The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"This Way of Resurrection"
No human eyes witnessed the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"And the angel answered and said unto the women, 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, see the place where the Lord lay. 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" (Matthew 28:5-7).
The Lord's disciples did encounter the Lord Jesus on numerous occasions after His resurrection and before His ascension, as did more than 5oo in one setting (I Corinthians 15:6). The risen Savior revealed Himself enough to confirm "He is risen, as He said." However, the miracle of His life beyond life followed the pattern He had set during His earthly lifetime wherein He quietly and unobtrusively worked to fulfill His Father's will and redeem human hearts.
"His brethren therefore said unto Him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world" (John 7:3-4).
The Lord never responded to His brethren's demand for an open unveiling of His glory to the world. Nor does He presently act in such a manner. When necessary, of course, our Savior will work in spectacular ways. Sometimes He parts a sea, or stops the sun in its tracks, or raises a friend from the dead. However, He most often fulfills His purposes in wonders we will miss if we do not expect His working in less than obvious ways. The risen life of Christ in born again believers follows this pattern:
"Ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God" (Colossians 2:12).
"I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).
"We walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).
Rarely will a Christian sense or feel he exists as a living temple of the risen Lord Jesus. We will not often appear to be such a miracle of grace in obvious and overt ways. The truth is always true, however. Moreover, every time we trust and obey God, the life of Christ empowers our faithfulness.
"But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (enliven) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:11).
The simplest act of obedience requires the risen Lord Jesus who dwells in us to walk in us. We may not think in such terms as He reveals His grace of life. It occurs nevertheless, just as the Savior walked the earth after His resurrection in ways seen only by a relative few. "We shall live with Him by the power of God" (II Corinthians 13:4).
We must expect and affirm this way of resurrection in our present earthly lives. The risen Christ dwells among and within His people. He accomplishes mighty acts of wonder day by day as He empowers faith and faithfulness. Such glory, however, will happen in ways unseen by the masses, and often unknown by even those in whom He fulfills the quietly miraculous. Let us expect such grace, for as we do, we may glimpse glories of the risen life of the Lord Jesus in His people that would otherwise have been missed.
"To live is Christ."
(Philippians 1:21)
"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 6:11)
Weekly Memory Verse
We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."
(II Corinthians 1:9)
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