Some Thoughts

… Because I live, you also will live. (John 14.19 [show] [19]Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (ESV)
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Jesus Christ is alive today. If he is not, then we are still in our sins; then we are “of all men, most to be pitied.” But we have it on the highest authority that he lives. And because he lives, we shall live also. He is called the firstborn over the new creation, the firstborn among many brethren, the firstfruits of the new creation: because he was raised, we shall be raised. We are the body, he is our head — what he has done, we have done; where he is, there we shall be. He is called the forerunner — the anchor dropped in harbor ahead of the ship, that guarantees the ship will make it safely to port — he is the anchor of our souls, having entered first into the holy of holies. Because he has entered, we shall enter. He is called the Second Adam, the covenant-keeping head of the church, his body: what he has accomplished, in a forensic sense, we have accomplished. There is nothing he did in his earthly life that was not to secure the safe passage of his body, his bride, to where he now is. He prayed that where he is, there we might also be. Because he is with the Father, we shall be with the Father — because we are one (1 Cor. 16:7 [show] [7]For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. (ESV)
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When a child is born, the head is (normally) the first to push through to the “new world”; the head is the most painful, the head is most labored over, the head is the most significant part to bear, and it is the head that prepares the way for the rest of the body — once the head has been born, the body is sure to follow. There is but a short time between when the head is born already, and when the not-yet-born body is. The child is still being born, but the irreversible process has begun. The head is not the body, nor the body, the head, but they are both one child — one “new creation”. There is still labor, but the head has passed the “threshold” and, the hardest part now finished, the body is surely, and quickly to follow. The head and the body cannot be separated. Once the processes has begun, it is impossible to go back, impossible to stop.

Because he lives, we shall live. Because he has entered, we absolutely shall enter – surely, and quickly.