A familiar expression in our day and culture is “It’s party time,” which is equivalent to “Let us eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” Death has always been something that people absolutely hate to talk about and even more so hate to think about or face. It is a reality that few are willing to face, that no one gets out of this life alive. Because people fear death so much it holds them in bondage and to live life to the fullest, or so they think, in order to get the most out of life while it lasts. The writer to the Hebrews said the same when he wrote,
“so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-15
Jesus Christ crushed the head of Satan when He died for the sins of men on Calvary’s cross, and in three days He rose from the grave conquering death and the grave. Satan holds the power of death in that by lies he deceives men into think the way to deal with the thought of death is to party, live it up, which translates in to more and more sin, and giving into sinful appetites that war against the law and will of God.
When Jesus was confronted by religious leaders who did not believe in a resurrection from the dead, which is convenient because judgment follows, He responded by quoting Exodus, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” and further told them God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Those men and women, who in truth, give their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead are given the very life of God, so that when they die they simply pass from one state to another.
Many who call themselves Christian in our day are eager to say Christianity is a relationship, and for some that is very true, but for others who live disobediently for worldly appetites and in a lifestyle of sin it is hypocrisy. The true Christian takes courage in his/her relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as did the apostle Paul who wrote to the Corinthians,
“Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So then whether we are alive or away, we make it our ambition to please him.” Technorati Tags: George Paz,Jason Parker,Mark Butman