“What happened
the moment Jesus died” Part 3. January 2011.
As a final tribute to Caleb, let us re-examine the sequence of events that transpired in his life, to observe how he handled each event, and what the final outcome was. In fact, we will begin at the final outcome and work our way back to where, and how, it all began. “And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.” Joshua 14:13,14. This particular story began by Caleb recalling events that occurred in his life forty and five years earlier. It was his handling of that situation that catapulted him forward in time to the grand old age of eighty five, but amazingly enough, based on his personal testimony he had not grown old one day. So let us rewind to where it all began!
Israel had come to Kadeshbarnea and Moses selected twelve men to go forward and spy out the land. The twelve included Caleb and Joshua. After forty days spent searching out the land, all the spies came and reported to Moses and to the house of Israel. “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they told him, (Moses) and said, We came unto the land wither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. “Nevertheless” (watch this word carefully) the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:23-25,27,28,32-33.
These would seem to be insurmountable odds, visible to the eyes and shattering to the soul and spirit—or was that the case for everyone in the party of twelve? “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” A number of questions seem to jump out at us just about here! These men had not lifted a sword, a bow and arrow, or made any kind of military overture. How could they hurriedly from their comfort zone conclude that the people of the land were stronger than they. They looked inside their quivering hearts and determine; “we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.” Not a single soul from those lands insinuated that these twelve men were grasshoppers.
The inhabitance of the land did not say this, because they made no contact with the people. The amazing thing about this lesson, is that Caleb and Joshua saw all that the others saw. They saw the giants and the walled cities and every other obstacle that the other ten men saw. So why was these two men’s report entirely different from the others? Forty five years later, Caleb recalled that day as if it was yesterday! “And I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.” Joshua 14:7b. Here is the defining statement! Here is the game changer! Here is the major lesson for us, no matter if our resolve is to live and not die, or to be used of God as an instrument of praise and glory. Caleb saw the odds! He saw the giants and the walled cities, but the report that he brought back was not relative to the facts on the ground. When you look in the mirror do you agree with your eyes, or do you follow and nourish the truth that tugs at your heart? Thank you Jesus! I really feel my help coming on! What you see with your eyes is not reality. The giants and fortified cities were not reality! Reality was encased and shut away secured in the ever presence of the Lord working out each victory according to his will.
If God be for us, who (or what) can be against us? Caleb earned another credit that was counted in compiling his reward. He said, “I wholly follow the Lord my God.” This man’s commitment to the word of God was total and complete. His surrender to God’s will was without reservation! From time to time, the best of us, in spite of our resolve and promise of total commitment to God’s will, fall short because we fail to “wholly” let go of ourselves or of that which hinders and unknowingly undermines God’s power in our lives. Here is another point of interest contained in this story. Caleb held on to God’s word spoken by Moses on that day, not in ideal circumstances, because the forty days they took to spy out the land, became forty years of wandering in the wilderness specifically to give the host of Israel time to die in the wilderness; and it was out of this field of death that Caleb continued to live, refusing to include himself with those whose carcass had to fall along the way. Who among them was able to minister life, faith, and hope to this man over the span of forty five years?
There was no point in reaching outside of himself for milk and meat and comfort to sustain his good health. He had to learn to become self sufficient for his own good, and he had to learn to step over dead bodies while embracing life that seemed to spring from an underground well of living water. While Israel died around this man, he refused to identify with any of it and retained his youth all because he “wholly” followed the Lord his God. It is like saying of one man: “And Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him.” What made this man different from every other man in his day? He walked with God for three hundred years as it were shoulder to shoulder, and after such an interwoven relationship it was impossible to turn around and die. But hold on for just a minute! Wasn’t it appointed unto man once to die? Wasn’t death passed upon all men? Enoch walked with the Man who passed the laws, thus tapping into a higher law. My friend, I am not talking about “playing Church” or simply repeating scripture. Caleb wholly followed the Lord God, but what was his chart and compass? “I brought him word as it was in mine heart.” That sums up all there is to tell in this great drama of life in the midst of death. Let us understand this truth! He spoke what was in his heart!
When Caleb said “as it was in mine heart” he was not referring to scripture verses that he memorized, because scriptures were not yet written. I think that some times we kid ourselves and sell our selves short by erroneously thinking that we become more spiritual and more “godlike” by memorizing more and more scriptures. Caleb’s strength did not come from scriptures; rather, it came from a direct link that he had with the true source—the God of Israel. Death reigned, but Caleb refused to be a part of it, because he nurtured life within his heart. Paul wrote saying: “But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?” 2nd Corinthians 3:7,8. There is no need for us to foolishly cling to the ministration of death, simply because the vail is still upon their hearts. “And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: (including death) But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.”2nd Corinthians 3: 13-16.
