God of life, bless, protect, and enrich the life of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Acts 2: 14 That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. 22 "Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you - the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge - 23 this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. 25 David said it all: I saw God before me for all time. Nothing can shake me; he's right by my side. 26 I'm glad from the inside out, ecstatic; I've pitched my tent in the land of hope. 27 I know you'll never dump me in Hades; I'll never even smell the stench of death. 28 You've got my feet on the life-path, with your face shining sun-joy all around. 29 "Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried - his tomb is in plain sight today. 30 But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, 31 seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah - 'no trip to Hades, no stench of death.' 32 This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. (The Message)
A recent newsweekly magazine had as its cover these words: "What if Hell Doesn't Exist?" This is the same magazine that in 1966 proclaimed, "God is Dead." That cover sent reverberations I felt ten years later in seminary. The controversy on the current cover is all about a current best-selling book, "Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived," a book by a popular pastor who asks the questions about life and life after death. I've not yet read the book so I cannot comment on it, but will on the passage as shared today in this version. Peter as he addresses the Jews on Pentecost quotes King David from Psalm 16:8ff, where David's declaration about God is that God is a God of life, not death. And Peter makes the same declaration with the note that of course, David died and is buried, but that David spoke a prophetic word about one who would come some time later, who would not die because He was the Messiah, and Peter declares, "This is Jesus, whom God raised up. I saw it and everyone here saw it too."
Our faith says we believe that Jesus rose from the dead. This season of the Christian year is the season of resurrection, Easter, where we declare to the world that our God raised His Son from the dead and this Son lives forever more. Everything about our lives, our families, our churches, should declare that we are a people of life without end and a fullness of life here on the earth because and through Jesus Christ. Anything less is not what God would want for us.
PRAYER: Loving God, speak to my heart again and again the message of life through Jesus Christ. May my life reflect the fullness of life in Christ that is mine and that is available to all who would listen and receive. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
