Desire Of My Soul

Resurrection, Real or Not: Part 5—Why A Bodily Resurrection?

Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale shadows our soul-body journey. But what’s that got to do with needing a resurrection? A few things, as it turns out.

 

© desireofmysoul.faith (.com & .org) & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 

READING TIME: 5 MINUTES.

 

HAVE YOU READ THE PRIOR POSTS IN THIS SERIES? IF NOT, START HERE: WHAT GOD REVEALED

 

Shakespeare’s plays often navigate spiritual waters. The Winter’s Tale is no exception. The tragicomedy travels the barrenness, brokenness, and blackened leaves of our wintry lives and moves to a spring-like moment.

 
 

It’s a light nod to God’s promised latter rain in the Bible. This rainy season—as the Talmud, Judaic scholars, and even some Christian Bible teachers call it—is the glory rain, the promised resurrection.

 

So what’s with the withered leaves and wintry tales? In the Psalms—such as Psalm 1, Psalm 52 and the one below—God likens us to trees. Some good, some not so good. The condition of a tree varies from season to season, choice by choice. Like our souls.

 

A good, solid tree is vibrant, flourishes, bears fruit, stretches its roots and branches. Other trees may appear lively for a season but are slowing decaying from the inside out.

 

The righteous flourish like the palm tree

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Planted in the house of the Lord,

in the courts of our God they will flourish.

—Psalm 92:13-14 (12-13)

 

In winter, all the trees are dormant, still, laid bare. Not that much different than the time of our individual wintry tale when we are laid still . . . waiting for that latter rain resurrection.

 

But we don’t all have the same resurrection ending.

 
The body and the soul are reunited in resurrection, then face litigation in God’s court, are judged, and subsequently step into one of two places: everlasting life (for the righteous) or everlasting contempt (for the unrighteous), per Daniel 12:2 and John 5:28-29, among other scriptures.
 

Certain things impact that judgment . . . but simply said, it centers on what the soul-body did down here in light of God’s ways.

 

More to the point, what it did regarding one eternity-driven move of God in particular: His redemption plan centered on Jesus (Yeshua), the Messiah.

 

On our way to that vital eternity-tipping choice, let’s begin by reviewing some plausible reasons why there’s even a need for the resurrection.

 

 

CUES FROM THE BARD

 

In Act 1, Scene 2 of The Winter’s Tale, Polixenes—King of Bohemia—describes his childhood relationship with Sicily’s King Leontes as being like twins, buddy buddies, innocents.

 

That is, until life happens and they’re cast out of their Garden-of-Eden-esque existence and into the Sicilian King’s irrational rampage, where he goes all Othello on his alleged “slippery wife” (Hermiones) and her alleged lover, Polixenes, the king’s friend.

 

The king is wrong. Like really wrong. For the sake of the plot—not unlike our own soul stories—the king and some others choose anything but the humble, righteous path.

 

The tale bulges with jealousies, accusations, misjudgments, malicious lies, for-the-better-good lies, over-the-top emotional reactions, bitterness, relationship splits, disloyalty, paranoia, tyranny, expulsions, broken hearts, death, and more.

 

Along the way, Shakespeare exposes familiar elements of the soul’s journey—its rise, decline, fall, redemptive resurrection (Queen Hermiones is brought back to life after being dead sixteen years).

 

He even turns the physical tables of the atmosphere to mirror the inner soul rumblings of his characters—Sicily’s Mediterranean warmth and light are shrouded in a wintry gloom.

 

Veiled, fractured souls.
Adrift.
Out of sync with God’s ways.
Self-focused. Earthly tethered.
Becoming a wintry heart of darkness.

 

Enter two reasons for an end-of-days resurrection . . .

 

(1) accountability—of what every soul-body has done, said, thought along its earthly journey.

 

(2) divine reconstruction of every soul-body God sovereignly raises in His righteousness—so it no longer is earthbound/self-focused but able to move with the give-receive love flow of heaven.

 

Let me explain . . .

 
zdenek-machacek-_QG2C0q6J-s-unsplash
 

EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR

journeying between weight and responsibility

 

Okay, so you’re not exactly like Shakespeare’s Antigonus, the king’s advisor who teeters between loyalty to the crown and loyalty to truth, makes concessions to protect, and then is chased off stage by a bear and killed.

 

But believe it or not, bears and their presumed Shakespearean connotation have their place in your soul experience and its aftermath, your future resurrection.

 

The word bear appears about twelve times in the play—where a person bears the onus for their actions and their related guilt. And, yeah, the fierce “bearish” beast appears in the midst of it all.

