Are You Worthy?

Got a problem? Ever get to acting or feeling like you are the only one with a problem? Consider the persecution of the church in Corinth of which it was written.

“We know sorrow, 
Yet our joy is inextinguishable.

We are handicapped on all sides,
but we are never frustrated;

We are puzzled,
but never in despair.

We are persecuted,
but we never have to stand alone,

We are knocked down,
but we are never knocked out!”
(II Corinthians 6: 10; 4: 8, 9 Phillips Translation)

First-century Christians expected difficulty, deprivation, and even death because of their faith.

There are places in the world of which that is still true today. We need to pray for the many persecuted Christians of our time. We also need to “tighten our belts,” and let the holy son-shine of Jesus within us shine out.  I have two signs in our garage I see every time I go out. One is a large yellow smiley face. The other is a cherished wood carving made for me by a college friend with the message:

                “The joy of the Lord is thy strength.”

Remember that little chorus, “I’ve the peace that passes understanding down in my heart?” That becomes an attractive factor. It is show and tell time for the Christian community. It is virtually impossible to tell a person of the peace that passes understanding until we show it to them by example.  When they see what it is, they are attracted to it. 

Consider one example by which to judge your attitude when someone causes you pain. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” (Matthew 5: 11) Blessed?

There is a dear lady who lost her job and suffered greatly because of living out her faith. She said she gained peace and stability when it was called to her attention that she, like the apostles, had reason to rejoice in that she was counted worthy to suffer for the Lord.

Few of us really suffer for our Lord, but all of us have disappointments, difficulties, pain, problems, losses, opposition, heartbreaks, and trials. All are an opportunity to be counted worthy to deal with them in a way that shows Christ is alive in us.

By your responses are you “….choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:25)

Death Defying

Blaise Pascal wrote, “Since men would not do away with death, they decided not to think about it.” Dwelling on it is not mentally healthy. Failure to think about and plan for its inevitably is foolish.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives death its proper perspective. Biblically there are only three reasons a Christian dies.

One is they have finished the earthly mission on which God sent them and they are allowed to come home and get their reward.

At death of a believer they pass on to a higher form of life. A full and rich life cannot be determined by chronology, but by character.

Second is martyrdom that advances the cause of Christ.

A third is that the Christian has committed “the sin unto death.” This means the person has committed a sin, any sin, of which they will not repent that impairs their witness of which they will not repent thus, their death will bring more glory to God than their unrepentant life.

Death, like other events in life, is not a goal, but a gateway.

If all the infants in all the wombs of all the women of all the world could speak, at the birth of one of them named Sam, one could be heard to say, “Poor ole Sam passed on.” The world he passed on to is much larger and more beautiful than the womb. So life in heaven is more grand than life on earth.

In light of that, could it be that we have gotten things backwards? At the birth of a child we smile, coo, and laugh. At the death of a friend we weep and grieve. Known of the difficulties awaiting in life perhaps birth is when we should cry, and at the death of believers rejoice.

Most healthy people take precautions to avoid death. This is a healthy preservative of life. It results in a healthy fear of death. However, one of God’s graces is that in death there is no fear for the believer. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me.” (Ps.  23) Virtually mocking death Scripture heroically avers, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 15: 55 – 57)

“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (II Corinthians 5:8),” is the fate of a Christian.

The long shadow of death is removed by life — eternal life.

May the equivalent of this inscription on the tombstone of George Washington be appropriately inscribed on yours.

“A sincere Christian doing all things for the will of his Master and resting his hope of eternal happiness alone on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.”

Did Jesus Descend Into Hell?

Between the crucifixion and the resurrection did Jesus descend into hell?

Reading the current English translations of Scripture it is easy to understand why some say yes. The question often arises from the King James translation of Acts 2: 27 – 31 (a quote from Psalm 16: 8 – 11), that the soul of Jesus “was left in hell.”In the Apostles Creed it is said Jesus “descended into hell” (descendit ad inferna). “Hell” in both cases refers not to the hell of eternal punishment (Gehenna), but to the realm of the dead, the underworld (OT Sheol, NT Hades). Hence modern translations of both the NT and the Creed read “Hades,” “dead,” not hell.

That coupled with I Peter 3: 18 – 20 cause some to be misinterpreting the concept. “For Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient….”

Regarding this I Peter 3 passage it means in the Old Testament time He, by means of the Holy Spirit, went and preached to the people of that era who were disobedient and didn’t repent. They are now separated from God and in hell. It was not at the time of the writing of this text He preached to them. In the era of the Old Testament He preached to them, by means of the Holy Spirit, before their death while they were on earth.

