19- Scripture reveals that without our body and spirit as disembodied souls we continue to exist in an eternal state and are directed by Angels into an intermediate place called Sheol/Hades, (in Greek, Hades means the unseen) in the center of the Earth.  

Jesus on the Cross declared His destination after His death being Hades to the criminal crucified along beside Him. “….Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” This of course being the paradise/Abraham’s Bosom of Luke 16, in that it could not have been Heaven’s Paradise as Jesus had, 3 days after crucifixion, at the time of His resurrection, told Mary “…I am not yet ascended to my Father…” [John 20:17] 

Acts 2 is a most revealing Scripture wherein Peter, referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, quotes the prophetic Words of the future Messiah Jesus Christ. “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Hades), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”  [Psalms16:10] 

From these verses we learn that Jesus Christ, after He was slain on the Cross, His body was carried to the tomb, His spirit went to the Father, and He went to the intermediate place of all “dead”; Hades. And before His body could corrupt, He was raised up out from among the dead and reunited with His same now quickened body, that had been lain in the Tomb.  

That it was His same body Scripture attests: “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands (being nail scarred); and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side (where the sword had pierced)…..” It is there also discovered He was resurrected into His flesh and bones (no blood). The Lord declared flesh and bones were unique to a Man; unlike a spirit being.  [Ephesians 5:30; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Philippians 3:21] 

Jesus then, as Son of Man, a Man resurrected, being the first begotten of the dead (Revelation 1:5), a New Creature yet restored as a triad being; and therefore in the new state fully clothed and wholly “sanctified”, spirit, soul and body, He was therefore prepared to ascend unto the Father. * 

THE SEED OF GOD 

Jesus, being sinless and willing to be sown as a seed by the Father into Death. Being in form the Only Begotten Son, the Son of God / Son of man, crucified to death, and planted deep within the Earth. Then in the quickening of His restored “spirit”, springs forth resurrection Life. And bursting upward and downward comes forth as the First Born from the Dead, first springing up into the sun and air of Earth, then ascending higher into the full bloom of His Glory. His much fruit, in due time, to spring forth in the heavens above. [John 12:24] 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15 THE RESURRECTION 

….“thou fool, That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:…And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be…all flesh is not the same flesh…there are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory….is another…….There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead (in Christ Jesus). So it will be in mans’ resurrection, in that as all were dead in the First Adam, sown in death, then in the quickening breath/spirit of Jesus Christ, men shall be changed or raised out of Hades at the resurrections.  “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will” He shall grant Life and glory commensurate to the flesh sown (state of the soul when it passes into the earth) and that at the two resurrections. [John 5:22-29; Revelation 20:4-6]  

What is essential for Christians is to understand the “hope of glory.” [Romans 5:2; Ephesians 1:18; Colossians 1:27,3:4; Romans 8:30] That the work of Jesus Christ’s Atonement grace in our spirit begun in the gift of regeneration, that of life eternal, and for this we need not hope (Romans 8:24) or strain** “…by any means I might attain…”   But that then for which we do hope is the First Resurrection glory. That worthiness as a result of the ongoing propitiation work energized by our spirit unto the soul in the power of the Word brought to bear upon our heart by the Holy Spirit (Luke 20:35) while we are among the living. That hope of glory, was understood until the 5th century after Christ, by the Church fathers, to mean our personal resurrection out of Hades. We Christians have had the purifying hope (1 John 3:3) replaced by erroneous teachings that when they die they immediately go to Heaven. Effectively, these teach the message that there is no resurrection or that the resurrection has happened. [2 Timothy 2:18]  

Make no mistake, while we are without this quickening of new resurrection life from our restored spirit; igniting our soul in Hades, our soul and body will remain in a unsanctified state of death. That state which Paul describes; being disembodied is yet “naked” and not yet changed incorruptible (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 with 1Corinthians 15:51,53) and will in Hades/the intermediate place of the dead, remain until the Bridegroom cometh….and discover the oil not only in lamp, but in vessel as well. 

