In our final episode of In Light of the Cross, we wrap the series around God’s long-standing desire to be with his people—an intimate union that doesn’t erase our individuality, but brings real communion with him now and perfectly in our resurrection destiny.

We linger on John 15 and especially Jesus’ prayer in John 17, where he asks that we would be one with God the way he is one with the Father: we in Christ and Christ in us. We talk honestly about how this can be mysterious and easy to oversell, while still being something we can practice on this side of heaven.

We explore spiritual practices—especially Scripture and prayer (including contemplation), along with Jesus’ rhythms of solitude, community, fasting, and worship—and we end by asking what it looks like to organize every part of our lives around knowing and loving God, then close with the Lord’s Prayer.

00:00 Final Episode Setup

00:34 God With His People

01:04 Union Not Absorption

01:30 Abide in Christ

02:16 Jesus Prayer for Oneness

04:03 Mystery of Being In Christ

04:45 Organize Life Around God

06:05 Realistic Expectations

07:01 Spiritual Practices and Openness

08:23 Scripture and Prayer Basics

09:13 Prayer as Contemplation

09:57 Jesus Model of Practices

11:27 Wrap Up Questions and Story

14:13 Thanks and Lords Prayer

We’re nearing the end of the podcast run and, on the resurrection side of the cross, we talk about God’s ultimate goal for us: living as resurrected beings who are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

We reflect on what our own goals usually are, then look at key passages (1 Corinthians 15:49; 1 John 3:1–3; 2 Corinthians 3:16–18; Ephesians 4:11–13) showing both a future “we will be like him” and a present “we are being transformed” into Christ’s likeness, including moral character, while still retaining our individuality.

We discuss how this formation happens in community through the church’s gifts, how it’s primarily God’s work (with our active yielding), and use the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation to explain why we can’t fully grasp resurrected life now.

We also briefly speculate that “rewards” may be the culmination of how we yield to God here, then close with the Lord’s Prayer.

00:00 Resurrection Life Focus

00:24 Gods Ultimate Goal

02:10 Conformed Not Dissolved

03:32 Scripture Foundations

05:57 Transformed Starting Now

08:21 Church And Passive Grace

10:33 Caterpillar To Butterfly

13:19 Rewards And Resurrection

15:50 Yielding Reflection Prayer

In this post-Easter-season episode of In Light of the Cross, we continue reflecting on Jesus’ resurrection and what it means for those in Christ, focusing on 1 Corinthians 15:35–58 and Paul’s “seed to plant” imagery.

We consider Paul’s point that the resurrection body won’t be identical to our current body: there is continuity, but also profound difference, like an acorn compared to an oak tree. We also look at hints from the Gospels about Jesus’ resurrected body—people not recognizing him at first, his ability to appear and vanish or enter locked rooms—while still being physically touchable, bearing scars, and even eating fish.

We conclude by thanking God for the good gift of bodily existence, trusting he will perfect it, and praying the Lord’s Prayer together.

00:00 Easter Resurrection Hope

00:53 Prayer And Scripture Introduction

01:50 Reading First Corinthians 15

04:31 Seed And Oak Metaphor

05:53 Jesus Resurrected Body Clues

09:33 Physical Resurrection Matters

10:46 Gratitude For Our Body

12:06 Closing Lords Prayer