Downward Dying – Upward Rising
“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.” Isaiah 37:31
The Rhythm of the Gospel
The rhythm of the Gospel is down – up, down – up, down – up. Jesus went down in His earthly life, then up on that cross, then down in that grave, then upward in resurrection into Heaven. Though at the moment He sits on high, soon He will descend downward as He returns for His beloved people.
God’s aim is that His Son will be glorified to raise up His people, and yet He will not do such until the individual disciple takes “root downward.” (Isa. 37:31) This involves personal agreement and participation in losing our lives in Christ that we might find them (Jn. 12:24-25).
It’s only the bowed down remnant of Christ’s kingdom that He will raise up to fruitfulness and eternal glory with Him. Living the “raised up” life consists of laying down flat before the LORD in utter humility before His Majesty – taking “root downward” so He can then cause you to “bear fruit upward.” (Isa. 37:31)
Jesus taught us that only the seeds that fall into the ground and die are going to bring forth fruit unto eternal life for God’s eternal glory (Jn. 12:24). Our hearts and minds must be permeated with this truth that is central to the Gospel message. May God bless us to “receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save (y)our souls” as we take in, meditate upon, and obey our LORD’s message of the cross (Lk. 9:23-24; James 1:21). This volume is designed to do just that – impress and invest this message deep into the heart of the saint.
The downward bowing saint is perpetually upheld by His free Spirit (Ps. 51:12). As we are “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,” His resurrection life is propelling us upward (Jn. 11:25; 2 Cor. 4:10). The crucified disciple, by the divine power of Jesus Christ working in him, is moved forward and upward into blessed fruitfulness to Heaven’s glory. As the cross is taken up, “the life also of Jesus” is “made manifest in our body.”
“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you … Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-14
The early apostles had the life of Jesus in them, which was evident to all who ever came into their presence. They didn’t have seminary degrees, nor were they educated men, but were wholly given over to the LORD Jesus. Observe with me what the Holy Ghost-inspired writer pens in Acts about what others witnessed concerning Peter and John:
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13
An undeniable and “notable miracle” had just been done by the power of God working in these men; look at what the Bible says concerning how the power of Jesus impacted their world:
“Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.” Acts 4:16
There is no shortcut – “So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” (2 Cor. 4:12) It is only as we are being ushered into His holy presence in daily communion with Him, that His divine life swallows up and consumes us. The Holy Spirit is then working in our vessels to suppress and crucify sin and self, and bring glory to Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:13-14; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 2:20; 6:14). By His blessed power, we are then made able to accomplish anything and all He leads us into. We are then equipped by Him, not before. Paul the apostle prayed:
“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man … Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Ephesians 3:16, 20
As death works in us by the daily cross, His divine life empowers us and bellows out of us, working for His glory in and through our vessels.
Any person who is walking in the Holy Spirit is dying downward and being simultaneously lifted upward by the resurrecting divine power. He is fruitful and blessed; his leaf shall not wither (Ps. 1:3; Jer. 17:5-9). There can and will be no resurrection life working in me unless there is first the killing power of the cross in me; then when there is that downward dying, there is simultaneously that upward raising by His Holy Ghost, raising up this vessel to His glory.
“Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10
The divine muscle of the cross cannot be overestimated. The power of the embraced cross and the consequential raising up by the Holy Spirit, is inestimable in value. All aspects of the cross should be considered, beginning with the redeeming blood of Christ’s cross.
“What does this mean for us? Remember that there are two aspects of Christ’s death. He died for our sins. He died for us – substitution. But then Paul tells us that we are also to die with Him. ‘I have been crucified WITH CHRIST’ (Gal. 2:20): ‘Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin’ (Rom. 6:11). The Israelites in bondage were delivered by the blood shed and sprinkled. But they are pursued by certain of their foes. These foes are slain at the Red Sea, but they themselves escape and are free. Egypt stands for the world of sin. Christ found us in ‘Egypt,’ and by His death in our stead delivered us from the penalty of sin. But even after our conversion some of these sins followed us and harassed us – temper, pride, jealousy, lust, worry, avarice – causing discomfiture and misery, and occasionally temporary defeat. Where is there any escape, any real victory? Only through the Red Sea – baptism, or what baptism implies; i.e., a death to sin and a rising again to righteousness. That is a crucifixion with Christ, so as to be able to ‘reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin.’” How to Live the Victorious Life, by an Unknown Christian
The believer’s cross – as taken up in obedience to the crucified Savior – is that cross that separates us from the world, the fleshly self, and those who are perishing (Rom. 1:16; 6:7; 1 Cor. 1:18; Gal. 2:20; 6:14; Col. 1:14, 20). The cross is the answer and solution to all of man’s problems, not self-help programs or books, seminars, conferences, seminary, 12-step programs, or any other counterfeit.
