The Purpose Of The Resurrection

The Purpose of the Resurrection

Matthew 28

5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

God bless you and Happy Resurrection Sunday. A day set aside by many to celebrate Peter Cotton tail, egg hunts, and Sunday Ham. But on this day those who understand take no joy in those things but joy in the truth that Jesus lives, joy in knowing He got up so that we do not have to stay down…I minister to you this morning “The Purpose Of The Resurrection.

Though we all know the name the secular world and many in the church use is not one that honors our God but as a nod towards paganism. The term Easter refers to the story of Nimrod the twisted way he gained fame by rebelling in pride. After his failure to raise a tower up that he thought would rival God, came a fall with similitude to the garden fall called the Tower of Babel.

We all know the resulting punishment resulted in a separate yet populated world. A world separated by mere words is called language. We know this day as Resurrection Sunday. A day which the world for the most part stops in acknowledgment of Christ, but as the years have waned, hearts have waxed cold and the colder the heart gets, the more Peter Cotton tail appears to be the one who went to the cross.

One thing that captured my attention in the storyline of Matthew 28 is that when the women went to the tomb, there was an Angel there sitting on the stone which he had rolled away and the purpose of his rolling away wasn’t so that Jesus could come out, but it was so the disciples could get in and see the evidence. As I read that in the story I realized something that I had not seen was right here in my face.

The power of Christ is expressed by not needing the Angel to roll back the stone…What a mismatched. Comparably in the story of the ark of the covenant in the temple of the Philistine god Dagon. The first night Dagon had fallen off its stand and lay before the ark, the priests of Dagon went and propped up the inanimate object and the next morning, when they went into the temple of Dagon, there it was once again, but this time the head, hands, and feet had broken off.

The Lord didn’t need the children of Israel to defend Him, the glory pushed Dagon into a place of submission. Now consider our Lord in the grave, in a place where the dead is buried, now keep in mind this is the same God who said He is the God of the living, and how can death reign in that which is the reason we all live…

Some may argue that Jesus wasn’t the first person that the bible teaches us was raised from the dead, literally resurrected, Cause even Jesus resurrected Lazarus not long before He was crucified, but I offer this thought to you, all of those who resurrected later died, but Jesus is resurrected to live forever, but even more profound is the truth about the resurrection of Christ, that being all others who were raised from the dead were raised from the outside, but Jesus, raised Himself. For Lazarus to come out of the tomb and the grave clothes it took exterior assistance, but Jesus didn’t need the stone rolled away and He left His grave clothes lying in the tomb.

I want to remind you of the importance of this day we celebrate. In the Pastoral world and yes there is one. The pastoral world is a place where we are driven beyond your like of us or our like of you because we love the Lord, we love you and our every focus is on getting you and others saved. A place where people’s promises mean little if they do not follow up with action. Sometimes it is a place of disappointment as we are abused as our kindness is taken for granted. It is a place where you may be in a room with thousands but feel all along.