John 11:25-26 AMPC
[25] Jesus said to her, I am [Myself] the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on) Me, although he may die, yet he shall live; [26] And whoever continues to live and believes in (has faith in, cleaves to, and relies on) Me shall never [actually] die at all. Do you believe this?
In previous devotions, we have seen Jesus as the Light, as well as the Word of God. He is the One who introduces the principles and the standards of God's kingdom to us, and also supplies the grace we need to be able to align with the demands of that kingdom. We come to another description of the nature of God in the verses above, and for man that is used to the finality of death, it may be difficult to man to grasp the description and idea that there can be a good end to the reality of death. Man in his fallen state is subject to eternal death and separation from God, and it will be nothing short of a miracle or simply divine intervention for man to get anything else. Even the context in which the verses above was pronounced involved death: Lazarus, a friend of Jesus had died and was buried, and the sisters, knowing that Jesus could heal the sick and do mighty things, actually said that if Jesus had been there, their brother would not have died. They knew something about Jesus, but they did not have the full story.
Jesus used this opportunity to show us another side of his nature, identity, power and personality. He referred to himself as the Resurrection and the Life; not a concept or an idea, but a person; not a theory or figment of man's imagination, but the revelation of the divine power of God that can reverse what man thinks is irreversible. Lazarus was dead for 4 days already, and was already beyond saving by man's standard, but when the One who is Life speaks, you know it is not over until He says so. When life happens to us, and it will happen at different times and in various ways, we need the revelation of who God is, to speak to us at the point of our need. We may not get what we think we want at the time, but we will definitely get what God intends for us, and we would know more of God in that pain and hurt, as well as also know who God is in the times when things look rosy. That is God: He is the same, no matter what the external reality is.
He is God when life is good, and He remains God when things look sour. These sisters were in pain, but Jesus let them know that true Life is Him. When a man is IN Christ, he gets all of Christ. The critical need, as laid out in the verses above, is to BELIEVE IN him. It is not enough to know or read about Him; you must progress that information or knowledge about Him to having a relationship with Him. Check out all the descriptions used to explain believing in Christ: adheres to, trusts in, relies on, has faith in, cleaves to. These show total submission; not partial alignment. It is quite impossible to cleave to two competing interests at the same time, just as Christ has said it is impossible to serve two masters. In Christ, what you think is final, such as death, is a phase into eternal life in and with Him. The one who is IN Christ never dies a final death, because he has the One who has defeated death and secured Life IN Himself for all who live IN Him. Please check your current residence status and be sure you are IN Christ. Access to the benefits is defined by residence, not by mere knowledge. Are you IN Him? God's time of favour is here.
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