“The Scriptures tell us, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).

Have you ever stood over a kettle of water on a stove and watched it, poised to snatch it the very moment it would begin boiling? It seems as though the water would never boil, but it did; it just took a little more time. When I read about the change that is taking place inside the hearts of true believers in Jesus, and then look at myself (the water), it seems like change is very slow in coming.

Let’s digress for a moment. God told Adam that in the day that he ate of the tree of knowledge, he would surely die. Yet, when you read about the years that Adam lived after the fall, you have to wonder what God was really meaning when He said, “In the day?” If you cut a living branch off of a tree, and you let it lie on the ground for a while, it will appear as if it is still alive. Although it still has some life existing within it, we know that it has been removed from its source of life—the tree. When Adam sinned, that sin separated him from the source of life, but God had already breathed into him the breath of life. Adam lived as a soulish-being until he drew his last breath. But the fact of the matter is this, he died.

When I read the writings of Paul and see where he teaches us about being a new creature in Christ, and how He is in us and changes us from the earthly image into the heavenly image, it just overwhelms me. What I see is a kettle that isn’t boiling yet. Paul tells us in Romans 6 that when we received Christ into our hearts, we died to sin. We didn’t die in our sin, but we died “in Christ” to sin. Let that statement simmer in your heart for a moment. Adam lived many, many years before he died physically. But a day with the Lord is 1,000 years. So Adam and Eve died the very day they ate, just as God had told them.

The longer we live and walk in Christ, the more we will die to the old man and live unto the Lord.  Once a tree branch is cut off from its source of life, it slowly dies; it is the same with the sin nature that was in us. As we put off the old man, we are, at the same time, putting on the new man; our new man is created in true righteousness and holiness. God didn’t create us to watch a kettle all day to see if we’re being changed. He did command us to abide in His Son and allow His Son to abide in us that He might change us into His heavenly image. The end result of a life that has been totally given over to the life of Christ will be a person that is ready to be changed from the natural realm over to the heavenly realm. As our image changes into the image of God, so must the realm that we exist in change. So, we can conclude that if we die in Christ to the sin nature, then death has no hold on our souls. In fact, our soul will leave this body and then reside in our resurrected body. Changed completely!   —submitted by Asa, US