No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again; this commandment have I received from My Father. John 10:18
Very few people know in advance the means and time of their death. Possible exceptions are criminals who face the death penalty, and even they don’t get to chose the time or the means, which are set by their judges. Suicide victims might also know the time and the means, although this can be questioned because of the poor mental state of any who would commit such a deed. Most of us, if we had a choice, would prefer to die in our sleep, when we had no awareness of the arrival of the king of terrors. But our text today speaks of One who always knew the moment and the means of His death.
When we die, our death is the triumph of sin over our mortal frames. Death – the natural outcome of sin – wins a victory every time someone dies. But death was the great loser when the Lord Jesus died on the cross. Death not only lost a great battle at Calvary, but it lost the entire war. All those who are in Christ Jesus may face the death of our bodies, but our death is only temporary. Death cannot touch our redeemed souls, and even the bodies that must decay will someday be raised again in eternal victory. All because the Lord Jesus had power to lay down His life and power to take it again.
During His ministry, the Lord Jesus displayed His power over death. Whether it was a little maid still lying in her death bed, or a young man whose bier was being carried to the cemetery, or a Lazarus whose body had begun to decompose, death was powerless to hold its victims when the Almighty bid them rise. But their return to life was temporary, as we know; they have all since returned to their graves. The great enemy death had not yet been defeated, although that defeat was soon to occur. The irresistable force of death was about to meet the immovable object of the power of God.
Where does death get its power. From sin! Even the presence of death is the result of sin, for by one man sin came into the world, and death by sin. But death has no power where there is no sin. That is why there will be no sickness nor death in Heaven, where no sin can enter. That is also why Joseph’s tomb could not hold the body of the Lord Jesus. Death never did have a claim to that body, and must yield up that body to the One Who had the power to take up His life again.
Our hope of eternal life is based in the power that brought the Lord Jesus in triumph from the grave. The same power will do the same for us. -Jim MacIntosh