Tag Archives: death

I’m glad I live now (Mark 10:33-34) August 23, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 1 Chronicles 10-14

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 10:33-34
Jesus (taking the twelve aside): Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and there the Son of Man is going to be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They shall seek His death and deliver Him to the outsiders to carry out that sentence. Then people will mock Him, spit upon Him, whip Him, and kill Him. But on the third day, He will rise again.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We look back to those last days of Jesus with 20/20 hindsight. We sometimes think we would like to have been with Him during that last week to sit at His feet and hear all these teachings come directly from His mouth. We think we would like to have witnessed His triumphal entry into the city, watched Him empty the temple of the money changers, eaten His last supper with Him. We think it would be neat to spend some of those last moments with Him to see the love He poured out on the people of Jerusalem as they ended Hi life and ushered Him toward His sacrifice for us.

But if you put yourself back in that time and think about the words the disciples heard for perhaps the first time, I’m not so sure we would want to be there. Jesus pulls His disciples apart from the crowds that continue to follow Him. He just recently became the intense target of the religious leaders of the day. These men held the power of life and death in their hands. No, they couldn’t carry out a sentence of execution, but they could make life impossible for those who failed to follow their decrees.

As a Jew in a Jewish community, if you were excommunicated from the group, you suddenly found yourself with no livelihood, no means of family support, no entrance into the temple or synagogue. You were cut off physically, emotionally, and spiritually from the community in which you grew up. Those were difficult times for the followers of Jesus.

Yet these men followed Him. They believed what they heard. They embraced His message of God’s love for them. But now Jesus pulls them aside and says He will be turned over to those who had been their teachers and leaders. But it wouldn’t stop there. These people plotted to kill Him. So this man who they followed for three years, who cared for them and taught them, now told them He would die. What kind of leader would do that? What kind of teacher would lead people along and talk about love and God’s goodness, peace, mercy, forgiveness, and then tell those who followed Him that He was about to be killed?

This wasn’t a very good pep talk. This wasn’t what Jesus’ followers wanted to hear. They were headed to Jerusalem for the final showdown with the religious leaders of the day. They wanted this Messiah to deliver them from the oppression they were under. How was He supposed to do that if He was dead? Jesus wasn’t supposed to be talking this way. He was supposed to be talking about victory, triumph, overthrow of the Romans, right?

Would you still follow Him? Would you still go with Him when the story changed from one of love and healing and forgiveness to one of capture and beating and execution? At the hands of those who were the leaders of your faith? Imagine the radical turn of events. Imagine just how difficult these words must have sounded to Jesus’ disciples as He spoke to them that day.

You know when Jesus spoke these words, I expect His last words didn’t even register with His disciples until Mark was recalling the conversation. I expect they were so numbed by His prediction of the abuse He would take from the religious leaders and His impending death, they probably didn’t even hear Him say He would rise again on the third day. I expect it was only later they remembered His words as they just couldn’t believe they were marching toward Jerusalem to His certain death and perhaps their own.

Was this really happening? Could they continue to follow Him? Were they dedicated enough to follow Him to the cross as He said they must do if they were truly His disciples? Did He have to talk so much about death and the cross and giving up your life for Him?

I’m glad we get to hear these words from this side of the cross. I’m glad we can look back over the centuries and remember the promise He made that on the third day He would rise again. I’m glad we can know the outcome of that awful, wonderful, terrible, glorious week. I don’t know for sure if I could have heard those words like the disciples did and followed Him to Jerusalem. But I’m glad they did. I’m glad Mark recorded His teachings for us. I’m glad they stayed true to Him so we can have the story today and know that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and what He said He would do happened. I’m glad He rose again and lives forever so we can live forever, too.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

He will help you (Mark 5:36-43) July 26, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Kings 16-20

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 5:36-43
Jesus overheard their words. Then He turned to look at Jairus.
Jesus: It’s all right. Don’t be afraid; just believe.
Jesus asked everyone but Peter, James, and John (James’s brother) to remain outside when they reached Jairus’s home. Inside the synagogue leader’s house, the mourning had already begun; the weeping and wailing carried out into the street.
Jesus and His three disciples went inside.
Jesus: Why are you making all this sorrowful noise? The child isn’t dead. She’s just sleeping.
The mourners laughed a horrible, bitter laugh and went back to their wailing. Jesus cleared the house so that only His three disciples, Jairus, and Jairus’s wife were left inside with Him. They all went to where the child lay. Then He took the child’s hand.
Jesus: Little girl, it’s time to wake up.
Immediately the 12-year-old girl opened her eyes, arose, and began to walk. Her parents could not believe their eyes.
Jesus (to the parents): Don’t tell anybody what you’ve just seen. Why don’t you give her something to eat? I know she is hungry.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

When I read the story of Jarius’ daughter being raised from the dead today, once again, something caught my attention that had never caught my attention before. I’ve read this story many times and I’ve read the words and as I focused on these words, I even remembered the words, but they never really caught my attention and caused me to question why they were there. The words are quite innocuous. I’ve never thought much about them before. Here they are – “…the 12-year-old girl…”.

