The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was much more than a one-time event in history, it was an eternal event. It transcended time and space. It happened then, but the reality of that event is still felt today. When we come together as believers on Easter Sunday to proclaim, "He’s alive!" We say it with passion because it means something to us personally.
* When the Son of God came out of the tomb, he defeated sin for us. We couldn’t do it. He did. When we accept what Jesus did on the cross, our sins are forgiven and we have a new life. A clean slate.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new!" II Cor. 5:17
Because the tomb is empty, many in this room can join me in saying, "The sinful man/woman I once was, I am no more! Jesus is alive in me. When Jesus got ahold of me, he took a man who was dying in his sins, and resurrected me to new life in Christ! I’m not what I ought to be yet, but praise God, I’m not what I used to be! ’You ask me how I know he lives....he lives within my heart.’ He’s alive! When you really meet him, everything changes. ’I’ve Just seen Jesus, and I’ll never be the same again.’"
* When the Son of God came out of the tomb, he defeated death for us. When he came out of the tomb with resurrection power, he defeated our last and greatest enemy. He said, Jn. 11:25 - "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." And so, as believers, we have this great hope that "The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." I Thess. 4:16-18.
Because the tomb is empty, one day, the same kind of resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead will unite the souls of those who have died in Christ with new immortal bodies that will never again be subject to death or disease. "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." We don’t say "good-bye" forever at the funeral of a loved one who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We just say, "I’ll see you in a little while."
This morning rejoice, the tomb is empty! Sin has been defeated and death has lost its sting! HE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE! Let it echo through all the earth. May it reverberate in the halls of hell. HE’S ALIVE!!!!! May it give the devil a huge migraine headache that he can’t get rid of for weeks!!! HE’S ALIVE !!!! What we celebrate this morning did not happen by accident. It was all a part of the divine plan of God. This plan was well conceived in the heart of God before the world as we know it was ever set in place, and the directions were followed with painstaking attention to detail.
We’re going to trace God’s plan this morning, "From the Garden to the Tomb," to show you just how much God loves you. He went to great lengths to have a personal relationship with you. You’re not here by accident. God is reaching out to you. And this morning, He’s saying, "The tomb is empty and my Son is alive.....for you." Jesus is alive, and to know him is life eternal. He’s alive....but is he alive in you?
Come with me to a timeless place somewhere in the vast expanse of the universe. Before the sun and the moon were hung in the sky. Before there was a world as we know it. Before there were rocks and trees, rivers and oceans, mountains and canyons. Before the world was filled with life. Before man was ever created....."In the beginning was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." - Jn. 1:1-2
Jesus Christ existed long before he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. As the Son of God, he has always been. He is the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. The first and the last. And at some timeless point that we can never even begin to know or understand, before man had even been created or confronted with sin, God the Father, who knows all things, put into motion a Master Plan to redeem mankind. In his heart was a desire to create man in his own image. To create creatures with a free will who could choose to love and serve him rather than to serve Him by force.
He did this knowing it would cause him pain. Given his own free will, God knew man would rebel and turn his back on his Creator. But He thought it worthwhile to experience the pain of those who would reject him to gain the love of those who would freely choose to serve Him. So, in his great wisdom, God put....
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION into action. Before there was sin, God had already devised a solution for sin. Man would sin and bring about a separation between himself and God. But God would send his only Son into the world to die for their sins, "redeeming" them, or "buying them back." It is a plan older than time. Rev. 13:8 - Calls Jesus, "the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world."
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were all in perfect agreement, and THE PLAN was put into motion.
Come with me to another timeless place where the unthinkable is about to happen. Lucifer, an angel created to worship God is leading a rebellion in heaven. In pride, Lucifer thought he would be like God and rose up in opposition against him, turning a third of the angels against their Creator.
