Sermon Nuggets Mon Dec 8
Theme – Jesus’ Death
Verses- John 19:28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."
Seeking immorality
I read an article about a 48 year old man named Andew Mehawk of Vesto, N.Y. who was taken to Long Island to have his body put in a capsule to be preserved until there was a cure for his terminal heart disease. His body was packed in ice and rock salt and chemicals. This procedure is available for anyone to do through the Cryonic Society incorporated. Cryonics is the process by which a body is frozen into a capsule, sort of a medical thermos bottle, until the time the body is brought back supposedly when the diseased is cured and resurrected.
There are many stories about trying to prolong life or seek immorality. I was in a play at Bethel called Dr. Faustus written by Christopher Marlowe. It was a classic story of a man who sold his soul to the devil to get extra years on this earth. During this brief respite he was granted all wealth, honor and power, but eventually died and bound for hell.
In high school I read a similar fictional story entitled the Devil and Daniel Webster, by Stephen Vincent Benet. The lawyer, Daniel Webster, was arguing in some type of meta-physical courtroom with the devil who had made a pact with a famer extra time on earth in exchange for his soul. When the time came to claim his soul the famer hired the famed and brilliant lawyer to get him out of the bargain. By trying to argue that the devil was not an American citizen a jury released the farmer from his contract. People are always hoping for a loophole when the time comes to die.
Heb 2:14 says, “Man lives all his life in the bondage of the fear of death.”
Even Jesus knew that his appointed time had come to complete his journey on the earth. He knew that all was now completed just as Scripture said it would be. Jesus would have been the only one who could have escaped death since He was without sin. The Bible says, “The soul that sins shall die”. (Ezk 18). So we all experience death at our appointed time, but the only reason Jesus faced death was to free us from our sin and grant to us eternal life. He took our sins upon Him.
A few years ago I borrowed from our local library, a print of Salvador Dali painting entitled “Christ of St. John of the Cross.” It is a picture viewing Jesus on the cross from the perspective of God in heaven. Although it was not an attractive painting it was prophetic. Its purpose was to allow us to understand that God the Father, was looking upon the suffering of His only Son. Below him was the world.
Jesus death was real. There were no loopholes. There were no fancy lawyers to get Him released. There was only the verdict that all stood condemned for sin. Justice required death. The only way to remedy our plight was for God to come to earth and take our place.
We will all have an appointed time planned by God when our life is ended on earth. Christmas is a story of love of God’s gift of Himself to the world. We see how the story is played out to its conclusion when His human body is ended according to the greater plan- His life for ours.
And in that act by faith, the devil has lost.
Pastor Dale
