No King But Jesus

April 26, 2014
Joshua:  Turning Obedience Into Blessing
Joshua 12                                                              NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS – Obedience to Jesus Christ as the Sovereign King of Kings is the foundation for all blessings, both temporal and eternal.

What did Israel’s battle for the Promised Land have in common with America’s battle for freedom from English tyranny.  You could say, they both had the same “battle cry” with slight modifications.  Both battles involved the overthrow of a king, or kings.  The Conquest of Canaan was a “conquest of kings.”  The American revolution likewise unshackled the colonies from the tyranny of the King of England.

It seems that the idea of an earthly king reigning over people is problematic by nature.  Though Israel had many kings, the very idea of a king arose in rebellion against the sovereign reign of God over Israel.  Samuel records this “evil request” from God’s people:

^{1Sam. 8    6} When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king

Clearly, the very idea of an “earthly king, or sovereign” is problematic by nature.  The idea of an “earthly king” disregards the Sovereign Right of God to rule in the affairs of men.  In fact, the justification for Pilate, the Roman governor, to crucify Jesus was the fact that Jesus, along with His followers, called Himself, “King.” When Rome crucified a criminal, the technical charge against that person was written on a placard and nailed to the cross above the head of the accused, or sometimes hung around the neck.  We are told the “official” charge against Jesus was:

^{Mt. 27    37} Above His head they put up the charge against Him in writing: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

The Gospel of John (19:19) tells us that the Jews objected to this charge and wanted Pilate to write instead, “He said, I am the King of the Jews.”  The Jews absolutely did not want to accept Jesus for who He, Himself, and also Pilate, said He was—King of the Jews.  The Jews flatly denied the Sovereign Kingship of Jesus, and in fact declared,

^{Jn. 19:15} But they shouted, “Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?” “We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.

Now, we know the real reason was not insurrection, but blasphemy. To refer to Himself as the Jewish King was equivalent to being the Messiah, and therefore God.  The Jews were offended because Jesus referred to Himself as, God, or the Eternal King—the King of Kings. 

Herein is the very essence of sin—who reigns as the Sovereign King of a person’s life?  As the Bible always demonstrates there is but two choices.  Either Jesus, the God of the Word, will rule supreme in a person’s life, or the Devil, called the “Prince of this World,” will rule.  Everyman makes a choice and that choice has both temporal and eternal consequences.

We know that many thousands of men and women were carried off to the Roman Coliseum to be tortured and killed because they would not state that “Caesar is Lord, or King.”  Thousands upon thousands chose a brutal death rather than deny allegiance to Jesus Christ as, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”  The battle cry of any true believer is always, “No King But Jesus!”

This same “battle cry” of believers in the Bible became the battle cry of the American Revolution—“No King but Jesus!”.  This rallying cry rang out by means of the Committees of Correspondence. The Committees of Correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of the American Revolution. They coordinated responses to Britain in regard to the affairs of the Colonies.  These Committees of Correspondence rallied opposition on common causes and established plans for collective action against the increasingly hostile actions of the King George III.   These groups of committees were the beginning of what later became a formal political union among the colonies. A total of about 7,000 to 8,000 Patriots served on these committees at the colonial and local levels, comprising most of the leadership in their communities—the British Loyalists were excluded (Wikipedia).

The rallying cry took a few forms such as “No King but Jesus,” or “No governor but Jesus,” or other such forms.  The sentiment was the same:  the American colonists did not recognize any sovereign power but the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ.  We see clearly this sentiment in our Declaration of Independence.  God, and God alone, has the right to rule over the lives of people.  The Declaration states it like this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Both Israel in their battle against the kings in the Promised Land and the Colonists in their battle against the King of England, rallied around the same cry:  “No King But Jesus!”

Understanding the foundational issue of the absolute Sovereignty of God gives meaning to this text in Joshua 12 that looks like a meaningless list of kings with difficult to pronounce names.  But, when this chapter is read under the light of the doctrine of God’s sovereign kingship, it makes perfect sense.  There is not King but God, and Jesus is His Name.

