In 1817, there was a printing of a translated version of one of Benjamin Franklin’s final letters written in French to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, penned in 1789. After making small talk and asking him about Paris, Franklin proceeded to elaborate on the current events happening in the United States. The Constitution had been ratified the year before, and the new government was under way. He stated,
“Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” He concluded with a note about his own mortality to his friend: “My health continues much as it has been for some time, except that I grow thinner and weaker so that I cannot expect to hold out much longer.”
Though this concept did not originate with him, the ‘death and taxes’ quote. became a household favorite after his writings were published and are still heard readily today.
The knowledge that death is sure, is found in scripture, and if you were to do a diligent study, you would also see that taxes are not a new concept and did not originate with us either, but dates to Bible times as well. Hebrews 9:27-28 states, “…it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So, Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Ecclesiastes 9:5-7 says, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also, their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepts thy works.” And James 4:14 says, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.” Since we know death is sure, we must make the most of the time we have on earth.
There are only two known incidences recorded in scripture where men have not died, which are Elijah and Enoch. 2 Kings 2:4-12 tells us the first story, “And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. So, they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces.”
The second account is found in, Genesis 5:23-24, which says of the son of Jerad, father of Methuselah, “And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Hebrews 11:5 reiterates, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” It is thought bymany that Elijah and Enoch will be the ‘two witnesses spoken about in Revelation 11:1-10. They will prophesy for three and a half years and will then be killed by the beast from the bottomless pit, and their dead bodies will be seen by every kindred, tongue, and nation, lying in the street for three and a half days. We see then that yes, death is certain, even for Elijah, Enoch, and Jesus himself was born and had flesh, yet we know that he was raised on the third day by the power of God.
Yes, death is certain for us all; however, there is something else that is inevitable in our lives here on earth, before we succumb to death, and that is opposition. This could come in various forms, such as offences, obstacles, criticisms, naysayers, trials, temptations, mocking, scorning, tribulations and so much more. Jesus stated in Matthew 5:43-44, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” In Matthew 18:7, Jesus said, “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” James told the church, in James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Paul said inRomans 5:3, “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” Luke the physician records Jesus words also, in Luke 17:1, “Then said he unto the disciples, it is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!” There are so many scriptures that could be sited here; however, we can see in these examples, there were no ifs, ands, or buts about what was being said, only instructions of what to do when we experience opposition of any kind, because they are inevitable, and the why we should react in a certain way is also see in these verses.
The Book of Acts in the New Testament denotes the beginning of the Church as we know it today. It began with great jubilation, and experienced overwhelming victory and triumph. The disciples were eye witnesses to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. And not only did Jesus raise from the dead, but they had seen over five hundred people raised with Jesus, when he had conquered death and the grave. Over the forty day period after Jesus’ ascension, they had witness him appearing to them through walls, had received personal instructions from Him as to what was going to happen, and what they needed to do, as he walked and talked with them in a more intimate way than ever before. Ultimately, they had front row seats to see Him ascend into the heavens. This can be seen Luke 1:1-5.
Every year in Jerusalem, the Feast of Weeks also known as the Feast of Harvest or First Fruits, was held, and was also call the Feast of Pentecost by the Greeks. “The root word for Pentecost is “fifty”. The word “Pentecost” is … the Greek word “pentekostos” which means “fifty”. It comes from the ancient Christian expression “pentekoste hemera” which means “fiftieth day”. The term Pentecost refers to the Jewish festival of Shavuot celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover.” The children of Israel made their exodus from slavery in Egypt on the Passover, and were given the Ten Commandments, and subsequently The Torah (The Pentateuch, which is the first five books of the Old Testament), seven weeks later, on the fiftieth day, which became their Feast of Shavuot, which means ‘weeks’. During the time of Jesus, this was all still in place, which makes the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost so much more significant. It represented the First Fruits, the Harvest, the Word being written on our hearts and not tablets of stone. This was an exuberant and exciting time. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 describes Christians after we have our own personal Pentecostal experience, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
So, this was an exciting time. The Holy Ghost, which was the ‘promise of the Father,’ that Jesus had told them about, was poured out on approximately one hundred and twenty people who were in the upper room in Jerusalem, praying and waiting for it. They experienced a supernatural, extraordinary phenomenon such as had not been seen before, which was accompanied by signs such as the rushing mighty wind and the cloven tongues of fire. However, because it was the Feast Day, there were people gathered in Jerusalem from all over the then known world, and the word spread throughout the streets of what was happening, drawing quite a crowd. What caught their attention and curiosity, and surprised them the most was, that they heard the loud commotion of these commoners and unlearned men speaking in their native languages as they were receiving the ability from the Spirit of God. It was a head shaker to them that they could not explain, some were amazed, and some mocked, and some assumed that they must be drunk.