“I, like other believers, have tasted the resurrection blessing after a dying to self. Once you taste it, it becomes easier the next time. It’s not a formula that always works (we should never think we can put God in a box), but it is God’s program for today. The cross has replaced the law (Gal. 3:1-3; 2:19-21). Only the cross can stamp out self. Every other program ends up in licentiousness (license for sin) or legalism.” Travis Bryan III
“A Tree Planted by the Waters”
Jeremiah 17:7
Observe in Jeremiah 17 the fruitfulness of that trusting disciple who is planted down deep into the soil of the LORD:
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
“A tree planted by the waters” goes down deep into the earth and receives simultaneous watering, and is thereby raised up into great fruitfulness. This is a picture of what the LORD intends for each of us. Are you ready to sink down and die deep so that He might raise you high in His power and for His blessed glory?
Those who walk according to another gospel – one that is cross-less – are bound in deception and bound for eternal damnation. They are not being “raised up” by the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, because He simply will not raise up any vessel that is still alive under its own power. He only raises up those that are bowed down in humility before Him and crucified with Christ (Ps. 145:14; Gal. 2:20). “The counsel of the ungodly” would deceive us into skirting the essential cross and doing things in our own feeble and foolish wisdom. With this in mind, let’s prayerfully and carefully read the first Psalm.
Psalms 1:
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
The grace, peace, truth, love and fruitfulness of our God abound to each of God’s people this day and hour. The LORD bless and enable each of us to be conformed to the crucified image of Jesus Christ as we expect the soon return of our blessed LORD and Savior (Rom. 8:29; Gal. 2:20).
To all those who are cheerfully giving themselves over to the LORD – who are being crucified with Christ – the exceeding great and precious promise of the LORD is as such:
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8
It is the Holy Spirit of God who allows us to be brought to the revelation and realization of our own complete hopelessness and inability to be right or do right with His enabling grace. He brings us to this place so “that the power of Christ may rest upon” us. In our own “weakness” and our own “infirmities,” as we are crucified with Him, His sufficiency and power rests upon us.
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Jesus Christ is the very power and wisdom of God. He who is all in all has been made toward us wisdom and power personified.
“But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:24
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your perfect plan, revealed so clearly in Your Holy Word. At this very moment, if never before, I bow down before You, and ask You to bless my desire to be Yours. Grant repentance where needed and take over my whole vessel. I now yield full control and reign in my life to You. I bow down deeply and beg You to enable me to die deeply, that You might fully possess and raise this life up to bring Your glory alone! Amen.
Capture Points
- 1. Write out Isaiah 37:31 on an index card (with reference). Meditate upon it and memorize it as you carry it with you (KJV recommended).
- 2. Worshipfully discuss the biblical dynamics of 2 Corinthians 4:10-14.
- 3. Read Psalms 1.
From the book “Raised Up.”
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“His Unspeakable Gift”
2 Corinthians 9:15
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” 2 Corinthians 9:15
Because of the “unspeakable gift” of our redemption in Christ, we can now richly receive and drink in the infinite wonders of the goodness of God every day, as those raised up from out of that state of death we inherited from Adam (Rom. 5:12). Truly He “giveth us richly all things to enjoy,” and for that we are forever grateful! (1 Tim. 6:17)
“To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.” Psalms 136:4
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33
Due to the bountiful beauty of the LORD and how He has shown such mercy on us, we should let our joyful hearts praise and magnify Him with reckless abandon (Heb. 13:15).
That we may experience and be grateful for His “unspeakable gift” of Christ and His salvation, may the LORD bless each of us to be possessed with the revelation of our need to sink down deep into His death and burial, that He might raise us up in His glory! Positionally, we are already there, yet we must experience the cross daily by setting aside our own will and person in gratitude and obedience, in preference of His divine Person and will reigning in us. He has ordained that we “reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”
We are born in Adam and reborn in Christ to reign in this life by His infinite power and grace.
“For if by one man’s (Adam’s) offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)” Romans 5:17
Exploring in Holy Writ and getting a glimpse of the sin from which we have been saved and the eternal consequences of that sin, we who have been brought back into relationship with God must choose daily to keep crucified that sinful nature from which He rescued us. God is “Holy, holy, holy” and sin defiles men in His holy site (Isa. 6:3; Mk. 7:20-23; Rev. 4:8). But sin is more than just an act – it is a state of the heart if allowed. With this in mind and at heart, may God bless each of us to fear Him and to “work out” our “own salvation with fear and trembling,” never taking for granted His free gift of grace and vainly acting as if we were granted a license for sin (Rom. 6:1-2, 15; Phil. 2:12; Heb. 12:14-15; Jude 3-4).
“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Galatians 5:24
“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9
The “Resurrection of Life” or the “Resurrection of Damnation”?
“Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Acts 3:26
He told us that those who bow will be raised, right? Those who, at His blessed beckoning, bow in humility and repentance are gloriously saved by Him. We will therefore be raised up to everlasting life with Him in the “resurrection of life,” instead of the “resurrection of damnation.” (Jn. 5:29)
Every one of us is going to be raised up – either to “life” or to “damnation.”
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28-29
Christ told us this about Himself, which we also need to emulate: “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (Jn. 5:30) This is our experiential cross to be daily taken up (Matt. 16:24-26; Lk. 9:23-24). Now if the Son of God could do “nothing” by His “own self,” how can we expect to do such?
