#DailyDevotion Those Who Die In The Faith Of Jesus Are Not Dead But Alive
November 1st
Read Deut 34:1–12
Deu 34:1-6 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, (2) all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, (3) the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. (4) And the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” (5) So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, (6) and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.
Why can’t they find the body of Moses? Jude tells us, Jud 1:9 “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” Apparently the Lord took Moses’ body into His divine presence.
But the most important thing we must remember this day is that Moses is not dead but alive. Sure his body died but Moses possessed eternal life. We saw Moses and Elijah on the mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and he was certainly living there. Jesus reminds us, Mat 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” These patriarchs are not dead but alive! How can this be? Joh 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
These prophets of old and this people believed in Jesus and had eternal life. They bodies may waste away but they are alive with Christ Jesus to this day. All our loved ones who were baptized into Christ Jesus and believed in Him who are dead and buried are not dead. They are alive with Jesus. Their spirit is immortal. Indeed even you if your faith, your trust is in Jesus Christ for every good, if your trust is in His name for the forgiveness of your sins, you possess eternal life right now. You cannot die.
But greater news than this is that Jesus says that He is the resurrection and the life. All who put their trust in Him shall on the last day be raised from the dead, bodily, to everlasting life to dwell in a new heavens and a new earth. All those who did not believe in Him or rejected Him in this life will be raised to everlasting damnation and cast into the eternal lake of fire where their torment will have no end. Either way, no one ceases to exist. We’re either in bliss with Christ or tormented by His presence. Today may your faith be in the One who gives you eternal life and the resurrection from the dead.
Lord Jesus Christ, you promised eternal life now and the resurrection to eternal life when you return. Keep us in this faith that we may not fall away but keep your promise not to lose us or forsake us. Amen.