CRAZY CAPYBARA 2!!

   ‘Capybara with Yellow-headed Caracara on its head’ photo by Charles J. Sharp-Own work.
CC BY-SA 4    

You’ve heard of a Guinea Pig!  Well, the Capybara is its relative only a whole lot bigger.  (See photo above).  They are the largest rodent on earth, weighing up to 200 pounds, four foot long and 2 feet tall.  Believe it or not, they are just as cuddly!  People and other animals love them!  (Click on the video below ‘The Friendliest Creature On Earth!’ to see what I mean!)  They are native to South America.                                                               

Their eyes, nose and ears are on the top of their head so they can peek above the surface of the water to take a breath or watch for predators.  Being herbivores, they spend most of their time in the water around rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes and swamps eating aquatic plants.  Think about them as a fine example of animals in the ‘New Earth’ where ‘nothing will harm nor destroy!!!’  

What I found most interesting is what they do when threatened!  They jump into the water and hide below the surface.  They can hold their breath for almost 5 minutes!!!   What a perfect metaphor! 

I immediately thought of water baptism.  You too, like the Capybara, can ‘jump in the water’ of baptism against the threat of what the Bible calls ‘the second death’!  What we commonly call ‘Hell’ or ‘The Lake of Fire’.  I do not recall ever hearing a sermon on the ‘second death’.  You can blame the Capybara for this message!   

Baptism is an outward sign that you have accepted God’s provision to protect you from ‘the second death’.

Do you know what your greatest threat is?  It’s YOU!  You and I were born spiritually dead, separated from God.  This was our inheritance.  It is up to you to ‘jump in the water’, to choose the provision God gave you to restore your relationship with Him, to become spiritually alive again!      

The Word of God makes this clear!  

‘This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.’  Deuteronomy 30:19.  To ‘choose life’ is to choose Jesus who is ‘the way and the truth and the LIFE.’  John 14:26.  The ‘death’ God is referring to is eternal separation from Him and a ‘second death’.  

The second death is mentioned on multiple occasions in the book of Revelation and is synonymous with the lake of fire. It is a ‘death’ in that it is a separation from God, the Giver of life.  It is called the ‘second’ one because it follows physical death.  GotQuestions.org.  Your Questions.  Biblical Answers.

‘But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death.’  Revelations 21:8.

You see now why I said ‘YOU’ are your greatest threat!  You have to make the choice to ‘choose life!’  You don’t want any part of the ‘second death’!!!  

To ‘choose life’ is to choose Jesus and like the Capybara you too will ‘jump in the water’ of baptism in response to the ‘threat’ of the second death.  When you go under the water, you are symbolically being buried with Jesus in His death.  When you rise out of the water, you are symbolically being raised from the dead, ‘united with Him in a resurrection like His’. 

‘Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.’  Romans 6:3-5.

‘Then the saying that was written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’  1 Corinthians 15:55-57.

One choice for life, and death is no longer a threat, thank God!!!

NO MORE DEATH, NO MORE STING!

Capybara!  ‘The Friendliest Creature on Earth!’