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Friday, April 2, 2010

The Tomb is Empty--He is Risen

(Luke 24:1-12) "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee. Saying, The son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words. And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass."

I also want to look real quickly at I Corinthians 15:13-19. "But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." I've sung the famous congregational hymn in church several times, "He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives . . . He lives . . . within my heart." Thank God we serve a risen Christ. As I Corinthians bares out, if Christ had not risen from the dead, we would be of all men most miserable. Mankind could never be saved if Christ just died on the cross and remained in the grave. If Christ's body was in the grave, then no mankind could ever become saved or enter into Heaven.

In Genesis we read about the Fall of mankind. Adam fell and as a result he immediately died. He didn't die physically right away, but his communion with God was severed. The fellowship Adam enjoyed with God was severed because of his sin. As a result, the human race has been plunged into sin. Mankind is separated from God and doesn't know life. Mankind has been in the state of sin since that time. Romans says that the wages of sin is death. Spiritual death was the first death that took place. As a result of sin, physical death one day takes it's toll. Death is a result of the curse of sin. As a result of Adam's sin, God placed a curse on the ground and there was toil in labor. It took the second Adam, which was Jesus, to reconcile us to God. Jesus became sin on Calvary in order to wash away man's sins and reconcile us to God. However, death is a result of sin. Therefore, it wasn't sufficient alone for Christ to be crucified on the cross and shed his blood. He had to rise from the grave in order to defeat death and Hell. If he hadn't risen from the dead, then man couldn't be freed from the curse of sin. Man couldn't be saved if Jesus didn't rise from the grave. His resurrection defeated Satan and all his demons. No "god" has ever risen from the dead when he died. Buddha, Mohammad, Confuscious, and Taze Russell never arose from the grave. Their corpses are still in the grave. Jesus arose from the grave with a glorified body and now he's seated on the right hand of the Father.

One of these days when Jesus comes back for his bride, the dead in Christ shall arise first from the grave with new glorified bodies. And those of us that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds. (I Thessalonians 4:16-17) What a day that will be! We can celebrate the resurrection on Easter because Jesus arose. He's alive forevermore. He's alive everyday. The resurrection of Christ is something that should be celebrate 365 days a year. Because of the resurrection, we know that all the trials on this earth is just temporary. We have reason to celebrate. That's why missionaries flock to the ends of the world. It's because Jesus arose. If he hadn't risen, then all the churches that are built, all the preaching that takes place today, and all the missionaries being sent around the world would be in vain. It would be useless. It would be just as useless to send missionaries around the world if Christ hadn't risen as it would be for Christ to have died on the cross if man could be saved any other way.

Without the resurrection, hell and the grave wouldn't be defeated. Man would still be in their sins. Christ's resurrection put the final nail on sin and death. The resurrection of Christ says that the Devil is a liar and he can't defeat God. God is greater than all the Devil's devices. Satan throughout the ages tried to thwart God's plan in redeeming mankind. He tried to in the Old Testament, but to no avail. In the New Testament, he used King Herod to try to find the infant Jesus and have him killed. Satan also tempted Jesus in the wilderness to get him to sin. He would not. The Devil would use the scribes and Pharisees to trick Jesus into sinning. It never worked. Even in the Garden of Gethesamane when Jesus' soul was sorrowful unto death, the Devil couldn't cause Jesus to back away from the will of the Father. Nothing the Devil could do could deter Jesus from fulfilling his mission to die for the sins of mankind and arise from the grave. Praise God! He arose from the grave! He's alive forevermore!

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