God sustains us, in this life and the next

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to record any reflections or comments you may have, for the entries here serve best as the first remarks in a conversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Friday, April 9, 2010
Devotions: Ps 118, 136; Exod 13:1-2, 11-16; 1 Cor 15:51-58; Lk 24:1-12

We thank YHWH, for His steadfast love endures forever! He answers when I call from my distress. With God on my side, I will look in triumph on those who hate me. I have been greatly challenged, but God enables me to meet and transcend every challenge. He is my Strength, my Song, my Salvation! He has disciplined me, and it stings; but He has not given me over to death. He extends a straight, level path before me in His righteousness. Let all God’s people enter by His narrow gate and marvel at God’s goodness. Blessed are all who come in God’s name; You are our God, and we give you thanks, YHWH, for your steadfast love endures forever. You are God of gods, Lord of lords, Wonder-worker, Creator of all: heavens and earth and seas, stars, sun and moon. You delivered Your people from Egypt by casting down their gods and dividing the sea before the people. You overthrew Pharaoh and his chariots. You shepherded Your people through four decades in the desert. You drove out the peoples of Canaan to provide a homeland for the Israelites. You hold us in mind and deliver us from hardship. We thank You, God of heaven and earth, because Your steadfast love endures forever.

God told Moses to consecrate to Him all the firstborn males, human and animals, among the Israelites. Among animals, the firstborn must be sacrificed or redeemed. Among humans, the children must be redeemed. When the children grow and ask why this is done, God said, ‘Tell them this: By main strength YHWH brought us out of Egyptian bondage. When Pharaoh persisted stubbornly to refuse to let us go, YHWH killed all the firstborn of man and of domestic animals. So until now, we sacrifice to YHWH all male animals that open the womb in our herds and flocks; but all our firstborn sons, we redeem.’ All this Israel was to keep sharply in mind, as if a mark on their hands or a phylactery worn between their eyes, ‘for by a strong hand YHWH brought us out of Egypt.’

Paul tells his Corinthian readers a mystery: ‘We will not all sleep in death, but we will all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet of God will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and those who are alive will be transformed. For our current perishable nature must put on the imperishable; this mortal nature must put on the immortal. And then the saying will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory! Where is your sting, O Death; where is your victory?” Death’s sting is sin, and sin’s power derives from the law. But we give thanks to God, Who gives us this victory over sin and death, through our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast; let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.’

On the first day of the week, after Jesus was crucified on Friday, at early dawn, the women who had come with Him from Galilee went to the tomb, taking spices they had prepared for His embalming. But they found the stone rolled away from His tomb, and did not find the body inside. Suddenly, two men appeared next to them, dressed in dazzling apparel. The women were frightened and bowed to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why seek the living among the dead? Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day, rise’ They remembered Jesus’ words, and returned from the tomb to tell all this to the eleven apostles and the rest. Those who did this were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them. But their words seemed an idle tale to the apostles, and they did not believe the women.