Raised

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

RAISED

Heb 13:20-21

20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

NIV

This prayer to the Father who is the God of peace gives us both encouragement and strength. First, because the Father raised the Son from the dead, we know that he is the firstborn of all who will be resurrected from the dead who are in him. That means we can be confident that someday our bodies will be raised from the dead into an eternal glorified body. That does not mean we will remain dead while our bodies lay in the grave, for Jesus was not with his body while it was in the tomb. We know that when he was on the cross and the one thief recognized Jesus as Lord, Jesus told him that today he would be in paradise with him. Some would say there is proof that Jesus went down to hell to preach to the prisoners. We get this from the Apostles Creed, which from the research of our scholars of old, we find the Apostles did not write the creed, but that sometime during the Renaissance around the 14^th to 17^th century, it was developed for catechumen, or instructions to be baptized. Therefore, we cannot give total credibility to the creed, although it may have been written through inspiration from the Spirit. We simply do not know. However, we know that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord, and then sometime later our bodies will be resurrected. If we are a spirit who lives in the body, then our spirit will go to be with Jesus in paradise, just as that thief did. We cannot balance Jesus being in paradise that very day with the thief and going to hell to preach to the saints from the Old Testament who were there. We know that from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, there is a great chasm between the two and the rich man asked the Lord who was at Abraham’s side, paradise, to send Lazarus to him, but he was refused. Again, Jesus was in Paradise where we will be with him. That is an encouragement and gives us the strength to live with courageous endurance because of our faith in our Lord. Whether one believes Jesus went to hell or that he didn't isn’t important to our faith in our being with our Lord the moment we take our last breath, leaving this body behind for a later date. That we know is true, and the resurrection of our bodies we also know is true. That is what matters most of all, the truth of our being with Jesus, and someday our bodies will be raised.