He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

My God’s not dead!

Somewhere in time, when I was fourteen years old, I had a button that read “My God’s not dead, sorry about yours”.  I know, I know, not the nicest thing to say, but I was fourteen.

In this Easter season, we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  There is not tomb we can visit to honor our God, the tomb is empty.  I have heard it said that Jesus didn’t really die, he was just injured.  If you think about it, that's not possible. Jesus was whipped with a cat of nine tails.  This is a special whip that has several endings.  Each tip has pieces of glass and pottery imbedded. The purpose is not to cut the skin, but it was meant to grab the flesh and rip it off.  When Pilate said, “Behold the man”, it could be partially because he was surprised that Jesus survived the beatings.

This is not the end.

The Roman soldiers put a robe on his beaten and bloody back and a crown of thorns on his head and they mocked him.  Pulling the robe off once the blood started to congeal into the fabric.  They replace the robe with a cross.  He didn’t have the strength to carry the cross, so a man was pulled from the crowd and required to carry the cross for Jesus. Once at the location, they nailed spikes into his hands and heals.  They left him hanging in a position that made it difficult to breathe, and the pain was unbearable. If he had been removed from the cross at this point, he would have been alive.  If he was walking around in three days later completely well, than that would be a miracle in and of itself, but the day wasn’t over.

The sky turned dark.

Matthew 27:50-56 (The Message Bible) “ But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.  At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom.  There was an earthquake and the rocks split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many). The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, “This has to be the Son of God.””

The curtain in the temple was torn right down the middle.

After all of this, a centurion, someone experienced with death used a spear to pierce Jesus through the side and into the heart.  From Jesus’s side, blood and water flowed.  This is a sure sign of death.  We know this to be true because we have documented eye witness accounts recorded in the Bible.

An earthquake shattered the rocks.

On Sunday morning, the followers of Jesus were hiding out in fear for their lives.  A couple of women went to the tomb to finish preparing Jesus’s body for his continued burial, but the tomb was empty.

The tomb was empty!

To avoid the possible confusion, Jesus appeared to his disciples on several occasions over the next forty days.  It could never be said, the body was stolen, because the body is up and talking and interacting with people.  After forty days, they watched as Jesus ascended into heaven.  The fear was replaced by the desire to tell the world of the risen Lord.  I want ot remind you, we have eye witnesses, first person accounts.  They were willing to die for what they knew to be true.

It’s up to us to tell the world the same thing.  My God’s not dead, He’s alive. 

Newsboys - God's Not Dead (Official Music Video) from emimusic on GodTube.