When Death Became A Mannequin

203 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 1:9,10, “ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (2 Tim 1:9,10) Under the curse of the Law, man is doomed. Without the light of the gospel, there is nothing but darkness and death and damnation awaiting fallen man! And from eternity God has had a plan to redeem the crown of His creation! He assured Adam and Eve that one day He would raise up a Savior from their seed who would crush Satan, who is the antithesis of life! The entire Old Testament held out the promise of salvation and the appearance of a Deliverer to the Patriarchs, and the prophets. Abraham and all others who simply believed this coming promise had it accounted to them as righteousness, and Paul, Timothy, you and I and all other New Testament believers who believe that Jesus Christ was indeed this Deliverer also have it accounted to us as righteousness! This Jesus abolished death! Let's talk about that. The word abolished means to be entirely idle! Entirely! All of it, 100% of death is now idle, powerless to the believer! Think about being completely idle for a moment. Recently, there was a social media craze going around where people seek to shoot a video of themselves and others posing as mannequins. The idea is to remain perfectly still or idle. Some of these videos are amazing, but sooner or later someone is going to move, well since Jesus died and rose from the dead, He has made death permanently idle. Permanently powerless! This victory is summed up in 1Co 15:55-57, "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus has turned death into a lifeless mannequin for all who receive Him. Death has been made powerless, abolished and replaced by life and immortality through the light and power of the Gospel. Believe it! Receive it, and live forever!

The Last Laugh

# 389 - Today's Living Word comes from Mr 5:38-40a. Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping." And they ridiculed Him.”

When someone died in this culture, the people went all out for the funeral. In Matthew's account of this event, he mentions that there were hired flute players at the event! Could you imagine this happening in our culture today? I can see the funeral director going over the itemized planning of the event.: Coffin.... obituary........ band........ professional mourners........

Imagine hiring out as a “professional mourner!” Ring! Ring! “Hello, For Crying Out Loud Mourning Service. We wail till we're pale!”

This professional mourning was fairly big business. The higher one's station in life, the more mournful ambiance could be created. These professionals had definitely seen there fair share of funerals. They knew the difference between someone sleeping and dying. This girl was dead, and being professionals with no blood ties to the family, they were free to laugh at Jesus, and they did.

But, stay tuned! As we shall see, in the matter of death, it is Jesus who has the last laugh. “O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)

I'm Duane Matz and that's Today's Living Word