Total Transformation Series

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Total Transformation

Easter Greetings! The world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ today. He is risen! May the message and the power of Easter be true to you today!

Introduction: Many events have taken place on planet earth which has change the life and quality of human beings. The 2 World wars, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and 13/7 in India, invention of atom and nuclear bombs, the development of computer, internet etc and the world is no more the same. But the resurrection is the only event that has brought total transformation the lives of the entire mankind through all eternity.

Today we are going to see how difficult it was for people to believe the resurrection news and we are further going to see the difference it makes when a person believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Bible speaks elaborately about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) give us great detail about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then the Book of Acts is the story of the apostles going around and proclaiming that Jesus died and had risen from the dead. If you read through the epistles we can read that Jesus Christ has finished his work on the cross, ascended to the Father, and we are to follow and have him as our Lord. The letters say we are to be witnesses, we are to love God, and we are to look for His return one of these days. Then in the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation we find Jesus Christ ruling and reining in heaven, getting ready to come back, take us home, and subdue his enemies. This is all about the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Now, we have the Word of God and anyone who reads the Bible will believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Actually speaking it was a very difficult thing for people in Jesus’ time to believe in His resurrection. In the very first Easter, hardly anyone believed in the resurrection. If you see the scripture surrounding the resurrection we will discover that nobody really believed the resurrection. Jesus himself tried to tell his disciples several times that he will raise again. Mark 8:31 He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” Jesus said, “I am going to be falsely accused by the Pharisees and Sadducees, and I am going to suffer many things at their hands, I am going to be crucified. I am going to die but I am going to rise again.” Even though Jesus said it over and over and the OT prophesies spoke of Jesus’ resurrection, no one surrounding Jesus really caught the message.

The Bible speaks of the ladies (Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of James, and Salome) coming early morning to the tomb of Jesus. Even the ladies who came early morning to the tomb did not believe that Jesus would rise again. They came with spices asking, “Who will roll away the stone from the tomb?” Why did they bring spices? They brought spices to put on the dead body of Jesus Christ. They did not expect Jesus to be risen and gone. When they saw the tomb stone rolled away they were shocked.

Resurrected Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene and asked her to tell his followers the news. When Mary Magdalene and other woman went and told the disciples about Jesus’ resurrection they never believed it. Mark 16:10-11 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. Now these are the people who walked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, and ministered with Jesus all the 3-1/2 years. They could accept his death after they saw it but to believe that he would rise from the dead even though Jesus said it to them was difficult.

Then remember Jesus appeared first to 2 of his disciples while they were walking in the street. When they came and told the other disciples about Jesus, they did not believe either. Mark 16:13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Then Jesus appeared to the other disciples except Thomas. Finally when the disciples told Thomas about the resurrection see what he said: John 20:25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” Is it not amazing that those who walked close with him, who believed all what he said, but when it came to the resurrection they just could not accept it?