Death Isn’t Natural [external source]

On a Saturday long ago, our Lord Jesus was a corpse. This isn’t natural.

Problem is, death seems normal to us. Darwinian naturalism, along with most contemporary philosophies, assumes that death is the natural ending point to life. The Christian gospel insists otherwise, seeing death as an alien invader of the cosmic order, a curse from the Edenic fall, and a strategy of an enemy spirit to crush God’s image-bearing humanity (Heb. 2:14-15).

In Scripture, death is personified as itself an enemy, indeed the final enemy to be placed under the feet of a triumphant King Jesus (1 Cor. 15:24-26).

Death in all its forms, from animal predation to “natural” disasters to “old age” expiration, all point to the cold truth that God is not ruling the cosmos through his human mediators in the way he intended at the start.

In the present age, all people still grow old, get sick, and die. There is a sundering of the body from the soul, a violent act that tears at God’s original creational purpose of breathing his life into the man of the dust (Gen. 2:7). When a man dies, his flesh reverts back to the dust of the earth, a seeming contradiction of God’s creation.

There is one Man, however, who does not owe death as the wages of sin. He cannot be accused by the ruler of this age, because He alone has an untroubled conscience before the tribunal of God. He’s not a corpse anymore.

The resurrection of Jesus is the first wave of a counter-revolution that will turn back death’s tyranny and satanic rule forever.

Death isn’t natural at all.

thegospelcoalition.org

Restoration (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

God’s promises are so great that faith staggers before them. That’s how it was for God’s people in the time of Ezekiel. Jerusalem lay in ruins. Most of the people had fled or died. Those who survived were exiles in Babylon under a regime that had not intention of letting them go.

God’s people knew His promises. But the destruction of evil, the blessing of God on people from all nations, and the joys of the Davidic kingdom seemed like another world from the daily grind of God’s people, who struggled to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.

God gave Ezekiel a vision in which he saw a valley of dry bones. It was a picture that fitted the mood of God’s people who were saying “Our bones are dried up and our hope in gone, we are cut off” (Ezekiel 37:11).

Ezekiel spoke God’s Word to the bones, and as He did, the bones came together. Then they were covered with tendons, flesh and skin. Then God breathed life into the corpses, just as He had breathed life into Adam. God was bringing new life from the grave.

Broad sweep of God’s promise.
– To create people in His image.
– To deliver His people from evil.
– To bring people from every nation into His blessing.
– To reconcile people to Himself through the sacrifice offered for our sins.
– To establish the Kingdom of His Son forever.
– To cause His people to walk in His ways, and now,
– To give new life from the grave.

Those who question the uniqueness of Jesus underestimate the promises of God. Who else could accomplish what God has promised?

God makes promises so great that only God Himself can deliver them. So God took human flesh. The Creator entered His own creation. God came and stood with us, acting for us, to fulfill His own promise. The Word who was with God, and was God, and by whom all things were made, became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:2, 14).

All of God’s promises are sealed with His own ‘Yes’ in Christ Jesus, and you can add your ‘Amen’ with the full confidence that everything God has promised is yours in Him (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Colin Smith, Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church
thegospelcoalition.com