Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

 

Easter shows us God at work.  The miracle comes through the power of the One who created the heavens and the earth.  Touched by it, we sing - “Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph over His foes.”

 

What’s at Stake?

With Christ’s resurrection comes our resurrection.  With Christ’s resurrection comes Satan’s ultimate defeat.  With Christ’s resurrection is the victory of heaven over hell; love over hate; hope over despair; forgiveness over sin. 

 

Like the early believers, we share the joy of Easter’s promise.  Christ is risen.  Christ is risen indeed!

 

What one believes about eternity is challenged when standing by an open grave of a loved one.  We do not play games or give false platitudes at the cemetery.  Is the gravesite the final resting place for a loved one whose casket is about to be lowered in the ground?  Or is the grave a historical location where we recall the person’s earthly life; grieve that the person no longer walks with us on earth; and then celebrate that our loved one now shares in the promise of Christ’s resurrection?

 

Easter makes clear that resurrection is the transforming work of God by which believers enter heaven.

 

The First Team’s Response

Watching and noting the location of where the crucified Christ was buried, several women disciples then knew where to go once the Sabbath law of rest had been fulfilled.  When they arrived at the cemetery, the women were astounded to see Jesus’ tomb open.  The heavy stone had been rolled away, and the body of Jesus could not be found.  Their minds could not keep up with the events happening around them.

 

What they were seeing could not be explained by reason or by prior experience.  The body of Jesus was gone, and they did not know why.  They did not know what to do with the evidence of Jesus’ absence, while not seeing evidence of his presence.  The women’s eyes of faith needed sharpened vision to comprehend the miracle before them. 

 

Jesus prophesied his crucifixion, and still the disciples could not comprehend Calvary.  Jesus prophesied his resurrection and still the disciples did not expect Easter.  How often do we have the attitude “Unless I see, I cannot know enough to believe”?

 

But in God’s miraculous work we usually find ourselves stretching to believe what we are seeing.  Jesus had promised that he would be raised from the dead.  A promise is given to prepare for the adventure of traveling into the future.  God’s promises prepare us to travel into God’s future (see 1 Cor. 2: 9-10).

 

When these disciples remembered Jesus’ promise that he would be raised again on the third day, they realized they were in the midst of the miracle of miracles.  Looking back, they could see forward.  They then responded with a confidence that only comes through Easter’s reality.

 

Our Response?

Failure in faith stems from seeing circumstances only from a human vantage point.   Succeeding in faith means seeing the same circumstances from the wider angle of God’s point of view.  The size of the gap between the two is the size of belief required to turn failure into success.

 

At first, trusting God’s promise may seem to others to be a failure, but to God we look like what we actually are - a stunning success being shaped by his ability to calm our fears and release His greatness from within us.

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

The Empty Tomb

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.  So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.  Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

 

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

 ”They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”  Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.  Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

-John 20:1-18 (NIV)

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

 

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. Thanks!