SATAN’S FALL - Because of his defiance and rebellion, Lucifer and his followers were banished from the presence of God forever. Rev. 12:4 - "His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. Now, for the first time, God had an enemy. Lucifer turned evil and set about doing anything he could to oppose God and THE PLAN. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born." Satan hated God and so he was determined to stop THE PLAN.
CREATION - Move forward to a time when a God who transcended time step out onto nothing and created everything we know by the power of his spoken command. Gen. 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." And Jesus Christ was there. Paul said of Jesus, Col. 1:15-17 - "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth.....He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." God was creating and Satan was watching....and waiting....for his opportunity. He had to stop the plan.
*1ST GARDEN - Gen. 2:4b - "When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, he said, (Gen. 1:26) ’Let us make man in our image,’ (Gen. 2:7-9) so the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." And God said to the man, Gen. 2:16-17 - "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
And Satan, the great Rebel, said, "Aha! I see my chance!" And with his deceptive powers he set about planning an opportunity to deceive the man God had made.
THE FALL - Gen. 3:1-15 - "Now the devil, who took on the form of a serpent, was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman one day, ’Did God really say, You are not to eat from any tree in the garden?’"
"The woman said to the serpent, ’We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’"
"’You will not surely die,’" the serpent said to the woman. ’For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’"
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then their eyes were opened...." and sin came into the perfect world God had created for the first time. Sickness, death, disease, pain, hatred, war, murder...all these and more gained entrance spoiling all God had created to be good.
Satan hissed an evil laugh at the thought of what this one act had done to hurt his enemy, God! He knew how much God loved his creation and he had deceived them into sinning and ruined THE PLAN.....or so he thought. Just as he was crawling off in satisfaction over what he had accomplished, he heard that voice that still struck awe and fear into his heart, and God said, "Satan, it’s not over yet....I put a curse on you. You’re going to crawl around on your belly and eat dirt for the rest of your life. From now on you and the woman will be enemies, as will your offspring and hers. You will strike his heel, but he will crush your head." - Gen. 3:14-15.
Satan said, "In your face, God! Let’s see how well your little plan works now!" Satan laughed, God cried, and man was cursed with the results of his decision to let sin into the world. And that curse has affected us all to this day. Sin has impacted our world, separating us from God and bringing pain into each of our lives.
FATHER ABRAHAM - Follow me now, from the Garden to a place called "Ur of the Chaldeans." Meet a man named Abraham, who the Bible calls in Hebrews, "the friend of God." "And the Lord said to Abram, ’Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’
’I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abraham left, as the Lord told him." - Gen. 12:1-4
"When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ’I am God Almighty’ and he made this Covenant with Abraham, "You will be the father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come." - Gen. 17:1-7
Satan laughed out loud at this because he knew Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who was 90 years old, was barren. She and that old buzzard weren’t going to have any kids. It was physically impossible. But 9 months later, Sarah was rocking Isaac, whose name meant "laughter," on her lap. Now God snickered. Satan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Big deal. What difference can one baby make?" He shouldn’t have asked.
THE PATRIARCHS - So Father Abraham had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob. One night in a wrestling match with the Lord, God changed Jacob’s name to "Israel." And Israel’s family grew. He had 10 sons and two grandsons and the Lord so blessed this family that it grew into a large tribe of people who called themselves "Israelites." They were God’s chosen people. From slavery in Egypt God set them free and established them in the Promised Land.
From 1 man came a nation. 1 nation, 12 tribes. Oh, and I should tell you that something special was prophesied about one of those tribes. Gen. 49:9-10 - "You are a lion’s cub, O Judah; Like a lion crouches and lies down, like a lioness - who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom is belongs and the obedience of the nations is his."
Who was this "Lion of the Tribe of Judah?" None other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It had looked like THE PLAN was over, now it was starting to THE PLAN didn’t end in THE GARDEN, it just continued in a different direction. Satan was only mildly interested.
