Focus: John 8:51 - KJV
51. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Genesis 5:21-24
Welcome to the last day in the month of July and may the Lord make the rest of the year more fulfilling for you in Jesus’ name. Our verse for today suggests at least two things to us: firstly, it is possible for a person never to see death; and like we have examples in scripture, it is possible for a person to seem to die or die, without his body knowing decay to the extent that there is no tomb bearing his body. Whichever way we interpret it, to attain that position we are meant to keep the sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many in the Church age have not yet proven the interpretation or either of them right in that, people do not understand and appreciate the saying of Christ enough to keep it. They are full of using that which He came to correct to determine what He says. Meanwhile, He is of the view that we cannot keep new wine in the old wine bottle for the same will burst.
Prior to the coming of Jesus, judged by the things available in their dispensation, some people were viewed to have kept the saying of God and they did not see death. For instance, Enoch walked with God and he was not because God took him. He never experienced physical death; Elijah kept the saying of God and was taken by the chariots of fire and the horse men thereof. He also never tasted physical death and was no more. Moses, unlike the first two was said to have died but no one knows his grave because the Lord took his body. Nonetheless, he is also no more. The bottom-line is, none of their bodies saw physical decay. What God has done before, He can do again even now. Christ came as the author and finisher of our faith and even though He was physically put to death to fulfil the ransoming of man by paying the wages of man’s sin, He also did not see physical decay as He was taken to heaven.
The Lord wants us to appreciate that once He says something, the same is true for all times. If we do keep His sayings to do them, we can draw on His word never to see death or not to have our bodies experience decay. The early church did not so understand it and therefore they suggested to us the idea of the first and the second death. That is a beautiful concept. They also revealed the concept of the rapture to us which sounds more like the doctrine of Christ which is that believers ought not to experience physical death if they will internalize His sayings and put them to perfect use. It sounds like a tall order to the people of this age. Nonetheless, it is not an impossible thing for God to do. Whatever we do, let us ensure we do not see death, particularly the second death.
SOLUTION: Let us endeavor by the help of the Holy Spirit to put to heart the sayings of Christ knowing that if per adventure physical death does come, we will not experience the second death. But it will be great beauty to see believers of this age to be taken up like Enoch, Elijah, Moses or Christ Himself.
Please pray:
· Give thanks to God who has given us the leeway to live without dying like He had purposed from the beginning
· Ask God to please preserve you in the sayings of Christ so that you may not move against it and offend God thereby
· Ask God for the grace to see Him before being translated from this terrestrial world
· Pray that if God will take any like He took Enoch, He should take you as well
· Ask for your daily bread for today.
If you are blessed by this post, kindly share with your contacts, as well as others, that they may be blessed also. Thank you and may God bless you abundantly as you do so, in Jesus’ name.
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