From Adam's Mortality to Jesus' Immortality

eath - The last enemy Jesus defeats, with His Resurrection, the last enemy—death. Ηis immortalized body abolishes the darkness of death and spreads the light of divinity to all His mortal children: Hebrews 2:14-15“Seeing, then, the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself also in like manner did take part of the same, that through death he might destroy him having the power of death – that is, the devil – and might deliver those, whoever, with fear of death, throughout all their life, were subjects of bondage.” He becomes the chariot of eternal life for all those who listen to His message and crave, more than anything else, to join Him in the journey of immortality. Each cell of His immortalized body, after the resurrection, transmits the gist of His teachings, for all those who have faith in Him and are willing to be liberated from the limitations and bindings of mortality. The trumpet of resurrection glorifies the victory of Jesus upon the last enemy—death, and invites us to experience it for ourselves by Divine Grace. Studying carefully the Bible, in order to imbibe the essence of Jesus’ teachings for the most crucial moment, the moment of death, we realize that Jesus provides us with the most vigorous virtues/qualifications. Such qualifications will enable us to face this last enemy, consciously and boldly. Jesus Christ, through His teachings, emphasizes upon the significance of mental purification from all the ill thoughts, which cause lust, greed, anger, attachment and selfishness in us. This purification is attained through unceasing recitation of God’s name and honest prayer. Jesus also emphasizes upon the expansion of heart and forgiveness through unconditional service and love towards all beings. He further accentuates sincere renunciation and unswerving focus on the Creator Himself. These are the essential means, which will prepare us to win our last enemy and enjoy the water and bread of eternal life. It is very important to clarify at this point that the last enemy, which is meant to be destroyed, is death itself, not only the fear of death. Jesus calls His disciples to dive into the ocean of eternal life and experience for themselves the grandeur and perfection of the divine kingdom through each cell of their physical bodies. He doesn’t merely ask His devotees to be courageous at the moment of death, but to win this barrier literally, to root out the actual source of all sufferings, which is to confine our divine nature in the limits of this perishable mortal body. This limitation disconnects us from God and forces us to believe that “I am just this physical body”. Adapted to this belief, we relate with the world and worldly pleasures forgetting that we essentially belong to the heavenly Father and inherit His divine qualities. Reading the following part of Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians, we can clearly understand that those who belong to Christ and own the precious virtues of spiritual brotherhood, of expansive love and service, of humility and unselfishness, have the essential means to walk to the ultimate destination, to merge into the Divine and be transformed at every level, let that be spiritual, mental, intellectual and even physical. These virtues are but the milestones to keep us on the eternal and eventually lead us to the expansive land of God, which is the goal. Paul writes: 1 Corinthians 15:21-26 “For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming. Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” Naturally, we wonder about the meaning of Apostle Paul’s words “for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” In Adam, in the mortal state, dominate the passions, the delusion, the ignorance and the physical limitations. In Christ, all these cease to exist and give their place to peace, awareness, eternal bliss and freedom from any type of dependence or limitation. The ultimate purpose of our life is to rejoin these two states, of Adam and Christ. Now we are living in Adam, at the mortal state. Once we will be united to Christ’s consciousness, we will live in Christ and attain immortality. As we know any form of union between two kinds presupposes the existence of life, of consciousness and having common properties e.g. water merges into water and fire into fire. Human is the most conscious being in this world and he has been made according to God’s image, thus he holds all His qualities within him in seed form. So, undoubtedly he is qualified by his nature for this union. Nevertheless he has to explore himself the way to achieve this union. The Bible will help us to understand how to bridge this gap between Adam and Christ, between mortality and immortality. It will guide us perfectly so that we will be able to reestablish our life in Christ and reside in our eternal abode, the kingdom of heaven that lies within us.