KING DAVID - Jump ahead with me now several hundred years. A young boy named David from the tribe of Judah has just been anointed as the 2nd King of Israel. He was not a perfect man, but he was known as "A man after God’s own heart." He followed the Lord and God blessed him with a great kingdom. David had a special relationship with the Lord, something like the special relationship he had enjoyed with Abraham. And like Abraham, God made a Covenant with David, II Sam. 7:11b-16 - "The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you; When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you....and I will establish his kingdom. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever."
Satan didn’t like David because David loved God so much. He had tried to kill him more than once in battles with the Philistines. He heard about God’s Covenant with David, but when David died, and his son Solomon started compromising towards the end of his life, the Kingdom of Israel fell into sin and ruin and Satan said to himself, "Yeah, right!! It’ll never happen." He’d hear mention of this "Messiah" every once-in-a-while, but he never gave it much credit. Things seemed to be going quite well since he had disrupted THE PLAN. He must have forgotten God said, "It’s not over, yet."
ISAIAH - Satan heard about the "Messiah" all the time. "Messiah this." And "Messiah that." He was starting to get sick of all this talk of a "Messiah" who would come as God’s anointed one. Satan heard about the "Messiah," in great detail from the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, who was always have dreams and visions from the Lord.
He spoke of a promised child, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." - Is. 9:6-7a.
He spoke of a suffering Savior who would come to remove the curse of sin, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." - Is. 53:4-5.
He spoke of a Mighty King whose Kingdom would be eternal, "He shall reign over the house of David forever....the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." - Is. 9:7
God had Satan’s attention at this point. He didn’t like the sound of this Mighty King who was supposedly coming in the name of the Lord. He still didn’t see what difference it would make - he had gotten in the way of God’s PLAN and he couldn’t see any way God’s justice could get around the sin problem he had created back in the Garden. But God knew a way. He always had.
MESSIAH COMES - Several hundred years later, Satan knew something was up when angels started showing up talking about babies that were going to be born. These were to be no ordinary babies. The one was to be given the name "John," and the other "Jesus." Satan knew that name well, for it was the name of the Son of God. His curiosity was up. How was God’s Son going to come and be born of a human mother? He was paying close attention now. He didn’t like the sound of this.
It was prophesied over John that he "would be the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ’Prepare ye the way for the Lord.’"
Meanwhile, an angel appeared to a young teenager, a virgin named Mary and said, "Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." - Lk. 1:30b-32.
A few days later, the angel re-appeared to Joseph, who was pledged to take Mary as his wife. He was struggling to believe what Mary told him about this "special baby" who would be "conceived of the Holy Spirit." And the angel said to him, "...do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." - Mt. 1:20b-21.
Satan was getting ticked off. God was up to something and he didn’t like it. He thought THE PLAN was off, but it sounded like God had thought of a way to continue THE PLAN in spite of what had happened in the Garden. Satan said to himself, "I wonder...." and he started tracing Joseph’s genealogy." Joseph’s father was a man named Jacob. From there it went to a bunch of names he’s never really heard of....Matthan, Eleazar, Eliud, Akim, Zadok......none of the names meant much until he went back several hundred years...."Jehoshaphat, whose father was Asa, Asa, whose father was Abijah, whose father was Rehoboam, whose father was....."No way! Tell me I’m seeing things!" Rehoboam’s father was Solomon, and Solomon’s father was......David!
Then Satan followed Joseph’s family tree all the way back to....you guessed it Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! (Mt. 1) This baby, this Jesus, was the fulfillment of God’s Covenant with Abraham and David. The promised Ruler who would come from he tribe of Judah! God had figured something out that he didn’t count on, and Satan wanted to get to the bottom of whatever it was and stop it right away, just like he had in the Garden.
And God was saying to himself, "I told you it wasn’t over yet snake...."
Jump to a hillside overlooking the Little town of Bethlehem. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appears to a group of shepherds who were watching their sheep during the night. The glory of the Lord shone in a bright light all around them. They were scared to death. "But the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; You will find the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Lk. 2:8-12.
