By Dr. Anne Davis

Before Christ was resurrected, he had to die. And, if you are going to live the resurrection, guess what? You will have to die also – not a physical death, but the Apostle Paul tells us to “consider yourself dead to sin” (Rom 6:11).

The verb “consider” is a command, which is something that Paul is charging you to do. Not die a physical death but conquer sin in your life and destroy it. Then, and only then, can you live the resurrection. And, when you do, Paul tells us that you will be walking in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4). You will be walking like your Lord Yeshua walked on this earth. Your world will be filled with life and the light of God. You will draw near into the very presence of God, the Father.

Now comes the important question. How do we conquer sin to walk in newness of life?

It’s really very simple. Fix your eyes on Jesus/Yeshua. If you do that, your world will become positive and negative things will pass away. If you do that, it will become natural for you to live a life that pleases God. Can you imagine God looking down on you from the heavens? He will be a proud Father who sees you walking in the newness of life that is bringing you into His righteous presence. God’s love will be surrounding you, and you will be reflecting to others the magnificent glory of God. You will be living the resurrection.

The author of the Book of Hebrews encourages us to model our lives after a biblical person of faith, and that can help us live the glorious life of the resurrection. So, we will choose Noah (Hebrews 11:7) and will let the author of Hebrews tell us how Noah pleased God. If we can copy Noah, we will be pleasing God by living the resurrection.

First, we learn that Noah completely trusted God, who had revealed to him what Noah should do.

• Did Noah know why he was to build what the Hebrew calls a large floating box? No!
• Did Noah know what would happen if he built this box? No!
• Did Noah obey God in the face of the complete unknown? Yes, he did. And that is “faith”, which is complete trust in God.

What happened next? The original language of Scripture is often hard to translate into English. Noah started to build the ark, but the original Greek is expressed as a participle, which is an ongoing action that starts but never ends. So, what is God telling us? When we stand firm in our faith, we must never waiver because of fear, uncertainty, or deceit.

Then we learn that God rewards those who stand for Him, and Noah was certainly rewarded. We are told that Noah’s faith was the salvation of his house, meaning his family. God not only rescued Noah from death, but He also rescued Noah’s family.

We must remember that Noah was a dedicated and faithful servant of the Lord, who submitted to God in humble obedience, and this is what God asks of all of us. Why should we become servants of the Lord? There is work that God asks each of us to perform so we can participate with Him as He builds a world of righteousness and peace.

How did Noah’s service of trust and obedience contribute to the work of God? We are told that God saved a righteous man and his family because of Noah’s faith. Furthermore, God demonstrated His judgment that condemned the world for stubbornly denying God’s great love and mercy.

What was Noah’s final reward? God declared him to be an heir who would inherit a place in the future Kingdom of God.

Are you ready now to live the resurrection in the true life that comes from doing all that Noah did?

• Are you a faithful servant of your Lord Yeshua?
• Are you willing to trust God no matter what He asks of you?
• Will you stand for God and resist uncertainty, fear, and deceit?

If so, you will be in a maturing process of becoming a new creation in the image of your Lord Yeshua. You will be living the resurrection.

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