 Easter Season - Sermon 2
THE BEGINNING OF FOREVER!!
(Easter Sunday)
by
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a retired Pastor with the Worldwide Church of God in South St. Louis, Missouri.
Hallelujah! Praise God! This is the day that the Lord has made! This is the day we celebrate our redemption! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!!
This day assures us that Jesus, our Paschal Lamb, has poured out his life-giving blood for us. This day assures us that his perfect, selfless sacrifice for us has been accepted in our stead.
We have been FORGIVEN, REDEEMED and RECONCILED to God our Heavenly Fa|her. This has baen accomplished'by the forgivenmss of our sins.!0D
Not only hmve our sins beeb "taken out of the way," fut the sins of the entire world-21 Oh, praise God for his wonderful mercy on e unworthy mortals! How much de must love us - all of us. Yes, even you!
Every sin ever commitped; every sin'that is being cgmmitted today? every sin that/will ever be coemitted has been'forgiven and stinds smothered ujder the preciou blood of the Lmmb of God!!!0D
The CROSS `as been dismanthed. The TOMB stall stands empty'after 2000 year. And our Lord Besus Christ is ELIVE AND WELL. !0D
Jesus has kept his promise. He has ngt left us orphabed!! Our faith has not been'in vain. We are his and his forever!!
Besus is the ansser and this day'is the proof of'that answer to phe question upparmost in the minds of humans thzoughout the age{: "Is there'life after deatd?"
)0AThe most enduzing testimony to humanity's qyest for an answmr to this question is to be found in the deserts near Gaza in Eoypt. The Great Pyramids of Gaza are a tribute to the ingenuity and endurance of human beings. They were built to last forever and they might just come closest to doing this of all human monuments.
It is only fitting that such be the case. Because this is the most enduring question of all. It returns with every child that is born. It will be there until Christ returns. The Pyramids remind us in every generation that humans have believed from the farthest past, that there IS life after death. They may have arrived at different ideas of the state of the dead, but they agree there is something "out there" awaiting us all.
To show just how perceptive their understanding was during the age when the pyramids were being built, it is helpful to keep a few points in mind. When the pyramids were built, they were not being erected for Pharaoh's benefit alone. The Egyptians believed that, as head of the nation, he was representative of everyone who was a citizen. In other words, whatever happened to him would happen to the other Egyptians as well.
They believed that the Pharaoh would make a long journey down the Styx River en route to some promised land. If he was properly prepared and made the trip successfully, everyone else would go there when they died. When you think about it, that is not far from the Christian understanding of their own hope for a future life. Jesus has paved the way for us and we expect to "make it" on his coattails as it were. It never fails to amaze me at how much God has revealed to those who were not given the full Gospel message. Praise God for his mercy and love for all of us!
Unfortunately, although the Pyramids demonstrate humanity's desire for and belief in some life after death, they are, after all, only that. They DEMONSTRATE humanity's desire and belief. For when archaeologists dug into the pyramids, they discovered that the pharaohs were still there! They had not left on any journey yet. The grains buried with them are still able to grow when planted. Nothing has changed since they were buried! In the final analysis, the pyramids are monuments to human's belief in an afterlife, not proof of an afterlife.
It would be another 1500 years before the PROOF of life after death would come. Interestingly it would come from the heart of the people whom Pharaoh had used to build these very pyramids. The PROOF would come in the form of two pieces of wood, three nails and an empty cave/tomb. It would come on a hill just outside Jerusalem. It was a hill that could be seen for a distance. It was a hill used by another world-ruling empire to make examples of enemies of the state.
It was there on this hill, Calvary, that Jesus of Nazareth, a simple carpenter and itinerant preacher was crucified. He was the only completely innocent victim who suffered the death penalty. He not only had committed no crime; he had never even sinned! Not once! He was the first and last innocent man.
Church tradition tells us that this very cross was found by the devout mother of Emperor Constantine in the 300's AD. While no church historian has ever said that this is absolutely true, it is interesting to consider [By the way, different groups claim to possess parts of that original cross. Some have said if you put all the pieces claimed to be part of the cross together you would have a large cross indeed. Such is really not the case. The parts would not make more than a normal cross].
BUT THE PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH IS NOT THE EMPTY CROSS! After all, let us not forget that there are THREE EMPTY CROSSES. Dead men were removed from each.
No, the PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH IS TO BE FOUND SOMEWHERE ELSE. IT IS TO BE FOUND IN THE EMPTY TOMB!! It was emptied on Easter morning in 31 or 33 AD and has remained empty to this very day. It remains and will remain the most important hole in all Creation!
Our Lord said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE" [Jn. 3:14-15]. He explains that our sins have been paid for, all of them, if we will only believe and accept his sacrifice in our stead.
The purpose of our Lord's death and resurrection was not simply to pay for sins. Forgiveness of sins was necessary for a greater, much more positive purpose. Notice Jesus' words in John 12:27-32. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour?' No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be case out; and I, WHEN I AM LIFTED UP upon the earth, WILL DRAW ALL MEN TO MYSELF."
As we all look to the same Son of God for our salvation, we recognize that we are all brothers and sisters of the same family of God. All with the same need. We are not alone. It is not just personal salvation God is after. He is after salvation for everyone who has ever lived. He paid the penalty for the sins of everyone. We are all sinners, some greater than others, all in need of the same sacrifice offered at Calvary. And we all have the same assurance of life after death: the empty tomb.
The death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ, gives dignity to every human life. Not one is of more value than another; no matter our status in this life. He is Lord of all. Praise God for his unbounded love and raising us up from the dust and placing us on his very lap. His lap: the greatest throne of all! AMEN.
SLICC supports copyright laws. The creators of a work have the right to be recognized. Every effort is made to assure that this Easter sermon found here has received copyright permission or is in the public domain. Thus, if any copyrighted Christian inspirational Easter sermon or graphic is found onour website that belongs to you, please contact the webmaster, to properly attribute the author, or remove the item.
| | | | |