This was Peter’s time to shine and redeem himself and use his voice for good, that he had used so impetuously throughout the ministry of Jesus. He began to preach to the crowd and explain to them what was happening before their eyes. His sermon is recorded in Acts 2:15-39, where he went down the line of what had taken place. He let them know that the blood of Jesus, the Messiah, was on their hands, and that they were sinners. When he stopped and took a breath in verse thirty-six, we see what happens next, in verse thirty-seven, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” A side note for preachers to remember, is found in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” And 1 Corinthians 1:21 says, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” The word of God demands a response, whether good or bad, it is out of our control, but God still touches lives today, so, keep preaching, and lives will be changed!! Now, back to Acts 2.
The people asked what they should do, and Peter proceeded to give them the answer followed by a promise in Acts 2:38-40, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” Well, oddly enough, imagine this, the word of God worked, and they obeyed. Acts 2:41-43 continues, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.” We are excited when we have one hundred and twenty in our churches, can you imagine the excitement that the disciples were experiencing, not only because of having just received the greatest gift of God, but now there were over three thousand souls added. This was a revival of epic proportions and a victory for the Kingdom of God to say the least. The New Testament church was born and forging ahead.
Teaching, preaching, signs, and wonders followed the disciples daily and became their normal way of life. It was no exception in the very next chapter of Acts, where we see Peter and John going to the temple at the hour of prayer. As they passed by the temple gate called Beautiful, there was a lame man there begging. He had been lame all his life and had to be carried there daily by others. Acts 3:4-8 states, “And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God:” There was no denying the miracle of healing that took place that day, because people had seen the lame man begging at the gate for years, he was a permanent fixture, or so they thought. Verse 3 says, “And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.” This gave Peter another opportunity to preach to the onlookers. He elaborated on the miracle working power of God and five thousand souls became believers that day!
However, not so fast, Chapter 4 rolls around, and here is where the inevitable opposition comes into play, right on the heels of victory. The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, of all people, the religious world, were angry that Peter and John were preaching the resurrection from the dead and threw them into jail! “What is happening Lord?” would have been my question at that point. “I have been doing everything right, preaching and teaching the word, being ‘instant in season, out of season,’ and doing all the things you have instructed.” But the next day when Peter and John were brought before this huge group of leaders, priests, and council members, being questioned about their preaching, they did not grumble and complain. Peter once again used this as an opportunity to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. That is what I call taking the lemons of life and using them to make lemonade!
The leaders were angry because the people of this “New Movement” were gaining ground and turning the hearts of the people. They thought it was blasphemy, because they did not believe or understand that Jesus was the ‘Christ,’ the ‘Anointed One,’ the ‘Messiah’ that the Old Testament had prophesied about. The leaders had to let Peter and John go free, because there were no grounds or good cause to hold them, but they threatened them and commanded them to stop preaching and teaching in the Name of Jesus, to which Peter boldly, but politely declined their offer in Acts 3:19-20, “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Though they were bold, this was a wake up call for the disciples. They again had to come together and encourage one another and pray for increased and continued boldness, because they knew that this was not the last time they would face opposition.
Our walk with the Lord will follow a similar pattern to that of the apostles of the New Testament church because we are still in this world, though we know we are not ‘of this world.’ We could be walking along, skipping lightheartedly, and feeling victorious one day, as they were, with everything smelling like roses, and everything can come to a screeching halt. Someone becomes jealous, someone gossips about us, someone feels mistreated by you or the church, for who knows what miniscule reason or perceived reason, or someone doesn’t like something you said, or how things were run at the church, and so on and so forth, and your life can begin to spiral into despair and anguish. Opposition will come, but Ephesians 6:12 lets us know, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Therefore, it is going to be our response to the opposition that will be the defining moment. Will you heed the threats of Satan and let him steal your victory, or will you continue in obedience to the Lord? God is with us in the highs and lows of our lives. When opposition comes, we must dip into the faith that we have been building over the years, walking, and talking with the Lord to be an overcomer. Our faith is tested in the time of trial, not in the time of victory and jubilation. Opposition serves to build our character into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Do not let your own insecurities allow the enemy to steal your joy and trust in the Lord. He has no evidence against you to hold you captive. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We must react in a loving way towards people and let our resisting and fighting be against the true enemy of our soul.
Yes, opposition is as sure as death and taxes and can show up at any time unannounced, but 2 Corinthians 4:5-10 tells us, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” Take the opposition that you are facing and use it as an opportunity to preach, teach, witness, and rejoice. Our faith and hope go far beyond death or taxes. As Peter and John did, take the lemons that life hands you, make lemonade.