Death and Life

Here is an interesting question to think about – What did Jesus accomplish by his resurrection that he did not accomplish with his death?  We know that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice who died for our sins and paid the price of death that we could not pay.  We know that Jesus’ blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins…but what about his resurrection?  Is it necessary?  What if Jesus never rose from the dead?  Today’s passage helps us with some of those questions – let’s take a look.

1 Corinthians 15:12-26

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope^[b] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 

Things to think about:

What does Paul say here about the consequences of believing in no resurrection?  If Jesus didn’t raise from the dead, then what???

If Jesus didn’t raise from the dead why would it be a misrepresentation of God?  See verse 13

I think verse 22 is pretty straight forward – in Adam (meaning the first man and our representative) is death because of sin…this is what we all live with, this is what we all have to deal with, this is why the world is the way that it is – because of sin and death.  But, in Christ we shall be made alive!  Life – and not just any life but life in abundance according to Jesus in John 10:10. 

Imagine what life – true life – will be like? 

I would encourage you to continue to read the rest of 1 Corinthians 15 if you want to learn more about this resurrection that we long for while we are still here on earth.

Have a great week! 

One Crazy Funeral

            I love those stories in the Bible that make you stop and say, “what?”…”what was that all about?”  Then you go back and reread the story and even though you might not fully understand it you feel like God was trying to teach you specific lesson that day?  That happened to me last week and I thought I would share the passage that made me stop and think.  Before we read the passage here is a little background info.

Background:

            Elisha was a prophet of God in the Old Testament time during the times of the kings before the exile into Babylon.  So, this takes place after King Saul, King David, King Solomon, but before the times of Daniel and Ezekiel.  The nation of Israel has been divided into two countries at this point with Israel in the north and Judah in the south.  They would sometimes team up together and sometimes go to war with each other.  It was a time of great ups and downs spiritually.  The people were easily led astray to worship false gods even to the point of sacrificing their own children to these foreign gods!  They would occasionally repent and turn back to the Lord, but I would say that for a few hundred years the people of Israel had a very rebellious relationship with God overall.  God sent prophets into Israel and Judah to preach truth to the people and to call for repentance.  You can read all about their amazing miracles and message in the books of 1 & 2 Kings.  Today’s story though comes after Elisha has already died…this is what made me stop and go, hmmmm….:)

2 Kings 13:20-21

“So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.  And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.”

Things to think about:

Read that again…that’s it…picture the scene in your mind.  You go out to bury a friend and everyone is sad.  You are preparing a grave when all of a sudden some bad guys come around the corner and you all get frightened.  So, without enough time to finish the grave you just toss your friend in a different grave, which happens to be the grave of the prophet Elisha.  As soon as their dead bodies touch, bam!  Your friend is up and walking around again.  He looks at you and says, “hey, how’s it going, who wants lunch?”  I mean crazy!  Do you think the “marauding band” saw all this and just turned around in shock?  How do you rob a guy that just came back from the dead? 

What is the point of that story?

Why is it included in the Bible?

Why didn’t Elisha come back from the dead?

Why would God do this for that guy and the small funeral procession?  It doesn’t really effect the overall story of Israel or our salvation…so what’s the point?

There are probably many points, but here is what I have been thinking about since last week.  God’s power is awesome!  Even the dead bones of a prophet have the power to do miraculous deeds – because the power was never really with Elisha, it was always with God.  We know this, but we often get confused when thinking and talking about “great Christian men or women”  We hold up missionaries and heroes of the faith as if they held some great power that we could never achieve.  Wrong.  The power was never with them, it was always with God – and He is the same God that you pray to, the same God that is alive and working today in your life!

We may acknowledge that God is powerful – but do we trust Him with that power?  Do you trust Him to use it for what is right?  Do you trust Him to know when to bring back a guy from the dead, and when to leave him dead?  Do we trust God that He knows what he is doing?

Short passage this week, but lots of tough questions.  Have a great week!