The Entombed

I have been enjoying the beautiful spring weather.  I am thankful that I live in an area with an early spring.  As of yet, I haven’t been blessed with seeing a beautiful butterfly emerge from its cocoon.  They all must still be in their “pupa” stage like me.  I spiritually am a pupa.  Sometime in Spring all the butterflies will emerge as a new creation.  A wonderful natural example of what God does with us. I would love to emerge as an “imago” this Spring.  Fully developed for the Lord and ready to fly for Him! The Latin word “imago” means “image”.  At full maturity butterflies are their completed image.  For Christians we will emerge as the completed image of Christ.

Jonah is a prime example of a sinner, like us, who rebelled and was dealt with by God.  God determined that entombing Jonah in a great fish for three days would help develop him in to the man of God that would preach His truth to an evil nation.

Jonah 2:1 & 6

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish:

I sank to the foundations of the mountains; the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever! But You raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God!

Jonah’s time of being entombed and maturing in the great fish also would serve as a prophecy or a sign to coming generations of what Christ would do.

Matthew 12:40

For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

Luke 23:53

Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed.

Praise to God that Christ’s entombment was not the last stop.  Christ would come out with His complete image.  His deity, power and mission would be seen clearly.  The true beauty of Christ’s love and sacrifice would be seen.  Prophecy was fulfilled!

I Corinthians 15:4

that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

I am encouraged to know that Jesus’ entombment meant that I would become a new creation.

II Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.

I can’t wait until that day that I am no longer entombed and I see full maturity and beauty as that new creation for the Lord!

The Pitted

There have been three times in my life that I can think of off the top of my head where I was physically stuck and had trouble getting out.  Two of the situations I thought I would die.  When I came out of each situation I was covered in dirty water or mud from head to toe.  On at least one of those occasions I was helped by someone to get out of that situation (or pit) I was stuck in.  I may or may not have really died, but it is all in what we are focused on while we are down in the “pit”.  Sometimes I fell in that “pit” by my own fault and sometimes it was because of circumstances outside of my control.  They weren’t places I wanted or needed to be, but nonetheless it is still where I ended up.  Thankfully, God and others got me out of those physical “pits”.  I have fallen in to some spiritual pits too.  Some by my own choice and some caused by others.  Thankfully, God has always been there and pulled me up and out.  I don’t like being stuck in life threatening places or in spiritual holes.

The story of Joseph is inspiring.  I love reading it.  May I have the faith and integrity of Joseph.  Joseph is a great example of someone thrown in to a pit by another when he didn’t deserve it.  Read Genesis Chapter 37 for the full story. 

Genesis 37:23

23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. 24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Genesis 37:33

33 His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

Joseph was stripped of his robe like Jesus and thrown in to the pit of death.  Like Joseph, Jesus was thought to be dead by those who loved him (Luke 24).  Joseph’s father and Jesus’ disciples were deeply saddened and discouraged to think there loved one was dead.  In many ways they were thrown in to their own spiritual pit.  They didn’t need to join Joseph or Jesus there.  King David was thrown in to many a pit during his lifetime.  Some were physical and some were spiritual.  In Psalm 40:2, David speaks to this type of experience and at the same time prophesies of Jesus’ time in the pit.

Psalm 40:2

He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.

David reminds us that God brings us up out of the pits we are in.  He sets us on the rock of Jesus.  He makes our steps secure.  We do not need to hang out in the pits we or others have made.  There is a way of escape.  For Joseph, his brothers took him back out and sold him in to slavery.  Unknowingly to them at the time, his pit release would later set them free from their own physical and spiritual pits.

We need to remember what Jesus did for us.  Like Joseph, Jesus, went in to that pit and was left for dead for us.  They both went in and came out and provided a better life for those they loved.We need to use common sense and remember that if Jesus went in to that pit and conquered death and is alive and in control, that He can get us out of our pits and keep us out.  Look up and out of that pit!  Don’t look down!  Reach for the one who has the keys!

Revelation 1:18

and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

The Offered

How many times has there been a friend or family member that you would have done anything for to help them out of a trial or problem they were going through?  Parents hate to see their kids get in to trouble and try to get them out of whatever situation they have gotten themselves in to.  Friends are hurting and we try to do something to make them feel better.  Out of love for others, our protective mode clicks on.  Sometimes even to our own detriment.  We offer our time, money or assistance sometimes at great sacrifice.  We feel the sacrifice of ourselves is more important than seeing others suffer.  One of those classic scenes of self-sacrifice for others was played out by Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  The Warp drive is damaged and to save the crew Spock enters the radiation contaminated chamber and repairs the warp drive.  One of his final lines is “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”

Moses loved the people of God so much that he, too, offered himself in their place.  Even with all the rebellion (Exodus 32), he still loved them enough to be erased from God’s book.  Read Exodus 32: 31 – 35.

