Death Is Death

We have all been there next to a casket, we've said a prayer, cried some tears,we've tossed a flower or some dirt onto it before it's lowered into the hole and sealed, never to be seen again.

It may have been a parent, a child, a sibling, a husband or wife, a good friend, but now they're gone, and an emptiness comes upon us as we realize that whatever hopes we may have had for, or with that person will never be fulfilled.

So imagine what it must have been like for Jesus' followers to have Him brutally ripped from their lives after being so sure that He was the One; God's Messiah.

I'm sure that to the disciples, the women who discovered that Jesus' tomb was empty on resurrection Sunday sounded like a bunch of hysterical fools trying to wish away the facts. He was dead. Only when they saw for themselves did they begin to ask, "Could it be?" When Jesus appeared to them they began to hope for real.

Jesus has changed the world by not only overcoming His own death, but by defeating death entirely. He said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life."
Paul says, quoting the Psalms, "Death is swallowed up in victory." The victory he speaks about is the one Jesus wrought on Easter morning when He defied death and rose again. Now the impossible becomes possible to all who put their trust in Him.
Because of Jesus victory over death, He says, "Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
"

The Lord Has Need Of It

The story of the Triumphal entry of Jesus on the Sunday before His crucifixion begins with Him sending his disciples to collect a small donkey so that He could ride into Jerusalem on it. This was prophesied in Zechariah 9. It's interesting to me that he needed a young donkey. He is the King of Kings yet he had to rely on a donkey for transportation. That small ass had a purpose in God's eternal plan.

There was another donkey the Lord had need of in the Old Testament. This ass tried to save Balaam from an angel that was about to strike Balaam with a sword. Balaam couldn't see the angel but the Donkey could. Balaam beat the donkey, so the Lord let the donkey speak. "And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? and he said, Nay." Numbers 22:30. Balaam's eyes were then opened and he saw the peril that the donkey saved him from.




Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind, yet the blind refused to see. Though they accepted him at first, 5 days later they would demand He be put to death. The Lord needed all of these things to happen for the prophecies about Him to be fulfilled. Jesus, though He created the earth, needed his creation to serve Him. In this case a small donkey, in ours a big sinner saved by grace. Either way the Lord needs his people to minister to each other and to be a witness to those who are dying. If He needed Balaam's ass and the young donkey in the Gospel, then be assured being available to God's plan might just earn you a call one day when the Lord has need of it.