WORDS about the WORDS
written by local pastors
Albany Ministerial Alliance — OFFICERS —
President.............. Luke Spraberry V-President............ Paul J ohnston By Russell Scott Albany Church of Christ THE POWER OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION The Bible says, “ But on the first day of the week, at earlydawn,theycametothe tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, behold two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:1-9).
When Jesus died on the cross on that Friday, so did thehopesanddreamsofHis followers. No angels came to His aid. No supernatural powers were displayed to save Him. His followers began to feel what others had said about Him while He was being crucified on the cross, “ He saved others; He cannot save Himself” (Matthew 27:42). Their disappointment is expressed in the words of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “ But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel …” (Luke 24:21).
But on that Resurrection Sunday, their hopes and dreams would be rekindled just like Jesus had earlier predicted to them in John 16:16-22. The Bible says, “ When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”
(John 20:19, 20).
On that early Resurrection Sunday morning, the angel of the Lord did not roll away that large stone to let Jesus out of the tomb, but rather to let men look in and see that the tomb was empty (cf. Matthew 28:1, 2). Those words spoken by the angel of the Lord to the women who came to the tomb on that early Sunday morning, still rings out in our hearts today, “ Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen.”
(Luke 24:5, 6).
The power of Christ’s resurrection resides in one fact – the tomb is empty. The power of Christ’s resurrection can change your life, just like it has changed the lives of the thousands upon thousands who have gone on before us. The Risen Lord can turn your grief into gladness, your despair into hope, and your frustration into faith. With the power of Christ’s resurrection came hope for each of us. We also will be raised! We can be raised from past sins, we can be raised from the grave, and we can finally be raised into heaven. To be raised, we must turn to the Lord and be saved by the Christ on the cross, by being buried with Him in baptism and emerging from the water with Him to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3, 4). We hope you have a great andblessedEasterSunday!