³¹ So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves. ³² Now if You would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book You have written.” ³³ The Lord replied to Moses: “I will erase whoever has sinned against Me from My book. ³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, My angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin.” ³⁵ And the Lord inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

What an offer to make to God for the sake of other’s salvation!  Are you as willing to offer yourself up for others to be able to have eternal life?  God provides us with some valuable instructions in this account.  One, Moses showed us how to sacrificially love others for the sake of their salvation.  Two, God showed us that it is important to be willing to offer, but let Him determine what is really best to help the other person.  We have to listen to his words of wisdom as we deal with others.  Sometimes, we just witness to them, advise them, etc.  Other times, God will want us to stand back and let them be accountable for their own choices.

Thankfully, God provided the best offering for everyone through Jesus, who lives as our example.

Ephesians 5:2

And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

The Beloved

My children mean more to me than they could ever know.  They are my beloved ones.  They are dearly loved.  They are loved much.  I would die for them.  I would never want them to sacrifice their life for me.  I remember reading a book in College that I didn’t really want to read due to some of the subjects covered in the book (ghosts, etc).  It was called “Beloved”.  It dealt with the maternal bond between an escaped African-American Slave and her children.  The way I remember it the story line pivots around a time in the lead character’s past and how it affected her throughout her life.  She had escaped and thought her old slave master was coming to take her and the children.  She didn’t want the children to live that life.  Sadly, in panic and fear she kills her two year old daughter as she and the children fearfully hid in the shed.  When the slave owner arrives they find the bloody scene in the shed and determine that the mother has gone insane and would be no good as a slave.  The toddler is laid to rest with a tombstone that says, “Beloved”.  Through the sacrifice of the child the rest are saved.  If the mother had sacrificed herself, the children would have still been taken captive and she would not have been able to protect them.  With the sacrifice of the one child all the rest could live.  What a horrible choice to have to make, to give up your beloved child to save others.

Abraham must have appeared insane, too, to those around him.  However, in God’s eyes, he was seen as righteous (Genesis 15:6).  That righteousness was proven even more in the account in Genesis 22 of Abraham’s of taking his only beloved son up to be sacrificed.  In Genesis 22:2, God gives the command and even states the fact that He knows Isaac is Abraham’s beloved:

“Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

Abraham, the righteous father, does not appear to blink an eye.  He does not hesitate.  Verse 3 tells us that he got up and went.  Abraham wasn’t in fear of his life.  Abraham only had one blood son.  Isaac was to be his future.  Yet, somehow in faith Abraham trusted that God knew what was best and would take care of his future one way or the other.  Either Abraham believed God was powerful enough to resurrect Isaac or that He would provide a new son.  Whatever, the case Abraham believed God, just like he did when God promised him a baby son years before.

Through Abraham’s act of faith, not only was his future provided for, but so was ours.  He passed God’s test and God blessed with the Jewish nation and the promised Messiah who would save us all.  God, our righteous father, sacrificed His Only Beloved Son, that we all could live.  Can you imagine how God felt as Jesus hung on that cross bearing our sins?  His righteous, beloved Jesus had to die to save us who were sinful.  The tears God the Father must have shed.  Yet, like Abraham, God did not blink an eye. In His wisdom, He did what needed to be done.  His Beloved Son’s death proves the righteousness, mercy and love of the Father for us.  How proud God the Father was of Jesus His Beloved Son!

Matthew 3:17

And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!

Do You Believe This?

I remember as a kid watching Doug Henning perform magic tricks or illusions.  He did some pretty amazing things.  His annual shows were so good that he won quite a few Emmys.  One particular illusion has never left my mind.  It is one that really made me wonder how real the “magic” really was.  With that particular trick he managed to walk through a solid brick wall.  Being I wasn’t there on stage with him I have no way of knowing how real that brick wall was or if camera trickery or mirrors were used.  I just know that it looked awfully real.  The question was, did I believe it was an illusion done very well or really something more?  Was it real magic?  Did he really walk through that wall?  I know in his personal life he was in to Transcendental Meditation and other such new age things.

There are many occasions in our lives that we will encounter things and not know what to believe.  We may even turn to those around us and say, “Do you believe this?”  We need someone else’s five senses and logic to help us figure it out.  Jesus was God in the flesh and He came to this Earth to demonstrate God’s power to us.  He performed many miracles that we have the opportunity to read, even some that are not recorded according to scripture.  I am sure there were a lot of skeptics surrounding the disciples and Jesus.  We see “healings” today performed by Faith Healers.   Do we believe what we see?  It is all an internal decision made with guidance from the Holy Spirit if we are listening to Him.  He can confirm what is real or not real.

