Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Sunday, April 5, 2015

Based Upon 1 Corinthians 15

(Repeat From Sunday, March 29, 2015)

-

One Friday more than 2,000 years ago, Jesus volunteered to be our holy Substitute. He became sin for us, so we could become the righteousness of God through Him. On Sabbath, Jesus, having perfectly accomplished His work of sacrifice, rested. He rested according to the Sabbath commandment, thus signifying our privilege to rest in His power to save. He perfectly provides all that we need temporally and eternally, and we reverently rest in His perfect work.

-

It is a blessing to note that when Jesus’ loved ones went to the tomb that delightful Sunday morning looking for a corpse, they found an empty tomb! This fact alone could have simply caused suspicion and dismay. But the fact that the tomb was empty with the stone rolled away, and Jesus’ grave clothes were neatly folded was a testament to His power manifested, and His promises kept. He promised to lay down His life for us. He promised to take it up again. So, when the power of the Most High accompanied the angel Gabriel, he thundered to earth causing it to quake, and joyfully called out to his Master, “Son of God, come forth; Thy Father calls Thee.” In victory, Jesus demonstrated his proclamation before the empty tomb of Lazarus—“I am the resurrection, and the life.”

-

In the Old Testament system of sacrifices, the various animal sacrifices were given to signify the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness or cleansing of sins (Hebrews 9:22). The punishment for sin is death; therefore, either the sinner or a worthy substitute must die in order for justice to be satisfied. Once the sacrifice was given by faith, the sins were symbolically transferred to it. Day-after-day, sacrifices were given and the priests then applied/sprinkled the blood in various ways in the sanctuary. This signified the transfer of the confessed guilt from the sinner, to the innocent substitute, to the advocating priest, to the sanctuary, and ultimately to the symbol of Satan himself where it is destroyed (Leviticus 16). We confess our sins, accepting the perfect sacrifice of Christ. He takes His payment of our sin debt into the heavenly sanctuary where it is accepted. And one day the sanctuary will be cleansed as it was on the yearly Day of Atonement. Then the culprit, the one who is the father of all sin, is destroyed at the end of time. So in order for the sin problem to be completely dealt with, all of the steps had to be followed—sacrifice, application of blood, and cleansing.

-

What if Christ stayed dead? The Bible says, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Corinthians 15:17–19). What Jesus did for me on the cross was critical, and necessary, but Jesus did not come to earth to stay dead. Paul said that we would still be in our sins if Jesus was still dead, and our faith would be in vain. Aren’t you glad that the story did not stop there? The truth is that a dead Jesus cannot help us very much. If Jesus were still dead, in whose name would we pray? Who would be our Advocate in heaven? How would we get to heaven? What assurance would we have that we could live like God wants us to live?

In your spare time read Romans 6:5-11. Texts like this are not very helpful if I cannot use them everyday. When we receive Jesus into our lives and accept everything He has done for us as the only means of salvation, we experience the text above. Jesus being raised from the dead is my assurance that I can be forgiven for all of the sins I have ever committed (Romans 3:22-26). Do you remember the woman caught in the very act of adultery in John chapter 8? The Bible says that when Jesus forgave her, He empowered her to be free from sin....