Philippians 3: 10
10 that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death;
Having started this passage yesterday (click here), and looked at part of it a week or two ago (click here), I thought it would be good if we spent some more time on the rest of it.
We have seen the first part, “that I may know Him”, and now we come to the power of His resurrection.
Paul wanted to really come to know the power behind Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. The resurrection was actually accomplished by all three members of the trinity:
Acts
24 "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the
agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Also in Romans
6:4, Col. 2:12, 1 Thessalonians
Romans 8:11, Romans 1:4
1 Peter 3:18-19
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust,
so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but
made alive in the spirit; (The
Greek says “by means of the Spirit”)
19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in
prison,
John 10:17-18
17 "For this reason the Father loves Me,
because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but
I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I
have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My
Father."
Paul says it is very important to get to know this power, because this same power is available to us to accomplish God’s plan for our lives. You must understand that God’s plan runs on God’s power! That is the only way to live the Christian life, and that’s why God’s plan is perfect:
Deuteronomy 32:4
4
"The Rock! His work is
perfect,
For all His ways are
just;
A God of faithfulness
and without injustice,
Righteous and upright
is He.
The key to understanding the power of His resurrection is to understand our position in Him – everything we have is a direct result of being identified with Jesus:
Galatians 2:20
20 "I have been
crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
The power behind the resurrection places us in union with Jesus Christ, and we now live in this new life.
2 Corinthians 13:4
4 For
indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power
of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with
Him because of the power of God directed toward you.
This power that raised Jesus from the dead is now directed toward us! It’s up to us to recognize this fact, and live our lives based on the power of God:
2 Corinthians 4:7
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;