Incorruptible or Immortal? Penultimate or Ultimate?
I’m going to share with you some thoughts that I’ve been having which relate to this subject. I’m making no claim to divine revelation here, but rather, I am only sharing some thoughts, things which you might want to meditate on in prayer. -- D
It seems that in the scriptures, the Greek word "Aphtharsia" is usually translated as "incorruptibility," which means not corruptible or no longer subject to corruption or decay, and the word "Athanasia" is usually translated as “immortality,” which means no longer able to die. Many folks believe that these words are interchangeable... but I don't believe that to be so.
It seems to me that these two Greek words point to two very different conditions, both which come into play in regard to the revealing of the sons of God, one that is penultimate (or next to final condition -- and quite possibly relative to the "exanastasis" or the resurrection that Paul hoped to "attain" to), and the other a condition which is ultimate (one of glorification in body).
My meditations on these things have led me to ask a few questions:
Is it possible for a mortal but incorruptible human to live to be 1000 years old? What I mean by that is, is it possible that the "first resurrection" might be a resurrection of the soul to a place of "incorruptibility" of heart and mind (the mind of Christ) where the deadly effects of sin can no longer work on the mortal members, although (and to quote a famous secular scientist who believed that what I say is possible) one must still "beware of bears and falling pianos"?
Beloved, could it be that no human (corruptible in mind and heart through the bloodline of Adam) has lived beyond 969 years because the curse placed on the line of Adam was, "The day in which you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (open yourself up to death through the sin principle which will work through your carnal mind) is the day that you will surely die" ... and that "day" is actually a 1000 year day? It's quite clear that Adam did not "die" physically on the very day that he and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but rather Adam lived to be 930 years old!
So, if part of the curse placed on the line of Adam was that no one from that line would live beyond a 1000 year day, should it not be true that Jesus (who was free from the curse on the bloodline of Adam - hence "incorruptible") could have lived indefinitely in a physical and yet mortal body? I believe that this could be so, but as we know, He chose to lay that perfect and incorruptible life down so that Adam's line might be freed from the curse of sin and death to become new creations in Him! Blessed be the Lord!
With these things in mind, could it not also be, that in what seems to be an up and coming 1000 year Kingdom age of Tabernacles, a remnant people will corporately enter into an incorruptible life together, the incorruptible seed of Christ's life coming to full and complete fruition in the womb of their souls, and thus they will inherit something that is described in scripture as "The life of the Age" (something that has been wrongly translated as "eternal life" in many bibles, by the way), and for the first time in human history men and women will be able to live beyond the 1000 year limit relegated to the children of Adam? Is it possible that this is part of the manifestation of the sons of God for which all of creation groans, a people who no longer have the corruptible mind and heart of the adamic life, and thus, sin and death (and even sickness) can no longer work upon their still yet mortal members?
Beloved, might it be possible that what is written about here is "the greater things than these" ministry, and is that which will lead to the greatest harvest in world history and then to a "second" and somewhat different (general) resurrection at the end of the Kingdom age? Could it be that THIS is when the sons will cross that 1000 year mark and even the last enemy death will then be put under the feet of the body of Christ so that ALL believers in Christ (on both sides of the veil) can be given their robes of "immortality" together?
Dear ones, could it possibly be that this Kingdom age ministry that I speak of here IS the restoration of the "Tabernacle of David" referred to by the prophet Amos and also spoken of by the disciple James in the book of Acts?
I think that it could be so.
If even some of what I put forth in this letter is true, is it not also possible then that Paul, and/or some other saints from centuries past, may have actually attained to an "incorruptible" yet mortal state at some point in their earthly life, but the Father may have allowed them to die in some way (perhaps as martyrs) because the appointed time for the last enemy (death) to be completely overcome was not yet, and the time for the corporate body of Christ's glorification was appointed for yet another age?
It could be .. I really don't know for sure, but I don't think that we can completely rule that out, do you? And if we can't rule that out, should we not also think it possible that an "incorruptible" state of mind and heart (salvation of the soul) is available to you and I as individuals right NOW, even though that state of BE-ing is something that is very rarely "attained" to in one's life here on earth?
There is no way to know for sure if Paul, before he died, actually attained to what he described for us in Phillipians 3:10-11. But isn't it pretty clear that what He was hoping to "attain to" was the fullness of the incorruptible mind and heart of Christ? He surely wasn't hoping for that cunningly devised fable and complacency causer known as the "escape rapture," now was he? Of course not.
Well, there is one last thing that I'd like to mention here, and something that I've been scratching my head over for a little while now because I have not ever looked at the resurrections from this perspective before...
If there have been some folks who have personally attained to the "first resurrection" state in times past, but by God's sovereign choosing they went the way of the grave, not to be resurrected bodily until the END of the age of Tabernacles, does that not mean that they must now be ruling and reigning with Christ in some capacity from the other side of the veil, and that they will also minister in that same capacity and from that same side of the veil during the Kingdom age on earth? It seems to me that that could be true.
I asked the Lord about all of this just this morning, and He had me think upon Moses' and Elijah's appearance with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. All that I can think about this passage of scripture is that Moses and Elijah together represent the law and the prophets, and to us this represents a ministry of lawful prophecy in the up and coming age. This of course, is in contrast to much of the “lawlessness" that we have seen in the church in ages past.
Anyway, I did ask the Lord for a little more on this, and He opened me up to a single scripture verse from the Gospel of Matthew. It was this …
"Elijah does come first and restores everything."
Whatever the truth is about all of this, I KNOW that there is a mighty great work of RESTORATION at hand, though the laborers for this restoration work still only be few.
Addendum
As an added note:
If Jesus is the Pattern for the manifestation of sons, then it appears to me that these sons might first manifest the Spirit without measure in bodies that are made of flesh and blood, just as Jesus did. Still, we should keep in mind that this is NOT the ultimate or final state of these sons.
I guess the point in all that is shared here is that the way to glorification is not through a physical rapture but through a rapture of the soul into perfect submission to God. God's salvation plan reaches into the entire trichotomy of man. Scripture then bears out that the salvation of the spirit of man precedes that of his soul, and the salvation of his soul then precedes that of his body.
Some questions that arise in my mind about this and are then presented in this letter are: Just what is the state of one who has experienced the salvation of his soul? Is this state penultimate, or is it ultimate? I think that it's penultimate. I think that Jesus' 3 1/2 year earthly ministry is a powerful indication and demonstration of a penultimate state of BE-ing, the state of a Son in manifestation of the fullness of God's Spirit while still in a flesh and blood body. I also see the Tabernacle of David as a prophetic type of a corporate manifestation of this, and Solomon's Temple as a type of something other than this, perhaps something even "ultimate" as far as the Body of Christ on the earth is concerned.
-- D