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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
Having dwelt on the topic of Christian journey and the “Conquest of Canaan”
in the previous months, now in the month of March, considering that
we are in the season of Lent, I intend to focus on the subject- “Lent season”.
Once again, let me wish you a happy and an edifying read…
Suresh Manoharan
27th Lent Day
Legitimate doubt…4
Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he
died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death,
but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
So he went and preached to the spirits in prison—those who disobeyed
God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.
Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood -
– I Peter 3:18-20
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In our onward journey of focusing upon some of the legitimate
resurrection-related doubts, which have been troubling many well-meaning Christians,
today, we come to yet another doubt highlighted below…
Question: "If Jesus rose from the grave after three days and three
nights, then where was His spirit in those 3 days?
Answer: The above captioned scripture portion, which I am using to attempt
an answer to the above stated question has confounded many, so at the very outset,
I would have to state, I am writing these lines identifying myself very much with
apostle Paul’s sentiments even as he penned
I Cor 7:40
”… I think I am giving you counsel from God’s Spirit
when I say this.”
Apostle Peter under inspiration does say that when His body died,
he went in Spirit and preached to the spirits “in prison”.
This leads us to an array of questions. Now who were these spirits and in what
prison, were they and what was Jesus’ purpose, of going there and preaching?
Again as the above-captioned Scripture portion bears out, these spirits were
those of ones’, who perished during the great flood kept as it were in an
ethereal prison awaiting the Saviour. Once He preached to them, they would
have accepted Him. Now doesn’t this contradict
Heb 9:27
“Just as man is destined
to die once, and after that to face judgment”? Not exactly, when you consider
those spirits accepting the Lord in light of the following Scripture portions,
which read thus
“For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to
anyone I choose.”
- Exodus 33:19
This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave
gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the
lower, earthly regions?)
- Ephesians 4:8,9
So is there a second chance, after death, even NOW? YES, only to those,
who perish in natural calamities like Tsunami even without hearing the Gospel!
If we still have any doubts, I am encouraged that the good Lord would clear
them once we reach the Heavenly shores.
Prayer:
Father, in this fallen world, You in your sovereign wisdom have chosen not to
reveal “everything” to us. But we trust thy fairness whilst dispensing justice.
We praise Thee, once again in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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