Speaker: Rick Martinez
Scripture: Acts 1:1-11
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Life…and Death
My wife Kath’s dad is 91 years old. He was born in 1920. He lived through the great depression, served in World War II, raised a family in the 50′s, and watched the world change dramatically through the end of the 20th century. Today, his life is nearing its end as he lives out his length of days with his loving family gathering to surround him during his life’s final moments.
Life is an amazingly beautiful and mysterious thing. It is such a gift, being given by God to experience the world He created for our pleasure and enjoyment. It is filled with such joy, such happiness, and with such sadness and sorrow as well. Sometimes I just stop and think, “What is life?” It is so much more than a biological interaction between organisms on a spinning sphere in the universe. But to define life is almost impossible in some ways, apart from a faith in God, because it is faith in God that gives this life its meaning and context. And more importantly it is the same faith that dispels the fear of death.
You cannot think of life without thinking of death. Well, you can for a little while I guess, but eventually we all have to face the inevitably of death’s existence. The first time a child loses a gold fish or a dog, as a parent we have to try to explain what death is to them. And then when they are old enough to understand the death of a grandparent or other close relative, death suddenly becomes very real and way too final for their young hearts and minds.
I first experienced death’s finality when my grandma passed away when I was 7 years old. She died in our home after a short illness. I remember coming home from school to a house filled with grief and tears. I remember the funeral…I had to leave because I became sick from the overwhelming sense of sadness in the atmosphere. And I remember being haunted by the unknown of what death was as a child, until I was old enough to bury my fear of it in the haze of marijuana smoke and LSD.
But it wasn’t until I came to faith in Jesus at age 25 that I was finally able to face the enemy death head on. I understood then through my new found faith, that unknown to me death had already been at work in me. And I understood for the first time, that through faith in Jesus’ death for me, and His resurrection from that death, I had passed from death to life eternally and I would never have to fear death’s grip again! There is no greater comfort or joy than knowing that those you love are passing on into eternity secure in God’s love.
As these bodies groan under the weight of sin’s consequence, our souls live on, stronger and stronger each passing day. The Bible says this life is like a mere breath, like the grass in a field…so fleeting in light of eternity. The Psalmist asked, “What is man that your are mindful of him?” Of course later the same Psalmist gave the answer to his own question. It is that man is “fearfully and wonderfully made”, created in the image of God Himself.
Yet, this thing called life remains mostly a mystery, and for the true believer, the passage from this life to the next will forever be holy ground.
The death of one that belongs to the Lord is precious in his sight.
Psalm 116:15
The Reason For It All
Speaker: Rick Martinez
Scripture: Romans 8:15-17
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A Heart Postured For Action
Speaker: Todd Roome
Scripture: Acts 20:31-38
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Sin Conscious Or Life Conscious
Speaker: Rick Martinez
Scripture: Romans 7:1 – 8:5
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What Will You Do With Christ?
Speaker: Rick Martinez
Scripture: Acts 2:22-41
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The Power Of The Tomb
Saturday of the Passion Week
I am writing this week on events that took place each day of the week prior to the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Please read the highlighted text, as it will serve as the basis for what I have written as the devotional. God bless you as you meditate on the grace of God poured out for you!
Matthew 27:62-66
That’s all there are in the Bible. Five verses to cover the whole day of Saturday, the day Jesus lay in the tomb dead from crucifixion. John in his gospel tells us it was also a Sabbath. On the Sabbath, Father God rested from His works. On a Sabbath the Lord Jesus rested from His as well. It was also the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was the second of three consecutive feasts on three consecutive days that the Jews celebrated. The first was the Passover, the second Unleavened Bread, and the third First Fruits.
Jesus was crucified on the Passover, He lay in the tomb on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and He rose on the day of the Feast of First Fruits. God’s plans and ways are so perfect.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrated and reminded the Jews of God’s deliverance from Egypt. On the night the Passover was inaugurated, God commanded the nation to eat the Passover meal with their cloaks on, with their sandals on, with their staffs in their hands and to only eat unleavened bread, because they were to eat the meal in haste. Literally they wouldn’t have time to let the bread rise, so they must eat it unleavened. Passover represents God’s judgment on Egypt and foreshadowed the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross. The Feast of Unleavened Bread represents God’s deliverance from the power of sin and its oppression on mankind. If the cross dealt with sins I committed, the tomb deals with the sin tendency in me. I sin because I am sinful. The cross and the tomb. Friday and Saturday. Passover and Unleavened Bread. Forgiveness and deliverance. Thank God for both.
If we are to walk in the fullness of the New Testament revelation as believers, we must be convinced of the delivering power of the three-day period between the crucifixion and the resurrection of our Lord. Forgiveness from sin is wonderful and our redemption is certain because of the cross. But the intended fruitfulness of the resurrection life of Jesus at work in me is founded on the certainty of the delivering power of the grave of Jesus Christ.
“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death…If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.” Romans 6:4-5
Saints of God, the only time a resurrection is needed is when you are dead! To celebrate the resurrection is to have fully experienced the tomb. The work of the tomb must be complete and when it is fully embraced (which baptism is intended to portray), it will have its perfect work in me. A dead man is free from sin. The power of sin’s hold on me has been broken. This is the power of the tomb. The Feast of Unleavened Bread prophesied a people who had been delivered from sin’s bondage and then the grave’s hold would be broken the next day. Tomorrow we will celebrate that victory, but today, know that you are free. Free from the hold of sin, free from your slavery to pharaoh, free from Satan’s grip on your life. Yes, that Saturday over 2,000 years was a good day for you and me!
Once again Lord, I am amazed at your plan and in awe of your wisdom. The tomb in which Jesus lay was so important for my future. Now through my faith in Your Son, Father, I too have died and been buried with Christ. I am now dead to the law…and dead to sin. Help me through grace to understand the power of the tomb as it broke sin’s power off of my life. Amen!
