The Witness of Easter

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:  1 Corinthians 15:3,4

The story of Jesus is a “simple” one in the sense of being a matter of fact, straight forward statement of God’s action in the world. Here in First Corinthians Paul tells it in two verses, just 41 words, 94 characters, less than one half the characters of a full-blown tweet of 280.

Paul tells the story as he received it from God. He is telling what he got from the Lord. What he understood God to reveal was that Christ (Jesus) when he died was dying for our sins (The human race’s. This, of course, was so we, each one of us, could be forgiven for our sins.), and Christ’s dying had been foretold by God in the scriptures of the Old Testament. This is such a great and wonderful thing, perhaps beyond our understanding.

But that was not the end of the story of Jesus. Paul goes on in the final 105 characters of this Bible tweet (we might call it a proof text) to proclaim that after he died Christ was buried, that’s what the human race does with the dead, but Christ Jesus did not stay dead. He rose from the dead! On the third day he rose from the dead. That's right, He rose from the dead! And, this too, Paul says, had been foretold by the scriptures.

This is the message of the gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came, took the punishment for (died) for our sins, and rose again to show we who trust in him are saved, and if you believe in him you will be saved too. That’s it plain and simple, nothing new “The old time religion,” the stunning, amazing, yet “simple” good news of God for the world. The witness of Easter.

 

The Story of Palm Sunday

So let me rehearse for us again the story of Palm Sunday. The excitement was at a high pitch in Jerusalem, the way it was every year at Passover. People had come from all over Israel, and probably from some other nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

In the midst of this celebratory anticipation of Passover which was just a few days away, the crowd hears that Jesus is coming. They have a sense of what it means, and as Jesus is entering the holy city, a cheer begins to go up all through the crowd.

“Hosanna! Blessed is the king of Israel that, cometh in the name of the Lord,” (John 12:13).

The King is coming. Save us, King. Hosanna means "save now."

The crowd is so enthusiastic men start taking off their outer cloaks, and laying them down on the road for the donkey carrying Jesus to walk on, other people pulled branches off of Palm trees and did the same thing with them.

The whole city of Jerusalem was moved. “Who is this?” To paraphrase: Who is this who has gotten the whole city in an uproar? “This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:11 [4-11]).

It seems like this large crowd of Israelites understood what was happening, that Jesus was indicating by the donkey ride that he was king (Zechariah 9:9). They think, I think, "Jesus is not just a prophet. Blessed is the king of Israel. Jesus is king. Hosanna!" Let me add hallelujah, praise the Lord. Jesus is King.

That was the day of recognition. By Friday the same ones who had recognized him as king rejected him. And, do you know what the king did? There in their now He died for their sins. They asked him to save now, and he died. He died to save them then, and us now.

 

The Path To Blessing

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn under thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.      Deuteronomy 28:1 – 9

This passage of promises was made by God to his ancient people. In essence it says I will bless the nation if the nation follows my direction for proper living. The promise was to a particular nation way back then, but the principle is still operative today. Any nation (put in the name of any Asian nation, or Western nation, South American nation, or any nation anywhere in the world) if that nation will obey the commandments of the God of the Bible, in most cases, the people of that land will experience the good life.

If you read the rest of Deuteronomy 28 you will discover that there is another side to this principle. If the people of any land refuse to follow God’s direction, for whatever reason,  in most cases, it’s society will weaken and be victimized, and tragedy and fear will be the order of the day.

66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shall have none assurance of thy life: 67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. Deuteronomy 28:66,67

 

 

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 1 Timothy 2:1,2

With the nation in turmoil, fears within and fears without, with some dire predictions for America’s future blowing in the wind, what should, what can the individual Christian do?

Pray! Pray for the nation. We are admonished in scripture to pray for the government for those in authority: supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks for all men according to 1Timothy 2:1.

First, listen to the word of God and recognize that according to scripture the powers that be are ordained of God Romans 13:1, so the government we have is the one the Lord wants us to have at this moment. Pray for the nation. Pray for those in authority whether in Washington DC, or any of the state capitals across the country.

Keep your focus on lifting our country before God. If you pray on your knees or sitting down in a chair devote some time to asking God’s blessing on America, and her leaders. Name some by name. Ask that God will give them wisdom, and a desire to do good for all the people of the land, because God has said the powers that be are God’s minister to do good (Romans 13:4). Pray they will love our country and be open and tolerant of all people and viewpoints. Ask God’s grace for our country to be delivered in some measure through our leaders.

Don’t pray for the country only at a set time. From time to time when you hear about some issue of government send up an instant prayer to the Lord. For example, “Oh Lord please help the president see this issue clearly and do the right thing.” “Oh God, please help the president be strong where he is at this international meeting of government leaders.”

Keep a constant flow of requests going up to the Lord on behalf of America. Prayer is one way all of us can be a blessing to our homeland, and feel that we are having an impact for good in the nation. Remember the Lord’s hand is not shortened that he cannot save (Isaiah 59:1).