Here in Joshua 12 we have a list pagan kings who became the “victims” of God’s wrath.  In the remaining chapters of Joshua we will see the inheritance of  “victors” according to God’s grace.  Wrath or grace.  Two lists.  Two destinies.  Everyone will be consigned to one of these two lists.  Those who reject Jesus as King will be on the “victims” list and feel the full force of God’s wrath in an eternal manner just as these 31 kings felt it in a temporal manner.  Those we willingly and enthusiastically embrace as a motto of life, “No King but Jesus,” will find themselves on the “victor’s list” and feel the full flow of the blessings of God’s grace.  Wrath or grace?  Which list are you on?

Let’s Read Together the Fate of the False Kings of Canaan (12:1-24).

Three reminders in regard to the Kingship of Christ emerge from this passage.

1.  The Kingship of Christ provides the foundation for Christian Unity (1-6)

The discussion of pagan kings begins by identifying two for special mention:  Sihon and Og, both kings of territories to the east of the Jordan River.

Verse 2 mentions,  Sihon king of the Amorites lived in Heshbon.

Verse 4 mentions, Og  king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

Both Sihon and Og occupied territory to the East of Jordan, one to the South and the other to the North.  Og, from the north held the special distinction of being from a race of Rephaim, who were extremely tall, or giants, like the Anakim, of Numbers 13.  These were the first of the pagan kings to be encountered by Israel, but on the Eastern side before the official conquest of the Promised Land had begun.  Why bring these two kings up now? 

One Bible teacher suggests the answer to that question is that “it highlights the importance of the unity of God’s people” (Davis).  Back in Numbers 32 we read of the agreement to allow the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and Half-tribe of Manasseh to settle on the Eastern side.  Moses objected at first but agreed as long as Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh first fought to secure the Promised Land.  Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh agreed and fought alongside of Israel to secure the Land for God’s people.  Sihon and Og, though not officially apart of the Conquest of the Promised Land, tie the tribes West of the Jordan to the tribes east of the Jordan.  Sihon and Og serve as testimonials of the importance of the “unity of God’s people.”  All of those who declare allegiance to God, the Son, Jesus Christ march under one banner.  “United we stand, divided we fall” as the old adage so aptly sums up the matter.

Unity does not mean, “uniformity.”  A friend of mine who is a beloved pastor used to say, “A person doesn’t have to be my twin to be my brother.”  This is true.  The body of Christ is one body though we may display many variations.  Some like the government elders, the other the leadership of pastors.  Some like praise songs, some like hymns.  Some love the King James, some prefer the New Living Translation.  We all have personal preferences in life, including in our spiritual life.  But, we must always band together under Lordship of Jesus Christ as He is presented to us in the Word of God, the Bible.  Jesus is God’s Son, the Bible is His Book, and we are to be His obedient disciples.  Unity based upon the Lordship (Kingship) of Jesus is what makes us strong as God’s people.  In the Lord’s Prayer of John 17 Our Lord expresses the desire of His heart.  He says,

¹¹ I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy  Father, protect  them by Your name that You have given Me, so that they may be one  as We are  one.

Paul also mentions how important the unity of God’s people is:

Eph 4  Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord,  urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, ² with all humility  and gentleness, with patience,  accepting  ^o one another in love,  ³ diligently keeping the unity  of the Spirit  with the peace  that binds us. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit —just as you were called to one hope  ^v at your calling— ⁵ one Lord,  one faith,  one baptism, ⁶ one God  and Father  of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

I could say much more about the importance of a church uniting around a common mission under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but I must move on.  But, we must remember as one author said, “Unity among God’s people is no idle luxury” (Davis).  We must constantly be on guard against those who would sow seeds of disharmony in the church body.

2. The Kingship of Jesus Secures the Goodness of God (7-24)

Review the formula used in verses 9-24:

⁹ the king of Jericho                                          one

the king of Ai,  which is next to Bethel            one

¹⁰ the king of Jerusalem                                   one

the king of Hebron                                           one,

and this formula continues down to the second half of verse 24 which concludes:  the total number of all kings:   31.

Now, what do we make of this list of kings form unfamiliar places and many with unpronounceable names?  This list is far from monotonous or meaningless.  The great scholar of the church, John Calvin points out:  “There is very good reason for here placing before our eyes as it were a living picture of the goodness of God, proving that there had been a complete ratification and performance of the covenant made with Abraham as given in the words, ‘Unto thy seed will I give this land.’ (Gen. xii.7; xiii15).

