Its a clip from the Movie, The Green Mile, an adaptation of the Stephen King Novel of the same name. Its a fantastic movie and this clip is the near the end of the film.
But why start this blog with something so graphic and so touching at the same time?
Its something that has been a big impact on me and the way I have been looking atthings this week.
I have been re-reading a book I bought a number of years ago called Extreme God Chasers by a man called Tommy Tenny. In the book there is a chapter called 'Dead men see His face'
As the chapter progesses Tommy Tenny outlines the fact that God made it clear in the bible that alive we can not stand in His presence.
Starting with Moses in Exodus 33:18-19 God tells Moses that he can not see His face as...there shall no man see me and live
And so I started thinking about that very thing, about how dead men see God's face and started to wonder about it, thinking through the scriptures about what I know about what it says and I started to notice that death is a recurrent theme when meeting with God.
The OT preists would tie a rope around their foot incase they were to die in the Holy of Holies, as the only way that others could retrieve the his body should God's glory destroy the living flesh.
Paul tells us that to live is Christ and to die is gain, even Jesus himself said that to follow Him we must lay down our lives and take up our cross.
These are but a few of the examples of where the bible points out that death is a key.
Romans 12:1 - 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship
Well what is a sacrifice? The dictionary calls it an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something deemed as more important or worthy.
Even love is about death - for greater love has no man than this, than he who would lay down his life for his friends
As Christians we are told to love not our lives even unto death. Should this not be our outlook of life, as Dead Men Walking.
God moved upon the alters built in the Old Testament, from Cain and Abel to Abraham through to the prophet Elijah, they each loaded up the alter and a sacrifice was made, and God came upon that sacrifice, fire fell on the alter. and Fire will not fall upon an empty alter, there has to be a sacrifice.
But are you willing to be the fuel? Are you willing to climb up on the alter and call down God's fire?
John Wesley is well known as a founder of the methodist movement and his involvement in the first great awaking in the 1700's once explained that the reason that huge crowds gathered was because
'I set myself on fire, and the people come to see me burn'
Wesley was prepared to climb up on the alter as a living sacrifice and say 'God whatever it takes, I lay on the alter send your fire to consume me Lord'
We need to see Christian more like this, as Philippians 2 tells us to be like Christ in our attitude
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Do you want to see Revival, do you want to see God move, we have to get past this mindset of seeking God's hand, looking to God for what he will do, looking for the miricles and the healings.
Stop praising the healing and start praising the healer. Stop looking for the gift and focus on the giver.
We need to seek after the Face of God, and to do that we must die to self, Moses was hidden in the cleft of a rock and could only see God as He passed Moses by, he could only look upon God's back as He walked away.
Moses was desperate to see the Face of God. Are you???
DO you realise that you are in a priviledged position as a redeemed son of the most high. You can see His face because of what Jesus has done on the cross. But you must lay down your life, die to your sinful nature, and become a dead man walking.
The New Testament equivelent of this death is brokeness and repentance. Because of the spilled blood of Christ the work already done on the cross (which by the way if you look at the greek word for cross - stauros - means figuratively, exposure to death ie self denial) we no longer are in need of the blood that the preists of old would spread on their ears, toes and thumbs to depict the dead. Instead you are now the meeting place of the Lord, not the church building you go into on a sunday.
You are the dwelling place of the most high.
Christ in YOU the hope of glory.
It means that you can seek God's face, you can have what Moses desired most, to meet with God face to face, and you can be assured that if you come through repentance and brokeness that you will not die.
why???
Because God looks upon you through the sacrifice of Jesus, you are a dead man walking.
