No Flesh

No flesh will glory in the presence of God. Even Christ had to put His fleshly body to death to return to the Father. Jesus abolished in His flesh the enmity, the hostility to make in Himself one new man, so making peace between God and man (Ephesians 2:15)



If we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh; and the flesh does have strong desire. The Apostle Paul advanced to such a stage that he was able to say that he no longer lived, but the Spirit lived in (through) him. As Believers we are now separated from the world in a spiritual sense, although still in a fleshly body; we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30).


We have put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are the circumcision which worship God in spirit as we rejoice in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). Jesus had to die in the flesh; it was and always be unacceptable to God. It has no place in His presence. Hebrews 5 says that Jesus, who in the days of His flesh (past tense) when He had offered up prayers and supplications with crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because He feared. And being made perfect He became the Author of salvation.


I believe the death spoken of here is eternal death; separation from God. Christ knew why He came; He willingly came realizing that He was the Lamb slain before the foundation stone of the world was put in place. The death He feared most was an eternal separation from the Father.


This is the death we are to fear greatly. Our flesh will die; as Job said, " He has clothed us with skin and flesh, and fenced us in with bone and muscle. " The worms will eat our flesh and we return to dust from whence we came. But the eternal part of us, the "real us" will continue into eternity either as children of the King, the Bride of Christ, or to everlasting torment.


Our spirit is contained within our body-as it were, the eternal part of us is temporarily being held captive in flesh, bone and muscle. The spirit is released upon death. As Job said, though the worms eat or body, yet in our flesh we shall see God; a new being, a new creation, likened unto Christ's glorious body. Philippians 3:21 says that God will change our vile body of flesh that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. He does have a body!


What about now, today? What are we to do? Romans 8:11 says that although we are trapped in this body of flesh, we are quickened with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead; it dwells by the Spirit in us. We are raised up together (present tense, not future) in heavenly places with Christ-even when we were dead in sins, the Holy Ghost quickened us together with Christ by the grace of God. He chose us, we did not chose Him; we were dead in sin and He called us to Him. (Ephesians 2:5)


He has quickened us in our uncircumcised flesh when we were dead in sins and has forgiven us our trespasses. ( Colossians 2:13) As the Father raised up the dead and quickens them-so Christ quickens whom He will (quicken also means vitalizes).


Does this sound impossible? Romans 4:17 says that God calls things into being that do not exist, as though they do exist. He speaks something out of nothingness.


The flesh and sin was so reprehensible to God that when sin offerings were first established in the days of Moses and the first tabernacle in the Wilderness, the sin offering was to be put in a earthen vessel to be offered by fire to the LORD. Something had to die, without the shedding of blood there was and still is no remission of sin. Even the earthen vessel in which the offering went had to be destroyed (Lev. 6:28).


The same with us; we are but earthen vessels. Our bodies have been defiled by sin. The inner man, the spiritual will live forever but the flesh, the earthen vessel must die.


As Believers, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb of God, we are new creatures in Him. We are dead to the flesh and its desires. Often times, like the Apostle Paul we battle daily for the ascendancy of our spiritual man over the fleshly; the flesh dies daily. Sometime the things we do not wish to do, we do, and the things we desire to do by the Spirit of God in us, we do not do. But we have power and authority over the enemy of our souls through the Holy Ghost working in us as we yield; this is our part.


It is interesting in retrospect, how Satan led Eve to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not to the tree of life. If Eve and Adam would have eaten of the tree of life, they would have lived forever. But Satan does not desire that anything created in the image of God live forever; so he led them to the tree of knowledge; knowing full well that in disobedience mankind would be doomed and that he as a higher, more intelligent being would be able to corrupt and deceive mankind in his quest for dominance over what God had created.


The enemy is a destroyer, a liar, a ravenous lion seeking whom he may devour. He wishes our demise; our spiritual demise. We are not to fall to his trickery. The flesh is strong and this is what he uses to try to defeat us. We, as the Apostle Paul must put the flesh on the altar daily. The offerings to the LORD in the days of the temple were made every morning, and every evening. It is a picture, although the days of the Temple are past for right now, to offering a sin offering and a praise offering twice a day also.


We can have an understanding of the mystery of godliness; that God was manifest in the flesh (as He is in measure in us, as we yield) He was justified in the Spirit (as are all Believers by the Spirit indwelling our spirit) and seen by angels (as are we, they are ministering spirits), and by our daily living and witness preached unto the Gentiles (unbelievers) He is believed on in the world and one day soon, we like Christ, will be received up into glory! (1 Timothy 3:16)


The tree of life that was in the Garden of Eden reappears in heaven in the book of the Revelation. We will eat of the eternal fruit in our glorified bodies for all of eternity! Even so come LORD Jesus! He will appear to those who anxiously await for Him.