Pastor Dewey Note: I first met Alan Wimbish when he was the State Director here in New Mexico for Child Evangelism Fellowship. Sadly, New Mexico lost him to North Carolina. A few years ago Alan traveled with me to preach at FBC in Quemado, NM, the man is a born preacher! Blessed to have him as a writer here at FGGAM!
A Divine Impossibility By Alan Wimbish
Impossible. The definition of impossible is means something that cannot be done. It also means something that “cannot exist”. The internet is full of statistics that discuss “impossible” things that humans can’t do. Most of them, however weird they are, can be done, but only by a few people. So, technically, those things can be done. Impossible is a seriously powerful word. Think about it, something that is impossible is something that CANNOT be done. It cannot exist. No one is able to do whatever it is. No one.
To me, Easter is all about one particular impossibility. In Acts chapter two, Peter declares to the people that have assembled to hear his sermon that Jesus is the Christ; not was the Christ. Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah and that He is alive! In verse twenty-four of chapter two, Peter declares, “God raised him (Jesus) up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” It was not possible for Jesus to be conquered by death. One day I will be conquered by death. So will you. We have no power on our own to take death into bondage. We cannot, on our own, conquer death. At Easter time, especially, I am reminded of the divine impossibility….that Jesus died, He was buried, AND He rose from the grave. The grave had no power over Him because He is God. God cannot die. How does this relate to us? Death has lost it’s power over us. The religions of the world have false messiahs that are dead and their bodies are still in their graves. They could offer no hope for the sickness of sin and the eventual result of this sickness; death. The gods of all of these religions are unknowable and far away (and in reality don’t exist anyway). Our God is knowable. Many times in the Scripture God reminds us that if we seek Him, we will find him. Taste and see that He is good. Ask Him questions and He will answer us. Our God is alive and He can be found. For the Christian, the probability of physical death is as real for us as the lost person. As a matter of fact, we are all born ‘dead’. We are all born spiritually dead and cut off from the fellowship of God. Someone, through the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, comes to us and tell us the sweet Gospel of truth and the Lord brings us to faith in Him through Jesus Christ alone. At this point, we are ‘born’ again and made spiritually alive. This is the first divine impossibility. That God would want to have fellowship with us. That He can take someone who is spiritually dead and a rebel to the things of God and make him alive spiritually. That we can have communion with a holy and righteous God because of Jesus and His righteousness. The sweet communion that our first parents (Adam and Eve) experienced physically, we can now enjoy spiritually and to a degree physically. We can talk to God, read His word, listen to what He has to tell us through His word. We have an anchor in the violent storm of life that can easily toss us about the waves of despair and break up our lives. We have hope when others have none. We know that this world, with it’s pain and suffering, is not all there is to life. Our lives are full of hope and amazement while the lives of the lost are full of emptiness and dispair. Why does the Christian get to experience all of this? Because Jesus rose from the grave. The Bible says that the same Spirit that rose Christ from the dead lives in us! He has brought our dead bodies to life through Jesus. The resurrection of Christ sent a shock wave through the fathomless reaches of hell and around the world that is still being felt today when someone puts their faith and trust in Christ alone. And it doesn’t end here but will go with us into eternity. When death does finally close our eyes, it will be but for a brief moment; as fast as a blink of the eye. In this world one second, with God in heaven for all eternity the next moment. But wait, there’s more! The Bible says that in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be transformed (1 Cor 15:52). Our physical bodies that will one day be buried in the ground, will be raised to life when Christ comes back for his Church. We will be given new bodies that will not ache, not get sick, that will know no heartache, we will be made in the image of Christ. This is impossible, but with God, all things are possible (Matthew 9:26). Just as our spiritual bodies were brought from death to life, our physical bodies will one day be brought back to life. God doesn’t leave anything out. He reclaims all that is His, even our physical bodies. Since Jesus was risen from the grave completely and physically, so will we be raised from the grave. What a divine impossibility!