An angelic choir sang, the shepherds made their way to the manger, and there they beheld the Son of God lying in the hay. Satan was confused. If this were the Son of God, what was he doing in a cattle stall? Either was, it didn’t matter. He’d seen enough now. This baby had to die.
NARROW ESCAPE - Wise men came from the east seeking him who was born King of the Jews. When they stopped in Jerusalem for directions, one of Satan’s assistants, King Herod heard about it. "Where is the Christ to be born?" he asked the chief priests and teachers of the law, "In Bethlehem, in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written, ’But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel." - Mt. 2:3-6.
"That’s it!" Satan thought. And he entered into Herod and asked the Wise Men, "As soon as you find the child, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." Warned in a dream from the Lord, the Wise Men went back home by a different route. Then the Lord appeared to Joseph by way of a dream and told him to "...take the baby Jesus and his wife Mary and escape to Egypt. He was to stay there until the Lord told him to return because Herod was going to search for the child to kill him."
Satan was irritated. It seemed like God was always a step ahead of him.
JOHN THE BAPTIST - John, the first of the special babies to be born, was now a man.....and a wild man at that. He lived in the desert, ate locust and wild honey for food. Wore an outfit made out of camel’s hair. He was fearless. And he came with a warning: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." - Mt. 3:2.
He said to the Pharisees one day, "You think I’m something, wait ’til you see the guy who’s coming after me! I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." - Mt. 3:11-12.
Satan immediately hated John the Baptist, and he hated Jesus even more. He started trying to think of a way to kill them both.
WATER BAPTISM - Jesus came to John one day to be baptized and John proclaimed the minute he saw him, "Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." At first he objected to baptizing Jesus, but Jesus insisted, saying it was all a part of THE PLAN. When Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." - Mt. 3:16-17.
Some of the people in the crowd thought they heard God’s voice, and some explained it away as thunder or something. But Satan knew whose voice it was...it was the same voice that had ordered him out of heaven. The same voice that put the curse on him in the Garden and told him he would crawl on his belly and eat dirt.
TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS - Satan thought to himself, "It’s time to find out what Jesus is made of. I succeeded in making the first sinless man fall. I’ll bet I can get him to sin too!" So he followed Jesus into the wilderness. Satan waited 40 days, until Jesus was physically tired and hungry from fasting. Three times, he tempted Jesus, and all three times Jesus looked him right in the eye and said, "No." After the third temptation, Jesus said, "I’ve had enough of you! Get away from me Satan!" And the devil had to leave. Round one went to Jesus. This was not going to be as easy as the Garden.
Jesus hadn’t "bruised the Serpent’s head" yet, but he was trying on the boot for size! Satan was worried.
JESUS MINISTRY BEGINS - Jesus’ life was marked with a POWER & AUTHORITY like none other. He was God in the flesh....and when he came around, incredible things always happened. Through his touch, the blind could see, the deaf could hear, the lame could walk, leper’s were cleansed, every manner of sickness and disease was healed. He had power over demon’s, who often called him by name when he cast them out. He even raised the dead.
His friend Lazarus had been dead for 4 days when Jesus said, "Roll away the stone." "Lazarus, come forth." Satan was there, watching in stunned disbelief along with the crowd, as the dead man lived again. Jesus had said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." - Jn. 11:25. Satan was scared. Death, one of his favorite results from the FALL, held no power over this man. He determined from that moment on to double his efforts. Jesus had to be stopped.
SATANIC OPPOSITION - Satan went to work. He began to tap every Satanic resource he could think of. He enlisted the unlikely help of the religious leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees and the teachers of the Jewish Law. Using their religious pride, he blinded them into believing that Jesus was a blasphemer and a threat to the Law. They were continuously trying to catch Jesus and trick him. He always held his ground.
