We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek … one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 6:19-20, 7:16-17
That phrase, an indestructible life, jumps out at me. Jesus, the priest in the order of Melchizedek, has/is an indestructible life. Do you know what that means? Do you see why we have a hope that is firm and secure? It means that the power of the fear of death is defeated. It means that our feeble and fleeting and broken lives – if they are hidden in His – become indestructible too.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3
The verses in Hebrews about the indestructible life, and the fact that they came up in my readings that morning, took on more meaning as I read the blogs in my inbox. There were several blogs about death and being hidden in God. And I started to think this was a message, either for me, or someone else in particular out there. So, in case there is someone out there staring death in the face right now, or tormented by the fear of death, let me share this with you.
This poem in particular grabbed my attention, as it is so shockingly unambiguous. We don't very often talk about death so clearly in our century.
Oh how wrong you are to think that the years will never end. We must die.
Life is a dream, that seems so sweet, but joy is all too brief. We must die.
Of no avail is medicine, of no use is quinine, we cannot be cured. We must die.
from The Passacaglia of Life (1657), Anonymous (blogged by Dreams from a Pilgrimage Death & Belief)
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take
"Perhaps the latter half sounds morbid—but keep in mind that it comes from a time when child mortality was much higher, as, given the lack of advanced medicine and effective vaccines, illnesses were frequent and often fatal." -- (Blogged by Victoria Emily Jones, Art & Theology)
This prayer is very old, with an earliest known printing of 1737. I prayed this prayer every night of my childhood. It was a time when children were still dying of, or being crippled by, polio, and our mothers remembered siblings dying of pneumonia, typhoid, and scarlet fever. Now even though we have wonderful vaccines and childhood mortality has fallen, the truth still remains "we must die." But G.W. reminds us that we are kept safe hidden in God.
"The Mystery of God is where He keeps His treasures safe.
There is no way to hide from Him, except to hide in Him.
To delight in His mystery is to love Him from within, rather than from
without." -- (Blogged by G.W., Mystery )
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, therefore our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you." ~St. Augustine
May you seek him and find him
until you rest in him forever.
(Blogged by Mitch Teemley, Seek. Find. And Rest.)
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15
"All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever." 1 Peter 1:24-25
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:52-56 (blogged by Dreams from a Pilgrimage)
Let us hide ourselves in Him. Put on His imperishable, eternal Life. Wouldn't you rather be already "dead" and in Him, seated at the right hand of glory, than to chase after a fading light and fear death your whole life? Hide yourself in Him and be kept safe. Indestructible.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:14 (ESV)
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
Photo by Derek Bair
No comments:
Post a Comment