In the midst of life there is death

In the midst of life there is death.

This week two of our friends died. It was rather sudden but at least we know where they have gone. We may be sad to be separated for a while but we know we will be reunited soon.

The disciples on that first Good Friday had no such assurance. Jesus had told them often

enough that he would be crucified and would be raised from the dead but somehow it just hadn’t sunk in. They must have been devastated to see their Lord and Master crucified like a common criminal.

Grief and unimaginable bewilderment must have hung heavily upon them.  Jesus was dead. There was no expectation of resurrection. No eager waiting for the third day. Just despair that all their hopes and dreams had been nailed to the cross with Jesus.

Even when the news of Jesus’ resurrection began to filter through to the disciples they were very reluctant to believe it. Mark’s gospel tells us that Jesus came and rebuked them for ‘their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen’.

How patient Jesus was with them. Finally they got it.  The day of Pentecost came and those timid disciples were transformed into bold, brave ministers of the Gospel. Thousands were saved and great miracles flowed through them.

Today, as we celebrate Easter, we have the wonderful assurance that though we remember with great sadness Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and iniquities, we also rejoice that death could not hold the perfect Son of God. He has indeed risen.

When our friends went to be with Jesus, it was not the end. It is the beginning of a new eternal life – that great gift from a loving, patient God to a sinful, rebellious people. I know that our friends are with him because they accepted that gift. Their sins are forgiven, the slate wiped clean and so we know they have gone to heaven.

However that free gift has to be accepted individually by each one of us. There is no other way by which we can enter eternal life with him.  Death may be with us in the midst of life but through Jesus life after death with him is available to all who would call on the Lord and be saved.

Jesus is the Son of God

On the terrible day that Jesus was crucified on the cross, it must have tested the faith of all his disciples and followers to the core. Despite Jesus telling them several times that this was exactly what was going to happen, the reality of it just hadn't sunk in.

Why was Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah being crucified like the common criminals that hung on his left and right? Surely if he was the Son of God the angels would come and rescue him or why did he not just come down from the cross like his mockers suggested?

How terrible to not just witness Jesus' crucifixion but to have to listen to the taunts and scorn being heaped upon him by the religious leaders and passersby.

Many believers must have turned away from Jesus that day. Their faith was tested and they gave in to doubt and unbelief. By the day of Pentecost there was only 120 believers left praying. Where was everyone else? Jesus had spent three years miraculously ministering to every hopeless situation and circumstance, teaching thousands about their loving heavenly Father yet at the sight of Jesus on the cross, most abandoned him.

Even when darkness covered the earth. Even when Jesus cried out in a loud voice as he gave up his spirit which was impossible for a dying man suffocating  on a cross. Even when the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom, no one expected anything more from the Son of God. That was it - all over. 

The brave Joseph of Arimathea just wanted to give him the best burial possible in his own brand new tomb. It took courage to go to Pilate to ask for the body. Having buried him he sealed the tomb to make sure no one got in and desecrated it. The faithful women wanted to make sure his body was properly embalmed either that day or after the Sabbath. Even the guards were only placed to make sure the sealed tomb could not be broken into because the religious leaders did not want the disciples faking a resurrection.

No criminal crucifixion though, no sealed tomb, no guards, no disbelieving disciples or followers could stop Jesus rising in triumph from the dead because Jesus is the Son of God. What God has purposed will happen. Jesus overcame sin and death and made a way for everyone born on the planet to come and know their loving heavenly Father and Creator - just as planned. 

Father forgive us when we lose faith in the face of difficulties that seem overwhelming. Help us to persevere and trust you because you are the Christ, the Son of the living God and nothing is impossible for you. Amen.

Death the final destination

 Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.’ John 11:25 – 26.

Death like heaven and hell is not usually a subject discussed in Western society if at all possible. Yet as J John says the most undeniable of all statistics is that life is 100% fatal.

However despite its certainty, most people will go to any lengths to not just avoid talking about it but also to avoid the event as well. When it becomes inevitable people will usually be overcome by fear based on uncertainty.

The one group of people for whom this should not be the case are Christians. Thanks to Jesus we can have full assurance that the grave is not our final destination – heaven is.

However it is amazing how far people will go to try to ignore God in their beliefs.   Many today confidently assert that there is nothing after death. Not only does life end, so does existence. The problem with nothing after death is that when the believer of this hypothesis dies, it will be too late to find out they were wrong. If there is indeed life after death, their eternal destination is settled and it may not be the choice of their dreams.

Someone told me the other day all about the aura or incandescence lingering around a dead body for three days after death. What is the evidence for this?

The evidence for heaven or hell however is great. The Bible frequently talks about death and the afterlife in both the Old and New Testaments. Jesus very clearly explained that heaven is the eternal destination for those who believe and trust in him.

