Selwyn returns to considering the next cry from the cross. ‘It is finished.’ (John 19:30)

Each one of us has been given tasks to do – we, also, will overflow with joy when we are able to say: ‘My work is finished – the tasks my Father has given me to do - have been successfully completed.’

These words of Jesus provide us all with the assurance that His work on the cross was completed – He had achieved what He had set out to do – there was nothing more to do – there was nothing more required!

As Selwyn says: “He is saying, ‘It is finished.’ He has received into His mighty heart the sins of the whole world. Deliberately He had taken upon Himself the task of offering His own perfect life in exchange for our evil. He had borne our iniquities in such a way that He bore them all away. Now was the moment to announce as loudly as His crucified state would allow the triumphant news that He had finished the work His Father had given Him to do.”

These words give us the confidence to know that if we believe in Jesus – we are saved – the punishment due to us because of our sins has been borne by Jesus on the cross – His work to save those who were lost – is finished. Our work continues – it is a response to the love God has demonstrated – we all strive to follow Him and reach that point when we can also say: ‘It is finished.’

Your thoughts?

I find it hard to understand  the nature of our resurrected bodies; and perhaps we are not meant to fully understand this mystery. I agree with Selwyn that God came in the flesh and has gone back to heaven in the flesh. As he rightly points out, in Luke 24:39, we hear Jesus say: ‘Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’

Yet, with His resurrected body he could enter locked rooms – so, on the one hand I know Jesus is God and can easily pass through walls and doors; and, on the other hand, is an unanswered question; will we be able to do the same sort of thing, in our resurrected bodies? I guess one day I will find out! What do you think?

Selwyn continues his meditation on the fear of death and I don’t have anything to add. Yet I think that the last paragraph touches on a really powerful point - our living Jesus supports all life.

He writes: ‘It is the custom of monks belonging to a certain order to sit in a circle and, as one by one the brothers’ names are called, each one answers “Present.” Finally the name of Jesus Christ is called, and they all reply “Present”. Those two things are connected. Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live.” His living guarantees our living.’

Was there anything else which stood out for you in this study?

The bit I liked the most from today’s study, is Selwyn comment on Revelation 1:17-18: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the LIving One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.’

So, as Selwyn says: ‘ … death shall not be the Christian’s jailer. It is not death that is our guard – it is the risen Lord … Jesus has the keys!

We should our lives, not in constant fear of the terror of death, but in the love of Christ because He holds the keys to our future – do you agree?

I agree with Selwyn: ‘the thing that fascinates me about the scene which Peter and John saw as they entered the tomb is the fact that although the burial cloth that had been wound around Jesus’ head was folded up, they also saw strips of linen lying there separate from the cloth.’

It tells me that His resurrection was not an unplanned event – not a hurried event – He arose, and the burial cloth was folded, maybe by angels who were attending Him – like us, as we get up and make our bed each morning – something natural – something, we would do out of habit – a purpose to everything that we do …

And, today – we have a great prayer: “O Lord of life and death, I am so grateful that You are alive. Your glorious uprising has turned all my darkness to life, all my questions into hallelujahs, and all my defeats into victories. Thank You my Saviour. Amen.”

***

Had some really great news – as some of you may know (see, A Light Inside) - I’ve been praying for a young woman to fall pregnant and now she is – please pray with me that all will work out well – according to God’s will – a planned event.

We continue to follow Selwyn’s thoughs concerning death – as he continues to expound for us the meaning of the stone being rolled away from the entrance of Jesus’ tomb.

It’s interesting isn’t it when we watch those documentaries on Egypt and hear of the efforts of the wealthy in building great tombs, the pyramids, to provide them with all the materials required for the journey to the ‘afterlife’. Death for many is a mystery – yet for those who follow Jesus we can trust that just as the stone was rolled away from His tomb – so it will be for ours!

I liked, the last paragraph of today’s study: ‘Then came Easter Day – and the stone was rolled away. One Traveller returned. He has shown us that for the Christian; death is no longer an abysmal cavern or a blind alley, but a tunnel with a golden light at the other end. The mystery is a mystery no more. As Charles Wesley expressed it in one of his glorious hymns: “Tis Death is dead, not He.”‘

Do you agree?

 

 

Selwyn thinks more about the stone that was rolled away from Jesus’ tomb.

I liked the comment: ‘One person has made the comment that the rolled away stone is more than just a piece of history; it is a pledge – a pledge that when we look at death there is nothing to fear.’

I really believe that in following Jesus we gradually lose our fear of death. We start to focus on the promise of a life to come when (on death) we enter the peace that God has planned for us.

The last two sentences say it all: ‘Death has been conquered. There is nothing to fear.’