Archives for May 26, 2015

With Tour Group at Empty Tomb

The Gospels record that in the later afternoon of the day when Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathaea requested permission from Pilate to take the corpse of our Lord. Wrapping it in a clean linen clothe, Joseph laid it in his own tomb cut from the rock, and sealed the tomb by rolling a large stone over its door (Matt. 27:57–60; Mark 15:42–46; Luke 23:50–54). The tomb was located in a garden (John 19:41; 20:15). Joseph was helped by Nicodemus, who had once visited Christ by night and heard Him speak of the new birth by the Holy Spirit (John 19:38–42; cf. John 3:1–8). Though it was a terrible risk for them to identify with a man condemned by the Jewish Sanhedrin and killed like a criminal by the Roman governor, they honored Jesus even in His death because their hope was in the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43; Luke 23:51).

On the third day, the kingdom of God came with an earthquake, for the King rose from the dead (Matt. 28:2, 6). Just as Adam fell in a garden, so the last Adam rose up in a garden as the Firstborn of a new creation. His resurrection was no mere resuscitation of a dead body, but God’s decisive victory over death and hell (1 Cor. 15:21–22; Rev. 1:18), the exercise of the exceeding greatness of God’s mighty power for His people (Eph. 1:19–20). When God raised up Jesus Christ, He raised up with Him all of His chosen people from spiritual death to spiritual life, and ultimately to eternal glory (Eph. 2:6–7). No wonder the earth shook!

While we glory in the atoning death of Jesus Christ, we do not serve a dead Savior. The faithful covenant God raised up Jesus and exalted Him to God’s right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to His people, both Jew and Gentile (Acts 5:30–31; 11:18). Though we cannot see the living Lord, the presence of the Holy Spirit in believers is a living testimony that Christ is risen.

Do you know the power of the empty tomb? Many people believe in Jesus as a past historical figure, a great teacher and perhaps even a Savior who died so that they could go to heaven. But do you know the living Lord Jesus? Is He alive and at work in you by His Spirit? True Christianity is not just a philosophy of life, but union and communion with the risen Lord. May He dwell in all our hearts by faith, and do so more and more until we are filled with all the fullness of God, so that He who works powerfully within His church will be glorified in Christ Jesus through all ages, forever and ever. Amen (Eph. 3:16–21).

Preaching on Christ’s Resurrection at the Garden of the Tomb

Possible Location of Christ’s Crucifixion

The Gospels tell us that the soldiers crucified Christ on Golgatha, “the place of the skull” (Matt. 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17), or in Latin “Calvaria” (Luke 23:33). Christ died outside the city gate (Heb. 13:12), and yet “nigh to the city” (John 19:20). It was a horrible place and a horrendous atrocity when the wicked rejected the Holy and Righteous One, and “killed the Prince of life” (Acts 3:14–15).

Yet here God did His greatest work. There are different words that the Scriptures use to describe the mighty work of the cross, such as redemption and reconciliation, but perhaps the most significant word is one rarely heard today: propitiation. The apostle John wrote, “he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2). He also said, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

To propitiate means to appease or atone. If you anger someone, you make propitiation for your offense in one way or another to appease him. You offer a peace offering so that your guilt is atoned and your relationship can be restored.

In our relationship with God, Christ’s propitiation addressed the wrath of God. It quenched the terrible fire of His burning anger against sinners. Jesus Christ is the propitiation that delivered His people from God’s anger against us by taking it on himself. He suffered the wrath and judgment that their sin deserved. Since Christ is God, His propitiation has a value greater than all the sins of the world. He did not merely die for the Jews or a small group of first-century believers, but to redeem a vast number of people from every tribe, language, and nation throughout all the ages.

So at Golgotha, the ugly place of death, we find God’s hatred and God’s love coming together in an astonishing fashion. God hates sin and is so angry with sinners that nothing less than the death of His Son will appease His anger, satisfy His justice, and set them free. Apart from Christ’s blood, God’s wrath will send sinners to hell forever. However, even when God hated sin so much, He loved sinners so much that He willingly sent His Son to suffer that wrath for the very sinners who hated Him. Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou, My God, shouldst die for me?! No condemnation now I dread; Jesus and all in Him is mine. He is the propitiation for our sins, and believers are saved forever. Child of God, let the wonder of Calvary wash over your soul, and never stop praising the Lamb that was slain for you.