Jesus Did Not See Decay

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." These familiar words are echoed at practically every funeral. We have heard them so often that they are almost a cliché. They reïterate the curse God placed on mankind when Adam and Eve fell into sin: "From dust you came; unto dust shall you return." When we attend a funeral and hear these words, it has a sobering effect. We realize that loved one being placed in the grave will no longer be the same in this world as we remember last seeing him or her. When we realize that this is a universal fate of all men, to die and to rot, we become unsettled. We are all eventually going to come to that same fate.

Our text today foretells One, however, who would not have that same fate. He would die, but he would not decay. He would be buried, but he would return to life. He would be sealed into the grave, but he would break the chains of death and rise victorious from the grave. In keeping with our Passion Theme this year SO THAT THE SCRIPTURE WOULD BE FULFILLED, we will see that Jesus Did Not See Decay. We will look at his resurrection from the dead and we will study his elevation to glory. In both of these lessons from today's text we will see how the Psalm is fulfilled in Christ, how this prophecy was a comfort to David and finally how this Psalm is our comfort and is our Resurrection Prayer as well.

That this Psalm has a message both to pre-Christian Jews such as David as well as to Christian era believers is seen in the fact that the book of Acts records both Peter and Paul quoting these verses. Peter used it to show that Jesus fulfilled the words of the great Israelite king when he rose from the dead. Paul uses this verse when he addresses the worshipers in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, as we find in Acts 13. Both Peter and Paul point out the obvious. Though David spoke these words, they could not possibly apply to him since he had died and had decayed in the grave. David was obviously speaking of someone else--the Messiah. The Messiah would be known by his mastery over the grave. Peter and Paul both point out that Jesus himself shows his victory over the grave by rising from the dead.

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