In a very real sense, God through the Curse of death and the promised resurrection, has sown a Seed of corruption and from that Seed planted within the Earth, springs forth the incorruptible New Creature. That being Jesus Christ, Who walked in and preceded man in every way in the consequences of Adam’s sin. That if we are buried in Christ–likeness or are found while living in Christ–likeness, when He Comes Again, then we will be resurrected / changed. [1 Corinthians 15: Verse 42-44] “So it is the resurrection of the dead; sown in corruption; raised in incorruption; sown in dishonour; raised in glory: sown in weakness; raised in power; sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” SO IT IS IN THIS SENSE  to be understood that, “The first man was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”  

*When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and in the power of restored spirit He received His body back. But He was not yet Glorified, His body being yet “earthy” (1Corinthians:15:45-49) and in that state did He manifest Himself to His Disciples. Not yet Glorified, but prepared to be “Glorified”, that transpiring upon His coronation. The transfiguration being typical of that future Glory.  [Luke 9:29; Psalms 110:1; Luke 24:26; Acts 22:8-11; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1:3, 2:7, 3:3 with 2 Corinthians 3:7-11] And if Moses’ face shown with glorious light having been in the presence of God, how much more Him Who ascended into Heaven into the very presence of God Almighty, and from a negative perspective, a like contrasting of Lucifer’s, (a mere Angel of God) glorious covering as seen in Ezekiel 28.  

But afterwards, after His ascension only which was 10 days before Pentecost, then being  “… the first begotten of the dead…”, (Revelation 1:5) entering into “the holy places…now to appear in the presence of God for us…” (Hebrews 9),  cleansing the holy utensils of worship by His own Blood, formally “….made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” [Hebrews 6] Who, being greatly received was Glorified, intervened for His followers, and on His merit, His Atonement more than sufficient the Father being entreated sends the Holy Spirit in empowerment on the day of Pentecost (John 15:26).  In that power bringing the First Fruits of Pentecost into the Church. Jesus Christ, having born the image of the earthy (both in His walk before and immediately after His resurrection), now bears the image of the heavenly. 

**Paul having been given the Mystery of the kingdom of heavens, that is the Prize as opposed to the Gift of eternal life, was then greatly incentivized and wrote these most moving words. “If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection out from the dead” (Philippians 3:11)…the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” The prize is the heavenly calling unto bride-ship and co-rulership in the first resurrection with various rewards dependent on the faith we hold, the deeds we do, the life we live, the obedience we render. [Hebrews 3:1; Revelation 20:4-6] 

***Jesus Christ was the first raised from the dead. He is the first “first fruits”. 1 Corinthians 15:23-28 gives a brief description of the order of resurrections/changings: 1) Christ 2) the first-fruits 3) the harvest at his 2nd coming, 4) when the end cometh, when Jesus and Bride will have reigned for 1000 years, the 2nd resurrection, all those remaining in Hades then will the last enemy, “Death be swallowed up in victory”.  

****1 Corinthians 15:50…. Corruptible “…cannot inherit the kingdom of God…” and the resurrection has to do with the putting on of incorruption. Our body, born under the curse, is corrupt and sensual, and sins, the mouth lies, the hands steal, the brain contrives…so it is punished in corruption. And before we may inherit the kingdom, we must put on incorruption. As the new and changed body is without sin, its mouth for praise, its hands for service, its head for a crown.  Jesus Christ’s resurrected body is the prophecy of ours. As long as the body is in the grave, the soul may not inherit the kingdom (in point of fact the kingdom of Christ/the kingdom of heavens has not yet come)….that is to say, the kingdom/the prize is not a state after the grave, but after the resurrection.  

*****Additionally, some concept of the first fruits and harvest should be conveyed with the resurrection understanding. 

****** The Gift and Prize must be at least introduced to the understanding of the First Resurrection. Eternal Life being a Gift, is usually considered from a quantitative view, that is to say: Life for ever.  But Life is not only quantitative but also qualitative.. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (superabundance).” This abundance of Life speaks not only to length but to quality. In one word; Glory….this being then the prize of the heavenly calling. The 2nd resurrection having to do with the grace provided in the gift. Whereas the 1st resurrection has to do with loving faithfulness in works in grace after the grace of eternal life is received. Why should the Lord not separate the faithful saints from the host of carnal saints who lived for the things of this world?  As long as there is a just God in Heaven, He will not be unfaithful or unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love, which the valiant have shown towards His Name. Our God could never permit an inequality, that is to say a “like reward,” an equal inheritance among the spiritual and the carnal believers in the ages to come. Thus some shall be raised in the Second Adam in greater or lesser glory, incorruptible and “…bear the image of the heavenly.” ….But some shall be raised incorruptible but yet in the image of the earthy Adam. “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy…”