Death to live

 

                  Death To Live

        Death to many may seem like an end, a point of no return. But the question is; Does the death of a thing or person really signifies it's end?
 Death is a transformation process and according to John12:24 "... Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." God brings everyone he plans to use to a place of death.
 Death could mean a great loss/disappointment as it was in the case of Job though he went through the place of death losing all he ever owned only to live as a man twice as wealthy as before death.
      To Isaac it was being taken to be slain not by strangers but by his own father, imagine setting the wood and coal for the sacrifice only to find out that you are the sacrificial lamb. Isaac had to go through this place of death for Abraham's faith to be tested but he was transformed from this point to a place of life to flag off the expansion of Abraham's dynasty taking up his blessings and making him the Father of many nations. (Gen 22:7-12)
       To  Jacob, his deathbed was brought forth after he had cheated and scammed his way through life. Jacob died that night in the wrestle with the angel, his crafty and deceitful old self had died for Israel to take up and reclaim his blessing (Gen 32:25-28)
       Joseph, son of the love of Jacob's life (Rachael), an envy of his brothers because of his very big dreams and this affection between him and his father, was thrown into a pit by his very own flesh and blood. Now picture Joseph stuck in the pit listening to his dear brothers plotting and cooking up his own death story. At that point he probably bowed his head to his death, he died to his dreams, died to his baby brother Benjamin and his beloved father, and will die to everything he had and everyone who ever knew him. (Gen 37:20).
Little did he know that it wasn't the end, his brothers pulling him out and selling him for a mere 20shekels of silver which would probably be shared 2shekels each amongst the 10 of them was only the beginning of his death to live transformation. The little boy with the coat of many colours made from rags had to die to live as an overseer of all of Potiphar's wealth.
     Baby Moses was left afloat by his mother though for safety but she was filled with uncertainty about her son's fate. Moses was brought to a place of death as an infant, he had died as his mother's child only to live as Pharaoh's adopted grandchild. (Ex. 2:3-6) He went through death as an ordinary man only to live in the King's palace as princes would.
     Jesus was brought to a place of death, he was dragged all the way to Calvary with a heavy cross on his back, thorns piercing his head and finally nailed to cross as though he was nothing. His death, the most significant yet unknown to his killers, to them it was an end but to him, it was an end, yes! an end to our sins, an end to shame, pain, transgressions and iniquity,  not just an end but a beginning of an abundant life filled with grace. A man died, our sins the reason, his blood the price, the cross; the evidence, a call to redemption, a crucified flesh but a resurrected spirit, a death to live a life without blemish.
      Every death brings a better hope. Every time a seed is cast into the ground, it is subjected to darkness, it dies but it does not come out the same way it was sown. It comes forth with a more glorious body and much more than the quality planted. If God submits you to this kind of death it is certain that you will surely rise again out of that ground.


“There is always hope for a tree. If it is cut down, it can grow again. It will keep sending out new branches.  Its roots might grow old in the ground and its stump die in the dirt,  but with water, it will grow again. It will grow branches like a new plant."    - Job 14:7‭-‬9 ERV