Verses 9-24 sets forth in literary beauty an “itemization of the goodness of God.”  The Bible is full of “promises” God has made to us as His people.  This passage is but a synopsis of the “fidelity of God”—that is, when God makes a promise, He is faithful to fulfill that promise.  The Bible reminds us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, secures for the believer every promise God has made.  Paul delivers God’s word in regard to Jesus Christ securing for us the goodness of God:

^{2Cor.1   20} For every one of God’s promises  is “Yes” in Him.

One by one the Holy Word of God recounts how God summarily dispatched 31 kings on behalf of His people to secure the promise He made to Abraham.  The formula states it thusly, “Such and such king—one.  Such and such king—one.  Grand total 31.”  This is an “itemization of the goodness of God.”  God’s promise was specific and His performance was specific.  God WILL fulfill every single promise He has made in the Bible through His Son, Our King, Jesus Christ!  And . . . that’s a fact, Jack!  Each of Yahweh’s displays of power is a cause for praise from God’s people. 

We would do well to follow the pattern of this passage in regard to “thanking God for His goodness.” A distinguished Bible teacher, H.L. Ellison gives us this reminder in regard to the “itemization of God’s goodness” we see here in this passage.  He says, “It would be unfair to suggest that the Church is unwilling to thank God for all His many mercies, but on the whole, we are unwilling to indulge in detailed and specific thanks. . . . Much of our discouragement comes from failing to see how much God has really achieved.

One of the great hymns of the church reminds us of how important it is to remind ourselves that no matter how many promises God has made they will all be secured by Our King, Jesus Christ.  That great hymn says,

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

When you are discouraged . . . start counting God’s blessings until the discouragement leaves you.  God itemized each king He conquered on Israel’s behalf.  When we itemize every blessing our King Jesus has secured for us, discouragement will melt like a snowball in a blast furnace!

This passage reminds us of the strength we have when we march in unity under the banner of Our King Jesus Christ.  This passage reminds us of the goodness of God’s promises that have been secured by Our King Jesus Christ.  Related to these two reminders is the reminder that

3.  Jesus Christ, Our King,  has one more great victory yet to come (Rev. 19:11-16).

Would you not agree that we have many battles to fight in this life and many times it looks like victory will not be within our grasp?  In fact, maybe you feel defeated by life, but I assure you, the story is not yet over.  The final battle has not yet been fought and if you are a believer, your future victory is absolutely assured by the King Jesus Christ.

In Foxes Book of Martyrs, the story is recounted of a great victory by a godly hermit named, Telemachus.  Rome was celebrating its temporary victory over an enemy in its usual manner, by watching gladiators fight to the death in the arena.  Gladiators lived for this type of opportunity.  As the blood-fest began, suddenly there was an interruption. A loosely robed figure boldly leaped down into the arena.  It was Telemachus, one of the hermits who devoted themselves to a holy life of prayer and self-denial and kept themselves apart from the wicked life of Rome. Although few of the Roman citizens followed their example, most of them had great respect for these hermits, and the few who recognized Telemachus knew he had come from the wilds of Asia on a pilgrimage to visit churches and celebrate Christmas in Rome.  Without hesitating an instant, Telemachus advanced upon two gladiators who were engaged in their life-and-death struggle. Laying a hand on one of them, he sternly reproved him for shedding innocent blood, and then, turning toward the thousands of angry faces around him, called to them: "Do not repay God’s mercy in turning away the swords of your enemies by murdering each other!"  Angry shouts drowned out his voice. "This is no place for preaching! On with the combat!" Pushing Telemachus aside, the two gladiators prepared to continue their combat, but Telemachus stepped between them. Enraged at the interference of an outsider with their chosen vocation, the gladiators turned on Telemachus and stabbed him to death.  The crowd fell silent, shocked by the death of this holy man, but his death had not been in vain, for from that day on, no more gladiators ever went into combat in the Colosseum.

What appeared to be a huge defeat, history records as a spectacular victory.  Telemachus had no way of knowing how history would reward his courage under fire.  Unlike Telemachus, we do know how the story of our lives as believers will turn out.

