SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/27/2024 9:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Intro to Matt. 28:1-10”
“Resurrection of Christ”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
28:1-10
Message of the verses: “1 Now after the
Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe
earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and
came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like
lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of
him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be
afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 “He
is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He
was lying. 7 “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the
dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see
Him; behold, I have told you." 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear
and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met
them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped
Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My
brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.’”
As the title of this SD states we are looking at the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is tragically true, however, that
throughout history many have denied, despised, and mocked the truth of the
resurrection, especially Christ’s.
MacArthur adds “But only a fool tries to explain away resurrection,
because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are man’s only hope of
salvation and eternal life.” Think about
that statement of Christ’s resurrection is the only hope of salvation and
eternal life for a moment. Humaningly
speaking it is difficult to believe that anyone has risen from the dead, but
once a person truly becomes a believer then this truth completely makes sense
to them. The resurrection of Jesus
Christ is proof that the sacrifice made of Himself on the cross was accepted by
His Father, and therefore those who put their trust in Him, and the sacrifice
that He made for the world’s people is the most important event that has ever
happened in the history of mankind.
Please take some time to think about this, and take some time in reading
about Christ’s resurrection, and then ask God to show you that this is true,
and once you accept this truth, confess that you are a sinner, born a sinner,
and in need of total forgiveness which can only come from what Christ did for
you on the cross, and ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you. There is no other decision that you can make
in your entire life that is more important that that one, and it is because of
Christ’s resurrection from the dead that makes it all possible for you.
MacArthur
continues in his introduction by writing “An early Protestant missionary to the
Ryukyu Islands in the western Pacific discovered a strange mass grave. The grave marker revealed that more than
11,000 heads taken from bodies of Christians were buried there. On further investigation he learned that in
1637 the Japanese government, which then controlled the Ryukyus, ordered all
Christians in the empire exterminated.
Because they knew Christians believed in the resurrection, the heads of
martyred believers were buried a great distance from the bodies, in the belief that
their resurrection would thereby be prevented.
“The
resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single greatest event in the history of the
world. It is so foundational to
Christianity that no one who denies it can be a true Christian. Without resurrection there is no Christian
faith, no salvation, and no hope. ‘If
there is no resurrection of the dead,’ Paul explains, ‘not even Christ has been
raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your
faith also is vain’ (1 Cor. 15:13-14). A
person who believes in a Christ who was not raised believes in a powerless
Christ, a dead Christ. If Christ did not
rise from the dead, then no redemption was accomplished at the cross and ‘your
faith is worthless,’ Paul goes on to say:
‘you are still in your sins’ (v. 17).”
I have been putting my Spiritual Diaries onto my
blogs since sometime in 2001, and I have to say that when I first started doing
this that I was not nearly as faithful in putting them onto my blogs as I am
now. I also can say that the truth of
the resurrection that is being written about as I begin this 28th
chapter of Matthew’s gospel are some of the, if not the most important truths
that are found in the over 10,000 posts that I have posted. I am not saying that I have never written
about the resurrection of Jesus Christ before, and those too were very
important SD’s too. Again the
resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event that has ever taken
place in the history of the world.
9/27/2024 9:41 AM
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