 

How bear/bearing translates to the soul’s journey and end-of-days accountability goes like this:

 

Bearing your soul—transparent before your Creator, God.

 

Bearing the weight of your actions—good and not so good.

 

Bearing the scrutiny of others and our internal self.

 

Bearing the hardships and testings along life’s journey.

 

Bearing the responsibility for what you’ve said, done, thought, written, shared, taught, imposed, desired, touched, took, gave, blessed, cursed, healed, harmed, lifted up, brought down.

 

Bearing the yoke of Heaven (surrendered to God, His word, His Messiah—your identity is in Him).

 

Bearing the final outcome of it all—with your soul’s work salted by His holy fire, tested by His holiness, so the work is either reduced to ash and stubble or glorified in Him.

 
 

Both the soul and the body must face their shared judgment.

 
 

For God shall bring every deed (every action, work)

into litigation (for His judgment),

everything that is concealed,

whether it be good or evil.

—Ecclesiastes 12:14

 

And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it.

The earth and sky fled from his presence,

but they found no place to hide.

I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne.

And the books were opened, including the Book of Life.

Revelation 20: 11, 12

 
 

THE STICKY WICKET

transformed from a fractured soul to a future glory in Him

 

At times, the journey down here can cause the push-pull of the soul-body union—with the God-breathed soul called upward vs. the earth-tethered body drawn to things below—to become . . .

 

flooded with spiritual darkness, doctrines of demons

a one-way receptor—receiving for self, no capacity for authentic giving

compelled by the things of this world

defiant, resisting the yoke of heaven.

dissonant, clashing with God

 

In other words . . . a

Ravaged. War-scarred. Vessel.

 

REALITY CHECK: No one is exempt. All have fallen short of God’s glory, His righteousness.

 

For a resurrection to righteousness,
your soul-body will need a reconstruction worthy of God’s presence.

Raised. Recalibrated. Renewed.

Made Holy with His righteousness—not yours.

 

SO HOW CAN YOU GET THERE FROM HERE?

GOD MADE IT POSSIBLE.

 

The Lord can come to you like the rain—a glory rain, the true latter rain (resurrection to righteousness)—after the barrenness, brokenness, and blackened leaves of your soul’s winter tale.

 

The veil that covered your wintry soul can be gone.

Death, gone.

All things made new.

 

Here’s how.

 

READ GOD’S ABC STEPS FOR SALVATION AND A RESURRECTION TO RIGHTEOUSNESS IN HIM: ABCs of SALVATION.

 


On this mountain he [the Lord God of Hosts] will destroy

the veil which covers the face of all peoples,

the veil enshrouding all the nations.

He will swallow up death forever.

Adonai Elohim will wipe away

the tears from every face . . .

Isaiah 25:6-8 excerpts


***

 
 

Photo Credits:

Resurrection/Tomb photo by jchizhe, purchased on iStock.com (Stock photo ID:1243063771)

Shakespeare by Jessica Pamp on Unsplash.com

Bear Running by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash.com

 

Resurrection series initially created between March 30, 2016 – July 3, 2016, then later divided into various posts for easier reading

Resurrection, Real or Not: Part 5b—His Righteousness Can Be Yours

Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale shadows our soul-body journey . . . from the darkness of the soul to the promise of a resurrection that can be filled with His righteousness. Undeserved, yet given from a love not of this world. Here’s how.

 

© desireofmysoul.faith (.com and .org) & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 

READING TIME: 4 MINUTES.

 

HAVE YOU READ THE FIRST POSTS IN THIS SERIES?
What God Revealed
Real-Life Accounts
Real-Life Accounts Cont’d
The Resurrection Thunderbolt From Heaven
Rabbi Scholars Defend Jesus’s Resurrection
Why A Bodily Resurrection

 

The Lord can come to you like the rain—a glory rain, the true latter rain (resurrection to righteousness)—after the barrenness, brokenness, and blackened leaves of your soul’s winter tale.

 
 

A rain that heralds in the spring, hope, vegetation, new beginnings for your soul and all those souls who have lived and died in Him.

 

After two days, he will revive us;
on the third day, he will raise us up;
and we will live in his presence.
And let us know, let us strive to know the LORD:
like the dawn whose going forth is sure,
and He will come to us like the rain,
like the latter rain which satisfies the earth.
Hosea 6:2-3

 

But in the winter tale of your soul, there can be lot of swerving here and there. And it can get complicated by a treacherous spiritual battle going on within you and around you.

 

Then there’s trying to do good. Human good. Well meaning but falling way short of God’s holiness and His righteousness.

