Ever since Genesis 3, when sin entered into this world though the disobedience of Adam and Eve. death also entered the world. Death was part of the judgment God said would happen and the death of the body would be the consequence of that sin.
Now we all say: but death did not happen right away. Even in Genesis 3, it was hundreds of years before Adam and Eve died, but it does come to all-for we are all terminal! We will all die one day. I can’t tell you how many funerals I have attended and as a Pastor how many funerals I officiated at-all ages and all various peoples. Those words: “We commit this body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ". The phrase is part of a traditional burial service, reflecting the belief that the body will return to the earth while also expressing hope for an afterlife and resurrection. It originates from Biblical passages like Genesis 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 3:2.
If you have ever traveled to any country or cities or states you will see graves all over. And a reminder to you the bottom of the ocean is paved with dead men’s bones also. Everyone who has ever been born during the last 6.000 years, has been dying one way or another.
There is a song that we sing in church and it is entitled: Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down. You may think that may be poor grammar but it is great theology! Its a wonderful divine truth and a soon coming reality. If Jesus Christ rose again from the dead we can be confident that we will also rise from the grave! Jesus rose again from the dead that is the assurance that every believer is going to have a resurrection just as we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:12-34.
He is saying to us that the two go together: the resurrection of Jesus and our resurrection. The foundation of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus. The cornerstone of what we believe as children of God is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now this is a subject that is very important and it is of vital interest to every one of us. All of us know we’re going to have to die unless Jesus Christ comes again, so it becomes extremely important whether or not the resurrection is true. What you believe about the resurrection has PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS.
That belief that one day we will be resurrected and have a new glorified body that’s what gives believers hope. That is what keeps you going in the heartaches and when the tears go coursing down your cheeks as you face the loss of your loved ones. It is the truth that one of these days we’re going to see them again. But more importantly we will see JESUS.
You see, you and I, who have believed in the death, resurrection and second coming of Jesus Christ: and we believe that this life is not the only life there is, that there is another life and a better life out there in the future. I’ve got good news for you. I’ve got a message to proclaim that takes you beyond the grave : it is the message that because Jesus Christ rose again we are not of all men most to be pitied but we are of all men to be congratulated because we have a hope beyond the grave. So the resurrection, the whole truth of the resurrection has deeply personal implications for all Christians
.
Can you just imagine the terror that will come to this world or to your world individually when God steps down to planet earth and says “Gentlemen and ladies and Boys and Girls, it is closing time”. People don’t want Christ to come and interrupt their plans or their programs. But when that trumpet sounds. God will constrain ALL to hear and obey. Every knee will bow to the glory of God.
The one hope we have is that our new bodies will be vastly improved. I want to caution all of you reading this. This promise is for those who will humble themselves and accept Jesus Christ as God’s only begotten Son. I’ve got good news for you , I’ve got a message to proclaim that takes you beyond the grave : it is the message that because Jesus Christ rose again we are not of all men most to be pitied but we are of all men to be congratulated because we have a hope beyond the grave. So the resurrection, the whole truth of the resurrection has deeply personal implications.
And if you believe like I believe, you know there ain’t no grave that can hold us! I mentioned this song that we sing in church so I did some searching its story behind the song.
Claude Ely, a songwriter and preacher from Virginia, describes composing the song while sick with tuberculosis in 1934 when he was twelve years old. His family prayed for his health, and in response he spontaneously performed this song. Credit for the song’s origin, both words and music, is almost always given to an American Pentecostal preacher, Claude Ely, who traveled through the hills of Appalachia as an itinerant evangelist during the late 1940s through the ’60s. He was a charismatic, colorful character with a gold tooth, wearing a white suit and a white cowboy hat, driving with one hand on the steering wheel and one holding a bullhorn, shouting out invitations for people to come to his tent meetings where they would experience “the fire and Holy Ghost.” These were raucous affairs, with plenty of loud music and people lining up for healing. Here’s one description of Ely’s singing: People would show up to revivals because they had heard about this country singer who sang like a black man. Brother Claude Ely would thrash his guitar, shake and gyrate from one part of the stage to the other. Young men would run up to wipe the sweat off his forehead.
