DEATH IS CONQUERED

Time with Jesus - Friday, 04 January 2013

Hi all,

Our meditation today is on the fact that Jesus has conquered death and the grave. To do so, He had to die and be raised from the dead. In the Old Covenant, various animals were sacrificed and offered to God. In every case, the prescribed animal was ritually killed. The exception was the Grain offering in which no animal was included. However, this offering included a drink offering, usually wine. As we know, Jesus likened His blood to wine when He lifted the cup and said, “This is my blood shed for you!” So under the New Covenant we also have a drink offering! His blood poured out for us which we commemorate when we take communion!

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Friday, 04 January 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	DEATH IS  CONQUERED
Do you remember your twenty first birthday? In some cultures it’s a very important date. Within that culture you’ll find that some are very fussy about keeping the celebration and having a slap up “wing-ding” of a party. For many it’s the second most important function in their lives. Only a wedding is thought to be of greater importance. Personally, a big bash for my 21st wasn’t all that important. So it was a very quiet occasion in a little town called Basildon with my parents. It was all I really wanted. Most of the religions of the world have special days for celebrating events. In the West, Easter and Christmas are very important; some for all the wrong reasons. In Jewish life in terms of the Old Covenant, there were seven feasts every year. Passover, Unleavened Bread, First-fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. Partially associated with them, the family made sacrifices or offerings to God for unintentional sin. No sacrifice was available for deliberate sin. These offerings were the Burnt, Fellowship/Peace, Grain/food or Meat, Sin and the Trespass or Guilt offerings. These sacrifices or offerings to God were, to a large extent, prescribed. Each of them represented a specific aspect of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross. You couldn’t just pitch up at the tabernacle with a camel or a dog and say that you wanted to offer them as a sacrifice to God! With the Burnt and the Meat offerings along with the morning and evening sacrifices, ±one quart, of wine was poured out onto the altar fire for each animal sacrificed. The quantity varied in accordance with the size of the animal. It’s been suggested that the offering of an animal, grain, oil, and wine in combination produced a smoke that metaphorically was a “soothing aroma to the LORD” Pouring out a drink offering is also a metaphor for the blood Jesus spilled on the cross. Jesus spoke of this directly in Luke 22:20 when He instituted the New Covenant. He picked up a cup of wine and said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” Jesus’ sacrifice fulfilled the need of a drink offering, His blood literally pouring out when the soldier pierced His side with a spear John 19:33. Paul used the metaphor twice. He used the image of a drink offering to describe his service to the Lord. Phil 2:17; 2 Tim 4:6. The burnt offering and the meat offering were both voluntary offerings to God. For Paul this would be important. He voluntarily “gave his life to God” There was no compulsion. It’s our prayer that we will all follow him and voluntarily “pour out our own sacrificial life blood” for Jesus. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			55 Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" 56 Sin gives death its sting, and God's standards give sin its power. 1 Cor. 15:55-56 GW 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by His own death as a sacrifice. 27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him. Heb. 9:26-28 NLT 14 Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. Heb. 2:14-15 NLT 6 My life is coming to an end, and it is now time for me to be poured out as a sacrifice to God. 7 I have fought the good fight. I have completed the race. I have kept the faith. 8 The prize that shows I have God's approval is now waiting for me. The Lord, who is a fair judge, will give me that prize on that day. He will give it not only to me but also to everyone who is eagerly waiting for him to come again. (The Crown of Righteousness) 2 Timothy 4:6-8 GW	What is it folk are frightened of? For most of them, it’s death. They don’t know what will happen when they’ve breathed their final breath. It’s surely understandable, for all of us must die; No matter how we put it off, it comes for you and I! It happened to the Master, when He was on the cross. He took in death and swallowed it. Now He’s become death’s boss. As Christians, we should know it; but most of us still fear, The prospect of what happens, when we get out of here! We know the way it happened. Adam disobeyed. So Satan was his master and death came in and stayed. The devil thought he’d triumphed. This world became his own. He thought that he could never lose his well established throne. He knew that the sin nature would always be passed down. It would require a perfect man to take away his crown. He knew that if a perfect man would ever pass away, That God would raise him up again, for death could never stay, On someone who was perfect. Before the corpse could rot, That God would raise Him back to life. Corruption just could not; Hold him in its icy grip. Perfection couldn’t stay, Forever in an earthly grave. There wasn’t any way, That Satan’s hosts could keep him. His wages were not death. In fact the very life of God would dwell in every breath. And that is just what happened. He had the victory. Because He lived a perfect life, there was no way that He, Could stay within death’s bondage. He died and so His soul, Could never be held captive; and death was swallowed whole! So why are people frightened of all that death can bring? The truth is that in Jesus Christ, that death has lost its sting. We may have the experience of what it is to die. But Jesus Christ will raise us up to heights above the sky. It has no power over us that He does not permit. And any instant He decides, He’ll lift us out of it! So dying is a victory that Jesus turns around. The grave can’t hold us in its grip. We just wait for the sound. A trumpet blast in heaven will raise us from the grave; And we will rise to be with Him, no longer Satan’s slave! And live with Christ forever; and death will disappear; No longer can it terrify for Jesus Christ is near. Jim Strickland  Written  Wed. 4th January 2012