July 24

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, — Eph 2:4-6 BSB

Eighteen hundred years have passed since the body of Christ was quickened in the tomb, but the effect of that quickening has extended to all the elect and will continue through time. When the Holy Spirit comes to execute his purpose, life enters the soul: “You he has quickened, who were dead.” With this quickening comes living sensations—conviction of sin, guilt of conscience, the fear of God, a broken heart, a spirit of prayer, repentance leading to life—in short, all the first workings of grace in the soul. Just as the body of Christ, when quickened by the Spirit, experienced vital movements before it left the tomb, so too do vital movements take place in the soul of a child of God under the Spirit’s quickening work. The soul, though still in its tomb of sin and misery, is alive, trembling, crying out, groaning, and begging for mercy. Every faculty of the renewed mind is now open and alive to the things of God. We never pray, read, hear, or feel the power of eternal things as strongly as when the Spirit first quickens us into spiritual life.

However, resurrection has not yet occurred. Just as the body of Christ, when quickened, did not remain in the tomb, so too those quickened by God’s Spirit, who still lie in the tomb of sin and sorrow, sighing and pleading for mercy, will not remain there. The same divine operation that quickened them will bring them out into resurrection life, just as Christ rose from the grave.

When the power of God touches the soul—when mercy enters the heart, Christ is revealed, and his word is applied—the soul comes forth from the tomb of sin, much like Lazarus, alive but still bound in grave clothes. When the door of hope is opened, and the soul is raised to believe, hope, and love, it is “raised up together with Christ.” The resurrection of Christ was not just a testimony of God’s power but also a demonstration that he was “raised for our justification,” and we rose with him if we believe in his name.

All of God’s elect rose with Christ, for they are “members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” When Christ died, they died; when he rose, they rose. And just as they rose with Christ when he triumphed over the grave, the Spirit’s work in applying the benefits of his death and resurrection brings them out of the darkness into the light of the gospel. This is being “raised up together with Christ.”