I think most of us understand death and the grave as a part of the world into which we were born. We know what it means to die. we often fear death before it comes and mourn it when it does. Most of us have attended the funeral of a loved one and perhaps even been there when they were put in the grave.
Consider the first paragraph in the classic story “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens establishes the death of Jacob Marley.
“Marley was dead: to begin with there is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”
Dickens does a wonderful job of telling us how death is viewed and certified by man. It is final and is the end of life. The dead are no longer useful, or aware. Once dead you are buried and forever in your grave. This has been a clearly understood principle since the beginning of man and is the ultimate fear we have. This was old Scrooge’s world view.
An example of this understanding in the Old Testament is seen shortly after the Jews walked out of their 400 years of oppression in Egypt. God came to the Hebrews through Moses and promised salvation for them if they would follow Him. So, they did. Shortly after they left, Pharaoh changed his mind about letting them go and decided to hunt them down like escaped slaves. He mounted up his whole army and caught up to them are the shore of the red sea.
Pharaoh’s army was undefeated, they were ruthless, and they were very deadly. When this army showed up, you were going to die… period. Pharaoh planned to not leave a single man, woman or child alive. The entire nation of 2,000,000 Jews saw the army and understood that they must do was the impossible – cross over the Red Sea -and they would be safe. Since getting across was impossible, they complained out of the fear of their impending death.
But God parted the sea and dried up the land that had been covered by the sea. He then held off Pharaoh’s army while every one of them passed to the on the side on dry land. But God was not done. He had provided an escape from certain death, but he also killed off the enemy so they could never pursue them again. When Pharaoh was unimpressed by God’s favor for the Jews, he pursued them. God caused the sea to collapse the entire Egyptian army. The enemy was defeated that day.
Many years later the Roman Cross killed a man named Jesus – God’s only begotten son. Jesus was not the first or the last person to die at the hands of the Romans on a cross. The cross was a well-known, and terrible death. There were no survivors from the cross. Once the power of the Roman government hung an unfortunate person on the cross, they would be permanently buried in a grave soon. But Jesus himself told us that he would rise again on the third day and he did. We celebrate Jesus’ victory over the grave on a holiday we call Easter.
Sunday morning, we will celebrate our impossible rescue from certain and permanent death. Jesus went to the cross and the grave to show us the way. He did die and his body was put in a grave, but he rose again. Friends, we all know for a fact that we will all face death and the grave one day. Will yours be a permanent grave or will you follow Jesus? Will you follow him to the cross, to the grave and into eternity? Jesus is calling, please answer. Spent some time tomorrow asking him to show you his glory and the way of the cross that defeats the grave.
