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The Firstfruits of Redemption
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everything is dying. But do you believe the Bible when it says everything is going to be
changed? And when it is changed, there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying,
and no more dying. No more.
Some time back, I was asking the Lord a question. I said, “Lord, how do You put up with this?”
I’m talking about all of the pain that is in the earth. “How do you put up with it, Lord?” He is
Love, and nobody is touched more than Him; nobody cares more than He does. I said, “Lord,
how do you tolerate the pain of the innocent and the pain of the people in the earth? How do you
tolerate it?”
He said—and I’m not talking about an audible voice, but inside me—He said one thing: “Keith,
it is very brief.”
This is the shortest thing we’ll ever do. To us, 30 years seems like a long time. A year seems like
a long time to have a problem and have difficulty, or even a week. But how does it seem to
Someone for whom a thousand years is like a day?
There are some rough things and some bad things going on, but they’re very, very brief, a vapor.
It’s here, it’s gone, it’s over. Our light affliction is but for a moment. We should really count it a
small and trivial thing and say, “We’ll soon be out of here. Don’t worry about it. Don’t get hung
up, don’t bother, don’t pace the floor and pull your hair. Hey, we’ll soon be out of this whole
deal. Besides that, God will give us victory today. He will get us from here to there.”
This is all we’ve ever known, and we think this is a long time, but it’s not.
Ephesians 1:11-14 says, “In whom [in Christ] also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also,
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is,” or Who is, “the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his
glory.”
Is our body included in the work of redemption? Is our body included in our future? Our bodies
have been bought and paid for. When the Lord redeemed us, He redeemed us completely—spirit,
soul, and body, every part. He bore the chastisement of our peace. That affects us mentally and
in our souls. He became poor so we could become rich. That affects our material and financial
world. By His stripes we were healed. He bore our iniquities. He carried our sins. (Isaiah 53:4-5;
2 Corinthians 8:9) Isn’t that right? He didn’t just go to the Cross in spirit. He went spirit, soul,
and body, and He redeemed us spirit, soul, and body.
Your body has been redeemed, and because of the redemption of your body, you will either be
changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, or you will be raised from the dead. (1
Corinthians 15:52) Your body is going to be changed like the Lord Jesus’ glorious body, and
you’re going to have it from now on. You will be able to do all sorts of amazing things. Finally
you’ll have a body that can keep up with your spirit.