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Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
In most places of the world, this is a special weekend known as Palm Sunday weekend. I wonder what it means to you. Will your activities this weekend be affected in any way by what took place in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago when the Palms waved as Jesus came riding on a donkey according to the Biblical account?
I left you yesterday in the village of Bethany, just over the eastern hills from Jerusalem. We were standing outside a tomb, and Jesus had just challenged Martha and His disciples with these words: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25,26)
That outrageous statement has left people scratching their heads for the past 2000 years. It makes no logical sense, and it seems even contradictory, doesn’t it? How can you speak of a person living even though they are dead or the age-old concept of immortality? While extremely rare, Jewish history claimed several ‘resurrection’ experiences: dead people raised back to life in full view of eyewitnesses! Can you name some of them?
* 1 Kings 17:17-24 Elijah the prophet raised the widow from Zarephath’s dead son by God’s power
* 2 Kings 4:14-37 Elisha the prophet raised the Shunammite woman’s dead son by God’s power
* Luke 7:11-17 Jesus raised the widow from Nain’s dead son by God’s power
* Luke 8:40-42;49-56 Jesus raised Jairus’ dead daughter to life by God’s power
* John 11, Jesus raised His friend Lazarus, dead at least five days, back to life by God’s power
Let’s be sure we understand something very important here my friends. In every case, Almighty God did the miracle of raising the person from death back to life, for only God holds the power of life and death in His hands. Second, the dead person was resurrected back into their normal, frail human body and we presume continued their normal growth and aging process and eventually they each died a normal death.
Only Jesus Himself was raised by Almighty God with a total transformation. His horrible wounds suffered in His beatings and crucifixion were all healed, and His resurrected body was a glorified, heavenly body able to elevate into the sky and return Jesus to heaven! (Acts 1:9-11)
But this radical statement Jesus made about Himself BEING the resurrection and the life and people who fully believed in Him would live even after they died, is not talking about the type of resurrection Jesus had already performed on the widow’s son and Jairus’ daughter and was about to do for Lazarus.
Jesus was talking about something entirely different, a limitless, immortal resurrection. And Jesus was talking about a double type of resurrection, do we understand what Jesus was talking about my friends?
We understand human death to be the event when our human body ceases to function. Our heart stops pulsing blood through our veins and our lungs stop breathing and our brains stop thinking. In that moment all our vital organs shut down. Within hours a dead body stiffens and begins to decay. But what about the person who had lived inside that now dead body? The person who spoke and laughed and asked questions? The unique person who had lived their unique story with their unique personality.
When the human body stops to function, what happens to the person we knew and loved? May I suggest “personhood” is not so much the visible body, as much as it is the SOUL and SPIRIT.
The SOUL of a person is their MIND (thinking, intellect, reason, learning, memory) and their HEART (personality, hopes, desires, love and all other emotions) and finally their WILL (choices, decisions, plans, intentions). It’s really your SOUL that we all love and know as the real you! And finally, the SPIRIT is the spiritual part of us. Spirit is our morality and morals; our sense of right and wrong; our conscience; our spiritual awareness; our relationship with God.
And did you know that when God created YOU and me and all human beings, He designed our wonderful BODIES to be temporary and vulnerable, requiring we pay attention to protect, nurture and care for our bodies. And have you discovered that no matter how good of a job you do in caring for your body it is aging and eventually you won’t be able to ignore or pretend that your body isn’t wrinkling and your body’s unable to do the things you did when you were young.
But have you noticed that our SOUL and SPIRIT are NOT affected in the same deteriorating way as our body? As we age, we mature, we learn, we develop and did you know your Soul and Spirit are immortal, that part of you will NEVER die, never cease to function, never!?
That’s part of what Jesus meant when He said we live even though we die! Your soul and spirit, that part of you which your friends and family love so much, will live forever, even without your body! And for those of us who trust Jesus Christ to save us from our sin bondage and sin condemnation, when our bodies die, our soul and spirit will spend eternity with Jesus in His heaven!!
For those who do not choose Jesus, their soul and spirit will also live forever, but in a place far away from Jesus and God and all that is good and holy. This powerful truth is what Jesus meant and His victory over His death in His resurrection is His invitation for us to trust Him.
Finally, while those standing with Jesus that day could not possibly have yet understood what I’ve just explained to you, furthermore they could not imagine that one day EVERY human being would experience a resurrection body, just as Jesus received in His resurrection. And we will each live forever in our new, immortal, not aging, never ill, God given body! That’s why Jesus, in Colossians 1:15 is called “The firstborn over all creation…” For God will give to all of us bodies which will live forever, a body just as Jesus received in His resurrection. Those resurrected bodies will have the same function your body has now… to contain your soul and spirit and be visible, touchable, embraceable to us who know and love you!
Now think about that my friends…all of that is what Jesus meant in saying to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25,26) I think it’s time to praise Jesus, what about you? And here’s a great song of celebration to help us open our eyes to see and embrace what Jesus meant!
Today’s Scripture: John 11:21-27.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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