The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Affirmed Alive"
"The chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure" (Matthew 27:62-64).
The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The Bible declares the truth to be true. The Holy Spirit bears continual witness. 2,000 years of church history confirms the Lord Jesus to be far more than a tragic figure of history lying in a tomb, but rather the triumphant Captain of our salvation, alive forevermore and seated in triumph at the right hand of God. "He in not here, but He is risen, as He said" (Matthew 28:6).
Enemies, however, of both spiritual and worldly deception, seek to make the sepulcher sure in our hearts and minds. The world, the devil, and the flesh tempt us to act as if the tomb remains sealed and occupied. Circumstances, situations, and conditions serve as the unholy prompts of deception whereby our enemies entice us to think, speak, act, and relate as if our Lord has been long gone, rather than vibrantly alive and active in this circumstance, that situation, and all conditions. Sealed in a sepucher? Or seated at the right hand of God, present in our hearts, and working in all things of our lives? We answer the question often, whether we think in these terms or not.
"One Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive" (Acts 25:19).
I often think this statement regarding Paul, although uttered by a unbelieving earthly ruler, sums up the Apostle's heart and life more succinctly than any other Biblical description. It must serve the same dynamic means and mighty enabling in our hearts and lives as well. Affirmed alive. The terrible circumstances, situations, and conditions of the Lord's death dissolved in the glory and power of His resurrection. Like Paul, we "die daily" in countless ways, as a fallen world brings to us challenges wherein the risen life of Christ must be known and applied by faith (I Corinthians 15:31). Regarding this problem, that difficulty, this pain, or even some heartache or heartbreak, is the tomb made sure? Or is it empty, its stone rolled away, and its wondrous Occupant long gone? How we answer determines our experience of either peace or perplexity. Even more, our response to the resurrection determines our capacity to glorify the Lord Jesus and communicate Him by life and word to others. "One Jesus, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." May such words be said of us in this day regarding life as we find it, seen in the light of disciples regarding the tomb as they found it, empty and redolent not of death, but of a Life beyond life.
"And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulcher. But God raised Him from the dead."
(Acts 13:29-30)
Weekly Memory Verse
If God be for us, who can be against us?
(Romans 8:31
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