PERSPECTIVE: THE RESURRECTION AND ETERNITY

TEXT USED: PSALM 90

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1 Lord, you have been our refuge[a]
in every generation.
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity, you are God.

3 You return mankind to the dust,
saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”
4 For in your sight a thousand years
are like yesterday that passes by,
like a few hours of the night.
5 You end their lives;[b] they sleep.
They are like grass that grows in the morning—
6 in the morning it sprouts and grows;
by evening it withers and dries up.

7 For we are consumed by your anger;
we are terrified by your wrath.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days ebb away under your wrath;
we end our years like a sigh.
10 Our lives last[c] seventy years
or, if we are strong, eighty years.
Even the best of them are[d] struggle and sorrow;
indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.
11 Who understands the power of your anger?
Your wrath matches the fear that is due you.
12 Teach us to number our days carefully
so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.[e]

13 Lord—how long?
Turn and have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love
so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us,
for as many years as we have seen adversity.
16 Let your work be seen by your servants,
and your splendor by their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us;
establish for us the work of our hands—
establish the work of our hands!

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

RESURRECTION POWER -EASTER VERSES THAT CELEBRATE JESUS

Martina McBride had a big hit years ago called "INDEPENDENCE DAY" and the kicker line was "Let Freedom Ring". Nothing says that better than Galatians 5:1 where the LORD says "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery".

All of this Freedom and Independence and standing firm etc. are only possible because of one thing - The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the abode of the physically dead. He was NOT spiritually dead. He is God. The Resurrection, on the Third Day from His willing death on the Cross to remove the sting of death from us, is what makes it possible for us to live with Hope and Joy on this side of Eternity.

Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday, is more significant than even Christmas because this is the one which immediately affects our own personal destination. Easter Sunday is celebrated almost the same in homes across the Western World, with minor cultural food or music differences. However the message remains the same - Jesus is alive, just as He said He will be!! There is never any doubt. God speaks, we listen.

As we have been doing over this past days, we present the Word of God in pure straight form, without comment, to show how the Bible not only speaks for itself but predicts with precision...even thousands of years in advance. With that in mind, here are some verses for us to be grateful, at this time when Jesus guaranteed our waking up into Heaven when we pass from this world to the next! Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings on me!

VERSES ON THE RESURRECTION - "EASTER IN THE BIBLE"

OLD TESTAMENT:

JOB 19
“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will take His stand on the earth. “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh, I shall see God (verses 25-26).

ISAIAH 26
Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits (verse 18).

DANIEL 12
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (verse 2)

NEW TESTAMENT: 

LUKE 24
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! (verses 1-5)

JOHN 20
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”  Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” (verses 25-26)

ACTS 1
To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God (verse 3).

ACTS 4
And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.  And with great power, the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales (verses 32-34).

1 CORINTHIANS 15
After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles (verses 6-7).

There are many other verses, to which we should devote ourselves in Bible study, but suffice it to know that Jesus was not just seen by His disciples and the women who followed and ministered to His food and clothing needs, but 500 people in Jerusalem saw His physical body. Later, on Scripture tells us that even some of the Pharisees believed in Him. These were the same men who voted to executed Him!

The Apostle Paul, the great persecutor, and hater of the early Christian church had the most dramatic conversion to Christ. It is because of this stunning event in early church history when he was called Saul of Tarsus, that we have half of the entire New Testament.

The Resurrection changes EVERYTHING. Because Christ rose from the grave, and the Angel blew the stone away, then sat on it, as if to say "get a load of this", we are all set to be at the great "getting up morning in the sky". Glory to His Name! However, this can only happen if we are born-again and converted from the spirit of death and destruction to the instant we are suddenly indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God - the very same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead. It was for THIS Freedom, Jesus Christ set us free. Amen.
ROMANS 10:
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth, he confesses, resulting in salvation (verses 9-10).