It is in bowing down humbly before His Majesty that one will be “raised up” by Him in the next life, and also presently “raised up” into a life well pleasing to Him, with power and grace in Jesus Christ.
It is very important to realize our place with God and how that it was purchased for us by Jesus Christ, without whom we are utterly without hope.
“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:19
The LORD has brought us out of something and into something else. What is that something else? Are you on a quest to investigate the wonders of His love and the salvation He wrought for you? (See Deut. 6:22-25; Eph. 2:1-10; Col. 1:12-14; Heb. 2:3.)
Together, let’s pore over a grand passage in Romans 3:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” vv. 23-28
No man deserves God’s redemption and forgiveness. It can only be received as a free gift. This happens when one is brought to repentance for his sins and makes the choice to receive Christ and His pardon (Jn. 1:12; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 20:21).
“For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:7
The recipient of His salvation has nothing to glory in as concerns self. We all have sinned against the LORD grossly and deserve and merit eternal punishment for our transgressions. We have only to boast in Jesus Christ – the true identity of all who are Heaven bound. Christ bought our salvation with His own precious blood.
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18-19
Not one of us is even capable of finding God. He who paid for all our sins in His own blood found us (Jn. 3:27; 6:44; 1 Jn. 4:9-10; 19).
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1 John 3:1
What have we to die to? We must understand the true state from which we have been rescued, and the “so great salvation“ into which we have been purchased by “the blood of his cross.” (Col. 1:20; Heb. 2:3)
This includes the revelation that all our own “righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” and that it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done,” but rather that Christ, who was sinless, became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Isa. 64:6; 2 Cor. 5:21).
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:5-7
He who knew no sin, and was harmless and completely innocent, died in our place. He took the blow of death for us – to bring us to God and to make us new creatures in Him, forgiving all sin and enabling us to live pleasing to Him in all things.
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
Through Christ’s perfect sacrifice and the gift of His salvation, God “hath raised us up (positionally) together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Why? “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:6-7)
How do we receive such an “unspeakable gift”? (2 Cor. 9:15) “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)
Not one of us deserves or merits God’s pardon for our myriad of evil deeds and depravity (Gen. 6:5, 12; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:23; 6:23). This is why each of us should stop right here and now and rejoice with Paul in saying, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (2 Cor. 9:15)
One thing is certain – Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Any person who denies this truth calls the Son of God a liar (Jn. 3:14-16; 5:23; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Jn. 5:1-12; Rev. 1:8).
The follower of Christ must understand that Christ alone is his righteousness, and he must die to his own righteousness and any attempt to somehow merit the acceptance Jesus already earned for us. He was the only One qualified, and He perfectly accomplished His mission. All self-dependence and self-righteousness must be crucified. Paul, the servant of Christ, cried:
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” Philippians 3:9-10
If we will be “found in him,” we must denounce all self-righteousness in order to be clothed in His righteousness. In order to “know him,” I must be raised up in “the power of his resurrection,” and to do this I must experience “the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” Such a statement and many others in Holy Scripture would be completely unnecessary if there were no danger of forfeiting one’s place with God (see Ezek. 33:12-13; 2 Pet. 2:20-21).
If one’s spiritual state of “righteousness” (right standing with God) was automatically and unalterably fixed after he was initially saved, why then would the apostle Paul be concerned about being “found in him, not having mine own righteousness”? (To further research this important subject, see the book titled Lie of the Ages at www.SafeGuardYourSoul.com)
“When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.” Ezekiel 33:13
All our attempts to merit God’s favor, redemption, or forgiveness are futile – before and after we are initially saved. If we could do such, God would never have sent His only begotten Son to die in our place (Gal. 2:21).
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6
It would behoove us to embrace this simple truth. Christ alone is our righteousness. He alone atoned for our sins when we were otherwise hopeless and helpless to get back to our Maker, due to Adam’s sin and the consequent death that passed upon all men after him (Rom. 5:12).
Concerning this last hour and being found in His righteousness and not our own (which is useless), Jesus said:
“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Revelation 3:5
Are you beginning to see why the Holy Ghost moved through Paul to speak of the danger of being found having his “own righteousness”? (Phil. 3:9) Those who overcome through Christ’s grace and their own obedience to Him, will be found in Him and pleasing to God. All others will be outside of His eternal kingdom (Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15). These overcomers will be raised up in this life to please and be fruitful to Him, and also to reign with Him in the next life.
PRAYER: Father, thank You so much for the unspeakable gift of salvation You purchased for me by the precious blood of Christ Jesus, my LORD and Savior. I love You, Jesus, and thank You so much for shedding Your holy, sinless blood for me on the cross. Bless me to lay down my life in this world that You might raise me up to bear fruit to Your glory. Amen.
Capture Points
- What is the “unspeakable gift” of God? 2 Corinthians 9:15
- In a Spirit-led, God-fearing posture, prayerfully and biblically contrast one’s own righteousness with God’s righteousness, as seen in the following passages: Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21. Feel free to introduce other pertinent passages from God’s Word.
- Discuss Revelation 3:5.
From the book “Raised Up.”
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