Beyond Death

[0:00] A Pastor's Reflections Beyond Death Luke 24 5 They said unto them, Why seek you the living among the dead?

[0:12] 2 Corinthians 5 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

[0:27] Galatians 2 20 I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

[0:47] The fallen nature of man is not capable of operating in a state of submission and humility, but instead defaults to that of self-assurance.

[0:58] And pride. Having turned away from God in the beginning, man has forever since been seeking within himself a source of fulfillment. Unfortunately for him, self is under a curse, and therefore operates within the limited capacity of that curse.

[1:17] The curse of sin limits oneself to, at best, an ounce of pleasure before the pound of death is due. Hebrews 11 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

[1:38] You see, as pleasurable as that season of sin may seem, it is only a season, and it ends quickly. Once past, the only thing that remains beyond that season is death.

[1:52] Romans 6 23 For the wages of sin is death. As assuredly as summer follows spring, death follows sin.

[2:02] And yet, over 2,000 years ago, something remarkable happened that disrupted the natural progression of sin. This eternity-altering event turned sin back upon itself, and used the ultimate end of sin, death, as a tool for its own destruction.

[2:20] Yes, sin had led to a death. But it was the last death. The death of death. Jesus took sin upon himself, and went down into death to make an end of sin and death.

[2:36] How? By overcoming death with life. The remarkable thing about the cross was not just that God would die, but that God would die so we might live.

[2:50] Jesus, as a man, had no need for a resurrected life, just as he had no need for death. He already possessed life apart from sin, and therefore was not affected by the plague of sin and death, as fallen man was.

[3:08] Jesus chose to do what no fallen man had the capacity to ever choose, in submission and humility, to give his life a ransom for many.

[3:20] Three days later, as Jesus arose from the grave, he arose not as a man under the curse and control of death, but as a man who had now gone beyond the reach of death.

[3:32] Jesus, who was untouchable by death, took death upon himself, that he might by his life overcome death. Because of that overcoming life, Jesus is now able to offer to all who live under the shadow of death, a path by which they too might escape death and enter into life.

[3:55] The resurrection of the Son of God was not simply a resurrection, but the resurrection. It was the one and only means by which fallen man would have the capacity to go beyond the reach of death and into life.

[4:13] The means by which he may live free from the destruction of pride and self, and now come to God in humility and submission, to come to God and receive resurrection life.

[4:26] Father, there is no greater truth than the love of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By death, Christ overcame death, that by his life, we might live free from death.

[4:38] Thank you that in Jesus, we have gone beyond the reach of death and have entered into an everlasting, ever-fulfilling life with you.

[4:50] Amen.