During Easter week (which I really hate calling this special week that, because that is a Pagan holiday), we take time to remember and encourage ourselves with what Christ did.  He out of love for us died on the cross and resurrected.  He did it all of His own free will.  Some may say this was all an illusion.  I had a professor once who told me there was probably a back door to the cave and his body was stolen by his disciples.  If we want to, we can excuse anything away that we want.  We have to choose to believe or not believe.  Read what Jesus said in John 11:25-26.

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.26 Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”

Do you believe in Him?  Do you believe in what He did for you?  Do you believe He died for your sins?  Do you believe He resurrected?  Do you believe that you can live eternally with Him?  Do you believe this?

Moon Zombies

What could you and a creature from the 1950’s movie, “Attack of the Moon Zombies” have in common?  Well in this old very bad “B” Sci-fi movie a mysterious plant is found on the surface of the moon.  Its spores change the base’s crew into leafy, undead creatures.  Even though these humans are now basically dead as humans they keep on going.  They attack, they wreak havoc, etc.  They seem to have a new focus and sense of purpose as these leafy creatures.  They no longer sit around having cups of coffee and chatting.  They no longer follow the fashion trends and read every book in a new hot and popular series.  Instead they do what they are now designed to do…scare people and make messes.

Now you ask yourself, what could I possibly have in common with that ugly leafy creature?  Well when you received Christ you now became a part of God’s vine.  You are a leafy branch.  You are no longer supposed to live out your human life like you did.  You are a new leafy creature.  Now you might not wreak havoc, scare people and make messes, but you will receive a new purpose and focus as a Christian.  God will direct you and guide you in to His service.  Read Romans 6:8-11.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The life we once knew is now dead and we are a new creature in Christ.  The problem is that many of us keep on trying to live the life we had before we received Christ in to our hearts.  We need to remember that Christ gave up His life so we could have that new life.  He completed the job when He resurrected.  We are reminded of these facts every Easter season.  What was the point of Jesus dying if we are just going to keep living like we did?  It makes no common sense for Christ to have given up everything to do this for us.  Picture those ugly leafy creatures casually sitting down on the lunar base with the regular humans.  They are smoking a cigarette and reading the paper while they drink a cup of coffee.  They talk about the fashion article with their human companion sitting at the table.  Somehow they look abnormal, like they aren’t supposed to be just sitting there.  They really look like they are not taking care of business.  They need to get up and throw some tables and chairs around and start chasing people.  Then they would be doing what they were designed to do. 

Are you doing what you were designed to?  Have you died to yourself and what you want in life?  Have you died with Christ and risen to a new life with Christ?  Are you that leafy new creature finding its source of life in the vine?

Enjoy the Privilege!

I know in several states (and it may be in all of them) that they print inside their driver’s license manual the words, “Driving is a privilege, not a right.”  The goal is to teach the public that you need to remember that driving is really a special thing to be allowed to do.  We need to take it seriously.  We need to be careful how we drive.  We need to follow the rules and drive safely. 

As Christians we have been given an even better privilege than driving.  Read Romans 1: 3 – 5.

3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line,4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

When we received what Christ did for us on the Cross and through His resurrection, we also received the privilege to share that good news with others.  In these verses we are receiving instructions to take that special privilege seriously.  When we use that privilege correctly, we will glorify God.  We should be eternally thankful for what Jesus endured that last week of His life on Earth.  All of our sins were laid upon Him on that Cross.  He endured separation from God, the Father.  He gave us eternal life through His display of God’s great love and power on that Cross and in that Resurrection.  Enjoy the privilege!

Opposite Ends

Back in 2000, M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed a movie about two particular superheroes called, “Unbreakable”.  Wikipedia explains the plot this way, “Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) is born with Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare disease in which bones break easily. Drawing on what he has read in comic books during his many hospital stays, Price theorizes that if he is frail at one extreme, then perhaps there is someone strong at the opposite extreme. Years later, security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is also searching for meaning in his life. He gave up a promising football career to marry his love Audrey (Robin Wright Penn) after they were involved in an auto accident. However, their marriage is dissolving, to the distress of their young son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark). Returning from a job interview in New York, David is the sole survivor of a horrific train wreck that killed 131 passengers, sustaining no injuries himself. He is contacted by the adult Elijah, who proposes to a disbelieving David that he is a real instance of the kind of person after whom comic-book superheroes are modeled.”  At the end of the movie Elijah explains his theory to David.  He tells him that they are exact opposites. Elijah is broken and fragile.  David is unbreakable and strong.  During the conversation David realizes that they are opposites in more ways than their health.  He realizes that Elijah had been causing disasters and death to find the perfect superhero who was on the opposite end of the spectrum.  They both come to understand that Elijah is also the Villian and David the Good Superhero.  They were exact opposites in purpose and focus.