What’s important to Mark that he would point out that the person Jesus raised in Jarius’ household was a 12-year-old girl? First of all, Jarius was not a Jew. He was a friend to the Jews, but not a Jew. It was unusual for a Jew to visit his house or for him to ask the assistance of a Jewish teacher. So that’s the first unusual part of the story. Jesus goes into the house of this Gentile to do something for him. But it still begs the question about this particular detail.

We could think about the fact that children and the elderly then and now are the throw-aways of society. Women had a lot of children because many didn’t make it to adulthood. But this young girl had reach the age of twelve, the age at which as a Jew she would have participated in her bat mitzvah. She passed the age at which her parents were no longer held accountable for her transgressions of the law but she was now fully responsible for upholding the law or bearing the punishment for failing to do so.

We could think about the importance of this young daughter to Jarius and his wife. As a 12-year-old, she was about the age for marriage at that time. To lose her at that age was both an emotional and a financial blow to Jarius and his family. Perhaps she had already been pledged to someone in the community. If the dowry had been paid and Jarius and his wife had already spent it, they could be in serious financial trouble. The grooms father would want repayment.

We could think about the twelve years of life this young lady brought to the family through the years. She was fully vetted as an active member of the family. She brought them joy, laughter, anxious moments, pain, excitement, every emotion imaginable, and now she brought them extraordinary sorrow. They knew she would soon make her own family in her own household, but she would always be a part of their home, too. But now her short life was gone almost before it could start.

So why did Mark point out this small detail? This point about Jesus going to heal a 12-year-old girl? Children were the throw-aways of society, then and now. If you were going to discard someone, it would be one of those two groups. Second, the child was a she, not a he. Women held little or no standing in the societies of Jesus’ day. The feminist movement was unheard of. Today’s Shariah laws concerning women would have been considered left-wing liberalism in those days. Women had no rights. Life was harsh. Third, with all these cultural things weighing against any hope for this young life, we see that if no one else does, Jesus cares. He goes out of His way to meet the need of this young lady and her family, even to the point of reminding them that after not eating for the time she lay in state while the professional mourners wailed by her side, she would be hungry. Her parents should hurry and fix her something to eat.

What’s the point? If Jesus cares about such an insignificant person in the society of His day, certainly, He also cares about you. He will help you when you call on Him. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Three days of battle (Matthew 27:46) July 1, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ezekiel 19-24

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 27:46
In the middle of the dark afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.
Jesus: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani—My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

The sun was blotted out. This was no ordinary eclipse. Darkness fell over the earth for hours while the Son of God hung on the cross. It was as if evil finally won and blotted out all the light that God created and said was good. Jesus had taken on the sins of the world and as Satan thought he won the battle, God let darkness creep over the land showing everyone present just how evil men could become.

Throughout His ordeal, Jesus continued to pray from scriptures He’d learned throughout His life. He quoted from the Psalms and poured out His heart to His Father. He used David’ words to gain the strength He need to endure the pain and suffering inflicted on Him by those around Him who didn’t understand the meaning of the sacrifice He made for them or the actions they took against God Himself by hanging Him on that tree.

And now, as Jesus neared the end of His agonizing sacrifice, He cries out in one desperate plea, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.” Which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” When the human side of Jesus needed the Father most, He turned His face away because of the darkness of the sins He bore for us. The Man who committed no sin. The One who served as the perfect sacrifice for us. The Father, turned away to let Him die alone on the cross as the penalty for us, separated from Him for a time.

Utter darkness. Complete separation. Total abandonment. We have never experienced it because God’s Spirit is alive and active in our world today. He does not leave us alone in this place. But He did with His Son for those moments as He carried the whole world’s sins on His shoulders.

We have no record of what happened from the time Jesus was laid in the tomb until He burst forth in resurrection power. We don’t know the struggle that took place between He and Satan. We don’t understand the realm of the after life and what happened to Jesus’ spirit after He took that last breath and left this world to enter the next. But I imagine the real battle took place then.