In addition there are many many people who have had ‘out of body’ or ‘near death’ experiences. All of these seem to back up the Bible’s version of life after death. No one talks about their aura hanging around the body for three days and no one says everything just went black and I ceased to exist. 

However visions of heaven, Jesus, family members who have already died and yes even hell have been told by far too many people to be ignored. It might be nice to think they are all wrong especially if you are determined to ignore God but the evidence is pretty overwhelming.

The comfort that comes both to the dying and those remaining that heaven is not just a reality but also their own destination is too good to ignore. Anyone who believes that Christians are deluded should read the Scriptures and any of the many books about ‘out of body’ experiences. The details these people include are too compelling to be dismissed.

Heaven is too marvellous a place to take a chance on getting there. Hoping that our good works will open the door is a risky strategy as is ignoring death and hoping for the best. Assurance is what we all long for and as Christians we have that assurance.

Unfortunately many Christians are not only shaky about going to heaven but very shaky about what it will be like. I believe as we read the Bible and other books on the subject by authors grounded in the Scriptures we can start to get revelation on just how truly amazing heaven is.

Not only is it far better than our wildest imaginations – it is also too wonderful a place not to talk about to others. Everyone needs to know not just the reality of the wonders of heaven but also how to get there. As Christians that is both our responsibility and our joy. 

Heaven - our eternal destination

There is no doubt that the more that I read and think about heaven, the more fantastic it seems to be. There are many books around with testimonies of God’s amazing intervention in people’s lives in the form of miracles and some of these have involved people being given glimpses of heaven. This not only encourages the individual but also us, the reader.

Naturally everyone’s experience is different but all of them are incredible and involve wonderful things. Heaven is indeed a wonderful place and one common theme seems to be that it is completely pervaded by light. One account that I read involved a man whose son had been tragically killed at an early age. He was devastated but God took him to heaven to see his son. He describes this incredible but not blinding light that emanated from everything.  There was light and life everywhere which is not surprising as the Bible is full of references to God being light and bringing light and life to the world.

However, whenever you start to talk to people about heaven, they think you are being morbid. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are going to spend eternity in heaven, if we have given our hearts and lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and it is a wonderful thought that we will be with him forever in this incredible place that he has prepared for his people.

I often wonder, especially around this Easter time, why the disciples did not understand or take onboard what Jesus was saying to them about being crucified and raised from the dead.  No one comprehended this though Jesus told them at least five times.. No one was waiting for the resurrection and indeed the disciples had great difficulty believing it until Jesus came and stood amongst them with his nail scarred hands and feet. Was there a veil over their eyes? Was the truth deliberately hidden from them or were they just like us, pushing an unpleasant thought under the carpet?

Dying is so full of negative emotions that in the west at least, no one wants to talk about it. Our eyes are earth bound instead of heaven gazing.  However, we are told to ‘set our minds on things above not on earthly things (Colossians 3: 2). It is not bad luck to think about heaven and dying but a realistic and exciting prospect even if we do not want it to happen today! We can have the attitude that there is so much to live for here on earth that we don’t need to think about heaven.

The truth is that everything we do here affects our heavenly experience. Our life here is a preparation for our heavenly eternal life. I believe that getting a realisation that our earthly life is but a blip before the main event of eternity in heaven helps us live much more effectively here on earth.

Christians should be excited about their eternal prospects. Let’s talk positively about heaven and how to get there. The world needs to know and God has chosen us to continue the work started by the disciples to tell the world that Jesus is the resurrection and has made the way for each one of us to spend eternity with him in the incredible, amazing place called heaven.

 

Seated in heavenly places

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2: 4 – 6.

I always wondered how we could be living here on the earth but at the same time be seated in the heavenly realms with Christ. It just didn’t make sense. If we look at the preceding verses of chapter 2 it says that we were all dead in our sins, cravings and lusts with no hope of release till God came along and because of his great love, he rescued us.  It was the work of grace; there was nothing we could do to help ourselves or gain any measure of favour with God.

Yet God feels so mercifully towards us that he was prepared to take us sinners, dead in our sins and make us alive in Christ Jesus. We literally have new life, now and forever.  This though is where the puzzling verses come in. Not only have we been made alive and resurrected from death to life but we have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. The last few verses of chapter 1 explain that when Jesus was raised from the dead by the awesome power of God, every power, ruler and authority now and in the future was put under his feet.  He has complete authority over every principality and power and he is seated in the heavenly realms exercising that authority.

God has placed our spirits next to Christ in that place of authority. Our bodies may be busy going about our daily lives on earth but our spirits are seated, not anxious, fretting and worrying but at peace and rest knowing they are seated next to the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. This means we have access to that same authority over every situation in our lives; sickness, poverty, insufficiency, oppression, unemployment, family worries and everything we have need of  is gained because we are sitting next to Jesus.