Once we have accepted what Christ did on the Cross for us and through His resurrection we realize that we will experience exact opposites in our spiritual life, as Christ did during his life on Earth.  Those exact opposites were experienced in their peak during that final Passover week that Jesus experienced.  Read Philippians 3:10-12.

10 My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. 12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

In these verses we find some wisdom we need to remember as walk our walk with the Lord.  As followers of Christ we too will experience sufferings like Christ.  Yet on the opposite end of our spiritual walk we will experience the power of His resurrection.  You can’t have one without the other. Our sufferings don’t compare to what Christ experienced, but they do help us to be more grateful for what He did go through for us.  We do experience sufferings we need to remember that we can experience God’s power through them.  We just need to totally rely on God and seek Him.  We need to ask for His power, grace and mercy as we go through them.  In this case, opposite ends is a good thing that we can learn wisdom from.

Do You Believe This?

I remember as a kid watching Doug Henning perform magic tricks or illusions.  He did some pretty amazing things.  His annual shows were so good that he won quite a few Emmys.  One particular illusion has never left my mind.  It is one that really made me wonder how real the “magic” really was.  With that particular trick he managed to walk through a solid brick wall.  Being I wasn’t there on stage with him I have no way of knowing how real that brick wall was or if camera trickery or mirrors were used.  I just know that it looked awfully real.  The question was, did I believe it was an illusion done very well or really something more?  Was it real magic?  Did he really walk through that wall?  I know in his personal life he was in to Transcendental Meditation and other such new age things.

There are many occasions in our lives that we will encounter things and not know what to believe.  We may even turn to those around us and say, “Do you believe this?”  We need someone else’s five senses and logic to help us figure it out.  Jesus was God in the flesh and He came to this Earth to demonstrate God’s power to us.  He performed many miracles that we have the opportunity to read, even some that are not recorded according to scripture.  I am sure there were a lot of skeptics surrounding the disciples and Jesus.  We see “healings” today performed by Faith Healers.   Do we believe what we see?  It is all an internal decision made with guidance from the Holy Spirit if we are listening to Him.  He can confirm what is real or not real.

During Easter week (which I really hate calling this special week that, because that is a Pagan holiday), we take time to remember and encourage ourselves with what Christ did.  He out of love for us died on the cross and resurrected.  He did it all of His own free will.  Some may say this was all an illusion.  I had a professor once who told me there was probably a back door to the cave and his body was stolen by his disciples.  If we want to, we can excuse anything away that we want.  We have to choose to believe or not believe.  Read what Jesus said in John 11:25-26.

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. ²⁶ Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”

Do you believe in Him?  Do you believe in what He did for you?  Do you believe He died for your sins?  Do you believe He resurrected?  Do you believe that you can live eternally with Him?  Do you believe this?

Moon Zombies

What could you and a creature from the 1950’s movie, “Attack of the Moon Zombies” have in common?  Well in this old very bad “B” Sci-fi movie a mysterious plant is found on the surface of the moon.  Its spores change the base’s crew into leafy, undead creatures.  Even though these humans are now basically dead as humans they keep on going.  They attack, they wreak havoc, etc.  They seem to have a new focus and sense of purpose as these leafy creatures.  They no longer sit around having cups of coffee and chatting.  They no longer follow the fashion trends and read every book in a new hot and popular series.  Instead they do what they are now designed to do…scare people and make messes.

Now you ask yourself, what could I possibly have in common with that ugly leafy creature?  Well when you received Christ you now became a part of God’s vine.  You are a leafy branch.  You are no longer supposed to live out your human life like you did.  You are a new leafy creature.  Now you might not wreak havoc, scare people and make messes, but you will receive a new purpose and focus as a Christian.  God will direct you and guide you in to His service.  Read Romans 6:8-11.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The life we once knew is now dead and we are a new creature in Christ.  The problem is that many of us keep on trying to live the life we had before we received Christ in to our hearts.  We need to remember that Christ gave up His life so we could have that new life.  He completed the job when He resurrected.  We are reminded of these facts every Easter season.  What was the point of Jesus dying if we are just going to keep living like we did?  It makes no common sense for Christ to have given up everything to do this for us.  Picture those ugly leafy creatures casually sitting down on the lunar base with the regular humans.  They are smoking a cigarette and reading the paper while they drink a cup of coffee.  They talk about the fashion article with their human companion sitting at the table.  Somehow they look abnormal, like they aren’t supposed to be just sitting there.  They really look like they are not taking care of business.  They need to get up and throw some tables and chairs around and start chasing people.  Then they would be doing what they were designed to do. 

Are you doing what you were designed to?  Have you died to yourself and what you want in life?  Have you died with Christ and risen to a new life with Christ?  Are you that leafy new creature finding its source of life in the vine?