Resurrection life

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

Saturday, April 10, 2010
Ps 104, 145; Exod 13:17-14:4; 2 Cor 4:16-5:10; Mk 12:18-27

May Your name be blessed, my God: You are clothed with honor and majesty, covered with light, Master and Creator of all that is. Winds carry Your messages; fire and flame minister Your will. You set the earth in space, arranged the waters and land fittingly. You water the earth and care for its wildlife. The birds sing Your praises, and You feed the domestic animals that provide food for Your people. Wine and bread and butter and oil come from Your goodness to strengthen and gladden our hearts, great Lord. YHWH, how manifest are Your works; and all creation looks to You. May Your glory endure for ever, and the Lord rejoice in His works. I will sing God’s praises as long as I live; let my soul bless and praise YHWH. His greatness is beyond knowing, and I will meditate on God and His wondrous deeds. I will declare Your greatness, my Lord, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Your compassion covers all that You have made. Your kingdom is everlasting; Your dominion endures for all generations. All eyes look to You. My mouth will utter the praise of the Lord, and let all that lives bless His holy name forever.

When Pharaoh relented and let the people go, God did not lead them into conflict with the Philistines, but led them round by way of the Red Sea. Moses carried Joseph’s bones with him, as Joseph had directed. As the people sojourned, God led them, by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God directed their movements, and led them to the sea shore, where again the Egyptians attempted to overwhelm the Israelites. And God again hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he resolved to recapture and re-enslave the people of God.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: We will not lose heart! Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed daily. The slight afflictions of the moment are preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. We focus on unseen things, eternal things, not those that are visible but transient. We know that if this earth-suit we live in is destroyed, we have a building, a body from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here, truly, we groan and long to be clothed with our eternal habitation, so as not to remain naked. While we still in this flesh, we sigh with anxiety—not fearing that we would be unclothed, but anxious to be more fully clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life! It is God Who has prepared us for this, and He has given us His Spirit as a guarantee of what is to come. With all this in view, we abide in good courage; we know that while we live in this body, we are away from the Lord. So we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are in the body or not, we make it our constant aim to please Him. For we must all appear before Christ on His judgment seat, and then each one will receive good or evil based on what s/he has done in the mortal body.

The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, came to Jesus with a challenge: ‘Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man dies and leaves a wife but no heir, the man’s brother must take the wife and raise up children for his deceased brother. Now, there were seven brothers; the first married and died without an heir; the second married the woman, but again, he died without producing an heir for the eldest. And in turn, all seven brothers married this woman, and none had a son to inherit. Finally, the woman died. Now, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife, and she presented none with an heir.’ Jesus answered: ‘This is exactly the crux of your error: you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God! When they rise from death, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; the resurrected are like the angels. As to the resurrection, consider the book of Moses; at the burning bush, God identified himself, saying “I Am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” His is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are seriously mistaken.’