Read for This Week’s Study: Rev. 13:8; Matt. 17:22, 23;
Mark 9:30–32; John 19:1–30; Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 1:18–24.
Memory Text: “ ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have eternal life’ ” (John 3:14, 15, NKJV).
It has been said that we cannot avoid death and taxes. That’s not
entirely true. People can avoid taxes—but not death. They might
be able to put death off a few years, but sooner or later, death
always comes. And because we know that the dead, both the righ-
teous and the wicked, end up in the same place at first, our hope of
the resurrection means everything to us. As Paul has said, without
this hope, even “those who have fallen asleep in Christ have per-
ished” (1 Cor. 15:18, NKJV), which is a rather strange thing to say
if those who “have fallen asleep in Christ” are buzzing about heaven
in the presence of God.
Thus, Christ’s resurrection is central to our faith, because in His
resurrection we have the surety of our own. But before Christ was res-
urrected from the dead, He, of course, had to die. This is why, amid the
agony of Gethsemane, in anticipation of His death, He prayed: “ ‘Now
My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this
hour”? But for this purpose I came to this hour’ ” (John 12:27, NKJV).
And that purpose was to die.
This week we will focus on Christ’s death and what it means for the
promise of eternal life.