Satan kept working. He infiltrated the ranks of those closest to Jesus and found a man named Judas, who, driven by his love for money, would eventually agree to betray his master for 30 pieces of silver. The forces of good and evil were mounting a full scale war. Heaven and hell were in conflict.
TRIUMPHAL ENTRY - At the time of Jesus’ triumphant ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, THE PLAN that had begun before the foundation of the world had come down to a one week period. Jesus rode into town to the shouts of "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" But he would walk out of town a few days later, carrying a cross to Golgotha. The triumphal entry held little joy for Jesus, for he knew the cross was directly ahead of him now. The tension was mounting. You could almost feel the spiritual struggle that was taking place.
THE LAST SUPPER - Jesus gathered in an upper room with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. This time, though, he did something he had never done before. He took a loaf of bread, tore it, gave each man a piece, and said, "This bread represents my body, which will be broken for you." Then he took wine, offered it up, and passed it around, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Keep this ceremony in remembrance of me."
The disciples were confused. They could sense something was coming, but they couldn’t understand. During the meal, Satan entered into Judas Iscariot and he left the gathering and went out into the night. The time had come. After they sang a hymn, Jesus and 3 of the disciples went to the Mt. Of Olives to pray.
*2ND GARDEN - In the 2nd Garden, (Lk. 22:39-44) Jesus began fighting to gain back all that was lost in the 1st Garden. The First Adam let sin into the world, now the 2nd Adam was fighting all the forces of evil to counteract the curse. Jesus was in agony. He prayed so earnestly that he sweat great drops of blood. He cried out, "Father, if there’s any other way, please take this cup from me, nevertheless, not by will but thine be done." But he knew THE PLAN. There was no other way.
BETRAYAL - (Lk. 22:47-53) Suddenly, soldiers were coming with torches. Satan was on the attack! The Pharisees were there....and Judas, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss. It was the kiss of the enemy. Jesus was arrested. The crowd was growing hostile. Satan was feeling pretty confident. Jesus did not seem to be in any position to "bruise the serpent’s head."
JESUS ON TRIAL - All night long, Jesus was questioned by the religious leaders in front of the Roman authorities. His friends deserted him for fear. Peter denied him. The guards began to mock and beat him, cursing and spitting and pulling out his beard. He went before Pilate, then Herod, then Pilate again, who offered to release a prisoner in Jesus place. A criminal named Barrabas was set free according to Jewish custom. "And what shall I do with Jesus, who is called the Christ?" Pilate asked.
Suddenly, someone cried out, "Crucify him!" And like sharks in a feeding frenzy, the crowd could smell blood. Full of the devil, the people became violent and bent on destruction. Pilate, afraid of a riot, granted their request, washing his hands publicly in an effort to rid himself of the guilt of this prophet. Jesus was whipped with a cat-o-nine-tails until his back was like bloody hamburger. His face and body were bruised from blow after blow. A crown of thorns was jammed into his forehead. Satan was thrilled!!! "We’ll see who does the bruising!!" he said.
THE CRUCIFIXION - Jesus was forced to carry a heavy, rough-hewn Roman cross-beam upon his bleeding shoulders as he walked the Via Dolorosa towards Golgotha, "the place of the skull." It was a death march. Those who loved him followed from a safe distance, weeping. Jesus fell beneath the load. Simon the Cyrene was forced to carry the cross-beam the rest of the way. Satan loved it!!
At Golgotha, the soldiers lay Jesus on the cross and drove heavy spikes through his hands and feet into the wood. They stripped him naked, raised the beam, and dropped the cross in a hole in the ground. Blood was everywhere. Jesus hung between to thieves. As he looked down at the crowd, He lifted his head and said, "Father forgive them, for they know no what they do."
