Your Resurrection Body

The word “bless” opens with plain power: blessing means permission to move forward, and prosper means to be pushed forward, helped on the road, and made to make progress. God desires to bless his servants, not watch them live broken, sick, and stuck. God’s pleasure is in the prosperity of his servant, and his word gives the believer a right to every promise that belongs to Abraham’s seed in Christ.

Malachi presses the hard part, because God’s blessing is tied to return, obedience, tithes, and offerings. God does not change, and the call is not for God’s people to rob him and then wonder why life feels cursed. The storehouse matters because the house of God must have food, and God himself says to try him and see whether the windows of heaven will open.

The resurrection then becomes the deep weight of the whole hour. Death is real, one out of one people die, and the body goes into the grave while the spirit of the believer goes immediately to the Lord. Second Corinthians names the body as the earthly house, the tent, the pod, and God is not finished with it. The body may be “closed for alterations,” but God will raise it renewed, restored, and made like the glorified body of Jesus Christ.

Adam’s sin brought death in order: the spirit died immediately, the soul died progressively, and the body finally went to the grave. Salvation reverses that devilish event: the spirit is justified immediately, the soul is sanctified progressively, and the body will be glorified ultimately. First Corinthians answers the hard question, “How are the dead raised up?” with the picture of a seed that must die before it is made alive.

Jesus’ resurrection stands as the foundation of faith, because if Christ did not rise, no believer rises. Joseph prepared the tomb, the women brought spices, and even the disciples did not expect Jesus to come back from the dead. Peter even rebuked Jesus for speaking of the cross, and Jesus answered, “Get behind me, Satan,” because love for God can still be invaded by thinking that is not mindful of the things of God.

Because Jesus lives, believers are not orphans, not truly alone, and not left without provision. The Holy Spirit indwells the heart, Christ intercedes at the Father’s right hand, and prayer must come with confidence according to God’s will. The call to repentance lands personally, because every person will keep the appointment with the Maker, and pride must not keep the soul from getting right with God.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Blessing follows obedient return God’s blessing is not treated like a vague wish or religious slogan. The word “bless” is pressed as movement, progress, and permission from God to go forward, but Malachi makes that movement inseparable from returning to God in obedience. Tithes and offerings become a heart issue before they become a money issue, because withholding from God reveals where trust has already gone crooked. [25:52]
• 2. The body is closed for alterations Death does not get the last word over the believer’s body. The grave receives the earthly house, but God is still working, still restoring, still preparing a glorified body like the body of the risen Christ. The phrase “closed for alterations” gives grief a holy patience, because burial is not abandonment when resurrection is promised. [35:18]
• 3. Salvation reverses Adam’s ruin Adam’s sin moved death through spirit, soul, and body, and salvation answers each place where sin broke humanity. Justification touches the spirit immediately, sanctification works through the soul progressively, and glorification will touch the body ultimately. The gospel is therefore not partial repair, but God taking back the whole person from the devilish event of sin. [36:39]
• 4. Christ lives, so believers live The resurrection of Jesus is not an add-on to faith, but the foundation under everything. Because he lives, the believer’s future is not wishful thinking, and the resurrection body is not a fairy tale. The empty grave means the believer’s life is tied to Christ’s life, and that bond is stronger than death itself. [41:04]
• 5. Prayer must align with God’s will Confidence in prayer is not loud emotion or religious talk, but trust that asks according to God’s word. A prayer that fights God’s will can wait forever and still remain unanswered, because God is not obligated to bless what contradicts him. Real faith learns to pray Scripture into people, families, and needs, until desire is trained by the will of God.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [19:31] - Blessing Means Moving Forward
• [20:22] - God Desires To Bless
• [24:35] - Returning To God In Finances
• [29:00] - The Weight Of Resurrection
• [32:37] - Death And The Believer’s Body
• [35:18] - Closed For Alterations
• [36:39] - Salvation Reverses Adam’s Fall
• [37:27] - How Are The Dead Raised
• [41:04] - Because Jesus Lives
• [45:20] - Even The Disciples Doubted
• [48:19] - Peter Rebuked And Corrected
• [56:15] - The Spirit Means Never Alone
• [58:49] - Praying With Confidence
• [62:56] - Repentance And The Altar Call

Bible Reading

Malachi 3:6-10
“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?' Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” [24:53]

2 Corinthians 5:1,8
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” [33:44]

1 Corinthians 15:35-37
“But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?' You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.” [37:48]

Matthew 16:21-23
“From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'” [48:31]

1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” [01:00:16]

Observation questions

1. In Malachi 3:6-10, what specific actions does God say his people had failed to do, and what does he tell them to bring into the storehouse?
2. In 2 Corinthians 5:1,8, what two things happen when a believer dies according to these verses: what happens to the body, and where is the believer then present? [34:18]
3. In 1 Corinthians 15:35-37, what picture is used to explain resurrection, and what has to happen before new life comes?
4. In Matthew 16:21-23, what was Peter trying to stop Jesus from doing, and what reason did Jesus give for rebuking Peter? [49:22]

Interpretation questions

1. Malachi connects blessing with returning to God. What does that show about the relationship between obedience, trust, and finances in a believer’s life? [25:45]
2. The body is described like a tent or earthly house, and death is not treated as the end. How does that shape the way believers should think about funerals, burial, and grief? [35:18]
3. Adam’s fall brought death through spirit, soul, and body, and salvation answers all three. How does that help explain why a believer can already be saved and still feel unfinished? [36:39]
4. Peter loved Jesus and still spoke in a way that opposed God’s plan. What warning does that give about sincere feelings, human reasoning, and thoughts that are not set on the things of God? [49:29]

Application questions

1. Blessing means being moved forward by God, but obedience matters. Is there any area right now where obedience has been delayed while still hoping for God’s blessing? [23:46]
2. Every person will keep the appointment with the Maker. When thoughts turn to death, eternity, and loved ones, what rises up most strongly: confidence, fear, uncertainty, urgency, or something else? Why? [55:33]
3. The believer’s body may go to the grave, but it is not abandoned; it is closed for alterations. How might that truth change the way grief is carried for a believer who has died? [35:11]
4. Because Jesus lives, believers are not truly alone. In what part of life does loneliness still hit hardest, and what would it look like to live more consciously aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence there? [57:34]
5. Prayer is heard when it is according to God’s will. Is there a prayer that may need to be re-examined in light of Scripture? What might it look like to start praying God’s Word into that situation instead? [01:01:25]
6. Pride can keep a person from getting right with God. When conviction comes, what usually makes it hard to repent quickly and honestly? [01:03:40]
7. Some loved ones may be far from God, and silence can become a kind of surrender. Who needs patient, loving, persistent prayer and witness right now, and what is one faithful step that could be taken this week? [01:04:42]