One family friend recalled that when the family was gathered to Ely’s bedside, “he said, ‘I’m not going to die.’ And he started singing the song.”
He did indeed get up from that deathbed and lived another 44 years, when he died from a heart attack in the middle of playing the organ for a church service. “Ain’t No Grave” is rooted in old-time Appalachian gospel music. Now that is some inspiration!
When we die we will either go with the Lord to resurrection of life OR to hell and eternal damnation. Our sentences once pronounced will be immediately carried out.
Think wisely and soberly while you still have time. Your eternal life is set upon a single choice you make. Are you going to humble yourself and choose to serve Jesus Christ and have the hope that this song portrays to us or are you going to continue to doubt and not want to make that choice. I beg you to make the right choice and choose Jesus because if you do not choose Jesus and you die suddenly you will spend eternity in hell.
The song Ain’t No Grave is a celebration of these truths and the power of the perfect love of God to assure and quiet our souls in the midst of a world often marked with doubt and chaos. As we sing this triumphant anthem together, may we rejoice in the victory we have over the grave and the gift of eternal and abundant life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
We know that our sin puts us in the grave, but we know that Jesus walked out of it. And so, our faith in Him means there's no grave for us and we're grateful. Here are some of the words of the song. Note that over the years others have added verses:
VERSE: Shame is a prison as cruel as a grave
Shame is a robber and he's come to take my name
Oh, love is my redeemer, lifting me up from the ground
And love is the power when my freedom song is found
CHORUS: There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I'm gonna rise up outta the ground
There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
VERSE: Oh, fear is a liar with a smooth and velvet tongue
Fear is a tyrant, he's always telling me to run
Oh, love is a resurrection and love is a trumpet sound
Love is my weapon, I'm gonna take my giants down
VERSE: Oh, there was a battle, a war between death and life
And there on a tree, the lamb of God was crucified
And he went on down to hell, he took back every key
And he rose up as a lion and he set all captives free
VERSE: When he heard the trumpet sound
He rose up outta the ground
There ain't no grave
Could hold his body down
There ain't no grave
Could hold his body down
Sing that song with the blessed assurance that like Jesus we too can have a resurrection if we put our faith and trust in JESUS THE RISEN LORD!
Now we all say: but death did not happen right away. Even in Genesis 3, it was hundreds of years before Adam and Eve died, but it does come to all-for we are all terminal! We will all die one day. I can’t tell you how many funerals I have attended and as a Pastor how many funerals I officiated at-all ages and all various peoples. Those words: “We commit this body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ". The phrase is part of a traditional burial service, reflecting the belief that the body will return to the earth while also expressing hope for an afterlife and resurrection. It originates from Biblical passages like Genesis 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 3:2.
If you have ever traveled to any country or cities or states you will see graves all over. And a reminder to you the bottom of the ocean is paved with dead men’s bones also. Everyone who has ever been born during the last 6.000 years, has been dying one way or another.
There is a song that we sing in church and it is entitled: Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down. You may think that may be poor grammar but it is great theology! Its a wonderful divine truth and a soon coming reality. If Jesus Christ rose again from the dead we can be confident that we will also rise from the grave! Jesus rose again from the dead that is the assurance that every believer is going to have a resurrection just as we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:12-34.
He is saying to us that the two go together: the resurrection of Jesus and our resurrection. The foundation of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus. The cornerstone of what we believe as children of God is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now this is a subject that is very important and it is of vital interest to every one of us. All of us know we’re going to have to die unless Jesus Christ comes again, so it becomes extremely important whether or not the resurrection is true. What you believe about the resurrection has PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS.
That belief that one day we will be resurrected and have a new glorified body that’s what gives believers hope. That is what keeps you going in the heartaches and when the tears go coursing down your cheeks as you face the loss of your loved ones. It is the truth that one of these days we’re going to see them again. But more importantly we will see JESUS.
You see, you and I, who have believed in the death, resurrection and second coming of Jesus Christ: and we believe that this life is not the only life there is, that there is another life and a better life out there in the future. I’ve got good news for you. I’ve got a message to proclaim that takes you beyond the grave : it is the message that because Jesus Christ rose again we are not of all men most to be pitied but we are of all men to be congratulated because we have a hope beyond the grave. So the resurrection, the whole truth of the resurrection has deeply personal implications for all Christians
.
