The Resurrection

      There are a lot of things that we know and a lot of things we don't know.  I know, that sounds like a very profound statement.  I know how to make pancakes and how to get from one place to another and I know how to type, but, to be honest there are somethings that I just don't know.  One thing that is foremost in this area is what happens when you pass from this life to the next.  We know that the Scripture says that we are absent from this body and present with the LORD, but there is a lot of things connected with this that we don't know.  The best way to find out would be to talk to someone who has experienced it.  There are very few legitimate people who actually experienced this event such as Lazarus.  The Lord Jesus Christ raised Him from the dead and if we could speak to Lazarus, we would perhaps find out some interesting things.  That, however, is not possible because Lazarus died a second time.  Luke 24:27 says, "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."   
       We have only one example of a person being raised from the dead and that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  The above verse comes from the account of the "two on the Road to Emmaus" that we read about in the Gospel of Luke.  They were perhaps caught unaware and assumed that the person walking with them was just another person on the same road.  After the blessing of the food, however, they realized Who it was that had been walking and sitting with them.  They were so excited, they ran all the way back to Jerusalem to tell others.  The Lord Jesus Christ did give them some information as this verse tells us that "...He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself..."  It must have been quite an account as He began with Moses and went through the prophets.  I wonder what we would have said or what questions we would have asked had we been on that same road that day.  The word for "expounded" is the same word from which we get the word, "hermeneutics."  He explained and opened up the Scripture to them.  We might proclaim that this would be great for us and we would have loved hearing what He had to say.  Well, we do have the same opportunity because we have a copy of God's Word.  I think we would love to have someone spoon feed us the message when we have it all the time right in our own possession.  We can glean all we need to know about the experience itself and the outcome by just looking and reading the Word of God.  Many of us, however, are much like Thomas who would not believe anything about the resurrected Christ until he would have actually touched the wounds with his own hands.  We know, however, what happened when Thomas saw Jesus himself.  He simply proclaimed, "My Lord and my God."  Praise God today that He is our Shepherd and leads us into green pastures.