Mighty Resurrection

 

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Matthew 28:2-4 Good News Translation

 ² Suddenly there was a violent earthquake; an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid that they trembled and became like dead men.

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In our Better Than 50 Club meeting the week before Easter, I asked the members to bring a text they liked about Christ’s death and resurrection.

John Champlin spoke about Abraham’s answer to Isaac’s question about a lamb for the sacrifice. “God will provide Himself a lamb.” He submitted that Abraham knew that God was providing His body as the sacrifice. He understood what God’s purpose to abolish sin would be.

Amongst other responses to the Easter message, I suggested: Satan, with the cooperation of God’s people had successfully killed Christ by the most inhumane method they could think of. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had been assigned Christ’s dead body and had buried it in Joseph’s rock tomb. On Sabbath the high priest and Pilate, the Roman governor, had stationed a hundred tough Roman soldiers around the entrance to the tomb. No human disciples were going to steal His body and circulate the rumor that Christ had risen. Satan posted legions of his most ruthless angels around the whole area. No angel would dare break through their guard! Satan gloated over his victory over the Son of God.

Although He told them numerous times, Christ’s disciples never understood that Christ would rise on the third day. But God did. On the dawn of Easter Sunday, God’s mightiest angel descended directly to the tomb in a blinding flash of lightning. Satan’s legions of angels on guard, scattered in all directions. The flash of light and bolt of thunder caused a great earthquake and the Roman guard to fall as dead men about the tomb. With his little finger the angel flipped away the massive rock covering the tomb.

The angel called in a death-defying voice: “Your Father is calling You!” Christ immediately stood up. The grave clothes fell from his glorified body, and he strode out of the tomb, a conqueror.

The angel sat down on the rock he had flipped aside just as Christ’s devout women followers came up to the tomb, carrying embalming ointment. They peered into the empty tomb and then turned a questioning eye towards the mighty angel.

The angel spoke to the women. ‘You must not be afraid,’ he said. ‘I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said. Come here and see the place where he was lying. ⁷ Go quickly now, and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from death, and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him!’ Remember what I have told you.’” (Matthew 28:5-7 GNT)

“The Lord is risen!” Our salvation is sure. Let us rejoice in our glorious future.

Dear Lord, we thank You and praise Your name for Your unconceivable sacrifice and Your marvelous love for us.

 

 

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[1] https://baptistspirituality.org/2014/04/24/the-day-after-easter-fear-and-joy/

Upper-Room Hideout

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Matthew 27:62-63 Contemporary English Version

⁶² On the next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. ⁶³ They said, “Sir, we remember what this liar said while he was still alive. He claimed in three days he would come back from death.

 

John 20:8-9 Contemporary English Version

⁸ The disciple who got there first then went into the tomb, and when he saw it, he believed. ⁹ At that time Peter and the other disciple did not know that the Scriptures said Jesus would rise to life.

 

I feel stunned, with the disciples on that Sabbath day. Jesus, the Messiah, and their Lord, was dead. All hope was gone. They had great plans for the new kingdom. They had given everything to help these plans to materialize. And now, to make matters worse, they felt that they were next in line to be killed. Jesus had told them clearly that He would be killed and would rise on the third day. In their grief they didn’t remember that, at all! I can only imagine how traumatic this must have been.

Over 40 years ago we put out a fleece as to whether we should leave Africa or remain missionaries there. God answered the fleece unequivocally that we should leave Africa, then within five days He sent me a job offer in the U.S. But we had devoted our lives to Africa, especially Sylvia. We ignored the fleece and proceeded with our plans to remain missionaries. However, God removed His peace from our lives. I felt strong physical pressure on me. It only got worse as time went by.

In the disciples’ experience after Christ’s death, the women brought news of Christ’s resurrection. The disciples, John and Peter, immediately dashed to the tomb and confirmed the report. Still the disciples refused to accept the report. It was only after they saw Jesus for themselves, did they accept the fact that Christ was alive. Christ did not scold them harshly for forgetting his promise, however, he certainly chode Thomas for lack of faith and holding his doubt for a week.

At the end of four months of trying to change God’s plans for us, I finally quit my resistance and told the Lord I would do things His way. Instantly I felt the physical pressure lift completely. It took Sylvia a few hours longer to wrestle with her determination to continue as a missionary. However, Christ’s acceptance of us was as swift as it was with the disciples in the upper room.

Thank You Lord for accepting us even after we test Your patience while we delay.  

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[1] http://www.magdalenepublishing.org/novena-pilgrimages/

He Is Risen!

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Matthew 27:65-66

Common English Bible

⁶⁵ Pilate replied, “You have soldiers for guard duty. Go and make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ Then they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

 

During Easter time this year, I thought again about the burial and resurrection of Christ. Interestingly, Jesus enemies remembered clearly that Christ had predicted He would rise again on the third day—None of the disciples remembered it. His enemies went to Pilate and persuaded him to post a guard around the tomb of Christ. Even Satan himself wanted Christ to be forever entombed. He was hurting worse than ever before in his long evil history because he knew Christ had totally and irrevocably defeated him. Satan posted his demons around the tomb. The Sanhedrin and Pilate posted 100 soldiers of the most powerful nation on earth about the tomb. They sealed it with a Roman seal. There was no way on earth that Christ would ever see the light of day again.

But the rules of battle had changed. Things were no longer restricted to Christ’s humanity alone. One mighty angel of God showed up in full battle garb and nudged the massive stone cover aside. The soldiers all fell as though dead. The invisible demons from hell fled in chaotic disarray. Christ came forth from the tomb resplendent in divine power.

I am reminded of an experience on a miniature scale. In rural East Africa driver ants, each about a quarter of an inch long, can be found. They make “roads” through the bush and travel these roads by the thousands. They have been known to strip the flesh off an animal in a night. One evening they chose to go into the Conway’s home and clean it out. John Conway came to ask me for help. By the time I got there, there were several thousand ants milling around wildly on their concrete back porch. They must have been three-quarters of an inch thick, and they kept coming by the thousands. I went in and sprinkled kerosene on them and lit it. The whole floor burnt for some five minutes. When the flames went out, the ants continued to pour onto the porch. The Conways had to keep sweeping them out of the kitchen and back onto the porch. In their vast numbers, the ants calculated that they had us beat.

And they did—except for one thing: fire from above! I repeated the sprinkle-with-kerosene-and-light-it tactic, time and time again. This went on for most of the night. We must have burnt several hundred thousand ants that night. Since the colony of driver ants is not infinite, eventually we destroyed them. We stood there and laughed as they were completely incinerated by this fire from above, for which they had no defense.

The Psalmist describes the heavenly reaction to puny human and demonic attempts to keep Christ in the tomb: “From his throne in heaven the Lord laughs, and mocks their feeble plans” Psalm 2:4 (GNT).

Thank You, Lord, that You have beaten the devil, and Your triumphant and vigilant army is protecting me and everyone else who asks You to do so.

 

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[i] https://www.funeralwise.com/digital-dying/death-by-ants-from-africa-and-australia-to-florida/