Can you just imagine the terror that will come to this world or to your world individually when God steps down to planet earth and says “Gentlemen and ladies and Boys and Girls, it is closing time”. People don’t want Christ to come and interrupt their plans or their programs. But when that trumpet sounds. God will constrain ALL to hear and obey. Every knee will bow to the glory of God.
The one hope we have is that our new bodies will be vastly improved. I want to caution all of you reading this. This promise is for those who will humble themselves and accept Jesus Christ as God’s only begotten Son. I’ve got good news for you , I’ve got a message to proclaim that takes you beyond the grave : it is the message that because Jesus Christ rose again we are not of all men most to be pitied but we are of all men to be congratulated because we have a hope beyond the grave. So the resurrection, the whole truth of the resurrection has deeply personal implications.
And if you believe like I believe, you know there ain’t no grave that can hold us! I mentioned this song that we sing in church so I did some searching its story behind the song.
Claude Ely, a songwriter and preacher from Virginia, describes composing the song while sick with tuberculosis in 1934 when he was twelve years old. His family prayed for his health, and in response he spontaneously performed this song. Credit for the song’s origin, both words and music, is almost always given to an American Pentecostal preacher, Claude Ely, who traveled through the hills of Appalachia as an itinerant evangelist during the late 1940s through the ’60s. He was a charismatic, colorful character with a gold tooth, wearing a white suit and a white cowboy hat, driving with one hand on the steering wheel and one holding a bullhorn, shouting out invitations for people to come to his tent meetings where they would experience “the fire and Holy Ghost.” These were raucous affairs, with plenty of loud music and people lining up for healing. Here’s one description of Ely’s singing: People would show up to revivals because they had heard about this country singer who sang like a black man. Brother Claude Ely would thrash his guitar, shake and gyrate from one part of the stage to the other. Young men would run up to wipe the sweat off his forehead.
One family friend recalled that when the family was gathered to Ely’s bedside, “he said, ‘I’m not going to die.’ And he started singing the song.”
He did indeed get up from that deathbed and lived another 44 years, when he died from a heart attack in the middle of playing the organ for a church service. “Ain’t No Grave” is rooted in old-time Appalachian gospel music. Now that is some inspiration!
When we die we will either go with the Lord to resurrection of life OR to hell and eternal damnation. Our sentences once pronounced will be immediately carried out.
Think wisely and soberly while you still have time. Your eternal life is set upon a single choice you make. Are you going to humble yourself and choose to serve Jesus Christ and have the hope that this song portrays to us or are you going to continue to doubt and not want to make that choice. I beg you to make the right choice and choose Jesus because if you do not choose Jesus and you die suddenly you will spend eternity in hell.
The song Ain’t No Grave is a celebration of these truths and the power of the perfect love of God to assure and quiet our souls in the midst of a world often marked with doubt and chaos. As we sing this triumphant anthem together, may we rejoice in the victory we have over the grave and the gift of eternal and abundant life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
We know that our sin puts us in the grave, but we know that Jesus walked out of it. And so, our faith in Him means there's no grave for us and we're grateful. Here are some of the words of the song. Note that over the years others have added verses:
VERSE: Shame is a prison as cruel as a grave
Shame is a robber and he's come to take my name
Oh, love is my redeemer, lifting me up from the ground
And love is the power when my freedom song is found
CHORUS: There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I'm gonna rise up outta the ground
There ain't no grave
Gonna hold my body down
VERSE: Oh, fear is a liar with a smooth and velvet tongue
Fear is a tyrant, he's always telling me to run
Oh, love is a resurrection and love is a trumpet sound
Love is my weapon, I'm gonna take my giants down
VERSE: Oh, there was a battle, a war between death and life
And there on a tree, the lamb of God was crucified
And he went on down to hell, he took back every key
And he rose up as a lion and he set all captives free
VERSE: When he heard the trumpet sound
He rose up outta the ground
There ain't no grave
Could hold his body down
There ain't no grave
Could hold his body down
Sing that song with the blessed assurance that like Jesus we too can have a resurrection if we put our faith and trust in JESUS THE RISEN LORD!
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