Sickness is a stranger in the Body of Christ.
Today, all mankind is divided into two. You are either in Adam, or you are in Christ.
In Adam
In the beginning of creation, God put all mankind in Adam. By this principle, the sons of Levi “(came) from the loins of Abraham.” (Hebrews 7:5). This is because Levi was Abraham’s great grandson.
“Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.” (Hebrews 7:9-10).
By the same token, Abraham was in Adam. So, when the time came for God to create Eve, she was not a new creation. Eve was pulled out of Adam because she was in Adam.
“The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, He made into a woman.” (Genesis 2:21-22).
In effect, the woman was in Adam. The woman was in the man.
This gives the husband authority over his wife.
“For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” (1 Timothy 2:13).
Accordingly, Paul says:
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24).
In Christ
In the new creation, God has put all believers in Jesus. There is only Jesus, the Son of God. All believers are inside Him. All believers are in Him.
“That He might fill all things.” (Ephesians 4:10).
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:9-10).
All believers are in Christ. All who are born again are in Christ. Together, we are the Body of Christ. So, Paul says to us:
“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians 12:27).
“As we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:4-5).
One Body
In Adam, there are many men. But in Christ, there is only one man, Jesus. In Adam, there are many bodies. But in Christ, there is only one body, the Body of Christ.
Indeed, everything about our God is One:
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-5).
Church of God
The Body of Christ is also called in scripture the Church of God:
“(Christ) is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:18).
Christ is the head of this one body, the Church of God, made up of true believers from all time, past, present, and future. We get a glimpse of this in John’s Revelation:
“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10).
Let us try to put this in graphic detail. One million in a million places makes a billion. One billion in a billion places makes a trillion. There are an estimated eight billion people currently here on Earth. But there are 37 trillion cells in each human body. Try to visualise different cells in the Body of Jesus as representing a believer.
“For it pleased the Father that in (Christ) all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20).
This is actually the answer to Jesus’ prayer to God about believers:
“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.” (John 17:21).
Christ’s Workmanship
Jesus proclaims to Peter:
“I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18).
How does He propose to do this?
The Holy Spirit is the builder of the Church, the Body of Christ. He does this through Holy Spirit baptism:
“As the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-14).
“You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5).
This church, this Body of Christ, is invisible. It should not be confused with your local church, so-called.
Please do not also confuse Christians as the Body of Christ. They are not. Jesus warns:
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!.’” (Matthew 7:22-23).
Christians are those who call Jesus Lord.
Nationalities
In Adam, there are many nationalities. There are Jews, and there are Gentiles. There are Greeks, and there are Nigerians. But in Christ, there is only one nationality.
“Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20).
“There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” (Colossians 3:11).
Sexes
In Adam, there are males and females. But in Christ, the sexes do not exist. There is no distinction between male and female:
“There is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28).
The terminologies of the new creation must not be confused with those of the old creation. The sons of the new creation include men and women. There are no daughters of God.
Indeed, Daughter of Zion does not refer to a woman. The Daughters of Zion are male and female together. With Christ as the bridegroom, believers are His bride. Daughter of Zion refers to the Israel of God.
Sicknesses and Diseases
In Adam, there are sicknesses and diseases. But there can be no sickness in Christ:
“(Jesus) Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24).
When the Church in the Wilderness walked with Christ, nobody fell sick in 40 years:
“He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.” (Psalm 105:37).
There is no sickness in heaven:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103:2).
Old Man: New Man
If anyone is in Adam, he is an old man. But if anyone is in Christ, he is a new man:
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
If anyone is in Adam, he will grow old. But if anyone is in Christ, he does not grow old:
“(His) youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103L5).
If any man is in Adam, he will die at some time or the other. But if anyone is in Christ, he does not die, he only sleeps.
“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
There was death in Adam. But, there is life in Jesus:
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12).
“For if by the one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17).
Jesus says:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).
If any man is in Adam:
“The old man grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” (Ephesians 3:22).
But if any man is in Christ, he does not sin:
“Whoever sins has neither seen (Christ) nor known Him.” (1 John 3:6).
“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7).
Divine Injunctions
If you know you are a member of the Body of Christ:
“Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
“Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbour,” for we are members of one another.” (Ephesians 4:25).
“Let each of us please his neighbour for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’” (Romans 15:2-3).
Since Christ is the Head of the Body, (Col 1:18), believers must deny themselves and be subject to the will of Christ.
“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Jesus never fell sick. So, believers must not tolerate sickness. Sickness is a stranger in the Body of Christ:
“Strangers shall fade away, and come frightened from their hideouts.” (2 Samuel 22:46).
“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15).
CONCLUDED.
[email protected]; www.femiaribisala.com