GOOD FRIDAY: PSALM 22 (PROPHESIED)...MATTHEW 27 (FULFILLED)

The Cross is the most popular jewelry item in the world. In the west, even secular people use them, for some reason or another.  Even bad biker gangs have insignia in the form of a cross celebrating- God knows what. To those living in the Roman Empire, 2000 years ago, the Cross was NO ‘fasthion statement”. It was a brutal instrument of torture, mayhem, and death which the Romans inflicted on their enemies, far and wide.

The most famous Person to be executed on the Cross was, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Were it not for Him, no one would know what crucifixion was, outside of a history class. Also, no one would know that it was the Sin of ALL mankind there – Jewish and Roman (or Gentile) which precipitated the Sacrifice of the God’s Son as the Propitiation (Satisfactory) payment for our sins

Almost 1000 years before Christ (BC) was nailed to the Cross by evil men on Good Friday, the very same words He would utter on there were prophesied and written down by King David, the poet/prophet/king of Israel.  It was not just the immortal statements uttered by Christ which came from Psalm 22,  but what actually took place from the point of view of God Who became a man – the Lord Jesus! It is a vantage point which believers, who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God Who moved the pen of David to write this, will immediately recognize. Jesus is literally describing what He physically experiences in this psalm, in graphic detail! it should make us cringe. It was our vile sin which caused this to occur.

Therefore, the vivid, heartbreaking, painful and incredibly horrific events are now presented, as remembrance – without comment – from prophetic Messianic Psalm 22 (written around 940 BC) in BLUE along with the actual fulfillment of these prophesies, from Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke in RED (of events from 33 AD).

PSALM 22:

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? - verse 1a

MATTHEW 27

About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? - verse 46

PSALM 22:

6 But I am a worm and not a man,  a reproach of men and despised by the people.

7 All who see me sneer at me;  they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,

8 “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him because He delights in him.”

MATTHEW 27:

41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

JESUS DESCRIBES WHAT IT FEELS LIKE FROM THE CROSS HERE:

PSALM 22:

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;

And You lay me in the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet.***

17 I can count all my bones. they look, they stare at me; 

18 They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

MATTHEW 27:

35 When they had crucified him,*** they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

MARK 15

24  And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

LUKE 24:

34  Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Jesus then completed the Work which the Father had given Him to do: It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:30b)

(Image Credits Here)

RISING EXPECTATION - FROM EMPTY TOMB TO GLORY!

Webster's Dictionary describes the word "EXPECTATION" as an act of "state of anticipation"...something that "would happen"!
As we look at the basis of the Greatest Event in Human History - The Resurrection of The Creator of all things (Colossians 1) - we find ourselves in a paradigm pregnant with Expectation. The incredible PROVEN event of God (Who became Man), rising out of a grave would have been a stand-alone miracle in itself, were it not for the fact that this ONE single act gave us the assurance of similar rising expectations on the Glorious (yet fearsome) Day of the Lord!

This basis of my entire being- all I believe, see, feel, touch eat and sleep - is absolutely mind-blowing! The Righteous Branch of the Godly Trinity was prophesied to rise up from the dead in Psalm 16:10 but it was Hosea 6:1-2 which prophesies OUR revival or restoration into the Heavenly realms with Abba Father!  Peter confirmed it in Acts 2:25-28. Can you imagine what it would be like to look forward to the day when we sit with Isaiah; Daniel; Jeremiah and Hosea and Amos and Ezekiel and talk about the Lord and His goodness? Wow!