Are you believing, worshipping, and living from behind that vail? If you do, you are still clinging to a ministration of death and the insurance salesman will be glad to stop by and knock on your door. Jesus purposely and consciously made his choice against the option of taking on the nature of angels, and settled for becoming AS a seed of Abraham, specifically to deal with the issue of death. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same (but his flesh could not see corruption, unlike ours) that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:14-17. These passages should cover the broad spectrum of Christian thinking especially in regards to the path that leads to life and few there be that find it. We need to remember that like eating and drinking from our dinner tables, or grabbing a hamburger down at the mall, we become what we eat. I remember many years ago in 1958-1960 when I lived in Birmingham, England, I used to pass many Pakistanis, and Indians, that lived in a nearby suburb, and when they pass by, one could smell the strong odor of garlic. It was not because they rubbed themselves with garlic, but they ate so much of it to ward off the effects of the damp, cold, and polluted weather, that the smell literally came through the pores of their body. The question becomes one of great interest for each person on an individual basis: “How do I fill my inner man with life?” I remember the old hymn that we used to sing back home, and even toady it stirs up deep emotions in me. It goes like this: “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land: I am weak, but thou art mighty; Hold me with thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.” Paul indicated that we are made partakers of that “Bread of Heaven.” “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” 1st Corinthians 10:17. But don’t we constantly hear the term “you are what you eat”? So if we are eating of that one bread, the Bread of Heaven, don’t we become that bread by the process of ingestion? We are now that Bread to the rest of the hungry world! But is our menu packed with death, or do we offer generous portions of life?
I cannot impress upon you too much the fact that the ministration of death ended with John the Baptist, and when Jesus came on the scene and took to the world stage, he offered rest, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, and freedom from death. In his three and one half years of ministry, Jesus never once said, or even alluded to the fact that we all must die one day. Do you remember what God announced through an ancient prophet whom we quoted earlier? In this particular declaration, God spoke more like a bully, or a man who is angry and determined to get his point over as headlines on the front page of all major newspapers. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.” Hosea 13:14.
God is speaking in the affirmative, saying that he will not change his mind in this thing. Let us understand that what we watch on television, or listen to on the radio, or sit in the pews at church and digest becomes a part of our style, our chemistry, our behavior, and our belief structure. If you sit in church and listen to dead sermons about dying sooner or later, preached by dead ministers, (those embracing the theory that we all must die one day) it is inevitable that before long you are going to end up dead yourself. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” I can assure you that not everyone who delivers a sermon has the ability to dispense life in the process, because one cannot offer what one does not possess. Peter said; “Such as I have give I unto thee.” It should be a well known fact by now that we produce after our kind. The study of genetics is immensely important in trying to diagnose certain diseases and in trying to find cures.
My adopted parents never discussed finance in my presence. They never talked about investing or saving for a rainy day. Inevitably, I grew up without having any inkling to enter the financial world, therefore offers to invest in gold, precious metals, commodities, or a Florida land boom carries no appeal for me. Certain illnesses can run down the entire length of a family tree, because one gives to another out of what he possesses. This concept holds true in the matter of life and death. There are families with great records of longevity, possibly as certain genes are passed down the family chain. That is in secular life, but the same principle holds true in the spiritual field also. Some are life givers while others embrace death and see it more like a gift from God, but that is absolutely a lie. Sin came into the world by one man, and death was passed upon all men in that all had sinned.
Paul puts it this way: “For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Romans 5: 15-19. We could call this segment, “the effect of ONE.” With God, that is all it takes! Jesus placed a very high degree of importance on what we eat. Listen to Jesus for a few moments! “Verily, verily, (truly, truly) I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”John 5:24. At what table are you dining? Are you snacking on little morsels here and there just to make it through another day? What food value in terms of enzymes, and health building nutrients are you ingesting thereby forcing your inner man to digest it, even if it is going to thwart the healthy growth of the “spirit-man?” See how important eating is in the teachings of Jesus Christ! “This is the bread which came down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.” John 6:50,51,53,57-58.
As a young lad back home, just about every Christmas Day I ended up with colic, because the custom was that one entire week just before Christmas, we went from house to house having dinner, and because the dishes differ from one house to another, the mixture of foods and the different ingredients used to spice the foods, resulted in a stomach condition called colic. In the field of religion, there are well intentioned folks who skip from one meeting to another, and there are those who spend long hours, sometimes all day listening to one preacher after another on radio or television. Are you not headed for a big bout of colic by eating from so many different tables? Let me be very clear on this, and I wish for this to be taken in the best light and the best spirit! I do not listen to all preachers coming over the airwaves! I do not read all printed materials that come in my mail box. By the same token I will hasten to say that different ministries appeal to different demography across the board.
I praise God for those who are being blessed by any ministry, but as it is in the natural, there are some foods that I see people eating with a smile that I could not ingest or venture to have it in my mouth. No condemnation here! No obligation is being imposed! The crux of my argument is simply this: Since you are what you eat, shouldn’t you take absolute care in what you eat? I will not listen to a sermon based upon the belief that death is the lot and path for all human beings to take. Since it was appointed unto men once to die, Jesus was offered once in what we call a vicarious death, and when he boldly stepped out into the visible realm he told John: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18. “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:19. These victories over death and hell were not written in the scriptures to be read as “bedtime stories” to serve as lullabies in putting babies to sleep.
They are offered to us as roadmaps and road signs intended to lead us out of the valley of the shadow of death, to higher plains where God’s light shines brightly across the landscape, where death becomes unknown, where our health and total wellbeing abound in measures that cannot be put into words. God needs a number of us in this day and time to step forward and embrace the life that Jesus died to secure and share among us. His life comes to us abundantly, or without measure, and it flows like the waves of the oceans that surround mother earth. As you fill yourself with his life—drink it in and let it permeate every fiber of your innermost being, then let it flow freely until it affects others that come your way. Don’t preach a sermon every time the chance arises! O No! Peter added: “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” 2nd Peter 1:8,9.
The prodigal son went home because there was bread enough to spare even after the hired servants had eaten their fill. Along with the fact that Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, we also learn this truth: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13,14. These are not promised relationships and family standings that we hope to acquire some time in the future. These truths tell us in no uncertain term who we are right now, and what our inheritance with the saints in light is. We need not struggle and beat up on ourselves; simply appropriate to ourselves what is ours. It is my firm belief that although God has already done and accomplished certain things for his people and for the whole creation at large, it requires real live people like us, not to re-enact the process, but to bring it to fruition. The orchards may be radiant with ripened apples, and in Florida and California, the fields may be showing yellow and gold with ripened oranges, but it requires people to move in and pick the ripened fruits. In war, when an assault force moves in and flatten the enemy, others come in behind them and do what is called “the mopping up.” Yes, we read loud and clear that Jesus Christ must reign from the right hand of God where he is seated until the last enemy death is destroyed. But here is a fact we need to ponder seriously among ourselves and individually. Angels as spirit beings cannot come to earth and demonstrate that death has been destroyed. Jesus, the resurrected Lord cannot return to earth and demonstrate to mortal men that death is destroyed because he knows death no more. He cannot die again, and his glorious body cannot equate with our earthly bodies. So in the final analysis, it requires living men and women who, like trees planted by the rivers of water to shoot forth our branches that will never wither and die.
At this point in time, people will continue to die, and this will go on as long as people cling to what they deem to be sin, for the wages of sin is death and to be carnally minded is death. But we have offered enough scriptures, not my own imagination, but the inspired word of God that testify to God’s intention to make a mockery of death and the grave. He said repentance would be hid from his eyes and this reflects his determination and how much he is resolute. But I must highlight this fact once more! He needs a people through whom he can demonstrate to the rest of the world what is being done, and these people can produce after their kind. We read the good news with delight and great anticipation, and many think this refers to a time up in heaven. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4. But here again we must pause and ask how shall these truths be seen and recognized? We read them, we embrace them to a point of breaking out in a dance, but how will the world around us see a demonstration in real time of these truths? If these truths are to leap off the pages of the bible and become alive before a world looking on in earnest expectation, can this be done without people?
Please listen keenly to this truth! The verse of scripture I just quoted above is not referring to when we finally arrive in heaven and have left old miserable earth for good. All of the blessings we just read about happens with the new Jerusalem, the city that John saw coming down from God out of heaven. It came down to earth and God came down with it and to this end John wrote: “Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them (where they are, and not them with him where we think he is or ought to be) and be their God.” Revelation 21:3. Listen to how Hebrews describes this same city that John saw and wrote about! “But ye are come (you have arrived at) unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God (he has only one city) the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.”Hebrews 12:22,23. The point that we are emphasizing is that all of these wonderful and glorious workings of God for his people and before the entire creation, must be made manifest in and through a people. We learn and believe that the dead person who believes in Christ as the resurrection shall live again, because Jesus walked down to Lazarus’ tomb and called him back to life. In other words, he gave a simple demonstration of what he said just a while ago. By the same token he said the living person who believes that he is the resurrection shall never die, but here we hit a major snag. Even Martha had the correct doctrine that specifically placed the resurrection at the last day.
We can end this study embracing two truths that are of paramount importance to us as outlined in Paul’s letter. First of all, he points to a period of time “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1st Corinthians 15:54. The second source of undying, unfailing promise is on this wise; “Behold, I shew 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.” Verse 51,52. We can disagree on any issue we choose, and we can write books and preacher sermons all we want; the undying truth remains neatly encased within the sheltered walls of divine truth, that the time will come—must come—when mortals living and walking upon God’s green earth will suddenly put on immortality; will be changed effortlessly and by no personal wish and desire on our part. It will be like having Big Ben in London, striking the hour, upon the hour, with no help from Londoners going about their daily chores. These changes are not predicated upon our beliefs. It is written! And it will be done!
Royce O. Kennedy
