Where is the sting of death?

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Česky: Kříže - symbol utrpení Ježíše Krista a jeho ukřižování (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

Death has no power. It has been swallowed up whole by the triumphant resurrection of our Master Jesus. This is reality. Does death have the last word on things? Not hardly. No way. Jesus has seen to that. It is over.

Who should be afraid of death knowing what we know? No one. Certainly not me.

It was not following God's plan that gave death it's leverage. It doesn't have that hold now. Jesus has given me, in one single victorious stroke of life, a life free from guilt. A life free from sin. A life free from death. The old life of trying to live up to all the rules is gone. How destructive was that? Way too much guilt for sure. But it is gone in His redeeming power of His death and the victory of His ressurection.

May I experience that gift every day. May I experience it today for sure!!!

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Related articles

• Sermon: The Empty Threat of Death, Part VII, I Corinthians 15:50-57 (apologus.wordpress.com)


• Where is Your Sting? (eyekandiphotography.wordpress.com)


• Why Jesus Came To Die: Reason #41 (sandhillsonline.org)


• "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (richardangulo.wordpress.com)

"Little girl, get up." ~~Jesus to a dead 12 year old girl

She is 12 years old. She got sick and died. Everyone is beside themselves in grief and horror. Jesus arrives on the scene at the request of the father. When he goes in to the room where her dead body is lying, He says very little other than "Little girl, get up". At that, she was up and walking around! They were all beside themselves with joy. Amazed. Stunned. Ecstatic.

This is stunning. This is the power of God in Jesus. We have the same Holy Spirit in us. May I live my life knowing of this stunning power.

"Little girl, get up." ~~Jesus to a dead 12 year old girl

"Why all this busybody grief and gossip?" ~~Jesus

We get consumed our feelings. Jesus challenges us to move beyond that and see His world. He can provoke us to sarcasm. We see and feel reality. We are sad beyond belief. Jesus is abrupt with us. We need Him to challenge us. We tell Jesus He doesn't know what He is talking about. We really say that to Him.

He doesn't listen to us, thank God. He knows what His Father wants to do. He does it. In spite of us and all our sarcasm. He raises the girl from the dead. That is what God wanted to do. He is God. He has a plan.

He permitted no one to go in with him except Peter, James, and John. They entered the leader's house and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: "Why all this busybody grief and gossip? This child isn't dead; she's sleeping." Provoked to sarcasm, they told him he didn't know what he was talking about. Mark 5:37-40

"The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice." ~~Jesus

Jesus lives. He is resurrected. God is a God of resurrection. We will live a resurrected life with Him. That is His promise to us.

He also clues us in there will those who live a resurrected life of judgement. We need to choose Jesus.

"The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice." ~~Jesus  

How puzzled would I be?

After Jesus was crucified, he was hastily buried as the clock was ticking moving toward the Sabbath. No work could be done. So they had to wait. And wait. And wait. It must have seemed like an eternity that long Saturday. On Sunday they were up and at it at the crack of dawn. When they got to the tomb, they couldn't find Jesus body. And they were puzzled. I know I would have been as well. Probably more than puzzled.

But they moved on from being puzzled into belief. The angels explained it all to them. Jesus wasn't there but raised up from the dead. And they remembered Jesus' words.

Belief. Faith. Joy.

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn't find the body of the Master Jesus.

They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, "Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?" Then they remembered Jesus' words. via Luke 24 MSG | YouVersion.

Who is in charge?

Who is Jesus? The very Son of God who, as man, died for us and is now resurrected. But in His resurrection, God has put Him in charge of everything. Nothing is exempt at all. Not a single thing.

So, how long will he be in charge? Imagine billions and billions of years. Imagine it never ending. That is hard to get my mind around some days because this is a world where things come to an end. In Jesus, who is in charge of everything forever, I live and have the same life. This is His gift to me.

All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. Ephesians 1:20 via Ephesians | YouVersion.

Nothing sparse at all: A Poem

He has always been supreme.
He was in the beginning and
He will be in the end.

He is leading the resurrection parade.
The Captain in the lead.

He is there for me from the beginning
to the end.

He is always there, never leaving.
He towers strong and mighty
above everything and everyone.

No one can match His marvelous love.
He is spacious in His love.

He has so much room
there is nothing sparse in His love at all.

He has so much room in His love
that everything finds its place
without any crowding at all.
everything dislocated,
everything out of place
and put it all together again.

He has put it all together in harmony.
Nothing out of place.
All fitting in His spacious room of love.

He did this through His blood
and His death.

That precious blood
that poured down from the cross.
of what He can do through His love.

I had turned my back on Him.
I had rebellious thoughts day and night.
I gave Him trouble every chance I got.

But now I have given myself completely to the cross,
knowing He actually died for me.

I am made whole and holy in His love.
I can’t walk away from a gift like that.

I must stay grounded.
I must stay steady.
I must honor that bond of trust.
I must stay constantly tuned in to His Message.
I must lean in and hear what He is saying.

There is no other message at all.
This is the only message.

Every creature in heaven
and earth gets the same message.

May I be His faithful messenger.
He has taken everything broken,
I am a case study.
I am His completely.

He is not here

It is a simple message but the most powerful one I can know. I should not be afraid. Jesus was crucified. He has risen! God so loved me that He sent him to redeem me. The price has been paid and He has risen, defeating death.

What an amazing God we have! And how fortunate I am to have Him! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, I've been given a brand-new life!

May I fully know the power of the risen Saviour.

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 'Don't be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. Mark 16