It is one thing to read, comprehend and believe our great prophet brothers. It is quite another to prove it by walking it out in authenticity. It was recorded that Jesus appeared to 500 men at the same time before He ascended into heaven! In Biblical terms, you can correctly assume it was then thousands because most of these men had wives and large families! Then Jesus appeared to His chief persecutor - Saul - and Jesus' own half-brother James, who doubted the Savior for most of his life growing up under Mary and Joseph! SEE 1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-8 ESV

The secular historian Josephus was a good friend of this same James, the half-brother of Jesus and recorded that in his history book, which the conquering Romans instructed him to write. Josephus, a non-believer in the Way, has no axe to grind when he wrote the following in "Antiquities" ("Testimonium Flavianum"...Ant. 18.63-64) 
          
“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man [if indeed one ought to call him a man.] For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. [He was the Christ.] When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him.  [On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him.] And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”

Still, even without all this evidence, I still would have believed in the Resurrection...and it is because of the greatest gift God can give anyone (along with Salvation, of course). That gift is Faith! The concise yet powerful meaning of Faith is  described here in Hebrews 11:1 ""Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen"

Therefore, in light of the prophesy; the actual death on the Cross of the Savior and His final victory over the death and hell...and then His resurrection from His own grave, I re-affirm my expectation on rising with my fellow believing brethren. I stand with yearning and hopeful eyes looking skyward because it is that Empty Tomb, which guarantees my eternal position in the family of the Faithful, in Jesus' Name - amen - Glory to His Name!

ARE YOU SITTING IN VICTORY THIS EASTER?

One of my favorite things about the Resurrection Account of Jesus' Victory of Death and the Grave is  a much overlooked verse from Matthew 28:2! It both delights and fires me up to what Heaven's response was, and continues to be, about the Savior's pending return to Heaven.


It says "And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it" Now at first glance, this is a run of the mill verse....or a set-up, if you will. This is just another introductory verse to the real story. But, wait!


This is the sound and emphatic entrance of Victory! Everything had changed since evil religious men and their pagan Roman cohorts killed the Son of God just 48 hours before! Here is what happened:


- Christ assumed the mantel of Sin for all mankind, for all kind.
- His condition on the Cross was so repugnant to Holy God, that Abba Father could not stand to look at Him. Jesus was virtually on His own out there on Golgotha's mountain, dying for all of us, for all time! 

- The Ancient of Days  and His Son, Who reigned eternally since the Beginning of Time, was away from the Throne of Heaven for the very first and last time ever!

- Everyone in Heaven missed Him!

All creation worships the Lord! Jesus said even the rocks would cry out, if people are shut out by others, from proclaiming Him! Heaven was waiting for 33 years before the Son could complete His ministry or Earth and did all asked of Him, on behalf of you and I!

The level of worship in Heaven is formidable and continuing right now as we speak! Read Isaiah 6: 1-7 and then Revelation 4. The angelic beings LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Lord! They love His Holiness and His Presence! Most of all, they missed their King for those 33 long years He was away from the Throne Room of Heaven!

The Gospel writer - Matthew - gave and I got, the impression that this was one of the Top Messengers of God and he just could not wait to bust of Heaven! Father God shook things up for one of Jesus' own ministering angels and then he rolled away the stone!  Here is the part I love - the Angel "sat upon it"!

First of all, when angels appear in all the Bible, they are always standing! This verse tells us the Angel was so pumped up, due to this mission over the fact of the Resurrection that he pushed that huge rock away. Then to underline the Message from Heaven, by sitting down and proclaiming Christ, the Angel confirms that Jesus accomplished on earth. The earth was now the Footstool as well as the Throne Room of the Eternal King. Now things will be different. 

THEREFORE, MEDITATE UPON THESE ACTION POINTS:

- What  can be applied to our own lives, when we read the most exciting news? 

- This morning, as you read this verse and realize what it really means, are you missing the Presence of Jesus? Did you walk away from Him or maybe you never knew Him as Lord, and Savior?

- Do you have triumphant attitude about your own resurrection one day, when you look at the true meaning of Easter? Does this attitude lead you to a lifestyle of worship which this wonderful ministering Angel, who descended from eternal Heaven, lived?

Please, do think on these things as tomorrow, we will go a little deeper into the Resurrection of this mortal body - or what Paul calls and the western wall calls - The Rapture! Shalom!

(Image courtesy google)