Satan thought he won when He killed the physical shell that housed the God/Man. He thought it was over when Jesus’ heart stopped its rhythmic beat and His lungs refused to release and accept air in them. Satan thought when the physiological processes ceased, it was over. But I think he and his minions found the battle had only begun when Jesus’ last breath passed His lips.

I think it was at that point, when Jesus had become sin for us and died for us that He entered the depths of hell for us. And there He engaged His enemy in full force. I expect Satan never expected God to visit his domain. God is holy and would never step foot into the bowels of hell which reeks of evil and vice and sin. But when Jesus, the Son of God, became sin for us, then gave His life, and as Paul tells us, descended into Hades, the battle was on. Now the Son of God, covered in our sins, took on the demons of hell in their domain.

What could they do? Here was God in their midst. Satan thought He was defeated, but through His death it gave Him entrance to the very place God would not go because of His holiness. Now carrying our sins into the pits of hell, that place reserved for us, Jesus faced the tormentor for us. And the tormentor could do nothing but bow at Jesus feet because He is Lord of lords, King of kings, Creator of all things. Even the demons bow before Him.

Those days between Jesus’ death and resurrection remain a mystery for us all. One day we can ask what happened in that interim. Until then we can only surmise what Jesus did during that time. But I expect He did not just sleep. I expect He did not just lay on that stone slab in the cave dug out for Joseph’s final burial place. I expect Jesus was busy letting Satan know He had the last word. Sin would not conquer God’s holiness then, now, or anytime in the future. Jesus died to conquer death. Jesus became sin to destroy sin. Jesus paid a visit to hell to take hell off our vacation list and make it possible for us to avoid its trap.

God, the Father, forsook the Man as Jesus hung on the cross. I think the reason was so He would never have to forsake us. Once and for all, Jesus made possible real life without the dominion of sin and death hanging over us. He conquered it all and three days later burst out of the tomb dressed in glory, the garment of victory for all who follow Him.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Passover happens again (Matthew 26:2) June 16, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 4

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 26:2
Jesus: The feast of Passover begins in two days. That is when the Son of Man is handed over to be crucified.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

What incredible timing. We celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus and sometimes don’t think about the connection with Passover as much as we should. As Christians, we sometimes throw out the Jewish holy days without much thought unless they happen to fall on the same days as our Christian holy days. Passover is the day, though! Certainly, without Easter, Passover wouldn’t mean as much to us because Easter demonstrates that Jesus’ sacrifice works, but Passover was the sacrifice!

On that day, while the chief priest and several of his henchmen were consorting with Pilate, something they should not have been doing on this of all days, the rest of the priests were really busy. This day was Passover. What did that mean? Every family was busy getting their young, unblemished lamb blessed and prepared for sacrifice. The temple roared with the pilgrims from all over the world who came to this place to share with friends and family to celebrate the day God freed Israel from slavery from Egypt and made them a nation.

Passover for them was more important than Independence Day for us. We gained our independence from Great Britain and celebrate it as the day we became a free nation, but that’s not quite the same as Passover. The day the Jews celebrate, not only created a new nation, but demonstrated God’s sovereignty over His people and the world by killing the first born of every household across the land unless they were protected by blood smeared on the doorpost of the house. That sign caused the death angels to pass over the house and spare the first born from execution at the hand of God.

Thousands of sheep died on the day Jesus died. Thousands of Jews gathered in homes around their tables clothed in traveling garb with shoes on their feet and shared the story of God’s salvation of His chosen people, rescuing them from the hands of Pharoah. Thousands listened to the message of God’s redemption and the promise of His coming Messiah, blind to the fact that on a hillside just outside the city of Jerusalem the Romans at the bequest of their priests were crucifying the Messiah while they roasted their lamb and told their story.

God brought freedom to all who followed Him. Moses served as His spokesman and led them out of Egypt. All they need to do was follow and obey God’s commands. They didn’t and all the adults who left Egypt died in the desert except Joshua and Caleb. Through the centuries, God continued to send prophets to the Jews to tell them, “All you need to do is follow My commands and you will be free.” They didn’t and God drove them into exile.

He allowed a remnant to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and the city. The nation began to rebuild, but under the overloard of other nations more powerful than they were militarily. God continued to tell them, “All you need to do is follow My commands and you will be free.” They didn’t. God sent His Son, the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords to free us, to redeem us from the penalty of our sins. And again God said, “All you need to do is follow My commands and you will be free.” They didn’t and instead hung His Son on a cross.

God knew all along the sacrifice would be made. And He knew it would be on Passover. The perfect sacrifice on the perfect day in the perfect place. Jesus, the sinless one, sacrificed in Jerusalem, the city of God, on Passover, the day that represented freedom, the breaking of the chains of slavery.

