Death can be BEAUTIFUL
I really had a strong urge today to write. Usually, I wait when enduring the warfare we have, but I know it was important to get this out. It was like when I woke up, I could hear the ALL points bulletin going off. The title started me a little bit. I began to think, but it’s not. Then, I heard this part. “Without DEATH there can be no resurrection.”
Jesus CHRIST of Nazareth is the ONLY one who has ever died and been resurrected. Even when someone else is resurrected, it is GOD who does it. Ultimately JESUS is them is what is resurrected. Let’s explain it this way. The word of GOD says, “We must be crucified in Christ.”
Galatians 2:20Amplified Bible (AMP)
20 I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
The word of GOD is our lifeline as COGS. This means it should be present in ALL ways and areas of our lives. Someone called me a bible scholar recently. I thought. Huh? Because it is Jesus in me who is. THAT if for sure, that HE not only knows the word but IS the word. This means that as WE secure ourselves in HIM, and delve more into HIS food, the WORD, that WE will become the word as well.
The transformation that happens is, JESUS in us, can do what JESUS walking the earth did before. In the word it states “As a child, I thought like a child.” He then said, “But then, I became a man and put away childish ways.”
I was terrified of death as a child. I grew up hearing the word spoken from a place of FEAR. People would say, “You better straighten up. You don’t want to go to hell.” Wow, there was a lot of FEAR. But God. There was little faith that I could see. Yet, it turns out there was some, it was just hidden.
The world we live in now glamorizes evil. It even glamorizes death, which is NOT the purpose of this post. The purpose of THIS post is to point out, that DEATH is beautiful in God’s eyes, because it is a step to resurrection. WE can no longer choose to be afraid of it. Because it will happen, one way or another.
People have been discussing wars for years. The bible discusses them to. It says there will always be wars, or rumors of wars. I am not saying ignore what appears to be happening around us. I AM saying, “Praise and worship GOD for handling it.” It is HIS job to be the orchestrator, savior, everything, redeemer, etc…not ours. BUT, it is our job to agree, and have FAITH that HE will NOT fail and that HE has a plan, beyond how it appears.
In fact, it is our JOB to do this not just in our own lives, but for the lives of others. Look in scripture at JOB. Do you know why he endured all that he did? Because GOD trusted him. Yes, God qualified him for the JOB. As my husband points out, “That was is his name after all.” He went through persecution, pain, betrayal, and you name it. He even endured death, LOTS of it. But, GOD. This beautiful amazing process of even deeper surrender appeared. SO beautiful to witness, yet excruciatingly painful to watch.
Without ALL that was endured, the HARVEST could not come. I heard that VERY clearly today. In 2011 I heard the Heavenly Father speak. For some reason, it was always easiest to connect to HIM. He apologized to me. I was in shock. I looked at my life, and it was pretty great. I had 3 amazing children and a wonderful God fearing husband. Sure, there were things I would have changed. But, all in all I enjoyed our life. When I heard this, “I’m sorry, for all that you have endured and will have to endure. But, you know that if there were another way, we would have taken it together. I love you,” I was stunned. I remember being on the phone with my then prayer partner.
This season is a strange one. It’s like a dream. Somedays, it is like a bad dream, other days it is Heavenly. No one but God understands completely. But some do understand at least partly. Grateful for those who faithfully pray HIS will for us and others. GOD alone has the victory, even in DEATH.
Luke 23:33-43 ESV / 15 helpful votes
And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
Acts 2:36 ESV / 12 helpful votes
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
John 3:36 ESV / 11 helpful votes
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 14:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 18:36 ESV / 9 helpful votes
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
John 1:11 ESV / 9 helpful votes
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV / 8 helpful votes
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Isaiah 45:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:
1 Corinthians 1:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes
But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
1 Corinthians 1:23-24 ESV / 5 helpful votes
But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Mark 15:25-39 ESV / 5 helpful votes
And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
Romans 10:8 ESV / 4 helpful votes
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
Romans 8:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
John 19:25 ESV / 4 helpful votes
But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
John 1:19-25 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
Matthew 7:16-20 ESV / 4 helpful votes
You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Matthew 1:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Amos 8:11-12 ESV / 4 helpful votes
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
Proverbs 6:1-35 ESV / 4 helpful votes
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Deuteronomy 18:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
Ephesians 1:3-4 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
http://www.openbible.info/topics/christ_crucified
I look at our life now, and I see the things that have been endured since then. Now, having no official children with us, and giving up our home, and many friends, the perspective has changed. Even then, I laid down everything before God. But now, I lay down everything past, present and future, and even things for others if led. See, I had to die. I die daily. As our daughter began to die to self, she began connecting more to Heaven. When we do this, we run a slight risk. We might get called home. But, isn’t that worth the risk?
In His Grace and Glory,
E and Family