Will the Bodies of Believers See Corruption?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts, we are in Acts Chapter 13, and we’re going to pick up with Verse 36.Just by way of a little bit of introduction to this for maybe some of our new listeners.The apostle Paul is on a missionary journey, he went into the synagogue of the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia, and why is he there, Dave?He was there to tell them, to instruct them, to use their history, the Old Testament, that’s all they had, as to why Jesus had to be the Messiah, the Christ, the One they were looking for, and waiting for.

Dave:

Absolutely, and He fulfilled every prophecy.

Tom:

Right, so we pick up with Verse 36:“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God. he fell asleep,---in other words, he died--- and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.”

Dave:

It’s interesting Tom, because if you go to Israel---probably most people listening to us haven’t, “gathered to their fathers.” Remember, they would lay you out in this tomb, it’s a family tomb, and when you really deteriorated down to not much more than dust, then they scoop you off, remember, in that little hole on the side?You get gathered to your fathers over there, because they are not preserving them, they are not mummies, very interesting!I mean, I love the Bible, it’s fantastic how it all fits together, but you remember Hebrews Chapter 2, says, Christ tasted death for every man.Well, wait a minute, how could He taste death for every man, because a lot of people have already died.No, no, they haven’t really died because there is a second death coming, the Lake of Fire, that is the second death, and He tasted real death for everyone.So that means He had a death that nobody else has died yet.

Tom:

Dave, could I just interject this?Coming to work yesterday, there was a car in front of me, and had a bumper sticker on, and the bumper sticker said:Born Once Okay.Obviously this was a person who was taking being born again and ridiculing that, but I was thinking as I turned, you know, it really upset me for his sake, because I’m thinking: the man driving the car, this guy is going to experience the second death, unless the Lord intervenes in his life.

Dave:

So, you could say, in a sense, Jesus was put in a grave like nobody else ever had, but what does it say about Him?It says He was laid in a new tomb wherein never man was laid.Okay, probably it was a partially finished tomb.Now how did it come about to be a new tomb?How can you have a new tomb somewhere around when it’s always a family affair, and you get gathered to your fathers?Very interesting!Whose tomb was it?The tomb of Joseph of Aramathia!So he was not from Jerusalem.He had, apparently, just moved there, and of course, this is where his family is going to be now, they have left the family tomb, you can’t move these tombs.And so they are carving out a new tomb for Joseph, and that’s where Jesus was placed in this new tomb where no man had ever laid as a corpse, no corpse had ever been put in there.So, amazing, Tom, as you study the Bible, you’re talking about going through the whole Bible, how it all fits together.Forty different authors over 1600 years, Wow; they don’t contradict one another, they built it, all inspired of the Holy Spirit.

Tom:

All “thus saith the Lord.”

Dave:

So David was laid unto his fathers, gathered unto his fathers, and saw corruption, obviously his body corrupted.Verse 37:“But, [a contrast] he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.”Well, He was only in there three days and three nights.But the body begins to decompose very quickly.

Tom:

Well, Dave, we have the example of Lazarus who, whether it was Mary or Martha, I don’t remember, but said “he stinketh, Lord,” how are you going to bring him back?

Dave:

Right.He said, roll away the stone. That’s when they got concerned.The odor was going to come out.He had only been in there four days and it was bad.Jesus was in His grave three days and there was no corruption.And, we talked about it last week, Tom, remember that little wafer, the lady that was martyred in England for refusing to accept transubstantiation and she said that cannot, that wafer cannot be the body of Jesus because let it sit around for awhile and it will breed worms and mold, etc.He did not suffer corruption.

Tom:

Verse 38:“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”

Dave:

You’ve got the Gospel in a nutshell.How are you going to be justified by the law of Moses?Well, the law says you must do this, you must not do that.If you break one commandment, you’re guilty of all.Why is that?That’s what James argued.If you break one of the ten commandments, you’ve broken then all.Why is that?This is what James says.Because, it’s God who gave these commands and to defy God in just breaking one, you are a rebel against God and you can’t make up for that then by, well, ok, from now on I’ll keep the law.But you already broke the law, so you can’t make up, as we’ve often illustrated, you can’t make up for breaking the law in the past by keeping the law in the future because you’re only doing what the law requires and you don’t get extra credit for that.

Tom:

Right.And the point of the law is, Scripture says, it’s our school master, to point out sin in my life – in any one’s life.

Dave:

And to bring us to Christ.So, he says “from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”Guys, you know you couldn’t be justified by the law of Moses.There’s no way you can be justified by keeping the law.Paul argues that in Romans 3, by the law comes the knowledge of sin, as you just said, Tom, not justification.So, he’s laying it out.These are Jews in the Synagogue and I think they’re getting the point.Oh, guys, there must be something else that’s coming.God must have a way of salvation and if you would read your own prophets you’d know it was through the Messiah who would die for the sins of the world.

Tom:

Verse 40:“Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers and wonder, and perish:for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.”

Dave:

Well, Tom, that’s a quote from Habakkuk and had a specific application of that day, but now Paul is telling us that the applications in the Old Testament, for example, I Corinthians 10, he says the things that were written before were written for our learning.So not only did certain events happen in the Old Testament which are historic, but they also have a message for today.Now, I guess we’ll have to come back and deal with that because what he’s talking about is something far worse than what Habakkuk was foretelling in his day.But he looked forward to this.