Thursday, July 26, 2012
John 11:25, 26 Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
JESUS GIVES HOPE
Is it naive and immature to think that someone can "cheat death?" We may feel that it’s possible when we are young, but many people these days are actually hoping and trying to do that very thing. A recent study guesstimated and believed the next generation would live to an average age of 150 years old! Unbelievable!?!
The Bible speaks in the early chapters of Genesis of some of the pre-flood people living to almost 1000 years old! That's amazing! Yet, whether 150, 1000, or even 5,000 years old, what do we still see? We see death don't we? Death is a result of the crushing weight of sin. Death is a result of the original punishment of mankind's fall into sin back in the Garden of Eden. Death cannot be cheated or tricked. Death comes to us all! What frightful words!
But yet in God's Word we see the source of life and comfort in Jesus Christ. Jesus had taught Martha, her sister Mary, and their brother Lazarus -- who had just recently gotten sick and died -- that He would one day come again and raise all the dead from their graves! Martha confessed her confident faith to Jesus, saying in verse 24, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." What Martha forgot and what we can easily forget sometimes is that Jesus never "lost" any of His power. That is why He was able to simply call to life the dead and already decaying body of Lazarus in the tomb! Jesus has the power over life and death!
Jesus, the Son of God, doesn't "cheat death." In fact, He embraced it on the cross in payment for all our sins! Because of this and because of His resurrection from the dead and promise that "He is the resurrection and the life" we don't have to fear death anymore. Whoever hopes in this forgiveness and promise of Jesus will have eternal life when He comes again to call us from our graves! Do you believe this?
