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No obstacle in life is too great for Christ!
Christ has conquered death, turns our self-will to be the same as God's will,
helps us see beyond annoying circumstances in daily life.
Let's discuss the most important of these three first, that Christ has conquered
our death.
The kind of "death" Christ is talking about is physical death. Mark 15:37 reads,
"With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last."
Death makes life cease. Jesus' death is earthly as the blood and the tomb show.
Here are several examples showing how Christ's conquering death is made quite
plain to humans. The first example is in the heavenly messengers at the tomb.
They plainly say to all who have come to the tomb, "Jesus is not here. He is
risen." Jesus also speaks quite plainly to us when he says to the disciples, "I
am going to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God." He also
says, "I will not drink wine with you again until I drink wine anew with you in
my Father's kingdom."
In addition to physical death itself, there are examples of Christ's feelings
toward our death. When the Lord saw the widow of Nain, and her dead son being
carried out on a bier, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." He
immediately said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" When Jesus saw that the
disciples were grieving because he was going to leave them, he felt their
sadness, and said, "In the world you will have much trouble. But be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world!"
The clear declaration that Christ has conquered death is evident in the personal
experiences of Jesus' followers, too. In multiple post resurrection appearances,
Mary, the other women, the disciples, five hundred
others, and twenty years later, Paul see the resurrected Lord. The women
experience the death conquering Christ with a strong feeling of joy, in the
midst of their terror. The men have a sudden realization that they are standing
with the risen Christ as soon as they see the marks on his hands. It evokes
trust. Others suddenly see Who is with them when Christ breaks the bread.
The invisible God, the "firstborn" of everything that exists has become visible.
You have seen him because the accounts of his becoming human remain with the
world, furthermore they continue to bring forth faith confessing in people all
over the world today. Joy, love, and trust come from believers today.
Next, what proceeds from Christ conquering death is people trusting that God is
for them, and believing that God will not destroy them but will give everything
out of love. Here, Christ overcomes the human problem of strong self-will and he
conquers the lesser annoyances of people and situations.
No obstacle in life is too great for Christ who has trumped death. In our daily
lives we might employ a bulldozer to remove the heaviest obstacles that stand in
our way. God has bulldozed us out of our sadness, our inability and our
complacency with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Kris Fahey |
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