January 2008 - Vol 3, Issue 8

In this issue...
-- The Resurrection Body of Christ the Lord (Part 11)
-- Hear Dr. Whitcomb speak this month
-- First 6,000-download month on SermonAudio.com
-- Hear Dr. Whitcomb on the 'Heaven and Home Hour'

The Resurrection Body of Christ the Lord (Part 11)
By Dr. John C. Whitcomb

Our salvation, by God's infinite grace, will be fully manifested when we behold our resurrected Savior in glory. Thus, "it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed" (Rom. 13:11).

What we have experienced, namely, full justification before God by faith, and what we are experiencing, namely, progressive sanctification, will be completed on that great day! "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

So important is this threefold aspect of personal salvation, that the apostle Paul expressed it again in his letter to the Colossians: "If ye then be risen with Christ (i.e., justification and identification), seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth (i.e., progressive sanctification). . . When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory (i.e., glorification)" (Col. 3:1-4).

Thus, we have been saved from the penalty of sin (justification); we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification); and we shall some day (perhaps today!) be saved from the very presence of sin (glorification). It is for this reason that many churches today participate in a three-fold communion service in order to illustrate these basic truths of our salvation, following the example set by the early church. Evangelical churches everywhere agree that the bread and the cup illustrate the substitutionary work of Christ upon the cross (our justification), because our Lord stated that by means of this symbol we "show the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26).

But this divinely revealed ordinance was to be the climax of the washing of the saints' feet which our Lord commanded us to observe as an illustration of our need of daily cleansing (sanctification - see John 13:14-17); and also the climax of "the Lord's Supper" (1 Cor. 11:20; cf. vss. 25, 33), which was not the bread and the cup, but rather a full meal called the "feast of charity" or "love-feast" (Greek: agape - Jude 12). Paul tells us that it was "when He had supped" (i.e., the Lord's Supper - 1 Cor. 11:20) that the bread and the cup were to be taken (1 Cor. 11:25).

At the very dawn of the church's existence, believers "continued steadfastly in . . . (the) breaking of (the) bread" (Acts 2:42). In the words of a prominent New Testament Greek scholar, "The presence of the articles in the expression 'the breaking of the bread' (Greek: tēi klasei tou artou) indicates more than just eating. It appears to be a reference to the symbolic eating of the Bread and the Cup, partaken in connection with a sacred meal, the Agape" (Homer A. Kent, Jr., Jerusalem to Rome: Studies in Acts [Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1972], p. 34).

Later, the apostle Paul shared such a meal with the saints of Troas. "Upon the first day of the week . . . the disciples came together to break bread" (Acts 20:7; cf., vs. 11). Kent states: "The observance of the Lord's Supper was a principal reason for the gathering. As was the custom in the early church, the partaking of the bread and cup seems here to have been combined with an agape or love feast. The word 'eaten' (Greek: geusamenos) (20:11) is used elsewhere in the NT of the satisfying of hunger (not just a sampling) and could easily denote the agape" (Ibid., p. 156).

But what was the purpose of this special meal, "the Lord's Supper" or the agape? God willing, that will be our next study.

To Be Continued...

Hear Dr. Whitcomb speak this month
A new year lies before us! 2008 promises to be another great year of ministry opportunities for Dr. Whitcomb and WMI. Will you partner with us in prayer, or perhaps even consider giving a gift for the furtherance of this ministry? We appreciate the opportunity to be of service to you.

From Tuesday, Jan. 8, to Friday, Jan. 11, Dr. Whitcomb will lecture at the Word of Life Bible Institute in Hudson, Fla. For more information, call 727-857-9746, or visit www.wol.org/biblei.

On Friday, Jan. 18, and Saturday, Jan. 19, Dr. Whitcomb will teach on apologetics and worldview at the Tyndale Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Tex., as part of The Heritage Lecture Series 2008. For more information, call Dr. Christopher Cone at 800-886-1415, or visit www.tyndale.edu.

From Friday, Feb. 29, to Sunday, March 2, Dr. Whitcomb will speak on creationism at the Philadelphia Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. For more information, call Dr. Barry Bruce at 205-967-6023, or visit www.pbchurch.org.

From Friday, March 7, to Sunday, March 9, Dr. Whitcomb will preach at the Bible Baptist Church in Wilton, Ala. For more information, call Pastor Tom Hammett at 205-665-2939.

From Friday, March 14, to Sunday, March 16, Dr. Whitcomb will speak at the Community Bible Church/Westview Baptist Church in North Charleston, S.C. For more information, call Pastor Al Edgington at 317-414-0171.

From Friday, March 28, to Sunday, March 30, Dr. Whitcomb will give presentations on creationism at the Grace Bible Church of Elkhart, Ind. For more information, call Dr. Mike Fisher at 574-264-7333 or visit gracebibleelkhart.com.

For additional details about these events, please visit our web pages at www.whitcombministries.org and www.sermonaudio.com/whitcomb.

(*Answers in Genesis-sponsored event. For more information on these conferences, visit www.answersingenesis.org/events.)

First 6,000-download month on SermonAudio.com
November of 2007 was Whitcomb Ministries' first-ever month with more than 6,000 sermons listened to or downloaded on Whitcomb.SermonAudio.com.

With a final total of 6,317 messages used in the 30-day month, a new sermon was started or downloaded, on average, every 6.8 minutes. Broadcasts were heard as far away as Malaysia and Bulgaria, and as close to home as Missouri and Minnesota.

This result establishes another new high-water mark for our efforts on SermonAudio, surpassing the prior record of 5,812, which was set during the previous month, October of 2007.

"We rejoice in these numbers - not because we are merely going for numbers, but because they represent a vibrant and growing ministry that God has given to us on the Internet," said WMI ministry assistant Paul Scharf.

With more than 380 sermons in our archives, we are reaching people around the world through this Web ministry. We invite you to join us often and make full use of these informative and inspirational resources.

Hear Dr. Whitcomb on the 'Heaven and Home Hour'
Listen to the historic radio broadcast, the "Heaven and Home Hour," during the week of Feb. 11 to 15, to hear Dr. Whitcomb speak about the Genesis Flood.

The program is carried on about 80 stations throughout the United States.

Dr. Whitcomb was honored to make the recordings for these broadcasts in the fall of 2007. We hope that many will now be blessed as his words go out to the ends of the earth via radio and the Internet.

For complete information about the "Heaven and Home Hour," to find a station near you which carries the broadcast or to listen to the programs online, visit their website at www.heavenandhomehour.com.