resurrection – Page 3

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. (1 Corinthians 15:35-38).

An Israeli company named ReWalk has developed a ‘hard ‘exoskeleton’ that aids parapalegics in standing and walking upright. The company has also developed a soft exoskeleton that aids people who have not severed their spinal cord to walk, such as people who have suffered a stroke or other debilitating injury.

The hard robotics, credit Reuters.

The ‘soft’ robotics. Credit TechCrunch

The body is amazing. It’s intricate, delicate, and fragile, yet strong, tough, and resilient. As I age, I am more amazed at the changes the body goes through. Some of it is preventable, (weight gain) some of it is not (menopause). Some of it is inevitable (general decline) some of it is not (I can always dye my white hair!).

I lived through the health-conscious aerobic 1980s. I had some friends who were fiends for exercise, and ALL they talked about was looks. They were older than me and they were excessively worried about breast droop, loss of youthful appearance, which clothing made them look younger, and all the things that aging women with nothing else to say grouse about.

I’ve never been especially worried about looks but I am dismayed by my declining energy, tired eyes, loss of skin elasticity, and legs that can’t kick as high as they used to.

How blessed I am to be able to look forward to my new body in heaven! Thanks to the Lord’s grace and gift, I will be outfitted with a permanent body able to dwell in God’s glory. I’ll be strong, perfectly able to do what is necessary to live out God’s plan for my life. My long, long life.

Our associate pastor is a paraplegic and he is looking forward to a new body also. Many friends in church and at work who suffer from ailments from life threatening (such as cancer) to the more minor but painful (migraines) are also looking forward to new bodies. What a joy it will be to have flesh that won’t be susceptible to disease, breakage, or decline!

I wonder what my new body will look like. The Bible says we will know as we are known, so my friends who will be there with me will know me. I don’t suppose I’ll look very different, though I know I won’t have to wear glasses any more. And the crowns and fillings in my teeth will be gone.

Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:49).

Here is John MacArthur with a short essay on Our New Bodies. It is only one of a million-billion reasons why we look forward to the return of Jesus as our blessed Hope!

The Plot to Kill Lazarus

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. (John 12:9-11)

This man [Nicodemus] came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2)

Imagine a religion so apostate that the leaders and adherents of it plot to kill the person upon whom had been given the greatest supernatural blessing and sign directly from God- resurrection. And it’s not that the Pharisees didn’t know that Jesus was from God, Nicodemus tells us they did.

The evil of the religion as it had become when Jesus arrived is something we often forget to look upon in horror and disgust. Jesus certainly did. Wolves bring leaven.

Yet to tolerate spiritual leaven is to invite apostasy. Christians seem more interested in following the super gentle, easy-to-follow, blonde haired, blue eyed, Caucasian surfer Jesus instead of the one that beckons us to pick up our crosses, follow him, and seek the lost (Matt. 10:38) (CARM)

The Pharisees had piled hundreds of laws onto the Jews over time, a total of 614 had been invented by them by the time Jesus came. The People were staggering under the weight of Law and worse, the Pharisees displayed no grace to help alleviate their burden. Only hypocrisy. Therefore, Jesus was incensed at what was done in His name.

After Lazarus’ resurrection, the people continued to bear witness of Jesus’ sign.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” (John 12:17-19)

The leaven the false ones bring always includes self-satisfaction. The Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes were in it for themselves, not the glory of God. It’s the same today.

To tolerate this spiritual leaven means to invite apostasy. Like leaven, error gradually creeps into the church and spreads to all parts, causing the whole to elevate itself with pride and do what is right in one’s own eyes instead of that which is right in God’s. 2 Thess. 2:3 speaks about the great apostasy that is coming. However, it cannot occur without a host of lesser apostasies within the Church that will ultimately deceive Christians and prepare the ground for the arrival of Antichrist. (CARM)

Apostasy is evil and its deepening never stops. It only progresses. It winds up to a point where the leaders of it want to kill the very man, Lazarus, who could bear witness to the power and grace of a holy God just by the fact that he could draw breath. The apostate wants no such Good News however. He seeks to stop it and silence it in any way possible. Death, that’s what apostasy brings. Praise God that He sent His Son to witness to the grace and mercy of His Holy Name. Rather than seeking to kill, we seek to love, build up, and we remain in His hand until the day He returns or brings us home.

Tag: resurrection

Our new body

The apostasy and hatred of the Pharisees made them plot to kill Lazarus