Pray for all the things America needs, and thank God for all he has given us and done for us. Offer at least one prayer for the USA every day.

 

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures forever. Psalm 136:1

Well, our special American holiday, Thanksgiving, is not far away. I expect for most families there will be a special meal. Many will have the traditional roast turkey and pumpkin pie. But things will not be normal. There is a pandemic, you know . Some families will tragically have empty chairs at their table. Some of those empty chairs represent loved ones taken by the deadly pestilence. Others are where family members who cannot come to Thanksgiving dinner for fear of catching or spreading that awful disease, would normally sit.

These things are sorrowful and saddening. They are distressing and hard. For many, no matter how good Thanksgiving dinner is, it will be covered by a hovering gloom.

Is it possible to give God thanks in such a state as this? Can you praise God when danger is all around?

Well, being thankful to God is a matter of faith, so that if one believes in God there’s always something to be thankful for. And, if nothing else, it is the hopeful expectation of God’s doing a new and blessed thing in days ahead.

Contemplating the destruction of the beloved city of his people, Jerusalem, Jeremiah, moved by his faith in God, in the midst of personal and national sorrow, says: It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him (Lamentations 3:22-24).

Jeremiah got it. Even in the worst of times, if you trust God, the LORD is your portion and you can hope in Him. You can trust God because He sent his son, Jesus. Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead. The Holy Spirit brings Jesus’ life into our lives. Yes, you can hope in God.

Thank you, O LORD!

 A Word For Modern Nations

…Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation: and a house divided against a house falleth. Luke 11:17

 

A Devotional Thought From 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14

In God’s answer to Solomon’s great prayer dedicating the glorious Temple he built to God, God said, among other things: If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  

This was a principal given to God’s people in ancient times that has great relevance for today if applied by the peoples of the nations of the world. Take my own land for example, we are in the midst of a pestilence (Covid 19), our land in some places is being devoured (looted, destroyed and burned), and we are not experiencing the cool calming rain of civil discourse that allows the nation to discuss and deal with the issues of the day. Needless to say, but I will say it anyway, these are not good things for our people and our land.

Do we want our nation restored to being a great place for all people? A place were we can live safely, and raise our little ones with the confidence that others will care for them and protect them because we are part of one family of free people in this nation? A place that offers the opportunities of prosperity to all who will play fairly and work hard? A place that experiences all the wonderful blessings available when a nation is at its best?

God gives a playbook here in these verses to restore such goodness. Humble yourselves, we don’t know it all, other voices might have good ideas even if they are not our own. More importantly humble yourselves before God Who does know what is best. Pray. Get in touch with God, let Him speak to your heart with His truth and guidance. And, turn from wicked ways, from wrong doing and do right. Do you want your land restored? The people can do it by following these gracious directions. Each individual helps restore the nation by making these changes in his/her life.

Uyghur Lives Matter

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 

Galatians 6:7

One of the ancient nations heard this statement from a prophet of God: For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7): for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity (Hosea 14:1).

Pray that America will not reap the whirlwind and the fall.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Nebuchadnezzar was God’s judgment upon the Middles East in 587-570 B.C. Cities and villages were broken down, the soldiers and young men were killed in battle, women and children were brutally treated with no recourse, and when all was said and done the nation of Israel was virtually nonexistent for 70 years having been carried away to Babylonian captivity.

For some 40 years the prophet Jeremiah had warned that the judgment would soon fall; brutal, bloody, heartbreaking judgment from God. Jeremiah specifically prophesied God’s judgment on His people, and it happened just as God revealed it to him.

God’s people were being judged for false religion, violence in the streets, and a type of slave labor, among other things. The priests, the people, and the king were almost all complicit in one way or another.

There are people who believe America deserves judgment, especially in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. And, with all that is happening in the land these days some might wonder if what is boiling over is the judgment of God. They might even be cheering on the judgment, like the preacher some years ago who became famous for saying “Not God bless America, but…” Well you remember.

So compare our country. There is violence in the streets perpetuated in some cases by bad cops, by street criminals, by rioters (some of them rumored to be paid to destroy). In a most glaring event a one year old Brooklyn, New York boy shot to death by street thugs (a one year old sitting in the yard with his family), buildings are burning, monuments (admittedly some distasteful and deserving of removal) toppled by mobs, graffiti covers every city, looting and free booting abounds, local stores are destroyed, an attempt to change the economic system of the most prosperous nation in history is blatant, and attacks on religion, especially Christianity are perpetual. An attitude of “fear one another” rather than the Christian adage “love one another” is a melancholy on our society. It sounds like the Middle Eastern nations who faced God’s judgment carried out by Nebuchadnezzar.

For those rejoicing at this upheaval, and doing all they can to foment it, they are forgetting that in judgment on a nation everyone suffers. Black, white, people of every race and religion suffer when the nation suffers. Old men die, children cry, brutality and destruction reign and rain. Violent streets are bloodied streets and everyone is in danger. Food and medical care become precious, and sometimes unavailable to ordinary people. Cities become rubble, even the rich and powerful  fall into the crater of desolation. And… sometimes a nation under the judgment of God never returns to its former greatness.

