"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." (Matthew 16:21)
" He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee...He is not here; He has risen, just as He said." (Luke 24:6; Matthew 28:6)
I once was told that I was going to be the recipient of 13 million dollars. When I contacted a lawyer about this matter, after hearing my story, he spoke to me and said, “Bill if it seems to be to good to be true, then it is usually, too good to be true.” He was right. It was too good to be true! It never happened.
How would you have felt if you were a disciple of Jesus and you had been told that Jesus Christ had risen? i would have thought, "Yeah, just like the 13 million dollars, it’s just too good to be true!" Well be encouraged, even the disciples were all prone to doubt the reports that Jesus was risen from the dead.
First, the women came telling them that the tomb was empty and that they had seen the risen Lord Jesus. “Nonsense,” they said (Luke 24:11). Then, Peter and John went and looked into the empty tomb. Peter went away marveling, but not yet believing. Then the Lord appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus. Late on that first Sunday, they burst into the room where the disciples were gathered and excitedly told about their encounter with the Lord. But the apostles did not at first believe these men (Mark 16:12). Maybe they were thinking, “Why would the Lord appear to them? They aren’t even apostles! They must have just seen a vision!”
Sometime during that day, the Lord had appeared to Peter, forgiving and restoring him, but the others still had not seen the Lord firsthand, and they still doubted. Then, while they were still discussing all of these strange happenings, the Lord Himself stood in their midst. He had not opened the door. Can you imagine the chill of horror that would run down your spine if suddenly someone appeared in a closed room where you were standing? They thought that they were seeing a ghost. But it was no ghost. It was the risen Lord Jesus. He greeted them with words of comfort, He gently rebuked their doubts, and He offered them assurances to strengthen their faith. But even so, “they still could not believe it for joy” (Luke 24:41).
In John’s gospel, the disciple Thomas doubted after hearing the disciples news of the risen Christ and said “Unless I see the holes in his hands and side and place my finger in them I will not believe” (John 20:25). For the disciples, the news that Jesus Christ had risen just seemed too good to be true.
Jesus Christ made many promises in His life. Peter calls them “many great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4). He also made a claim that His words will never fail. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” (Mark 13:31) He claims that He speaks truth, and that those truths will hold for all time.
Do you believe Him? Do you live your life in a way that demonstrates that you believe His words are true? Why should you? This is perhaps the most important question you have to answer in your life: Are the words Jesus speaks true? If they are, then what are you doing with His words? What do they mean for your life?
When Jesus was alive on this earth, He promised the most radical thing imaginable, an impossible promise: “I will rise from the dead”. He spoke of it at least thirteen times in the gospels. (Matthew 16:21; 17:9, 23; 20:19; 26:31-32;Mark 8:31; 9:9; 10:34; 14:28;Luke 9:22; 18:33; John 2:19). This is the bedrock of our faith – the historical event that is the foundation of everything else we believe.
If Jesus was wrong or dishonest about his resurrection, then we should not believe anything else that He said. Anymore then we would believe all those vapid promises on the Internet. But if Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then we should believe and anchor our life upon every other promise that He made. Paul boldly declares, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain”(1 Cor.15:13-14).
On that crisp morning of that first Easter the angel could proclaim: "He is not here; He has risen, just as He said." Our Lord is the ultimate Promise Keeper. With the risen Jesus what seems to be to good to be true is really true! If He were not, we would be hopeless and helpless, cynical and skeptical. If Jesus fails to keep even one promise, He cannot be trusted to keep any!
Oh what basis for our hope! There is nothing to big for God. Sin and death are defeated and Jesus is alive, just like He promised. We have real hope; what the apostle Peter calls, "a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead "(1 Peter 1:3). If God can keep this promise, is there any promise or anything to difficult for Him? Jesus' promise is not too good to be true; it is too good and it is true! So Christians: Believe Him! Trust Him! Depend on Him! Lean on Him! Take risks for Him!
Savoring in the true promises of the risen Jesus Christ,
Pastor Bill
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