INTRODUCTION: LIFE, WITH ALLL OF Its UNCERTAINTIES CAN BE BITTER OR IT CAN BE SWEET, DEPENDING ON HOW YOU LIVE. YOU CAN LIVE LIFE OR LIFE CAN LIVE YOU. FOR SOME, LIFE IS A CONTINUED SOAP OPRA OF DISSAPPOINTMENT WITH ONE EPISODE AFTER ANOTHER. FOR OTHERS, IT IS A LOVE STORY WHERE THEY PUT THEIR HEART AND SOUL INTO LIVING EVERYDAY TO IT’S FULLIEST. THERE ARE THOSE WHO LIVE WITH DARK CLOUDS OF FRUSTRATION AND DISCONTENTMENT HANGING OVER THEIR HEAD WITH NO HOPE OF A BRIGHTER TOMORROW. THEN THERE IS THE OTHER CROWD WHO BASK IN THE RAYS AND WARMTH OF LIFE BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO THE SONSHINE. SO MY BRITHERS AND MY SISTERS, THOSE OF US WHO ARE SAVED HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT BECAUSE WE CAN NOW RECEIVE THE BLESSINGS OF LIFE AND HEAVEN BECAUSE OF THE DAY THE SON CAME OUT.
I. TEXT
THE WOMEN GET TO THE TOMB ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT JESUS WAS NOT THERE. JUST AS THE S-U-N HIDES BEHIND THE CLOUDS, JESUS, THE S-O-N WAS HIDDEN BEHIND A STONE, BUT THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL IS THAT THE SON, HAS COME OUT.
AFTER A DARK, DISMAL, AND GLOOMY FRIDAY, WHERE HOPE APPEARED TO BE LOST, JOY HAD TURNED INTO SORROW, AND FAITH HAD FLED LIKE A REFUGEE FROM JUSTICE, JESUS HAD RISEN FROM THE DEAD.
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS ONE OF THE MAIN SUBJECTS THAT DISTINGUISHES CHRISTIANITY FROM OTHER RELIGIONS. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS GIVES HOPE WHERE THERE IS NO HOPE, PEACE WHERE THERE IS NO PEACE, AND LIFE IN THE PLACE OF DEATH. BUT, IT ALSO PROVIDES ANOTHER CHANCE FOR ALL OF US TO MAKE UP FOR OUR MESS UPS. ALL THE MORE REASON TO PRAISE AND SERVE HIM.
IF CHRIST, THE S-O-N HAD NOT RESURRECTED, 1 COR. 15:14 TEACHES THAT ALL PREACHING IS VAIN, AND SO IS OUR FAITH, V-15 SAYS WE ARE FALSE WITNESSES, V-17 SAYS WE ARE STILL IN OUR SINS. BUT BECAUSE THE S-O-N CAME OUT, WE NOW HAVE ABAUNDANT LIFE.
II. COMPARISON
RESEARCH REVEALS THAT THE SUN IS ACTUALLY A STAR. BUT I COME TO TELL YOU TODAY THAT JESUS IS ALSO A STAR, FOR HE TESTIFIES OF HIMSELF IN REVELATION 22:16 STATING, “I AM THE ROOT AND OFFSPRING OF DAVID, AND THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR.”
THE S-U-N IS ESTIMATED TO BE SOME 90 PLUS MILLION MILES FROM THE EARTH, THAT’S PRETTY FAR. WELL, THE S-O-N IS FAR FROM THOSE WHO ARE UNSAVED AND WHO PURSUE WICKEDNESS, BUT HE IS NEARER THAN NEAR FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE BORN AGAIN. HE IS ALWAYS WITH US, AS HE TOLD HIS DISCIPLES IN MATT. 28:20 “AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.”
THE BRIGHT SURFACE OF THE S-U-N IS CALLED THE PHOTOSPHERE; THE BRIGHT SURFACE OF THE S-O-N IS CALLED HIS SHIKINAH GLORY. ACTS 9 TELLS US AS SAUL MADE HIS JOURNEY NEAR DAMASCUS HE WAS BLINDED BY A LIGHT FROM HEAVEN. LET ME GIVE YOU SOME PASCHAL-OLOGY, THAT LIGHT WAS BRIGHTER THAN THE NATURAL SUN BECAUSE IT WAS THE GLORY OF THE SUPERNATURAL S-O-N.
WITHOUT THE HEAT AND LIGHT OF THE S-U-N, LIFE AS WE KNOW IT COULD NOT EXIST ON EARTH. PHOTOSYNTHESIS IS THE ACTIVE WORK OF THE S-U-N IN SUSTAINING LIFE AND PLANTS. WELL WITHOUT THE S-O-N THERE WOULD BE NO LIFE AT ALL. THERE ARE MANY WHO WEAR SUN BLOCK TO PREVENT THEM FROM BURNING, IF YOU PUT ON YOUR SON BLOCK OF UNREPENTANCE AND DIE WITHOUT KNOWING JESUS, BURN IS JUST WHAT YOU WILL DO.
THE S-U-N DRIES UP THE RAIN, BUT THE S-O-N DRIES UP THE PAIN. THE S-U-N GIVES LIGHT, THE S-O-N IS THE GREATER LIGHT, JOHN 8:12, “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.” THE S-U-N CAN BE ECLIPSED, BUT THERE IS NO POWER OR EVENT IN THE UNIVERSE THAT CAN OVERPOWER JESUS, THE S-O-N.
III. CONCLUSION
1.THE RESURRECTION VERIFIES THAT JESUS WAS WHO HE SAID HE WAS, REV. 1:18, “I AM HE THAT LIVETH AND WAS DEAD; AND, BEHOLD, I AM ALIVE FOR EVER MORE.”
2.THE RESURRECTION SIGNIFIES OUR POSITION AND RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, JOHN 14:2-3, “IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS, IF IT WERE NOT SO I WOULD HAVE TOLD. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, AND IF I GO, I WILL COME AGAIN AND RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF; THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO.”
3.THE RESURRECTION GLORIFIES GOD AND MANIFESTS HIS SUPREME POWER.
