The Hinge Of Resurrection-1

The HINGE Of RESURRECTION—For Resurrection Sunday!

Attention:

Just southwest of Miami, in a town called Leisure City, on the east side of US Hwy. 1, there is a piece of Americana...a tourist attraction called the ‘Coral Castle Museum,’(originally known as ‘Rock Gate Park’).

‘Coral Castle’ is a conglomeration of displays, artwork, & engineering feats that were carved entirely from limestone oolite(coral rock) between 1923 & 1951. The ‘Castle’ was built by one man, an eccentric (illegal alien) from Latvia named Edward Leedskalnin. Supposedly Ed used no outside assistance or large machinery to quarry, carve or place the rock(part of the mystery & draw). The coral rock itself weighs ~125lbs/ft3.

One of the attractions at ‘Coral Castle’ is an 18,000 lb. ‘gate’ that is of one slab of rock measuring 8ft. X ~1 1/2ft. X ~5 ft. The slab revolves on a central axis which was so perfectly balanced that a child could rotate it with the push of one finger.

The monolithic door hinges upon that central axis.

All that weight rotates on one pivot point.

Likewise, Christian faith hinges upon the central axis of Christ’s resurrection.

Christian faith hangs upon Jesus’ Resurrection.

Christian faith hangs upon the resurrection.

How is Christian faith hinged upon the resurrection?

1— Christian faith Hangs upon...

The RESURRECTION PROMISE(Mat. 16:21; Mat. 17:22-23; Mat. 20:17-19)

Explanation:(Mat. 16:21-27; Mat. 17:22-23; Mat. 20:17-19)

Mat. 16:21-27—“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, & suffer many things from the elders & chief priests & scribes, & be killed, & be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside & began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned & said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, & take up his cross, & follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, & loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, & then He will reward each according to his works.”

Mat. 17:22-23—“Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, & they will kill Him, & the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.”

Mat. 20:17-19—“Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road & said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, & the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests & to the scribes; & they will condemn Him to death, & deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock & to scourge & to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.””

Jesus on no less than three separate occasions told His disciples that He would be killed & that He would specifically rise again on “the third day.”

Its very interesting that the third day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the Festival of Firstfruits(16 Nisan)! The barley harvest (winter crop) is beginning to ripen—Kevin Howard & Marvin Rosenthal in ‘The Feasts of The LORD’

Argumentation:

Lev. 2:14—“‘If you offer a grain offering of your firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire, grain beaten from full heads.”

Firstfruits is an anticipation of a bountiful crop!

Isa. 53:10-11—“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, & be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.”

Num. 18:8-20—“And the LORD spoke to Aaron: “Here, I Myself have also given you charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them as a portion to you & your sons, as an ordinance forever. This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering & every sin offering & every trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you & your sons. In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. This also is yours: the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, & your sons & daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine & the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the LORD, I have given them to you. Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the LORD, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, & the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, & burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the LORD. And their flesh shall be yours, just as the wave breast & the right thigh are yours. All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you & your sons & daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD with you & your descendants with you.” Then the LORD said to Aaron: “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion & your inheritance among the children of Israel.”