But there is more. Remember the other side of Passover? Remember what happened to those who did not observe the warning? Death struck every household. The sacrifice required the blood of an innocent lamb. But without the blood of the lamb, the death of the first born was the payment for God’s wrath. So blood was shed in every house. Every family saw death. The issue was whether the death was that of a lamb, a substitute, or the first born in the family.

The same is still true today. The penalty for our sins is still death. That’s what we deserve. We earned the death sentence in our disobedience to God. Every single one of us have that paycheck due us. Death stands at the door. But we have an opportunity to apply Jesus’ sacrificial blood on the door of our heart and live. His blood covers our sins and death passes over us instead of visiting us with its eternal damnation.

But the blood must be applied and that is something we must do. Like the Israelites who brushed the lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes, we must accept Jesus as Lord, the power of His saving grace, the sacrifice He made to pay the penalty for our sins. His blood, shed for us, applied to our hearts gives us life instead of death, freedom instead of slavery. Passover happened again the day Jesus died. It happens again every time someone in faith accepts Him as Lord. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Death was never meant to happen (Matthew9:24) February 19, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Isaiah 40-44

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 9:24
Jesus (to the crowd): Go away, and do your ministering somewhere else. This girl is not dead. She is merely asleep.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Everyone knew the girl was dead except Jesus. How could He not know that eyes closed, no movement, total paralysis of every muscle, total lack of response meant no life? How could He not understand that when no heartbeat and no breath existed, no life existed either? The girl was dead. Plain and simple. Was this guy crazy? The mourners were already gathered and playing their funeral dirge. The professionals already made their declaration. The girl was dead! How could He say she was merely asleep? He was nuts!

Everyone knows the difference between life and death. Or do they? Do those who belong to Christ see things the way He does? How does He see life and death? What’s different about how Jesus saw the girl and how those mourners saw her?

We have to go back to the beginning to understand what Jesus saw. God never intended death to enter the world. He brought life here. He created every living thing. He breathed into us so we became living spirits. He gave us a part that He didn’t give other created beings. He gave us immortality when He made us in His image. He intended for us to live with Him forever. It was Adam and Eve who brought the curse of death on humankind. When they disobeyed God’s command, He let the consequences of their disobedience fall on them and on their descendants who could not help but follow in their footsteps. Death entered the world.

But Jesus saw past the curse of Adam and saw God’s intent. He saw death held no power over God, but only over sinful man. I don’t know the age of the official’s daughter, but I expect she still lived in an age of innocence. I expect He saw her heart and her innocence and saw sins curse had not yet reached out to defeat her. She slept in the arms of the Father. Safe. Innocent. Not yet poluted by sinful choices. Jesus saw life hereafter for her.

So for Jesus, He saw only life. Life in her physical frame and life in her spiritual frame. He saw only life, not death. He saw her untainted by the evil of the world at that point in her life and it didn’t matter which realm she sat in at the moment. She had life. Real life. It was just a simple matter of starting her heart again. Putting breath back into her lungs. Healing whatever malady plagued her. Those were simple for the Jesus. He created all things at the beginning. He knew how to do those things. What those around Him didn’t know, He could also move her spirit back and forth from the one realm to another.

No one could do such a thing. No one, that is, except God. God intended for all of us to live forever. God intended everyone to stick around and worship Him. In His grace, He cursed the human physical frame with frailty and disease so we would not live in these broken bodies in this broken world forever. He makes a better place to live with Him forever. A place free from the constraints of this physical frame and encased in a new body, a spiritual body, Paul calls it.

Jesus just moved her from one body to another, from her spiritual form to back to her physical form. We hear stories life that in near death or life after death experiences during surgeries, at car crashes, from victims of traumatic events or other phenomena that bring them past the point of clinical death. Eyes closed, total paralysis, heartbeat stops, breath stops, brain waves cease. Dead. Yet somehow, they come back to this physical world and relate what they’ve seen and experienced.

Jesus gives us a glimpse of what God must see as He looks at those who follow Him. And those who follow Him get a glimpse of what it’s like to give everything up for Him. “Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?” They are gone, because we know that death doesn’t exist. We just step from one world to another. We go from this broken down, decrepid old body, to a new body. A body with no pain, no illness, no sadness, no disappointment, nothing but life, joy, peace.

Those around Him stood amazed at the happenings that day. For Jesus it was nothing. God brings life. From the very beginning until the very end of time, God brings life. The consequence of our disobedience results in death. All it takes to stay on the side of the living is listening to His voice and doing what He asks, following Him. I think I prefer to stay on the side of the living. How about you? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.