The question lingers, why would Jesus have gone to hell and preached to those therein? Doing so would have been virtually a taunting, a nana-nana-nana.

Exactly where in the realm of the dead Jesus was during that interval is just one of God’s little secrets regarding something we really don’t need to know.

Exactly when He got to heaven and began His building program isn’t known. It is known He ascended into heaven and is there now preparing a place for all who by faith place their trust in Him obediently.

In order that provision be made for whosoever will join Him in heaven, “… Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit….”

Jesus took our sin on Himself at Calvary and offers to apply His righteousness to whosoever will receive it. Thereby one is prepared to live an abundant life and then go to heaven.

A related relative issue is are you prepared for that prepared place?

The Real Suffering of the Cross

With the celebration of the resurrection in our rear view mirror it is appropriate that we reflect on the theology of the event, much of which is overlooked. To do so it is expedient to look outside the gospel. We can look back to the Old Testament and forward to the Book of Acts and beyond to the narrative parts of the New Testament for details.           

The crucifixion and resurrection are inseparable events.

Romans 4: 23 – 25 frames the two. “Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”

The “his” in the text is a reference to Abraham who was justified by faith expressed in the foreshadowing events related to the cross.

Jesus’ crucifixion was necessary because of our offenses, sins that is.

His resurrection was necessary in order for us to be justified.

The resurrection of Jesus was God the Father’s seal of approval of God the Son.

Paul who was a witness of both the crucifixion and resurrection said, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (I Timothy 1: 15)

Crucifixion was a devastating act of horror. The human body contains about a gallon and a half of blood. With the loss of 40% of it exsanguination sets in.  Death follows if the bleeding isn’t stopped and treated quickly. His was not.

All that Jesus went through leading up to the cross plus the actual act of crucifixion would have caused even greater loss of blood. This refutes claims that He only swooned and was refreshed and revived by being in the cool tomb.

In focusing on the horror and suffering of crucifixion the real suffering is often overlooked. The physical suffering is not to be minimized. However, there was even greater suffering experienced by Jesus. It was the spiritual aspect. For an understanding look back to Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”

Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This had a twofold meaning. Foremost, it was this separation for the Father that caused the greatest suffering. He was experiencing what those in hell experience, separation from God the Father. That was Jesus’ greatest suffering.

Secondarily, the cry had another application. In that era Scripture did not have chapters and verses. When a Jewish mother was teaching her children Scripture she would simply start the first part of the text and the child knew the location. In Jesus’ shout He was saying if you want to know what is happening here look it up in Psalm 22. Do so now.

It’s About Time – Bible Time – Three Days and Three Nights

A question lingering after the celebration of the resurrection relates to time, the time between Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. 

Having visited the Bible Land many times, I have always enjoyed visiting remote regions among the Bedouins who live today very much like first century life. Exact time matters little to them. I once asked the age of a certain child. The answer was: “Who knows? Who counts years, days, and seconds?”

Even in modern times different cultures record time differently. Before the introduction of Standard Time in the 1880s, different countries, states, and even neighboring towns, kept their own time with no attempt at consistency. Even though clocks, and later watches, are widely available, much of the world still today estimated their time by the natural rhythms of the Sun and Moon until late into the 19th Century.

Stonehenge in Britain was probably built to measure time. It measured the year by the sunrise and sunset angle on the horizon. It is possible to use other, easily observed, signs of the passage of days. The annual disappearance and reappearance of the stars has been used by many cultures. Natural signs such as the blossoming or fruiting of particular plants or the migrations of birds have also been used to mark the passing of the seasons.

In counting days and nights in the time of Christ it was done differently than today. In light of all this, it is easy to see why there are questions related to the issue of three days and three nights.

In the time of Christ any part of a day was considered a full day. That is, a “day” was not considered as a full 24 hour interval.

We consider a day as beginning at sunup followed by daylight with night coming after the daylight hours.

In the Jewish tradition a day began with sundown. The night (dark) was counted before the actual daylight.

Thus when the sun set on Thursday that was the night part of a new day, Friday.

Hence, Friday was one night and day, 

Friday night at sundown day two began.

Saturday at sundown day three began.

This accounts as three days and three nights. To try to understand it based on our reckoning of time is not proper. It must be based on how days were reckoned in Bible times.

The important issue is not how long His lifeless body was in the tomb, but in the fact it did not stay there, He arose from the dead to give life, eternal life, to all who engage in a form of trust of Him that involves responding to Him as not only Savior, but Master to whom they are obedient.

Every one of winter’s dead bows that blossoms speaks of resurrection.

The Rose of Sharon arose.