Facing Life, dying, death and Resurrection in Christ
Diluting the sting of death
( note: this is a truncated transcript of podcast found at www.africhristpodcast.com 4/16/2022)
A statement for our time
Jesus was a public person. His teachings always revolved around people and he sought out people in their spaces. He went to a party of tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10-17). Jesus mixed with people but he never let them influence him, rather he ended up influencing and changing them.
Similarly as believers we should never fear interacting with those that we need to show Christ in our midst. Many times those people are outside our safe spaces. Today such spaces are on Social Media cyber fora. But of course like in every instance godly wisdom in judgement is necessary.
As I was contemplating this Easter message , I was struck by a link on one such WhatsApp forum I belong to, that of my High School. A member who I consider one of my mentors, posted a link to an article on his blog. He was basically lamenting the lack of necessary medical care in the situation of a death. He attributed it to poor use of resources tantamount to abuse and negligence of those entrusted with the care of the sick. Himself being a doctor, death of patients is not new to him. So his statement, that I quote in part below, is not a denial of death but rather the timing and nature of occurrence. In this respect, we will look at some scriptures of God’s timing and purposeful transition of life to death and thus the power of the Resurrection of Jesus in conquering death.
Dr Munini Mulera reacted this way in a post about the death of a friend of his:
“However, - I refuse to accept death's power over us, and I yield no ground in the fight against it until it wins (sic). When we accept
death with the attitude that "it happens” we forego the opportunity to do everything
humanly possible to prevent it or defer it.” (Mulerasfireplace.com).
From this defiance against the neutralized power of death by a Christian physician, let us explore the dilution of the sting of death by Jesus Christ in the scripture examples that follow.
First let us review what God’s plan is from scripture
The plan of God for us
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Clearly God has a plan for our lives up to and including the events that would lead to our transition we otherwise call death.
If we seek God’s advice even as we chart our course in life, God gives us a path despite our human usually sinful imperfections. A good example is the way the founding fathers of United States of America sought God. We all know that these were imperfect people not unlike many leaders especially politicians today. But because they chose to ask God for guidance, he gave them the utterance of statements that became very formative in laying down a durable foundation for America.
Example of man’s proper view of life In United States Congress, July 4, 1776
In Genesis, the Bible says that we were all made in God’s own image. We see that influence expressed in the unanimous Declaration of the original thirteen United States of America:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Unequal provision of justice and social services such as healthcare contravenes the “all men are born equal” and deserving of equal care when sickness strikes.
R |
ecently a 9-year old Ukrainian girl’s goodbye to her dead mom killed by Russian bombs was read at United Nations by the Ukrainian ambassador. The girl seemed to understand the transition from life through death despite her age and emotional pain. She said in the letter, that her mother was the "best mom" in the world and added that her mother “will be in heaven”
Ukraine’s war of self defense against Russia has brought the reality of death by despots, deniers and apologists of uncaring “stewards” of power and God given resources to the forefront. This has helped the world to finally hear the voices of the voiceless everywhere this Easter as we celebrate Christ’s conquest of the sting of death, in the political space.
It is appointed for man to be born once and die but not through negligence or abuse of individual rights.
Hebrews 9:26-28 NIV tells us that God had to sacrifice the Lamb without blemishes, his son to spare the rest of us!
“Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
Sanctity of life
Cain recorded the first death by spilling innocent blood. But God did not want to show us the complete story of Abel’s innocence through the termination of Cain’s own life by others. God has given man a life that has value even though we need deliverance from sin. God went on to even protect the life of this first biblically mentioned murderer, Cain. Christ was to carry all our guilt to the cross.
Genesis 4:14-15 NIV
“Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.”
Hebrews 9 above shows us that only one person was appointed to die through abuse of power & violence on the cross in order to bring salvation to many as we wait for Christ’s triumphal return. God’s plan for us is for good and not for evil as it is stated in Jeremiah 11 above.
In Genesis 22:9-12 NIV, God demonstrated for us that even when he asks for ‘human’ sacrifice, it’s not for us to be the sacrifice but the man Jesus. Thus He would not let Abraham spill the blood of his only son Isaac because it was reserved for God’s only Son, Jesus .
“When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.””
The gift that changed our perception of life focussed our purpose onto Christ
In all the sacrifices in the Bible from the Old to the New Testament, God was focussing our attention tho the eventual sacrifice of the innocent and incorruptible Blood of Jesus on The Cross at Calvary.
2 Corinthians 5:15-16, 18 NLT
“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”
Examples of transitions that overcame human death
Jacob
Genesis 49:29-31, 33 NKJV
“Then he charged them and said to them: “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.”
Steven forgave & he slept
As they stoned him to death, like Jesus Steven forgave his tormentors. The sting of death was then removed and the Bible says “ he slept”
Acts 7:55-56, 59-60 NKJV
“But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Paul was prepared to die
Paul run the victor’s lap… he started to prepare for his transition and like Steven he saw Jesus waiting at the finish line.
II Timothy 4:6-8 NKJV
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Jesus’ Final Victory over death
Jesus diluted the sting of death for us all. He took everything they threw at him without a word. They did not realize that as they nailed him to the cross, he carried their baggage and our baggage to be nailed to The Cross with him once and for all.
Jesus conquered death In order to expose and conquer evil and defeat the sting of death. He exposed the depravity of man’s heart as the Bible says that the human heart is inherently evil. He nailed it all at Calvary.
I Corinthians 15:52-55, 58 NKJV
“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Our assignment as believers is to carry this message of hope to all especially those who are innocent recipients of human abuse, torture and depravity in every space of life.
Happy Resurrection Day
