The consecration of the firstborn of the flocks or first
born children is intended to remind the people of the deliverance from
Egypt. There is to be a constant
reminder of the mercy of God towards His people, not just at the Passover
festival itself. All of life is worship
and remembrance. Gratitude, thankfulness
and praise are to accompany births of firstborn. All these attitudes would have been
appropriate for those who participated in the first Passover and saw their
protection and by the command to consecrate and redeem the firstborn, every new
generation would participate afresh in the recollection of the Lord’s goodness
with connection with the firstborn of His people.
What was the reaction of the women when they found the stone
rolled away and the tomb empty? They
were perplexed, they didn’t know what to think.
What was the disciples’ reaction to the news of resurrection? They presumed it was an idle tale. No one’s first reaction was to believe Jesus
had been raised from the dead. The
angels remind the women that Jesus had told them of this when He was with them,
His words had come to pass just as He said they would. Luke has Peter alone going to the tomb that
day just on the off chance that what the women have said might be true and
marveling at what he found. No one had
the faith, even after Jesus had told them of these things, to believe He would
be resurrected to life. They were not
simply credulous men who manufactured a resurrection story to keep alive Jesus’
memory, they were men whose doubts and unbelief were overcome by the reality of
the resurrection. We now redeem the
first day of the week in memory of Him.
As the Lord reminded Adam, the body in which we live is dust
and to dust it shall return. This body
is a temporary one but does that mean that the body is nothing more than a pod
or vessel for an immortal soul?
Christians believe more about our bodies than that, we believe that
there is a symbiotic relationship between our bodies and our souls. So long as we live this life they are one
unit, what one does affects the other.
What we do in the body affects the soul and what the soul takes in as
nourishment affects the body, what we do.
We will, however, one day be raised from death to eternal life and that
kind of life demands a body that is more durable, more than dust, and the Lord
will provide that body for us. The body
matters, else why would Jesus take on this flesh and die?
And when the strife is
fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the
distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave,
again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening
brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful
warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of
paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
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