Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....
This is the final teaching in our series on EOL and death.
There are certain things in life that we never want to happen, and I believe, death gets the top most because of the deep pains and hurts it brings to us. But thank God, He is our ultimate comfort. His Word gives us the assurance that He will never leave us especially at the hour of our hardest trial.
Here passage in the Scriptures that deals particularly with our dead love ones. In it we will find the wonderful hope beyond our individual grave. This passage is 1 Thes. 4: 13-17.
In this passage, the Apostle Paul encourages the Christians in Thessalonica to stop worrying over their love ones who have died in Christ. It is also implied here that all who lived in Christ should not worry about their individual death.
Paul centers his admonition on the three reasons of hope.
1. THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION. (vs. 14, 16)
-v. 14 says, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (NASB).
-and the last phrase of v. 16 says, “…the dead in Christ will rise first.” (NASB)
Every human being born in this world is under the power of death and corruption. No one, regardless of worldly rank, wealth or strength, escapes death and corruption. This is, I think, the saddest truth & the most lamentable reality of our physical existence. The moment we are born, death becomes our destiny.
But the reality of Jesus’ resurrection means that death has been defeated. Jesus conquered death; now He assures His followers that we, too, will share in His victory.
In the Gospel of the Apostle John, we find the wonderful miracle that Jesus did in Bethany. He raised Lazarus from the grave. But before raising Lazarus, Jesus confronted Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, and told them, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
According to Paul in 1 Cor. 15, in the resurrection day, God will change our corruptible body into an incorruptible one. We shall be clothed with a glorious body, a body that is no longer under the power of death and corruption, free from pains and sorrows. We, and our dead love ones will rise to immortality. Indeed, it is the most wonderful hope to those who have given their life to Jesus.
2. THE HOPE OF HEAVENLY REUNION.
-v.17 says, “and we shall be with the Lord forever.”
Death is painful because it causes separation. It leaves a vacant that no other individual can fill. When someone dies, his place is empty. No wonder we really miss out the one who passed away.
Though death ends any earthly relationship, but the grave is not the end of everything. There is a hope given in the Scriptures that all who believed in Jesus will one day be together again in the presence of the Lord forever. Paul encourages us with this hope. We shall not worry over the reality of death because it can’t rob us the joy of eternal fellowship. We shall be with our love ones who have gone ahead of us.
And the most wondrous of all is our hope to be with Christ for all eternity. This is the heavenly reunion we are waiting for –an everlasting fellowship of all believers in the glorious presence of the Savior.
3. THE BLESSED HOPE OF THE LORD’S RETURN.
In v. 16 of our passage it says, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven”.
Jesus will come again to take His people. He Himself made that promise to His disciples. He will come again to take us into His heavenly home.
In the second advent of Jesus all troubles will end, and every reason for pain will banish. Today, our world is full of troubles, worries, sorrows and pains. We are, as the poet says, in “a valley of tears.” Paul says, “the whole creation is groaning” indicating the miserable condition we are in. But, thank God, at the coming of the Lord, these things will pass away, and the best thing is very soon to come!
John saw the new heaven and the new earth. In it there is no death, no mourning, no crying, and no more pain. What a wonderful place we shall be with the Lord forever!
Through all of this we can come to a final conclusion. Yes, death of someone we love hurts us. But we don’t have to worry about its reality. Christ conquered death at His resurrection.
And it will be completely conquered at the day when God raise us up from our individual grave. Death can’t rob us the joy of eternal fellowship when we are reunited again in the presence of the Lord, and at His glorious coming we shall be with Him in that blissful place of eternity.
I pray in some small way these past several weeks have taught you something about end of life, including our own, and ways we can cope with this period of time we will go through.
NEXT WEEK....We will finish up the year with a look at questions I have been asked over the past several weeks on a variety of Biblical subjects.
This is the final teaching in our series on EOL and death.
There are certain things in life that we never want to happen, and I believe, death gets the top most because of the deep pains and hurts it brings to us. But thank God, He is our ultimate comfort. His Word gives us the assurance that He will never leave us especially at the hour of our hardest trial.
Here passage in the Scriptures that deals particularly with our dead love ones. In it we will find the wonderful hope beyond our individual grave. This passage is 1 Thes. 4: 13-17.
In this passage, the Apostle Paul encourages the Christians in Thessalonica to stop worrying over their love ones who have died in Christ. It is also implied here that all who lived in Christ should not worry about their individual death.
Paul centers his admonition on the three reasons of hope.
1. THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION. (vs. 14, 16)
-v. 14 says, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (NASB).
-and the last phrase of v. 16 says, “…the dead in Christ will rise first.” (NASB)
Every human being born in this world is under the power of death and corruption. No one, regardless of worldly rank, wealth or strength, escapes death and corruption. This is, I think, the saddest truth & the most lamentable reality of our physical existence. The moment we are born, death becomes our destiny.
But the reality of Jesus’ resurrection means that death has been defeated. Jesus conquered death; now He assures His followers that we, too, will share in His victory.
In the Gospel of the Apostle John, we find the wonderful miracle that Jesus did in Bethany. He raised Lazarus from the grave. But before raising Lazarus, Jesus confronted Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, and told them, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
According to Paul in 1 Cor. 15, in the resurrection day, God will change our corruptible body into an incorruptible one. We shall be clothed with a glorious body, a body that is no longer under the power of death and corruption, free from pains and sorrows. We, and our dead love ones will rise to immortality. Indeed, it is the most wonderful hope to those who have given their life to Jesus.
