Sunday! Hallelujah!!!! He's Alive! - Easter Sunday

In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:
Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.



Well, it's that time of year again when we Celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus! It's quite exciting when you can really appreciate the thought that Jesus came with a purpose as we Celebrated Christmas, to save the World. Hold the thought about "saving the world" there is some theology in there that we are going to come back to.
Aristotle once said: "In order to understand anything, we must know not only the material of which it is made, and the agent who made it, but also the purpose he had in making it, and the form he gave it in order to satisfy this purpose." While here on Earth, Jesus had several purposes. To name a few Jesus was to be the model for all believers in how to live our lives, and treat people, ultimately though, Jesus' purpose was to die for the sinner. Since the fall of man in the beginning of Genesis, we have fallen short, no amount of good works can get us back to right standing with God. Essentially, from the very beginning God has modeled salvation through various things from clothing Adam and Eve with animal skins to passover in Moses' day and sacrifices. An interesting thing we learn from Genesis 3:21 when God clothed Adam and Eve is only God can cover our shame and sinful selves. Man must have adequate covering to approach God, the fig leaves are representative of our good works. We must come as we are, naked before a Holy God revealing the sin and shame. Then, God must provide the covering. The covering is only obtained through the death of the Lord Jesus. You see, all through the Old Testament we see that the blood of a lamb or some kind of animal, it was typically a lamb, had to be sacrificed to God as a payment of sin. That is what is so neat about the New Testament, Jesus came! Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Lamb who was slain for our sin once and for all.
Because man's deepest problem is a moral and spiritual "disease," the fundamental need lies in a moral and spiritual "cure." The plight of man stems from the very core of his being and affects every part. The hope of man is not in his limited and inadequate quest for God, but in God's redemptive provision for man. However, when we go back to the "save the world" statement people have labeled Jesus' death on the cross in different ways. This is where theology and how you interpret scripture comes in. There is a thing called Universalism that Karl Barth believes in. The Question is raised, "Did Christ die for all? Are all then justified? On a side note, I would encourage you to check out "Church Dogmatics"- IV, 1, p.747.
There were 3 men on crosses as Jesus died. One was dying in sin, one was dying to sin, and the one in the middle was dying for sin. But we do not rest our Victory in sin just in Christ's death alone, no! The truth of Christianity rests heavily on the Resurrection, it was through this that He conquered the sting and victory of death. It's what caused Job to say: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and though my flesh my fail, I will see God, with my own eyes! And there will be a day when He's going to stand upon the earth at last!" Child of God, He's Alive! One day when that trumpet blows, we're rising with Him! We are alive through Him who gives us the Victory over death. He left a promise in the empty grave that he is coming back. Check it out:
Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?
The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him! 'Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple out ran Peter and got there first. He stopped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.
Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side. Was that important? Absolutely! In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.
Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table.. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm finished.." But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because..........
The folded napkin meant,
"I'm coming back!"

"Sin where are your shackles? Death where is your sting? Hell has been defeated, the grave could not hold THE KING!"