The people mocked him, "If you are the Son of God, save yourself!" "He saved others, but he can’t save himself!" One of the thieves said, "Lord, when you enter into your kingdom, remember me." Jesus answered, "Today, you will be with me in paradise." Jesus was growing weaker from the loss of blood. His legs could no longer hold him up and he was struggling for breath. "It won’t be long now!" Satan said to himself. With his last ounce of strength, Jesus lifted his voice and shouted, "It is finished!" And with that, he hung his head.....and the Son of God died.
Satan was ecstatic! He danced a jig in hell. He couldn’t believe it was over! God’s PLAN had failed! The soldiers ran a spear through Jesus’ side to make sure he was dead. Blood and water ran out. He was pronounced dead and they took him down.
JESUS BURIAL - Joseph of Arimethea, who had secretly become a follower of Jesus, requested that Jesus body be laid in his own unused tomb. The body was wrapped in linen cloth and laid to rest. His followers were dejected. It seemed like everything they had believed in had died. It was over. THE PLAN had died.
The First Day after Jesus died, Satan was living it up!! There was an all-night party the day in hell the day of the crucifixion. Satan drank himself into a drunken stupor. This was too good.
On Day Two, one of his demon’s came to him and said, "Yo boss, you aren’t worried about what Jesus said before he died are you?"
"What do you mean? What did he say?" Satan replied.
"Oh, you know, something dumb about ’The Sign of Jonah.’ He said just like Jonah spent 3 days/nights in the belly of the huge fish, so he would spend 3 days/nights in the heart of the earth. I was just wondering....there’s no ’check out time’ on the third day for this guy, is there!?"
Satan was furious! How dare one of his minions suggest that he hadn’t finished the job! But just in case, he screamed, "Get up there, and take as many demons with you as you can, and sit on that stone!"
On Day 3, Satan was anxious. Nervous. Worried. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. His mind flashed back to that day when Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth!" "Surely not!.....He wouldn’t......he couldn’t....could he!?!"
HELL’S VISITOR - Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Who in the world could that be??" Satan said to himself. And just about the time he had his little beady eye up to the peephole to take a look, Jesus kicked in the door and sent him flying!!!!! Lying there on his back, dazed from the blow, Satan looked up just in time to see a big foot come down and stomp on his forehead, leaving an instant bruise in the shape of a heal print. And as Jesus stood over him, looking down, he said, "Now, where are the keys, snake?"
"O-o-over there"......came Satan’s trembling reply. And with that, Jesus snatched the keys of death, hell and the grave, turned around before he walked out the door, and said, "Now, I’m going up and I’m coming out of that tomb. You’d best not get in the way!"
THE EMPTY TOMB - Outside the tomb on that Easter Sunday morning, the earth began to tremble. The ground began to shake. Blinding rays of light began to shoot out from the inside the tomb. The guards fell as dead man, shielding their eyes. All the demon’s of hell stood against that stone, but they couldn’t hold it....the stone started rolling.....and Jesus came out!!!
Two women came to visit the tomb and add spices to the body. They were shocked to find the tomb empty, an angel sitting atop the stone. "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here!!! He has risen just as he said!!!!"
THE VICTOR’S SHOUT - The news spread like wildfire around the area, "He’s alive!!! HE’S ALIVE!!!!" Jesus appeared many times to his followers, and before he ascended into heaven, he gave them this commission, "Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and H. Ghost, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the ends of the age."
And so, this morning sin’s curse is forever broken. Those who call upon the name of the Lord can be saved. Rm. 10:9. Do you know him today? It would be a shame to know that God went to such great lengths just so you could be saved, only to reject so great a salvation. He did it all for you. Have you made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? Don’t hide behind religion. Don’t make up excuses. You either know him, or you don’t.
Are you living for Jesus?
He’s alive! He’s alive and I’m forgiven, heaven’s gates are open wide! Let a Victor’s Shout come up from among the redeemed. Death, that last great enemy, has been defeated.
Read I Cor. 15:51-57 in TLB.
Jesus, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, took on death and won! Let’s rejoice!!
"Jesus is Alive!" (SING)