 

He actually says our deeds—which we’re judged on and linked to our thoughts and words—are stained before Him. They’re like soiled rags from menstrual flux, per the Hebrew.

 

And we all have become like one unclean,
and our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment
[soiled menstrual rag],
and we all have withered like a leaf,
and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
Isaiah 64:5 (6)

 

So if your soul can become spiritually barren, holding on to the decayed, withered leaves of your wintry tale . . .

 

And if your best deeds, thoughts, words are like filthy menstrual rags compared to God’s holy standard . . .

 

Then how can you or anyone stand before God’s judgment seat—and receive a resurrection to righteousness?

 
ashton-mullins-j1HU-Oll7KI-unsplash
 

GOD MADE IT POSSIBLE

his truth, his life, his way
 

The veil that covered your wintry soul can be gone. Death, gone. His breath can bring your soul-body to life—again.

 

On this mountain he [the Lord God of Hosts] will destroy
the veil which covers the face of all peoples,
the veil enshrouding all the nations.

 

He will swallow up death forever.
Adonai Elohim will wipe away
the tears from every face . . .
Isaiah 25:6-8 excerpts

 

Despite the fractured stated of humanity, God made a way for you, me, everyone to receive a resurrection to righteousness—and avoid a resurrection of punishment.

 

He poured out Himself and sent His son—the Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua, his Hebrew name). On the cross, Jesus/Yeshua took on those filthy-ragged deeds/sins (mentioned in Isaiah 64) so his act of love could wipe your slate clean.

 

A perfect, holy atonement. A gift of grace. Not deserved, not earned. Amazingly given. God’s holy righteousness imparted to you.

 

Accepting the gift is your part: Admit you’re a sinner who falls short of God’s glory. Acknowledge Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. Believe and confess Jesus as Messiah, believing God raised him from the dead to conquer the sting of eternal death (resurrection to punishment).

 

Accepting what God has done through the Messiah doesn’t mean you get to live your life willy nilly . . . it means putting on that precious gift and the responsibilities that go with it.

 

That means abiding in and with Him. Not the manmade yoke of religiosity and compounded burdens—but the gentle yoke of God’s Messiah. Easy, light, profound . . .

 

Standing on His wholeness, His holiness.

Steeped in His strength and faithfulness.

Submerged in a holy, grace-empowered process in Him.

 

Jesus is the only way to God for Jews and Gentiles. He is the Living Torah, the fulfillment of the Law and the Messianic prophecies, the Redeemer, the Holy Lamb of God who died for your sins, mine, and the world’s.

 

When you have a bodily resurrection in the Messiah,
your wintry tale and your soul-body war are over.

 

The KING has conquered death.

 

The body and soul become like a wheel within a wheel.

 

The RECEIVER-DRIVEN BODY is DEAD.
Corrupted, disintegrated.
The RESURRECTED BODY is GLORIFIED.
Incorruptible.

 

Now it’s a GIVER and a RECEIVER.
Harmonious with God.
Donning the yoke of heaven.
Made holy in and with Him.
Reunited with its now-refined soul.

 

All things are MADE NEW.

 

Soul/Spirit/Body existing as one in HOLY TANDEM,
giving and receiving in a sanctified way.
Without self-gratification or self-adoration.

 

RAISED IN HIS IMAGE.
Mirroring His circular, love-funneled nature.
A soul-body tested, tried, submerged, empowered
by and through His Truth, Life, Way, Word.

 

IN HIM . . .
The latter rain is the greatest glory.
The latter rain is His gift to you, a glorified bodily resurrection.

 

ROADMAP TO HEAVEN: THE ABCs OF SALVATION

 
 

HAVE YOU READ THESE POSTS IN THE SERIES?

What God Revealed

Real-Life Accounts

Real-Life Accounts Cont’d

The Resurrection Thunderbolt From Heaven

Rabbi Scholars Defend Jesus’s Resurrection

Why A Bodily Resurrection

 

Resurrection series created between March 30, 2016 – July 3, 2016

 

Photo Credit: Resurrection/Tomb photo by jchizhe, purchased on iStock.com (Stock photo ID:1243063771)

Photo Credit: White Crown by Ashton Mullins on Unsplash.com

 

RELATED RESOURCES

 

http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/contents/treatises/1913cr.htm
In the shadow of the ladder, Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/281644/jewish/The-Resurrection-of-the-Dead.htm

http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380651/jewish/Levels-of-Soul-Consciousness.htm

http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/Path-of-the-Soul-1-Discovering-Mussar.html (Maimonides character traits)

R.. Sproul:
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/dark-night-soul/

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2002-02-28/features/0202280319_1_bear-center-stage-shakespeare

 

Journey on