双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：8 月 7 日 死亡无权

8 月 7 日

死亡无权

死也不再作他的主了。

罗马书 6:9下

基督为我们的罪而死，祂藉着死败坏了死亡。在基督里，我们不再视死亡为恐怖之王。保罗说：“我…情愿离世与基督同在；因为这是好得无比的”（腓立比书 1:23）。为什么呢？因为他竭力为主做工并遭受那么多苦难吗？不！他早已预备好，因他在大马色路上遇见了基督。在约翰一书 3:14 中，我们读到我们 “已经出死入生了”。你现在有永生，征服死亡是基督教的最终目标，肉体的死亡只不过是从在地上的与主同在过渡到在天上的与主同在。对于基督徒来说，死亡有阴影，死亡给那些留下来的人蒙上一层阴影。

唐纳德·格雷·巴恩豪斯博士（Dr. Donald Grey）是美国长老会有名的牧师，我很了解他，几年前他去世了。当他三个孩子都未满十二岁时，他三十多岁的妻子因癌症去世了，当时，他做出了值得夸胜的决定——亲自主持葬礼布道。

在去参加葬礼的路上，有一辆大卡车超车了，当卡车驶过时，在他们车上投下了很大的阴影。他就问其中一个孩子：“你宁愿被卡车碾过，还是被它的影子碾过？”

“当然是被影子碾过！”十二岁的女儿回答道，“因为影子不能伤你。”

巴恩豪斯博士对他失去母亲的三个孩子说：“你们的母亲不是被死亡碾过，而是被死亡的阴影碾过。”在葬礼上，他引用了诗篇 23：4：“我虽然行过死荫的幽谷，也不怕遭害，因为祢与我同在”。

当我们信靠基督为救主时，就没有什么能伤害我们了，包括死亡，因为基督已经战胜死亡——我们也能。

今日祷告：

天父，你已经战胜了死亡。所以在我们的生命里有盼望、有喜乐。主啊，感谢祢！我们所面对的只是死亡的阴影，但我们知道，我们将永远活着；奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。

August 7

DEATH HAS NO POWER

Death has no power over him any more. Romans 6:9 JB

Christ died for our sins, and by His death He destroyed death. In Christ, we no longer regard death as the king of terrors. Paul wrote, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23, NIV) Why? Was it because he worked so hard for Christ and had suffered so much? No! He was ready because half a lifetime earlier he had met Christ on the Damascus road. In 1 John 3:14 we read that we have already “passed from death to life.” You can have eternal life now, The conquest of death is the ultimate goal of Christianity. Physical death is a mere transition from life on earth with Christ to eternal life in heaven with Christ. For Christians there is such a thing as the shadow of death. Death casts a shadow over those who are left behind.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was a prince among American Presbyterian clergymen. I knew him well. He died a few years ago. His first wife had died from cancer while still in her thirties. At the time, all three of his children were under twelve. He had such a victory that he decided to preach the funeral sermon himself.

En route to the funeral they were overtaken by a large truck which, as it passed them, cast a large shadow over their car. He asked one of his children, “Would you rather be run over by that truck or its shadow?”

“By the shadow, of course!” replied the twelve-year-old daughter. “A shadow can’t hurt you.”

With that answer, Dr. Barnhouse said to his three motherless children, “Your mother has been overrun not by death, but by the shadow of death.” At the funeral he spoke on Psalm 23: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (verse 4, NKJV).

Nothing can harm us, including death, when we have trusted Christ as Savior because Christ has conquered death-so shall we.

Pray for the Day:

Father, You have conquered death. So we have hope and we have joy in this life. Thank You, Lord, that what we face is only the shadow of death, but we know that we will live forever; in Jesus’ Name, Amen.