April 9, 2023
EASTER: FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE
April 09, 2023
Pastor Jonathan Falwell
Everyone seems to have a champion, don’t they? Although we know as Christians that our own Champion is Jesus Christ, the truth is that most people regard actors/actresses, political figures, or even people within the hierarchy of an organization as their champions. It may even be an older sibling. The definite probability is that a hero will eventually fall, and with that fall comes a feeling to the one who has held him/her in high esteem that no-one can be trusted. But that’s not so with Jesus. He’s everything—even when the people of His day thought He was a loser and, hoped, dead and buried, that would be the end of the story. Little did they realize that over two thousand years later, His life would still be celebrated, His word trusted, His person worshiped. If it seems He has let you down, it’s because you don’t see Him correctly, for He’s completely trustworthy. He is not a Loser!
Focal Passage: John 19:28-30, 20:24-31.
Before His death
· Read John 19:28-30. From the moment in the Garden when Jesus had been kissed by Judas, what were some of the actions that were taken against Him? Have you ever assumed that He had somehow called on His Godhead in order to endure the pain? He did not! How do we know He felt the pain?
· Even on the Cross, Jesus was completely aware of events, although the pain was excruciating. What are some evidences of this statement?
· When Jesus said “It is finished,” what was He thinking of? Why do you know that it was not the hours before His death that He was referring to?
After His death
· Read John 19:31-37. Why did John report that Jesus did not remain on the Cross during the Sabbath, and why include the issue of His bones not being broken?
· Read verses 38-42. Though Joseph of Arimathea was afraid of the Jews, why was he willing to come forward to offer his tomb for Jesus? What could they do to Joseph? Why were so many pounds of spices taken to anoint His body?
· Why did the men not believe the ladies who saw Him, and knew He was alive?
After His resurrection
· What were some of the occurrences that happened when the ladies and the disciples began heading for (and entering) the tomb? Would we have had these same surreal feelings as well?
· Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. How many people saw Jesus after His resurrection? How could they have doubted that it was truly Him? If your parent or sibling died, then appeared alive, how would you react? Would you know them?
· Read John 20:24-29. When the rest of the disciples were in the room with the risen Lord, without Thomas, what was his reaction once he had been told that he had missed seeing Jesus? Why did Jesus give him another chance when He appeared again in the same place? What encouragement does that give us to keep on keeping on, when we have made a mistake or sinned?
The never-ending truth of Easter is that Christians serve a Risen Lord and Savior, not someone in a grave. The Old Testament was filled with prophecies that He fulfilled, foretelling His birth, death, and resurrection. It all happened. It also includes that He has promised to return—which could be any moment. Are you ready? It’s not your good deeds, nor your sweet spirit, your love for others, or your kind heart. The only question that will matter is, “What did you do with Jesus Christ?” Read the Bible. Find the passages that give you trouble and seek the answers until you find them. He is waiting—and loving—you.
Close:
Many years ago, during the destruction of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the flight in Pennsylvania, over and over you could hear the cry, “How could someone hate this much [enough to kill thousands of people]?” It seemed impossible to comprehend the amount of anger and hatred required to do so much killing.
In the same way, the death of Jesus Christ brought—on a smaller scale—the same type of feeling: how could His own people and religious leaders hate someone so much that they were willing to watch, thrilled, as Jesus was beaten beyond recognition, until His body could almost no longer live, be nailed to a cross, and finally die? Yet for what reasons besides hate and jealousy? It defies the sensibilities of most of us.
And yet—He knew before the night began that the Cross was the reason He came. From the foundation of the world, and all because of love. He loved us so much that He was willing to go, beaten within an inch of His life, to the Cross, then be buried in a borrowed tomb. Can you imagine what it must have felt like, three days later, for His heart to begin beating again and to walk out of the tomb? He’s alive today. Ask any Christian who loves Him with a saving love: they’ll say, “I know because ‘He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own; and the joy we share, as we tarry there, no other will ever know.’ *
By Sandy Day
April 09, 2023
*Miles, C. Austin, “In the Garden,” 1912.