Death, Burial and Resurrection

         Two things were vital so many years ago.  First of all, Christ had to die for our sins.  Without His death on the cross there would be no possibility of salvation.  A payment had to be made and Jesus made it.  He uttered those words on the cross, "It is finished."  Jesus was the payment.  The second thing that is important to us is the fact that the grave was not going to hold Him prisoner.  He was going to raise from the dead.  This was accomplished a few days later when on the first day of the week, Jesus was raised from the dead.  John 19:41-42 says, "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.  There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand."  
        There are many people in the world that want the story to end with these verses.  In their eyes, Jesus was just a good teacher, or maybe even a prophet.  They call Him a good man and one who had a cause for which to fight.  They don't see Him as He is, the Son of God.  Their denial of that fact however, doesn't change the truth one bit.  The fact still remains that Jesus did raise from the dead.  We don't have just the testimony of one person, or two, or three but of over 500 people who saw the Lord Jesus Christ.  Atheists, agnostics, Jews, Romans or zealots could not produce the body of Christ because it had been raised from the dead even as He said it would be.  With these two facts:  That He died for the sins of the world and that He was raised from the dead, guarantees the complete message of Christianity.  If either of these items were not true, we would be in trouble.  But, the truth is, He did die and He did rise.  For that, we can praise the Lord today.  Luke 24:5-6 reminds us, "And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?   He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,"  The angels were there to again make an important announcement.  Jesus was not in the tomb and not only was He not in the tomb, He was alive.  Because of this great fact, we have a calendar that tells us that this year is the 2018th year of our Lord.  We have churches on many street corners.  We have Christian music, Bibles and hymn books.  All because of a risen Savior.  More than all of these things, we as believers have hope that this life is not all that there is.  Something greater, something bigger, something better is coming and it is all because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise God today because of the words, "He is risen as He said."