Like Water Spilled On The Ground

For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.  II Samuel 14:14 NKJV

Here we are given deep insight into the nature of God and His heart for mankind. It comes to us in an Old Testament story about King David and his favored son Absalom.    Absalom had ordered his servants to murder his older half-brother, Amnon, because Amnon had raped Absalom's full sister, Tamar, and nothing had been done about it.

Following the murder, Absalom had fled to his mother's country of Geshur and dwelt there for three years. King David missed Absalom but he apparently wasn't comfortable with the ramifications for his kingdom if he set the precedent of letting members of the royal family be above the law. He knew justice would not be served by pardoning Absalom, and yet he pined for him.

After three years had passed without a solution, Joab, King David's nephew and the commander of his armies, decided he should intervene to help King David bring Absalom home. 

Joab hired a wise woman from Tekoa (a small town about six miles from Jerusalem) to come before King David with a petition to spare her son from the death penalty for killing his brother. 

Her plea was that her remaining son was the only one left to support her and to carry on the family line. 

King David's compassion was stirred, and he gave her an assurance her son would not be killed.

Once King David made his decision for mercy on her son's behalf, the wise woman pressed him concerning mercy for Absalom. 

She said: "For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again."

This is such a vivid and therefore haunting picture of the hopelessness of death without a Savior. Selah.                               
She reminds King David that we are all sinners without hope, but for the grace and mercy of God. The death penalty is upon us; yet, God does not pursue our death because He "is not willing that any should perish." 

She goes on to say, "God does not take away a life." She tells King David that God "devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him." And thus, she encourages King David to make a way for Absalom to come home.

The problem is that her plea was a call for King David to embrace mercy without satisfying justice.

The wise words of the woman of Tekoa were certainly true concerning our Heavenly Father. He created us to be with Him, but we turned our backs on Him by sinning. Our sin caused spiritual death and banished us from His presence. But God still longed for fellowship with us, so He devised a righteous means to bring us back into eternal relationship with Him.

Unlike King David's action, God's provision satisfied justice. It would violate His nature to do otherwise. For God to be morally consistent within Himself, He must satisfy mercy and justice! 

His means of salvation must pay the penalty for all sins committed by mankind. He could justly provide forgiveness in no other way. 

So He literally provided Himself a sacrifice! He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to die on a cross in our place. 

Consider the magnitude of that sacrifice!  Being a sinless man qualified Jesus to die for a single sinful man, but being a sinless God/Man qualified Jesus to die for all sinners!

This is good news! Because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary "whosoever will" may come to the Father for forgiveness and eternal life. We are no longer banished and expelled! All is forgiven if we turn away from sin and ask the Father to forgive us because of the price Jesus Christ paid.     
                                                
Don't be like the unrepentant Absalom who perished in a rebellion against his father's kingdom. 

"Today is the day of salvation."

I invite you to return to your Heavenly Father for forgiveness and eternal life!

Put your trust in Jesus and come home!  

A Secret Revealed

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
　
So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

"O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
　
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1Cor 15:50-58
This passage starts off with the bad news. We cannot make it to heaven in our current bodies. They are perishing, even as we consider these words. They are not suited to the eternal life Jesus has in store for us. So, what shall we do? Aren’t you glad Paul didn’t stop with those opening remarks? I know I am!

He continues with the good news. There is a solution for our problem. And, it’s something we have no way of knowing apart from special revelation.

God revealed it to Paul so he could share it with us. It’s been a secret from eternity past, but Paul has the privilege of telling us one of God’s secrets!

If you are one of those, "I wanna know" kinda people, you should love this passage.

When Paul says he is telling us a mystery, the root word in the Greek for mystery means "to shut the mouth." (I wonder if that’s where we get the common expression we use today?) I can see why he uses such a word. This revelation is truly stunning.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.
Consider being changed from a mortal to an immortal in a nano second and never having to face death. This is something entirely new.

Enoch and Elijah were taken before death but no details were given about a bodily change. We don’t know if they became immortals or have been preserved in their flesh and bone bodies for a future assignment. Many scholars believe they may be the two witnesses in the Book of Revelation who will be killed and resurrected after three days.

And, Jesus, Himself, died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected on the third day with His immortal body.

So, Paul’s revelation about receiving a new body without having to die is a new thing! Well, shut my mouth!
　
Talk about victory. Now that’s something to shout about!

Thanks Be to God, Who Gives Us the Victory Through Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Maranatha! Be encouraged in the Lord!