This FFT applies to everything in our lives. For an example, words without accompanying action are meaningless! Guaranteed you have heard the words or even said them, "love you!" Do our actions back up the words? Or how about, I'll pray for you, but do we? If not, the words were meaningless!
Have you ever seen a couple totally in love? Whenever you see one, you see the other. Whether in church, at the coffee shop, out for a walk, always together hand in hand, arm in arm. Many times when one spouse dies it is not long after that the other goes to join them. One without the other equals nothing. A part of them died with their spouse but life does not necessarily have to be that way. I know personally when my wife Dar went to be with the Lord I rejoiced for her "to die is to gain." Thank God for the truth of His word "You can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. She beat me into glory & in my minds eye she is cheering me on to continue the work of the Lord here on earth until we meet again in glory. Since Dar's promotion to glory the Good Lord has blessed me with another bride & Carol & I continue to serve the Lord together.
I want to look at a little different scenario, the institution of the Lords supper & the crucifixion. Again one without the other equals nothing. Without the Communion table (or as my Catholic brothers & sisters would say the Eucharist) the crucifixion would have been nothing other then an execution. But with the institution of the Lord's Supper the crucifixion of Jesus became God's Passover Lamb--Lamb of God, the Sacrificial Lamb of God!
In Psalm 23 we read & the Jews knew The Lord is our Shepherd, but a recent revelation to me is that the Shepherd became the Sacrificial Lamb of God! This has been going deep into my inner person & bringing an illumination I had never seen before.
In the Old Testament a lamb was sacrificed at the Passover for the sins of the people. Now, with the new covenant Jesus Christ was going to take away the sins of the people "once and for all" through His death and resurrection. He went to the cross for our sins. He urged His followers to understand and experience the power of the Lord's Supper. A New Covenant that would bring freedom and eternal life to all who would believe. A celebration & realization of who He was & is!
This also fulfills the prophecy Jesus spoke of Himself in John 2:19 "destroy this temple, & in three days I will raise it up." In this particular instance one without the other would have made Jesus a false prophet, NOT LIKELY!
I can say with certainty that not one person left the Calvary after seeing Jesus crucified that what they had witnessed was the greatest sacrifice of all time. An act of obedience & worship from Jesus to His Father, God, that could never be matched.
His crucifixion sent the disciples into turmoil, what now? For the last three & one half years they had done nothing but follow Jesus, being there seeing Him minister the love of God in so many different ways. Healing, deliverance, even raising the dead & yet He is dead & gone, or is He?
One without the other equal equals nothing. Is Jesus alive in your life today? Food for thought!
Ken Gorham a servant of the Lord
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