I want to begin by wishing each of you listening today Happy Easter.
Seeing is believing is a phrase commonly used as an abstract meaning for distrust. For example, when someone repeatedly tells another, I will see you next week, and as the weeks and months pass, they are nowhere to be found. Some are easily swayed, and yet others, having been deceived over and over, lend little credibility to what one may say, and somewhat less to what they do. For many years the scriptures made mention of the coming Messiah, the people searched, they cried out, there were even others that claimed to be, but he did not come, the promise was not yet, until Jesus.
There are many familiar narratives surrounding Easter, the hue of colors, the blooms and blossoms, the scent of honeysuckle and fresh cut grass, the excitement of chocolatiers, fathers and sons with matching ties, mothers and daughters with lace trimmed gloves. We anticipate the festivities of the day, meals, egg hunts, and a tumble down the grassy knoll. The day soon fades, as it came, and we wait yet another year in hopes of its joyous return. Did we miss another opportunity to acknowledge a risen Savior, was our mind so set on the abundance of festivities that we genuinely misplace the meaning of the day. The resurrection of Christ has significance for all. Therefore, its pertinence to Salvation cannot become lost in the excess of trivial things that we appoint to the day.
The most meaningful event ever recorded in the history of humanity, is the resurrection of Christ. While some argue the facts thereof, there is no denying the events that occurred 2,000 years ago, as the world looked upon its crucified Savior. Suppose if for a moment, Jesus lingered in the grave, entombed by the hands of ungodly men, he would have perished like all others, and thus consigning the whole of humanity to a life filled with sin, hopelessness, and damnation. The good news is that the glory of God cannot be contained. Who else could restore the breach from which sin first entered into the world, who then would our souls cry, plead, and yearn for? There would be no Comforter in our moments of despair. Therefore, we would be assured of living a life absent of a Savior, and we being Gentiles would not be able to partake in Abraham’s promise, nor proclaim, we be Abraham's seed. Absent of Jesus’ resurrection, we would certainly be lost for eternity, being left to fulfill a life drenched in the same sinfulness as those before the flood or like unto those that dwelled in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, fit for the day of destruction.
Todays Message is titled.
Proof and Evidence
Matthew 28:5-10
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.”
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.”
Jesus is no folk hero, or fable, nor was he ushered into power through the material adulation of the rich and powerful of the day, He is the living God, Emanuel, who dwelled among us as flesh and blood. He had to suffer such indignation (undeservedly) on our behalf. That is the enormity of the day, and how beautiful that morning was to behold, the fulfillment of prophecy and the long-awaited promise of the Savior.
