55: ENTOMBED

ENTOMBED

Looking back to the Saturday before Resurrection Sunday, I was impressed with that day Jesus was in the tomb awaiting the resurrection. There is application to us today. Let me ask you:

Are you entombed?

There are the times in my life when I learn that there is no way out except through the Father’s faithfulness. I cannot create the rescue plan. The rescue is only found in being conformed to His death. Philippians 3:10 is where I see that in scripture, “...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

When Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, it is not that He didn’t know the ultimate answer.

He was quoting out of Psalm 22, which was the answer. He was being made sin for all of us, and the only way out of that was the faithfulness of the Father. “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.”  Everything depended on the faithfulness of the Father at that moment.

We can get into places in which it becomes so clear to us that there is no way to go on or no way out, unless the Father comes through.

Maybe some of you are there right now.

This is being conformed to His death, which I like to call being “entombed”.

In my walk with the Lord these over these past 25 years, I think I have been entombed about 2 or 3 times. I am not really looking for any more of those experiences. But, each time I grew in knowing about His faithfulness in my life. I trust Him more now than before the entombment experiences.

I am walking through a current perplexity right now. But because I got to know Him better during those periods of entombment, I have a greater trust in the Fathers faithfulness. Does that make sense?

If there is another opportunity for entombment, I don’t want to shrink from it, because it’s not pleasing to the Father to do so. It inhibits further growth in Him.

Because we serve a God of resurrection, being conformed to His death is not a negative process, but a glorious opportunity to share again in His resurrected life.

If it looks to you that it is all over, including your home, your job, your ministry vision, your Christian life; if the lies, the condemnation of the enemy, the attacks of even the brethren, are threatening to destroy you—remember, brothers and sisters! We serve a God of resurrection.

Do you know what happens when He calls us out of that tomb? We are back on resurrection ground! We are back tasting again the power of His resurrection. It is like a second honeymoon, and even a third honeymoon. WooHoo!

I tell you, once you have been raised, you are never the same. The enemy shouts: I’ll bury you! Well, he just might. He has done it before, but the Lord will raise us, and that changes everything.

It’s a new kind of faith, a resurrection faith. Now, this talk of the power of resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to His death, is not referring to some experiential pilgrimage we concoct to draw more closely to God. It is not that at all. I’ve seen this type of manufactured, hyped up talk that was simply a work of the flesh.

Every bit of it, to be real, must be according to His word, and His word speaks much about all these things. So to validate all that you are going through, stay in the Word. Keep hearing from God. Let Him be speaking to you about these things to avoid getting off on some tangent that will keep you from the very thing you thought you were pursuing.

Read Psalm 119 again some time. It is all about God’s Word. Time and again it says, according to Your word. According to Your word. Revive me, according to Your word. Strengthen me, according to Your word. Guide me, according to Your word. Protect me, according to Your word. Our Christian experience has to conform to the word of God.

Philippians 3:10-11 says, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (11) if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

That I may know Him [in all these ways]… If by any means, [if by anything God wants to take me through] I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

I am looking into the tomb today (because of certain life perplexing setbacks). Battles abound in the life of a minister. If I enter that tomb (remember, I don’t always want to die and be buried in a tomb), but if God so wills, it is my prayer that I will emerge with new life and resurrection victory.

How about you? Have you ever been entombed? Do you have a testimony of the Fathers faithfulness to resurrect you? What about right now? Are you in that tomb waiting for His resurrection power? Let me know by making your comment below.