Day 5/23 – The Life of Death

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
The Life of Death
Day One Hundred Forty-three

“So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we too believe, and so we speak” 2 Corinthians 4:12-13

Death is at work in every person. It is the natural progression of life. Paul realized this and elected to participate willingly by purposely putting himself to death by spending his life on others. Because Paul died, the Corinthians lived. Quoting King David out of the Psalms, he says that sharing the biblical faith of those who went before him, he believed, spoke, and then knew.

You cannot know that you have eternal life until you die; you must walk by faith. So faith or belief must come first. Then if you truly believe, you will speak the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This will produce life in others and death in you, for the world is hostile to the messenger of Christ. The afflictions and dangers to which Paul was exposed were adapted to discourage and drive him to despair. But the opposite was true, for he believed. He was willing to endure, realizing that not until he died would he know. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but unseen. For the things which are seen are temporal; the things which are not seen are eternal.”220

You cannot know until after you believe and speak; that is the order: believe, speak, know. You cannot alter it. You can spend your life seeking to save it while you live for self, or you can recognize that because death awaits you, you will believe the promises of God, live a life of death as you spend yourself for others, and be content to know after you slip into eternity that you have gained life. The depth of your faith that you will live eternally determines the degree to which you willingly die temporally.

220 II Corinthians 4:18

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1 Chronicles 19-21 John 8:1-27 (New King James Version)

1 Chronicles 19-21
The Ammonites and Syrians Defeated
19 It happened after this that Nahash the king of the people of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his place. 2 Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s servants came to Hanun in the land of the people of Ammon to comfort him.
3 And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun, [a]“Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Did his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?”
4 Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments [b]in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 Then some went and told David about the men; and he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”
6 When the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, Hanun and the people of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from [c]Mesopotamia, from Syrian Maacah, and from [d]Zobah. 7 So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, with the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. Also the people of Ammon gathered together from their cities, and came to battle.
8 Now when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty men. 9 Then the people of Ammon came out and put themselves in battle array before the gate of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.
10 When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best and put them in battle array against the Syrians. 11 And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in battle array against the people of Ammon. 12 Then he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. 13 Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight.”
14 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. 15 When the people of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fleeing, they also fled before Abishai his brother, and entered the city. So Joab went to Jerusalem.
16 Now when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought the Syrians who were beyond [e]the River, and [f]Shophach the commander of Hadadezer’s army went before them. 17 When it was told David, he gathered all Israel, crossed over the Jordan and came upon them, and set up in battle array against them. So when David had set up in battle array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 18 Then the Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed [g]seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand [h]foot soldiers of the Syrians, and killed Shophach the commander of the army. 19 And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants. So the Syrians were not willing to help the people of Ammon anymore.
Rabbah Is Conquered
20 It happened [i]in the spring of the year, at the time kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the armed forces and ravaged the country of the people of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And Joab defeated Rabbah and overthrew it. 2 Then David took their king’s crown from his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out the [j]spoil of the city in great abundance. 3 And he brought out the people who were in it, and [k]put them to work with saws, with iron picks, and with axes. So David did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
Philistine Giants Destroyed
4 Now it happened afterward that war broke out at [l]Gezer with the Philistines, at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite killed [m]Sippai, who was one of the sons of [n]the giant. And they were subdued.
5 Again there was war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of [o]Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
6 Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, with twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot; and he also was born to [p]the giant. 7 So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of [q]Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.
8 These were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
The Census of Israel and Judah
21 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to [r]number Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”
3 And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?”
4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem. 5 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword. 6 But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s [s]word was abominable to Joab.
7 And [t]God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. 8 So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
9 Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10 “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”
11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself, 12 either [u]three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord—the plague in the land, with the [v]angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
13 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
14 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 15 And God sent [w]an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As [x]he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain [y]your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of [z]Ornan the Jebusite.
16 Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17 And David said to God, “Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”
18 Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. 21 So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, [aa]“Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
23 But Ornan said to David, “Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all.”
24 Then King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.” 25 So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
27 So the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.
28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 For the tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
Footnotes:
• 1 Chronicles 19:3 Lit. In your eyes is David honoring your father because
• 1 Chronicles 19:4 in half
• 1 Chronicles 19:6 Heb. Aram Naharaim
• 1 Chronicles 19:6 Zoba, 2 Sam. 10:6
• 1 Chronicles 19:16 The Euphrates
• 1 Chronicles 19:16 Zoba, 2 Sam. 10:6, or Shobach, 2 Sam. 10:16
• 1 Chronicles 19:18 seven hundred, 2 Sam. 10:18
• 1 Chronicles 19:18 horsemen, 2 Sam. 10:18
• 1 Chronicles 20:1 Lit. at the return of the year
• 1 Chronicles 20:2 plunder
• 1 Chronicles 20:3 LXX cut them with
• 1 Chronicles 20:4 Gob, 2 Sam. 21:18
• 1 Chronicles 20:4 Saph, 2 Sam. 21:18
• 1 Chronicles 20:4 Or Raphah
• 1 Chronicles 20:5 Jaare-Oregim, 2 Sam. 21:19
• 1 Chronicles 20:6 Or Raphah
• 1 Chronicles 20:7 Shammah, 1 Sam. 16:9 or Shimeah, 2 Sam. 21:21
• 1 Chronicles 21:1 take a census of
• 1 Chronicles 21:6 command
• 1 Chronicles 21:7 Lit. it was evil in the eyes of God
• 1 Chronicles 21:12 seven, 2 Sam. 24:13
• 1 Chronicles 21:12 Or Angel, and so throughout the chapter
• 1 Chronicles 21:15 Or the Angel
• 1 Chronicles 21:15 Or He
• 1 Chronicles 21:15 Or Your
• 1 Chronicles 21:15 Araunah, 2 Sam. 24:16, 18–24
• 1 Chronicles 21:22 Lit. Give

John 8:1-27
Jesus the Light of the World
8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now [a]early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, [b]this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now [c]Moses, in the law, commanded us [d]that such should be stoned. But what do You [e]say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, [f]as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He [g]raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being[h] convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up [i]and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers [j]of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go [k]and sin no more.”
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Jesus Defends His Self-Witness
13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not [l]true.”
14 Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”
19 Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?”
Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”
20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.
Jesus Predicts His Departure
21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
22 So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?”
23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
25 Then they said to Him, “Who are You?”
And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.”
27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.
Footnotes:
• John 8:2 M very early
• John 8:4 M we found this woman
• John 8:5 M in our law Moses commanded
• John 8:5 NU, M to stone such
• John 8:5 M adds about her
• John 8:6 NU, M omit as though He did not hear
• John 8:7 M He looked up
• John 8:9 NU, M omit being convicted by their conscience
• John 8:10 NU omits and saw no one but the woman; M He saw her and said,
• John 8:10 NU, M omit of yours
• John 8:11 NU, M add from now on
• John 8:13 valid as testimony

Mark 11:24 ²⁴Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in Prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Colossians 4:2 ²Devote yourselves to Prayer, being watchful and thankful.

James 5:16 ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The Prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.