All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 2 Timothy 3:16 KJV
Don’t we ever-so-briefly ask of our Bible verses and stories: “What do I do with this?” Of course we do. And if it is true of Jesus’ parables and illustrations of teaching God’s doctrine, reproof of His Disciples and correction of Pharisees, we certainly ask ourselves about righteousness – instruction on HOW to apply the LAW and the Ten Commandments. (Of course Christ Jesus also shed great light on the Law for us with perfect instruction recorded in the Gospels.)
Once again let’s put the giving of the Law into the context of when and how God gave the Law to Moses.
For a brief moment imagine in the 20th century that some brilliant archaeologist exploring the pyramids of ancient Egypt had made the discovery of a lifetime: instead of finding the royal sarcophagus of King Tut from just three centuries before King David of Israel, he unearthed an even older tomb of a Pharaoh God-King of the ancient Egypt which dominated their world like a later Rome. And the hieroglyphs read: Pharaoh Moses!
Even though the fantastic scenario above is pure fiction; in fact, Moses was born into a royal household, raised as a prince of Egypt and could have realistically become the new Pharaoh of Egypt upon the death of the Pharaoh familiar to us in the book of Exodus.
Had Moses (at age forty) not chosen to identify himself with his Hebrew blood of the line of Egypt’s great savior Joseph, who ruled under an earlier Pharaoh, Moses could just as well have ruled the Egyptian Empire from which he was forced to flee.
Once comfortable in the household of a King, Moses flees to Midian; he marries, works and has a family. Things are going pretty good again for a middle class Moses in Midian. [Exodus 2]
Moses names their first son, Gershom, which means, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” Moses has lived a good life for eighty years.
If we think of our everyday life as a brief journey to a place of which we have only dreamed, then Moses had left the palace of dreams and settled for an ordinary life in a new place. (Even Abraham’s journey did not end in Eden.) Eighty years, a wife and kids, a job, a home… a good life for Moses – and then God finally shows up and says something like, “Go back to Egypt. You, Moses, are headed on an unexpected journey.” (Just like Abraham.)
“I AM the LORD your God. I have something in mind here for you and your descendants.” (Sound familiar?) [Exodus 3]
I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Before the fire of the LORD in the bush, where ‘elohiym instructsMoses that he is on holy ground, GOD comes to an eighty year old shepherd with instructions.
How many times has the LORD asked you to do something after you were in the comfortable place?
Or again, how many times have your own misguided plans brought you to your knees before the LORD asking, ‘Where did I go wrong? What do I do now… Lord? Where do I go with this? Show me the way… please… Lord?’
And ALL is silent… No answer (even for eighty years). And again we cry out to the LORD.
And the Lord is faithful in His answer. Yet we do not like it. It is not the ‘comfort’ we expected. In fact, it makes us even more uncomfortable and will require even more faith than we believe possible – faith to ‘believe God’ and have it counted as righteousness.
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Exodus 3: 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
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What next? (Isn’t that always the question from the comfortable place or the house of desperation?) What next, Lord?
How can the LORD instruct you in His Law of Righteousness unless you are obedient to allow the LORD to lead you to next place of the LORD’s choosing?
34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
35 Therefore he says also in another psalm,
“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
What do you think: When you run to the place where the body should be, do you have faith in the resurrection?
The dramatic events and turn of expectations at that last celebration of the Passover in Jerusalem must have been traumatic for the Apostles, dear friends and followers of Jesus of Nazareth. The turn of the triumphal entrance with crowds of believers and followers digressing into the stealth of an arrest in the night, trial away from the crowds and manipulative sentence of cruel punishment and humiliation of bloody death on a cross must have terrorized the hearts of all who believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the King promised by scripture.
What had happened? (No disciple could have imagined that it would have turned out like this.) He said so many things during those three years, but it is inconceivable to even the faithful mind that the Son of God would not now win back the Kingdom promised by God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What happened?
“You will surely die,” says scripture.
Yes. We will all surely die and so did Jesus! Even Lazarus, who Jesus raised from the dead and the young daughter of Jairus and son of the widow at Nain – those Christ raised from death – even they will die once again. The disciples of Jesus all knew this; yet in considering the resurrection they never considered the consequence of death which precedes. Eternal life! (What will it be like?) Yet first, death – even death on a Cross.
The women had seen His tomb empty. The Apostles had raced to the empty tomb only to find the wrappings of death left in the darkness, as if removed like a change of clothes. Then Jesus appeared, alive, in many forms and at many times! He IS risen and the Lord sends us to witness to the world this great love of God our Father. The Kingdom has come.
Even a once skeptical unbelieving leading teacher of Scripture met Jesus on a road to Damascus. In fact, Saul of Tarsus not only teaches Jews of the dispersion throughout the Roman Empire some thought Jesus would overthrow; Paul (his new God-given name) is an Apostle to the gentiles.
Paul, who travels at great risk even of his own death if caught by those who pursue him, comes to city after city preaching the gospel of the love of Christ Jesus for Jew, Greek and Roman. Paul, confirmed by the Apostles and Barnabas in Pisidia, the town of Antioch, later preached what the Apostles did not understand until after the risen Christ opened up the scriptures for them.
And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:
“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.18 And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.19 And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.20 All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’23 Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.
24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.28 And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death,they asked Pilate to have him executed.29 And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
30 But God raised him from the dead,31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
35 Therefore he says also in another psalm,
“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.
38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers,that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.40 Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
41 “‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”
42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.
43 And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
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It’s all there in the Bible. The disciples of Jesus knew these scriptures. Yet like us, they wanted to understand God’s word applied in their lives in a way less painful and more victorious.
“Son of David,” they shouted. Surely God would establish a Kingdom even more glorious than that of David and Solomon. And imagine: a Son of God who would rule forever – a Son of Man like us. (Could He die?) God the Father will put the Son in charge. All will be resurrected to the Kingdom of the Son of God! He will be judge of all souls and rule with the righteousness of the Father.
We will surely die. Even the Apostles died. Paul died. All died. Your loved ones and your ancestors have died. You will die. I will die. Yet, finally we see a light from the darkness of death – a resurrection of the soul and a redemption for our sin.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that all who believe in him will be forgiven our sins. By grace we are given life eternal, which we do not deserve. Yet because of God’s love for us, the victory of the Cross changes everything.
Has your faith in the Son changed your life, knowing your hope after death?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The risen Christ; Jesus, their crucified friend, had to explain scripture and the victory of His resurrection over sin and death to His beloved and amazed Apostles. (It’s all there in the Bible for you to read even to this day.)
Do you believe it? While it is yet today, why not live for Christ? For to die is gain.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Genesis 2: 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
9b The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
Genesis 5:5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
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If there is one time in our mind we really would like to question the indisputable inerrancy of the Bible it is probably a quote of the devil’s question in the garden:
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say…?” – Genesis 3:1b
Follow Satan’s deceiving question with whatever evil your mind may conceive, but the premise is false answer of Satan.
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die…
Walk up to Eve or Adam and ask either of them if what Satan has assured them as enticement to sin is true?
Yes, every one of us knows that we will surely die! Therefore, what is our hope? (And I remind us now that the Bible is God’s guaranteed word.)
God IS, the LORD exists before time and measurement of creation; God IS, the LORD remains after the time of creation can no longer be measured. This is unfathomable to our limited created mind (which now has the knowledge of good and evil). This is why we must believe by faith.
Have you ever considered how different our world would be without sin? Have you ever dared to think what it would be like to NEVER die, while living in a Paradise of God’s love?
Consider the resurrection by faith: that the LORD who created all things, the LORD who created each particle of your flesh and bones, your brain and body, your heart and soul; that the LORD who made you can make you eternal!
We can be raised from the dead to a life God intended! Praise our Lord Jesus Christ!
Evidence of Christ’s resurrection is well-documented, yet still not believed by those not saved from death by their own sin and disobedience. They do not want to believe God. By their own will many will not bow down to any, even God the LORD!
Evidence of the resurrection, which some of the Jews did not believe, is presented in scripture even before the Cross of Christ Jesus. Some always refuse to obey God in spite of the evidence of scripture.
Is faith by evidence of scripture so far beyond the evidence seen only by your eyes which can deceive?
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ by faith, when you know ‘you will surly die’?
18 And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”
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Is that what you think of Easter? Is that what you think of all the hope of the empty tomb of Jesus? Where is your faith?
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20 And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”
21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.”
Indeed, the Son lives! He IS resurrected from the dead.
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.3 And he said to me,“Son of man, can these bones live?”
What do you think: When you run to the place where the body should be, do you have faith in the resurrection?
5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath [It is the same word as in the beginning, Gen. 1:2] to enter you, and you shall live.
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.
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Is that what you say of the body that has died?
“There is no breath in them. They are dry bones forever.”
The Prophet Ezekiel is witnessing creation of a man by the Spirit of God! – resurrection from the bones of men who have died!
Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
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Resurrection at the command of the Living GOD! Men dead, given life from the dust of our bones!
Do you hearken to the upward call of the Voice of the Living One?
Resurrection! Do you believe this?
This is 600 years before Christ Jesus. This is the same time even Jews persecuted their own Prophets. This is the time of Jeremiah who they threw into a pit to die. This is a time when Daniel would interpret handwriting on the walls for Kings who had destroyed Jerusalem in 607 BC; a time when the faithful were led as captives into Babylon, as before Moses had led Israel from the slavery Egypt.
It is the LORD who brings floods on all of the earth. It is the LORD who parts the sea before the Hebrews to pass over. It is the LORD who commands spirit into the lifeless body, which lies in the tomb of hopelessness.
11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”
15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and“God has visited his people!”17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
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I have sat through memorials for my mother and for my wife…
They lay in the grave without sinew to embrace me in the flesh; lifeless rest, without spirit to have compassion on me… Is there hope for these?
Yes! I say. In Christ they live. By their faith, their bones will hearken to the upward call of Jesus, when at last He will return once more on the clouds of Heaven… and then the Judgment.
Even with evidence of the Prophets and witness of Jesus, the Son of Man raising a boy from the coffin and giving him back to his mother: many refused to believe. Yet the work of the resurrection is never finished until Jesus says, “It is finished.”
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… 5 Now Jesus loved [agapaō] Martha and her sister and Lazarus…
8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” …
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”16 So Thomas, called the Twin,said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
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Not a lot of faith here from a disciple who knew Jesus raised the boy at Nain from the dead. Fear and doubt: how easily we forget our faith in the Lord when our flesh is at stake. We are just like him though; for we would want to put our hands in the wounds of the nails.
We pray for Jesus to heal the inevitable sickness leading to death of a loved one, when their true sickness is the sin of our souls.
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother…
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,who is coming into the world.”
… 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
… 38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
… “Lazarus, come out.”
44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
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Jesus Christ is not the only one to ride into Jerusalem in triumph. The Table of Sacrifice for the Temple is prepared. The proof of the resurrection, even in the person of Lazarus, is evidence!
“Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD,” shout some.
Then when it is time for the Sacrifice, many flee. Many betray the Lord to hold onto their comfortable sins. They shout, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him.“
Like a Lamb he is led to the slaughter, scourged for the punishment of our sins, and nailed to a tree with the curse of our unrighteousness.
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him,” we witness by the fruit of our quick run from the Cross after we worship most Sundays. Yet He loves us so much.
Christ died for our sins.
For the Tomb will be empty…
And so will be yours…
The Savior returns.
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Do you believe this?
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For a brief moment imagine in the 20th century that some brilliant archaeologist exploring the pyramids of ancient Egypt had made the discovery of a lifetime: instead of finding the royal sarcophagus of King Tut from just three centuries before King David of Israel, he unearthed an even older tomb of a Pharaoh God-King of the ancient Egypt which dominated their world like a later Rome. 
And the hieroglyphs read: Pharaoh Moses!
“I AM the LORD your God. I have something in mind here for you and your descendants.” (Sound familiar?) [Exodus 3]
Even a once skeptical unbelieving leading teacher of Scripture met Jesus on a road to Damascus. In fact, Saul of Tarsus not only teaches Jews of the dispersion throughout the Roman Empire some thought Jesus would overthrow; Paul (his new God-given name) is an Apostle to the gentiles.