Dr. Dale Davis points out quite accurately, “Every one of Yahweh’s victories over his enemies in the process of history is a partial portrayal of His victory over all His enemies at the consummation of history.”  The Book of Revelation (19) tells us of this final victory:

¹¹ Then I saw heaven opened,  and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True,  and He judges and makes war in righteousness.  ¹² His eyes were like a fiery flame,  and many crowns  were on His head.  He had a name written that no one knows except Himself.  ¹³ He wore a robe stained with blood,  ^q and His name is the Word of God.  ¹⁴ The armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. ¹⁵ A sharp  sword  came from His mouth, so that He might strike the nations with it.  He will shepherd  them with an iron scepter.  He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God,  the Almighty. ¹⁶ And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh:

KING OF KINGS
AND LORD OF LORDS.

Folks, this is how the story ends.  Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, will descend out of heaven and utterly and eternal vanquish those who stand in rebellion against Him—including once for all crushing Satan and casting him into the eternal fire.  The entire Bible is written to give us boldness and hope as we fight the petty kings of this world who stand in rebellion against the One True King—Jesus Christ.  With confidence and courage we can face whatever battle comes our way as long as we have declared in our heart:

“No King But Jesus!”

Obedience to Jesus Christ as the Sovereign King of Kings is the foundation for all blessings, both temporal and eternal.

<<end>>

It's Friday But Sunday's Coming!

April 20, 2014 Easter

“It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming”

Mark 15:33-16:8                                    NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS—Easter is God’s eternal answer to our pain and doubt.

ILLUS:  People are constantly searching for answers to an endless list of questions.  In a book written by Douglas Adams called, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a comic science fiction series created by Douglas Adams that has become popular among fans of the genre(s) and members of the scientific community. Phrases from it are widely recognized and often used in reference to, but outside the context of, the source material. Many writers on popular science, such as Fred Alan Wolf, Paul Davies and Michio Kaku, have used quotations in their books to illustrate facts about cosmology or philosophy. In this book series we get the answer to life’s ultimate question.  It is “42.”  If that doesn’t make a lot of sense, then you pretty much get the point of the book.  However, “42” is a special number.  42 is 101010 in binary code, that light refracts off water by 42 degrees to create a rainbow, that light requires 10⁻⁴² seconds to cross the diameter of a proton.  Douglas Adams rejected all these reasons for “42” being offered as the ultimate answer.  He said, “I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story” (Wikepedia). 

Deep Thought, the computer that takes 7¹/₂ million years to come up with the ultimate answer, “42,” points out that the answer seems meaningless because the beings who instructed the computer never actually knew what the Question was.  This seems like an easy enough issue to overlook.  So, creatures from another galaxy design another computer to take 10 million years to come up with the “ultimate question.”  The intergalactic computer builders choose earth as the place for the computer and then take the form of mice to monitor it’s progress.  After 10 million years,earth is the targe to intergalactic war, the computer has not come up with an “ultimate question,” so the mice just choose one out of thin air.  The choose the question, “How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down,” from the song, “Blowin’ In the Wind,” by Bob Dylan.

So, Bob Dylan provides the ultimate question and Deep Thought, the computer, comes up with the ultimate answer of “42.”  Problem solved.

Well, I’m thinking, that this probably does not give you a comforting answer to the ultimate question of life.  Our questions are deeper and more visceral, like:  “how can I get over my pain and through my doubt to achieve a real hope in life.”  That’s a much more important and universal question it seems to me.  We all deal with pain—sometimes unbearable pain.  We all deal with doubt—sometimes faith crushing, hope shattering doubt.  What’s the answer to our pain and doubt?  God has given us the anwer—it is Easter!  God’s answer to our pain and doubt in life is, Easter. 

The story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus takes place over a three day period:  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Friday is a day marked by unspeakable, unbearable pain.  Saturday is a day of doubt and confusion on the part of the disciples.  Sunday is a day of great hope because of the Lord’s resurrection.  The application of the Easter story for us today is that we will all face these three days in life—over and over again.  Each time we are faced with pain that so often leads to doubt and despair, we can anchor our hope in the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection. 

The Easter Story ebbs from Friday, a day of blackness, pain, and sorrow to Easter, a day of immeasurable, indescribable hope and joy.  In our lives we will experience many Fridays, but we must always remember, “Sunday Is Coming!”

VIDEO:  “It’s Friday But Sundays Coming”

Let’s read about these three days of the Easter Story: MK 15:33-16:8.

1.  Friday:  A Day of Pain and Sorrow (vv. 33-39)

³⁷ But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. ³⁸ Then the curtain  of the sanctuary  was split in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ When the centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw the way He  breathed His last, he said, “This man really was God’s Son!”

We have all experienced some degree of pain in our lives. Perhaps we experienced the emotional pain of losing someone to death who was very close to you.  Perhaps you have experienced the crushing emotional pain of a broken relationship, or a divorce.  Perhaps you deal with the emotional pain of depression that seems to be smothering the life out of you and you don’t even know why!  Pain is a reality of life.  We all experience, some to a greater degree than others perhaps, but no one lives pain free. 

We all experience physical pain that so often can lead to emotional pain, and even utter despair if the pain is chronic.  I thought I’d experienced the worst pain of my life when I experienced my heart attack.  I suffered for twelve hours with pain that increased hourly.  Then, a couple months after my heart attack, I destroyed all the tendons and ligaments in my ankle playing softball.  The pain from that, made my heart attack look like a picnic.  Then, came the most physically painful experience of my life—an infection set in to my sinuses from a failed dental implant I’d had for 38 years.  The pain from that tooth almost finished me.

But, even those three instances of physical pain do not compare with the chronic, bone crushing, spirit exhausting pain of others I have known.  Many of you have been praying for Diane King as I have. In just a matter of weeks she went from vacationing in Florida to being told she only had a couple months to live.  She has pancreatic cancer and the pain is indescribable.

Yet, even such chronic pain as pancreatic cancer brings, that is not the greatest pain ever felt by a man.  Jesus suffered like no man has ever suffered or ever will suffer.  If you were to add up all the pain of every person ever born, every person alive today, and every person that will be born in the future, you would understand the pain the Lord Jesus felt on the cross—because, that’s exactly what Jesus was doing:  taking all the pain from all the sin that ever was or ever will be and accepting God’s judgment for that sin.  The sin of everyone, but one—Jesus alone could have lived without pain because He alone lived a sinless life.  But, God loved us so much, that He Himself, Jesus the Son of God, became fully human and died in our place, received the pain of our suffering so we could have eternal life.

If you were going to ask, “what is the ultimate question,” it would have something to do with “pain and suffering.”  Philosophers call it the “problem of pain,” because pain creates a great problem for understanding the existence of God, or making sense of our own existence as mankind.  Every major religion addresses pain as a primary issue.  Hindus solve the problem by denying that physical the physical world is even real—denial is their answer.  Jews solve the problem by appealing to traditions and rituals—religion is their answer. Islam seeks to solve the problem by assuming that Allah is All-powerful and man must accept whatever comes as a matter of fate against which nothing can be done—submission is their answer. None of these solutions solve the problem.  Only Christianity gives us the ultimate answer to the problem of pain—Good Friday.  God paid the price for all the sin and the pain it brings by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the sin of mankind.

The humiliation Jesus suffered before His crucifixion should have been our humiliation.  When the crowd spit in His face, it should have been our face.  The crown of thorns that pierced His brow should have been our crown.  When the Roman cat-a-nine-tails whip fell upon his back literally shredding His flesh, it should have been our back.  When the nine inch nails were driven into His hands and feet, it should have been our hands and feet.  The spear in His side, should have been our spear.  And, the greatest agony of all:  the feeling of abandonment and being forsaken by His Heavenly Father—that should be our abandonment and our forsakenness. When the darkness fell on over the universe on that awful moment Jesus died—that was our darkness.  BUT, Jesus took all of our pain upon himself so that even the pain we experience in this life has meaning, and ultimately, pain will be left behind altogether when we stand with the Lord in glory one day!

How do we understand our pain?  First, pain is INSTRUCTIVE.  Pain reminds us that something is wrong.  Pain reminds us that God gives us free-will and we use that free-will to choose sin over righteousness and sin brings pain.  Second, our pain is PRODUCTIVE.  Know this, God will never waste the pain in your life but will use it for His glory and our blessing.  We often quote Paul:

^{Romans 8:28} We know that all things work together  for the good  of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

Paul also said in 1Peter 4:13:

Rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah,  so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation  of His glory.

When we embrace our suffering in this world, God actually uses it to perfect our souls.  Theologians call this, “the soul building theodicy” or justification of God’s goodness.  Finally, to deal with our pain we need to understand it is SELECTIVE.  By selective I mean that pain is associated with sin.  As long as sin exists, pain exists.  However, when at last we climb those golden stairs to glory and we enter into the Presence of God, there will be no more sin, and so, there will be no more pain for us.  Pain selects those who exist in the presence of sin, and in Heaven, there is no more sin.  John says,

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.  ¹² I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.  Another book was opened, which is the book of life,  and the dead were judged according to their works  by what was written in the books. ¹³ Then the sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades  gave up their dead; all  were judged according to their works. ¹⁴ Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.  This is the second death, the lake of fire.  ¹⁵ And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

This is a great promise for believers—even death is cast into eternal hell.  But, this is also a dire warning to humanity.  Should a person die and enter eternity without having accepted the gift of life offered by Jesus, that person will experience eternal pain.  Pain will select those whose eternal hearts know only sin and such shall be their lot for all eternity.  Death will be cast into hell and everyone that goes there will experience dying and pain, forever.

So, Friday was a day of pain and sorrow.  How do we deal with pain in our lives?  We give it to Jesus.  We ask Him to bear us up in our time of pain.  We ask Him to allow our pain to draw us closer to Him. 

And, then there was Saturday.

2.  Saturday was a day of Doubt and Confusion (vv 42-47)

⁴⁵ When he found out from the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶ After he bought some fine linen, he took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen. Then he placed Him in a tomb  cut out of the rock, and rolled a stone  against the entrance to the tomb.

We all have days of doubt and confusion.  We often have times when we ask the question:  “where is God?”  We do not see God moving in our lives so we assume God must have misplaced us, or perhaps He really has abandoned us.  We get swallowed up by the Tomb of the Unknown.  Nothing creates more doubt than the “unknown.”  I think this is one reason that graveyards are so scary and unsettling for people, especially at night.  A graveyard is all about what’s “hidden” away in the ground.  What are we really “marking?”  Is it the memory of the life lived, or the death, or the expectation of something yet to come.  Jesus was buried, albeit in a tomb not underground.  His body was placed there on Friday and of course come Sunday morning He was no longer in the grave.  But, what about Saturday?  Was anything happening as the body of the Lord lay upon a stone bed in a garden tomb?  Was Saturday just a day of “waiting and wondering?”

We know what the disciples were doing on Saturday—at least most of them, except for Thomas.  John gives us a very revealing look at the disciples between the time of the crucifixion on Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday (John 20:19).

In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because of their fear of the Jews. Then Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”

There is something very significant about the Greek word translated, “locked.”  The word can mean simply to “close or shut.”  It can also mean, “lock as with a key.”  This word is related to the word for key.  That is not what is so telling about this word.  The construction of the word is in the “perfect tense.”  Usually one would expect the aorist tense, which is the simple past tense.  The perfect tense suggests an permanency or an intensity of an action.  It usually refers to an action that is irrevocable.  In other words, “the disciples retreated to their hideout and locked it up tight!”  They were afraid.  Jesus was dead and dead people—especially dead saviors—are of little help to the living.  All of their hopes had been placed on Jesus and now he was dead and “gone”—out of sight.  Game over.  Or was it?

Nothing creates more doubt or confusion in our lives than “death.”  The first question that comes to mind for many if not most people is:  “what now?”  Is there life after death?  A full length motion picture is running this Easter season that poses just that question:  “Is Heaven for Real?”  Or, is death just the end of it all?  Do we just lie in cold lifeless repose forever.  Doubt and confusion paralyzed the disciples and actually imprisoned them in a jail of fear.  Why?  Because they no longer saw the Lord at work—but, was the Lord in fact at work even as His body lay in the grave?  Ephesians helps us out in this regard.  The gospels are silent about Saturday, but not Paul.  He says,

^{Ephesians 4:8} For it says: When He ascended on high, He took prisoners into captivity; He gave gifts to people. ⁹ But what does “He ascended” mean except that He  descended to the lower parts of the earth?

