NO FEAR OF DEATH
08th Apr 2020
Our son Daniel was preaching, on our LiveCast FB Sunday service, on the events leading up to Palm Sunday, and started with the resurrection of Lazarus, and went on to demonstrate how Jesus always had a ‘now word’ for each situation He faced, no ‘rote’ with Him!
I had a revelation whilst Daniel was preaching, which I will share with you. Hebrews 4:15 in the Message says, “We don’t have a High Priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all - but the sin.” Sometimes we forget the human side of Jesus and think of His God nature shielding Him from human emotions. Not so!
He laid aside His Majesty and lived a limited human life, although His contact with His Father empowered all He did and said. He knew the time was coming when He would die, He made His way to Jerusalem knowing He was to become an atoning sacrifice - truly the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Do you think He had no feelings of apprehension of the unknown, the how, when and what if? Death is a fear inducing event and He battled with it in the Garden of Gethsemane, and yet chose to obey the Father, and willingly offered Himself to be the Saviour of the world.
When Lazarus died, Jesus waited for 3 days before going to Bethany to call him back into life. Lazarus rose and the grave clothes were removed and many came to verify and marvel at this wonder. I realised how important this was for Jesus; to lose His friend was awful, seeing him raised was not only awesome and glorious, it was a demonstration that He needed to witness in order to deal with His own imminent death. I believe the Father was encouraging His beloved Son. He had demonstrated in the raising of Lazarus that He would also raise Jesus. Jesus saw this with His own eyes and I’m sure it both comforted and gave Him hope. (Ponder this).
As believers we do not fear death, we have already been given eternal life and for us death is a transition from this life into our new future. Hebrews 2:15 says, “By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.”
I’m just overwhelmed by God the Father’s Lazarus demonstration, it’s timing before Jesus set out to Jerusalem, and the glorious pre-Calvary proclamation that resurrection is not only possible - it is a reality.
by Joyce Sibthorpe