2. THE HOPE OF HEAVENLY REUNION.
-v.17 says, “and we shall be with the Lord forever.”
Death is painful because it causes separation. It leaves a vacant that no other individual can fill. When someone dies, his place is empty. No wonder we really miss out the one who passed away.
Though death ends any earthly relationship, but the grave is not the end of everything. There is a hope given in the Scriptures that all who believed in Jesus will one day be together again in the presence of the Lord forever. Paul encourages us with this hope. We shall not worry over the reality of death because it can’t rob us the joy of eternal fellowship. We shall be with our love ones who have gone ahead of us.
And the most wondrous of all is our hope to be with Christ for all eternity. This is the heavenly reunion we are waiting for –an everlasting fellowship of all believers in the glorious presence of the Savior.
3. THE BLESSED HOPE OF THE LORD’S RETURN.
In v. 16 of our passage it says, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven”.
Jesus will come again to take His people. He Himself made that promise to His disciples. He will come again to take us into His heavenly home.
In the second advent of Jesus all troubles will end, and every reason for pain will banish. Today, our world is full of troubles, worries, sorrows and pains. We are, as the poet says, in “a valley of tears.” Paul says, “the whole creation is groaning” indicating the miserable condition we are in. But, thank God, at the coming of the Lord, these things will pass away, and the best thing is very soon to come!
John saw the new heaven and the new earth. In it there is no death, no mourning, no crying, and no more pain. What a wonderful place we shall be with the Lord forever!
Through all of this we can come to a final conclusion. Yes, death of someone we love hurts us. But we don’t have to worry about its reality. Christ conquered death at His resurrection.
And it will be completely conquered at the day when God raise us up from our individual grave. Death can’t rob us the joy of eternal fellowship when we are reunited again in the presence of the Lord, and at His glorious coming we shall be with Him in that blissful place of eternity.
I pray in some small way these past several weeks have taught you something about end of life, including our own, and ways we can cope with this period of time we will go through.
NEXT WEEK....We will finish up the year with a look at questions I have been asked over the past several weeks on a variety of Biblical subjects.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some
expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
This week we continue our verse by verse travels through the Bible...
Abraham Put to the Test.....Genesis 17 - 22
Because Abram has been faithful in his search for the truth, he experiences a profound change. The outward sign of this change is a change of name. God adds to Abram’s name the letter “h” and calls him “Abraham.”
The name “Abraham” suggests the phrase ab hamon goyim, “father of a multitude of nations.” What could “multitude” possibly mean? Abraham’s distant descendants, the Jews, have always been one of the smallest nations on earth. Could it be that Abraham is destined to become the spiritual father of more than just the Jewish people?
In the Bible a change of name symbolizes a change in one’s sense of identity, and also a revealing of one’s vocation. Because of his steadfast search for truth, Abraham’s identity stretches him beyond himself. He is no longer living only for himself, his family, or his own people.
We now arrive at the second use of “covenant” in the Bible, “Covenant” with a capital “C.” God made his first covenant with Noah, when the world was in a state of emergency, the flood was imminent, and God needed a representative of humanity to save it. In that covenant God promised never again to destroy the world through a flood. The Covenant with Abraham is deeper, a bond of faith between God and the one who trusts and searches for God even though one does not know where the search will lead.
And the search takes Abraham into some dark places. To fulfill the destiny symbolized by his name, he had to learn something that only a severe test could show him. The spiritual path is not always a pathway of peace.
What happens next is bizarre. God asks Abraham to take his son Isaac and make of him a burnt offering. We are not given details of how Abraham must have felt, but we do get a hint: God asks Abraham for “your son, your only son, whom you love.” This is what Abraham heard and experienced.
We may wonder why Abraham does not question God’s command, indeed, why he does not vigorously protest it. Very possibly it is because at the time this story took place, child sacrifice was not unheard of. In many places the Bible condemns this practice. But could Abraham really believe that God would require this of him?
Yes. Because life requires of every one of us that we be ready to let go of that which we hold most dear. And Isaac was the dearest thing to Abraham. Isaac was the embodiment of God’s promise, the fulfillment of the Covenant, because God said that through Abraham’s descendants would he be blessed. Life always threatens to take from us what we love the most, one way or another. Would our faith survive in spite of it?
God does not sanction child murder. At the last minute, with Abraham’s hand holding the knife over his son, God’s angel calls to him and tells him to stop. Abraham then sees a ram in the thicket and offers it instead.
The meaning of the story is not obvious, and it has often been taken as portraying a God who is cruel and barbaric. It is not God, but life, that is cruel. Life often does demand such sacrifices from us. And the one certain thing in life is that eventually we will lose everything. Can we still have faith, having to live such an existence, the existence that befell Adam when he was expelled from the garden? It is precisely because Abraham was able to maintain his faithl, even at the prospect of losing his son, that God renews the Covenant with him.
The great spiritual challenge that we face is how to have faith when suffering and death are certain. The Bible’s core message, through its long circuitous path from the Hebrew Bible through the New Testament, responds to this question. And so when God renews the Covenant with Abraham, Abraham is told that through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou