Does Death Have the Final Word?

They say, we have no king but Caesar. We're not loyal to anybody but Caesar, which was so far from the truth. They commit blasphemy in this moment. We have no king but Caesar. And so Pilate hands him over to be crucified. And so they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha. And I I find this so interesting. Mark, as he gives us the account of the crucifixion of Jesus, this is all he says, and they crucified him. Four words. That's Mark's description of the crucifixion. Four words. They crucified him. That simple. You know why? Because the audience that Mark was writing to, they knew the details of a crucifixion. They knew what it looked like. They knew how bloody it was. They knew how torturous it was. They knew how horrific it was. [00:33:30] (53 seconds)  #TheyCrucifiedHim

Because of the resurrection. Not because Jesus was killed, but because of the resurrection. Paul became a follower of Jesus, and he's he's like he's writing this he's he's trying to help people understand. He's trying to help them understand the importance of what just happened when Jesus rose from the dead. He's like, here's what happened when Jesus died and rose from the dead. Death. Your greatest enemy and my greatest enemy, death, in that moment, was swallowed up in victory. Because as we're gonna celebrate next Sunday at Easter, death could not keep Jesus. And because of what Jesus did, death cannot keep you. Death is not the end. It is not all there is. That thing that is the biggest fear, for all of us, the biggest fear at the end of the day, death, we don't have to fear it anymore. What Jesus because of what Jesus did, it's an invitation to you and me that in this life, you don't have anything left to fear because Jesus defeated the biggest thing that any of us fear. He did not just simply die for your sin and my sin. He defeated the greatest enemy and the greatest consequence of our sin, and that's death. [00:35:50] (67 seconds)  #ResurrectionVictory

And in this moment, as that question is answered, Jesus answered them, no. You got it all wrong. I'm just a savior. I'm just here to save people from their sins. I'm not here to reign. I'm just thank you. I'm just here to die for people's sins. That's that's not what Jesus said in this moment. But that's, I mean, that's a lot of what many of us are taught, that the only reason Jesus came was to die for our sins. That's it. To be the sacrifice for our sins. They knew in this moment what it was that Jesus was claiming. They knew it was greater than just him being a sacrifice as him coming and dying and rising from the dead. Great. No. They knew that he was coming to rule and to reign, that he was a king, but we miss it. They're like, are you the king? Are you the messiah? And he replies, I am. [00:24:56] (48 seconds)  #JesusIsKing

He says, I am, and you will see the son of man. This, this title son of man is a a title that Jesus was giving to himself. It's actually a reference to back to the book of Daniel. Daniel's in the old testament. And in the book of Daniel, there was a prophecy that God's final king, that the Messiah, the anointed one of God, that he was going to have this title, son of man. So Jesus is giving himself this title in this moment. He says, I am, and you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. This this phrase, coming on the clouds of heaven, it was like an ancient it was an ancient phrase that the it was a metaphor for kings that were coming that were arriving and they were coming to take control. Jesus is saying, I am like a king that has come to do battle. I haven't come I haven't come to do battle with you. They didn't know it. I haven't come to do battle with you. I've come to do battle with your enemy. [00:25:57] (55 seconds)  #SonOfManRevealed

And Jesus answered him, you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Actually, pilot, you're not in charge. Actually, you're you're just a small part. You're just a tiny part of the big picture that God is in control of. See, pilot, you think you think that you're gonna be remembered. Your greatness is gonna be remembered forever and ever. And you are gonna be remembered forever and ever, but you're not gonna be remembered for your greatness. You're gonna be remembered forever and ever for the decision that you are about to make. You're gonna be remembered forever and ever for the decision that you're about to make that's gonna be recorded, by the way, in the four accounts of my life. That's what Jesus could have said in that moment. Once again, Pilate, he he takes some steps to to try and free Jesus. [00:31:07] (53 seconds)  #GodIsInControl

Even if the you know, for many of us, the worst case scenario I I like, this is one of the things that I've worked through in my life a lot in the last ten years. If even if the worst case scenario were to happen in this situation and I were to die, death is not the end. Death, loss, failure, shame, none of it has the final word because Jesus defeated it all. And if you haven't made a decision to follow Jesus with your life, I think you absolutely should because following Jesus will be the best decision that you can ever make. That's the invite of the king who not only took your sin upon himself, but he defeated death. That's the invite of the king. [00:41:07] (47 seconds)  #NoFearOfDeath

And then he says, oh, by the way, I'm also going to give you a new command. Now if if if you're not used to this language, this terminology, you might miss it, but only kings. Only kings, only God could establish new covenants. Only kings, only God could establish new commands. But we miss it because we're not used to that kind of terminology, that kind of language. And he says, here's the new command. I want you all to love one another the way that I have loved you. That's your command. I want you to love one another. I want you to love other people the way that I have loved you, the way I have put you first. Oh, and by the way, that includes your enemies. That includes the people you don't necessarily like, the people you don't really get along with. I want you to love those people in the way that I have loved you. [00:20:32] (48 seconds)  #LoveLikeJesus

They thought it was a battle with Rome. They the the religious leaders thought that they were at war with Jesus. They thought that he was coming to do war and battle with them. But, no, he wasn't going to do battle with them. He was actually think about this. Jesus was going to Jerusalem to do battle on behalf of every single citizen of Rome. He was going to do battle on behalf of every single one of their religious leaders. He was going to do battle on behalf of you, he was going there to do battle on behalf of me, on behalf of every single person in the entire world. He was not simply going there just to forgive our sin. He was going there to crush the ultimate consequence of your sin and my sin, which is death. As Paul put it, the reign of death. [00:13:40] (46 seconds)  #BattleForEveryone