08/09/2019
Having spoken to some who claim to be Christian, and yet struggle with Jesus having risen from the grave, I am now careful to ask... Do you stand watching at the cross, and do you carry Jesus to the tomb? Then, do you return to the tomb after the Sabbath to find the grave empty, and believe He has risen? In this way I know their faith, because who are we, and who is Jesus without the resurrection? Where is our hope? Where is our victory? Where is our promise of eternity? Without the resurrection we are doomed to return to the grave day after day to tend to a body, and mourn the dead.
“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"”
Mark 16:1-3 ESV
The three women returned to the tomb after the Sabbath had passed, and they fully expected to find a corpse. Their biggest concern while walking was “Who will roll away the stone for us?” Can you blame them? They had witnessed Jesus being beaten, flogged, and put to a horrific death; they knew the condition of His body when they had left Him there... it had not only been struck, and pierced, to the point where it was nearly unrecognizable, but was lifeless... without breath, and covered in blood that was now drying in death on His skin. He was most certainly a corpse. Thus I ask my questions, to ascertain where each person has left Jesus, and what they expect to find when they rise in the morning, and return to His tomb. What do they think when they find the stone rolled away and the tomb empty?
“So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."”
John 20:2 ESV
Mary Magdalene, the woman who Jesus had cast 7 demons from, and who had followed Him so faithfully, and closely, even hearing the promise that He would rise from the grave... this woman still didn’t believe... she felt that His body must have been stolen. So here we are, the disciples are weeping, some have left to go home, and the women are preparing to clean and anoint His body like, by custom, they would any other dead man. Is this where we choose to leave Jesus too? Are we satisfied that He is dead? Are we convinced that His body has been stolen? If we walk away now, and leave the tomb robbed, then what are we left with? But, if we look again, as Mary did, we will find something miraculous has occurred, and we will meet the Son of God once more. Jesus has risen...
“Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).”
John 20:15-16 ESV
In seeking our salvation we must make a transition here too. We have to take the step of faith from knowing who we put into the grave to believing in this the risen Christ. Our faith is not in the breathing man we spent three years with, and it is not in the dead body crusted over in blood that we left in the grave, no, it is in the risen Christ.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
So from the mourning, and the sorrow that is held in the word grave, we need to make the step of faith... we must take the letter “v” which I choose to mean view, or seeing the physical man, and replace it with “c”, which I know is believing Him to be the Christ, and requires faith. We take the word grave which holds the dead, and through faith in Christ, find grace, which is God’s gift of eternal life. One seemingly insignificant letter, one small step, that takes us from the tomb to eternity... from grave (with a v) to grace (with a c).
You believe in Jesus the flesh and blood man, that person whose wounds you can touch, and whose history you can read, but do you have the faith needed to see the Son of God... the risen Christ? Can you give up the “v” and claim faith in the “c”?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for sending your Son Jesus to not only walk with us, and die on the cross for us as our perfect sacrifice, but to rise from the dead, and conquer death. I thank you for the strength and belief I have received to take the step of faith that we need to make as we see Him risen, and to receive the grace you have given us through Him. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who sent His Son to the cross for us, raised Him from the dead for us, and have seated Him at your right hand for us... our savior, your gift of grace, and the betrothed groom of the Church. Great are you whose promises are perfect, and true. Great are you who is always with us, and never abandons us. Praised be your name for the mercy and grace you have poured over us. Holy are you our God who has reconciled us to Himself in life, through death, and by living grace, not sorrowful grave. Glorious are you Father and amazing is the grace that is your glory forevermore!
“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:54-57 ESV
Rich Forbes