Woe to America, to the entire nation, if she continues to self-destruct this land of gleaming alabaster cities and amber waves of grain.

I think there is still hope for U.S. When Jeremiah declared the judgment of God it was a definite prophecy, and there was nothing they could do to stop it from happening. It was a matter of God’s timing, possibly it could be delayed, but nothing would hold back the terror forever. The judgment we are facing is not the fulfillment of a specific prophecy about America, so I think that judgment can be stayed. Our nation can be saved from herself for now.

America needs to repent. Repent means to turn and go in a different direction.

For a start, bad police need to become good police. Looters and rioters must become peaceful protesters. Those acting without legal sanction should seek it. Our People need to behave lawfully so we can all be safe. Parties on all sides of our political squabbles need to work together to give opportunity to every person in our society. Christianity, and all religions, should be free to peacefully share their understandings of life and faith, and, we should all embrace life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for ourselves and our neighbors. Those seeking to destroy our civilization need to commit to turning it around, not burning it down. There is more, of course, but we need to start somewhere.

Lord have mercy on America, so she can remain the land of liberty and peace for all of her people, please!

One Of The Sins For Which God’s People In Ancient Times Were Punished

Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong: that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work.

Jeremiah 22:13

God Speaking Through Jeremiah, His Prophet

At what instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.        (Jeremiah  18:7-10)

Here is a message every nation in the world should consider!

I hope it does not come to this for America.

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. (Isaiah 6:19)

Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. (Isaiah 7:34)

Jesus’ Secret To A Peaceful Nation

And thou shalt love the Lord God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other greater than these.

Mark 12:30,31

A Sermon For All Nations

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

Isaiah 55:6,7

Hear, O America,

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.  Isaiah 43:11

What’s Going On?

And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. Isaiah 37:17

Is what is happening in the United States today the work of righteousness? Well, the Lord says, through the prophet Isaiah, if it is the work of righteousness there will be peace. Is what we have now peace?

Isaiah says the work of righteousness will result in quietness. Is our land quiet?

Isaiah also says the work of righteousness shall be assurance. Perhaps, assurance that the nation is in God’s hand? That we are safe? That we can all work out the problems of our society?

Is what we have what peace, quietness, assurance looks like? I guess we could use the work of righteousness.

Oh, America, without a vision of what God wants us to do our people and our nation may perish.

Death and Easter

And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. Matthew 27:59, 60

There is no darkness like death, however it comes. One instant the eyes are open, the next closed. They are closed forever. Silence fills the darkness, and hope disappears. There are no expectations, praises, or aspirations in the grave. Only death, the darkness of darkness.

When Jesus died Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the body as custom demanded it, took it to the cemetery, and laid it in the tomb. The fearful thing for all humanity is if you are living, without a miracle you will die, and they will lay you in the grave too.

To understand this you need a little basic theology. Death, according to God’s word, is the result of sin. Everybody has sinned, and without forgiveness of sin death is their future.

Somehow sin must be forgiven if death darkness is to be defeated. When Jesus died for us he carried the penalty for our sin, and all who trust in him as their forgiver of sins are forgiven, and ultimately death cannot keep you in the grave. That is…

That is if it didn’t keep him in the grave! So here’s the Easter story. The women who were followers of Jesus went to the tomb to finish the burial process, and mourn. And they met an angel, who said, Fear not ye for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said, Come and see the place where the Lord lay. Matthew 28:5, 6.

He had been laid in the tomb. A rock had been rolled in front of the mouth of the tomb. Now the rock was rolled away, come and see where he was laid. He’s not laying there anymore. He is risen from the dead. Jesus put death in the darkness, and those who know him by believing in him, in the light.

A Verse for Times of Dread - Psalm 9:10

 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou. LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

A Devotional Thought From 2 Chronicles And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 2 Chronicles 36:15 It was a bad time in history for the ancient people of God. A good king, a man of faith, had died, and he was followed in quick succession by three bad kings. And, the religious leaders and people of the land were involved in religious evil as well. In response God sent messengers to them, prophets, preachers, obviously to speak up and call them out for their sins. “What you are doing is wrong. Turn from your sins. Change your dreadful behaviors.” People don’t like to hear such preaching. Some repent, but many rebel against it. Many attack the preacher of righteousness. “Don’t tell us what we can and cannot do. How intolerant. Speaking against sin is the real sin. Let us alone.” They consider it an intrusion on their lives. God wouldn’t call what we do a sin. But notice what the verse (2 Chronicles36:15) says. God did this, He sent His preachers of righteousness, “because he had compassion on his people.” God knew that they were headed for a cliff, for judgment, and because He had compassion, because He loved them, He sent the prophets to call them out of sin. Here’s how they reacted. 2 Chronicles 36:16: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Rejecting righteousness, and choosing sin, is a foolish choice.