The Apostle Peter tells us,

^3:19 In that state  He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits  in prison  ²⁰ who in the past were disobedient.

2Peter 2:4 tells us this “prison” was “Tartarus,” another name for hell.

Jesus was busy on Saturday while His earthly body lay in the tomb.  He was preaching.  Ephesians tells us He preached “mercy and deliverance” to those saints who died in faith, like Noah, Abraham and millions of others.  He emptied Hades of all the righteous.  He also preached a message of justice to those in “Hades, or Tartarus” (the penalty side of Hades). 

So, how do we then deal with our “Saturdays”—the days of doubt and confusion when our circumstances seem to indicate God is not working, and when our minds are filled with unanswered questions and confusion?  How do we deal with this doubt and confusion?  I don’t know who said it but it sums up Saturday pretty well:

“When we cannot trace God’s hand, we must trust His heart.”  When we cannot see God working we must realize that He is, in fact, working to cause “all things to work for our good.”  The gospels are silent about Saturday, but through Paul we learn that Jesus was busting wide open the very gates of Hades and releasing all of the captives.  Now, Hades, or paradise, was the temporary abode of all the saints who died before Jesus conquered death on the cross.  It was a “holding cell” so to speak—actually two cells.  On one side was a place of punishment for those who died having rejected God.  On the other side was a chamber for those who died with faith in God.  The paradise side is now empty as Ephesians tells us.  The side of the eternally condemned is being continually filled.  Every day over 150,000 souls enter into eternity—the vast majority having never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ.  Ultimately, when the final note on God’s symphony of history is struck, those in Hades will be cast into a permanent place of torment. As we read earlier, John tells us in Revelation that “death and hades were thrown into the eternal lake of fire.”

So, we must deal with our Fridays—days of pain and sorrow—by accepting the completed work of Our Lord on the cross, knowing that the price for our sin has already been paid and one day we will spend time in eternity where sin does not even have a presence.  Until then, God will use even our pain to perfect us and produce in us the image of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  For our Saturdays—days of doubt and confusion, we know now that Jesus was working on our behalf even while His body lay in the grave.  He was demolishing the power of sin and reclaiming the power over death for all His followers.  Even though His work was not seen, it was effective.

This brings us to the final day in our “triad of Easter.” 

3.  Easter:  A Day of Hope! (16:1-8)

Easter encompassed the death and burial of Jesus and reached an eternal crescendo with Sunday.  Because He lives, we have hope because we know we will live also.  Mark describes this glorious event:

^16:6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene,  who was crucified. He has been resurrected!  He is not here! See the place where they put Him. ⁷ But go, tell His disciples and Peter,  ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee;  you will see Him there just as He told you.’ ”

There is the “Ultimate Answer to Life!”  It is not “42” as we learned before—as wonderful as the number “42” might be.  No, the answer to life—the answer to our pain, our sorrow, our doubt, our confusion—the answer is “Easter.”  The Empty Tomb gives us hope because it reminds us of what the women did NOT find there.  They did NOT find Jesus in a place of the dead, because He was, and is, very much alive.  And, just like He planned to meet the first century disciples in Galilee as our text tells us, Jesus has also promised to meet you and I again.  One of the most comforting texts in all the Bible is in John 14.  I use it at nearly every funeral.  It is so full of hope and comfort.  Jesus Himself told us:

 “Your heart must not be troubled.  Believe  in God;  believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many dwelling places;  if not, I would have told you. I am going away  to prepare a place for you. ³ If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back  and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.

So, yes, we will experience pain.  Life is full of Fridays.  But, as we saw at the beginning of our service:  “It May Be Friday, But Sunday’s Coming.”  One day, everyone who has received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will see Him.  Yes, “Heaven Is Very Real!”  One day, we will see the Lord.  He will not be the humble carpenter of Galilee, but we will see him in all His glory as the King of Kings.  The answer to our pain and sorrow, doubt and confusion is NOT in a religion, however wonderful the tenets of any given religion might be.  The hope of Easter is not in an “idea,” but in a King—Jesus, My King!

VIDEO:  That’s My King!

INVITATION

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