Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Life, consuming death
Perishable must put on imperishable. Mortality must put on immortality.
Death is swallowed up by victory.
As I watched my friend dying of cancer I found myself thinking "his life is being swallowed up by the cancer." Yet when I saw this scripture the Lord showed me I had it backwards.
We are all walking in death. We're all dying even as we live, day to day. What I saw in my friend is that life (immortality) was consuming his death. The imperishable was swallowing up or absorbing his perishable, his mortality.
When it was finished, death died and he became fully alive. So then the saying became true, death is swallowed up in victory. Death is swallowed up by life. So, death: where is your victory? Life (resurrection life) is so powerful, it can consume and destroy death.
This happens on a personal scale, and it is also happening to the entire creation.
When Christ returns, at the end of the millennium, he will create a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no more death, no more corruption, no more sin. We all will be, in a sense, like God: knowing good and evil, yet confirmed in the choice of good.
This is certainly not in the sense the devil intended it to mean. Perhaps, even before He made man, God had mentioned to the devil that at some point that man would become like God. The devil warped that into a platform for rebellion.
The difference is this: the devil wants (and wants us to want) the non-moral attributes of God, like power, omniscience, omnipotence. God wants us to want His moral attributes. I see "becoming like God" as being confirmed in His moral attributes: goodness, holiness, purity, faithfulness ...
When life makes its final move upon death, those who have trusted Jesus as their savior will be confirmed in this goodness. "When He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is."
Death is swallowed up by victory.
As I watched my friend dying of cancer I found myself thinking "his life is being swallowed up by the cancer." Yet when I saw this scripture the Lord showed me I had it backwards.
We are all walking in death. We're all dying even as we live, day to day. What I saw in my friend is that life (immortality) was consuming his death. The imperishable was swallowing up or absorbing his perishable, his mortality.
When it was finished, death died and he became fully alive. So then the saying became true, death is swallowed up in victory. Death is swallowed up by life. So, death: where is your victory? Life (resurrection life) is so powerful, it can consume and destroy death.
This happens on a personal scale, and it is also happening to the entire creation.
When Christ returns, at the end of the millennium, he will create a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no more death, no more corruption, no more sin. We all will be, in a sense, like God: knowing good and evil, yet confirmed in the choice of good.
This is certainly not in the sense the devil intended it to mean. Perhaps, even before He made man, God had mentioned to the devil that at some point that man would become like God. The devil warped that into a platform for rebellion.
The difference is this: the devil wants (and wants us to want) the non-moral attributes of God, like power, omniscience, omnipotence. God wants us to want His moral attributes. I see "becoming like God" as being confirmed in His moral attributes: goodness, holiness, purity, faithfulness ...
When life makes its final move upon death, those who have trusted Jesus as their savior will be confirmed in this goodness. "When He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is."
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
Post a Comment