If you are feeling anxious and worried about life, let the truth that whilst you may be here on earth, your spirit is seated and at rest next to the one who has all authority over everything, now and in the future. His love is for you, his grace has paid the price and lifted you from death to life and now the authority of Jesus over every situation and circumstance is just a whisper away. Lean close to him and hear his loving voice and trust him to bring hope, peace and rest to you right now.

 

It doesn't work

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.  Acts 9: 39 – 40

Doubt and unbelief are our greatest opponents in our Christian walk because they directly oppose our faith. When Peter was asked to go to Tabitha’s house because she had died, the first thing he encountered was all the widows standing around mourning her death and showing him all the wonderful clothing that Tabitha had made. She was known for ‘always doing good and helping the poor’. The widows were mourning the loss of this wonderful woman.

The first thing Peter did was send the widows out of the room because they had no expectation of resurrection. This got the unbelief out and then he prayed and let faith arise. Then he was able to raise Tabitha from the dead. The mourning widows with no faith would have been no help.

Reinhard Bonnke likes to have the first few rows of people at his crusades and meetings full of faith filled people. People with doubt and unbelief in their hearts can hinder the move of salvation and the miraculous. 

One of our biggest problems can be the ‘It doesn’t work’ thinking. The devil would love us to believe that our prayers and actions are ineffectual and that nothing has happened. Nothing could be further from the truth. Steve Backlund says, ‘As people of faith, we believe that our past prayers, declarations, godly choices and prophetic acts are working powerfully and effectively in the unseen realm’.

There are times when I think my prayers are not working and then suddenly God graciously shows me how effective my prayers have been. My personal journey now is to pray for the sick. Sometimes they are healed and sometimes nothing seems to happen but I am determined to persevere and pray for them on every opportunity that God gives me. I want to see more people helald in Jesus' name.

Don’t let doubt and unbelief steal from you the joy of moving in faith to see loved ones saved,  people healed, lives transformed, provision flow into needy areas and so on. Root out ‘it hasn’t worked’ from your life and let faith arise afresh today in your heart.

God calls us by name

Yesterday we saw that when the angel of the Lord met with Hagar in the desert, he addressed her by name (Genesis 16:8 and 21:17). All through the Bible when God meets with people who are not expecting to see him or hear from him, he addresses them by name. There are no coincidences with God.

When God met Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:4) he called him by name twice. God was not just looking for any old person to go to Pharaoh ‘to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt’  (Exodus 3:10). He wanted Moses and despite his misgivings and protests God was determined. He knew that given time Moses would be the very man to fulfil his plans and purposes and of course God was right!

Abraham was consistently spoken to by God by name (especially Genesis 22:2). Samuel was also called by God by name even as a young boy (I Samuel 3:4, 6, 8 and 10). God met with Samuel and his course for life was set. Jeremiah was also called as a child (Jeremiah 1: 5). Do you notice that each time their answer was, ‘Here I am’?

God even called his servant Cyrus by name before Cyrus was even born (Isaiah 44: 28 and 45: 1). This is all very well for Old Testament prophets but what about ‘little me’ today in 2012?  Let us take heart from Mary Magdalene in one of my favourite accounts in the Bible (John 20: 1 – 18).

On the first day of the week Mary had gone early to Jesus’ tomb to continue to put the spices and perfumes they had prepared on Jesus’ body.  She had no anticipation of resurrection and was astonished to find the stone rolled away. Even after Peter and John had looked at the empty tomb and gone back home, she stood weeping outside.  It was bad enough that Jesus had been crucified but now she believed someone had stolen his body. Despite two angels asking why she was crying, she still didn’t expect an answer from them for she turned away and saw what she thought was the gardener. 'The gardener' asked her why she was crying and she asked him where the body was. It is at this point that Jesus just said, ‘Mary’! Instantly she knew it was the Lord. She cried out to him and obviously clung on to him no doubt amazed, bewildered, astonished and full of great joy. Her day that had started with such sorrow was transformed by one word, her name, spoken by Jesus. All the hopes and dreams that had disappeared when he died on the cross had just come back to life. Everything that was hopeless was now hopeful. Everything that was dead had come alive because Jesus was alive and  had spoken to her by name.

You are not just a believer; you are a chosen, beloved child of God who knows you by name. You are individually known, loved and overwhelmingly cared for by a God who you may not see but who sees you. God wants to reassure you today that he is calling you by name and he wants to breathe life into some old hopes and dreams that seemed to lie in ashes at your feet. He wants to bring resurrection life to them. Hear him call your name and trust him afresh to work all things out for good.