The resurrection of Jesus

Resurrection Day!

12th April 2020

Resurrection day celebration!

Dear sisters and brothers, here is the video of the service for the Poitou-Charentes area.

Introduction

I pick up with the words of consideration I closed with on Friday and then add a new consideration:

In the beginning God created . . . (the first day (Sunday))

On the sixth day God created humans in his likeness and his image and saw it was good!

On the seventh day, the Sabbath, He rested.

On Good Friday, the sixth day of the week,  Jesus paid in full, once for all the price and penalty of sin. There was the potential for what happened on the next first day of the week!

On the seventh day, the Sabbath, He rested - in the grave!

On the first day of the week, a new era dawned re-creation  that which is leading to a new and, ultimately totally, redeemed creation. 

God's kingdom is breaking in. In heaven now, Jesus is on the throne reigning with all the authority, and power, of God. We seek that, on earth, as in heaven.

The victory was won. The battles may continue, but the victory is won. Neither Caesar then or any power or authority since, can remove Jesus from that throne and one day every knee will bow and confess 'Jesus is Lord' (Phil 2:11) He is the King and he reigns over all.

        1. Earth Shattering - vv 1- 2a

1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake
This was a seismic moment in history and the events that followed on shook the world, in one way or another, from then on!

        2. Grave Bursting - v 2b

for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

 God is breaking in, into the events of history, once again, and by the action of this angel moves this huge stone which the angel proceeds to sit on.

        3. Mind Blowing - vv 3-4

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

These guys were tough but this was so terrifying that it mortified them and glues them temporarily to the spot.

        4. Hope Announcing - vv 5-7

5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

Do not be afraid - one of the most repeated phrases in the Bible when God is in 'action'. (69 times!) God's action is mind blowing and terrifying but, as usual, there is good news and it is hope that is announced: the expected has happened but not in the most unexpected way.

They believed in resurrection - this was a Jewish expectation but, not a bodily resurrection in the here and now - this was totally and utterly unexpected, beyond expectation and never anticipated!

Jesus, battered beyond recognition, crucified, pierced in the side - dead without doubt because Roman soldiers did a good job.
        Resurrected and to be seen again - hope beyond hope?

        5. Life Dawning  - vv 8-10

He's there

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Here, just after the dawn of a new day in a new week we see new life dawning in a way never anticipated. It is a new era. The final exodus from death to life and new creating has begun - a few years later Paul  writes in the great chapter on resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:20

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep

The harvest is beginning and will come - there is no doubt and nothing anyone says can alter that, meanwhile, we have to be ready and steadfast. Paul's last comment in that chapter gives us as good a conclusion as we could want:

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 15:58

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

Let nothing move you, nothing, no, nothing! Neither life nor labour is in vain - get on with it in hope with total security - do not be afraid!

Jesus the King is Risen
He is risen indeed - Hallelujah

The King is reigning over all!

Helen Cadbury: the founder of Pocket Testament league

In 1893, a young girl of 13, Helen Cadbury found new life in Jesus-Christ and the power of the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit. She was so excited about sharing her faith that she asked her school friends to sew pockets in their dresses to carry the small New Testaments her dad had given them. They made a pledge to 'read a portion of the Scriptures daily, carry it with them wherever they went and use it to share their faith with others. They called their group the Pocket Testament league.

Find out more, click here

The empty tomb

Discussing the eyewitness testimony at the Empty Tomb

Question: Why does the Bible say that Mary Magdalene and another Mary discovered the empty tomb, while another Gospel says that only Mary did, while another says that Simon joined them? This to me seems like inaccuracies in the Bible.

Lee’s answer: It’s important to clarify between a biblical inaccuracy (what others often call a contradiction) and what a Gospel writer simply chose to include or emphasize in his account. A contradiction is to affirm and deny the same thing, at the same time, in the same respect. A contradiction regarding the eyewitness testimony cited would be, for instance, that “only Mary Magdalene went to the empty tomb” – something no Gospel writers say – and “Mary and the other Mary” (Matthew 28:1) went to the empty tomb.

To shed a bit more light on the biblical passage you cited, John mentions only Mary Magdalene explicitly at the tomb in his Gospel (John 20:1). But if we read carefully we see in the next verse (20:2) that Mary tells Peter, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb but we don’t know where they have put him!” This supports the other Gospels when they say that other women went to the tomb with Mary, perhaps following closely behind. As the NIV Study Bible says, the we “indicates that there were others with Mary (see Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1,Luke 24:10) though John does not identify them.” So when John wrote his Gospel, he only mentions one woman by name but uses the plural pronoun “we” to indicate that others were with her.

Further, if the Gospel writers, two of whom were among the Twelve disciples of Jesus, wanted to fabricate a story about the resurrected Christ, it is unthinkable that they would have put women at the tomb first. It is well established that a woman’s testimony in the ancient world was generally not considered to be credible and that they were for the most part not allowed to testify in a court of law. 

See, for instance, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, by William Lane Craig.

This essay was written by Lee Strobel and originally appeared in his Investigating Faith newsletter about faith.
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