Thank you for the time we had together and for your postcard. God is gracious and mighty. He clears a path where the way is otherwise impassable, and we can only stand still and marvel at His wonderful salvation. All salvation is obtainable in Christ Jesus. The One who raised up Christ, in whom all salvation is obtainable, is God the Father. When God raised up the Son from the dead, He also raised us up. In other words, the Son was not resurrected alone, but also the church, which is His body. God raised us up with Him and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2:6. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. So we see that the resurrection of Christ has far-reaching significance. The resurrection of Christ took place 1900 years ago. Since that time, no new resurrection has occurred. From this we understand that we were already in Christ Jesus 1900 years ago, in the resurrection. But to go back even further, let us look at Eph. 1:4-5: “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will . . . .” So when Jesus was resurrected, all those who were predestined were also resurrected. If we see ourselves as being together with Him in the resurrection, we can get a tiny glimpse of “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.” But we must not only see ourselves in Him in the resurrection; we were also in Him while He walked here on earth. That is why He sanctified Himself for us, so that we should be holy in truth. He was the true grain of wheat which had to fall into the ground and die in order to produce grain. But just as the grains in the ear come forth from the grain of wheat that was put in the ground, in the same manner we also come forth from Christ. This grain of wheat takes centuries to bring its grains to maturity, since He is the Savior of all generations throughout all ages. Now it is us—like the first grain of wheat—who are to put on love, which is the bond of perfection, so that the peace of Christ can rule in our hearts, to which we also were called in one body. Col. 3:14-15.

God willing, I hope to come to Kristiania for Easter. I received a postcard from John W. today.

Very warm greetings from your brother in Christ Jesus,