The EMPTY TOMB means new life…

  “This is our son, Tim’s, favorite Easter illustration.  It is a true story told by Dr. James Dobson of Doris Miller, a 2nd grade teacher, who taught before the days of special education.  In her class was a boy who was mentally handicapped, by the name of Jeremy.

  One Easter season Ms. Miller gave her students an assignment. To each of her 19 pupils she gave an empty plastic egg.  She told them to take the egg home and bring it back the next week, having placed inside that egg something that would communicate new life.  When the day arrived for the eggs to be returned, each student dropped his into the wicker basket on Ms. Miller’s desk and, after Math, she began to open them.

  The 1st Easter egg contained a flower – “Oh, yes,” she said, “that’s a sign of new life in the spring, when the flowers burst forth-that’s good.”  Little Mary said, “That was mine, Mrs. Miller.”
She opened the 2nd one and inside was a plastic butterfly that looked almost real and she said, “Oh, yes, that’s good.  Because a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.”  And Johnny yelled, “That’s mine.”
She opened the 3rd egg and there was a rock with moss on it, and she thought for a minute and then said, “Oh, yes, that’s good.  Moss growing from a rock that seemed dead. That’s good.”  And little Billy said, “My daddy helped me with that one.” 
And she opened the 4th egg and it was empty, and she concluded it was Jeremy’s and she thought, “I should have called his parents to explain the assignment; he didn’t understand it.”  She quietly set it aside so she wouldn’t embarrass him.  She went on to the next egg, but Jeremy, the little retarded boy, yelled out, “Ms. Miller, aren’t  you going to talk about my egg?”   “Well, Jeremy, it was empty, son,”  Ms. Miller replied.  And after a moment’s hesitation he said, “The tomb was empty too, Ms. Miller.”  She gulped, and there was a long pause and then she said, “Jeremy, do you know why the tomb was empty?”  “Yes,” he replied, “they killed Jesus, and then the Father came and got Him out.”  
Then the recess bell rang and the children went out, but Ms. Miller sat with tear-filled eyes as a new love and appreciation for Jeremy welled up within her. 

  Three months later Jeremy died.  Those who visited the funeral home didn’t quite understand why there were 19 plastic eggs on the casket.  All of them empty.  Jeremy was right.  The EMPTY TOMB means new life.  May this Easter be one that reminds us of our glorious new life in Christ.” 

Thanks, Tim, for that powerful illustration of what Easter is all about.  It is all about the empty tomb.
                                “Because He lives, we can live also.”  

WERE YOU THERE?

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when God raised him from the tomb? Were you there when God raised him from the tomb? Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?

Disturbing are the words of that old Negro spiritual, “Were You There?”   

Right away, we declare, NO, of course not. How could I, or anyone else living today, have had anything to do with that  which occurred so many years ago?
Listen, I want to make a confession to you, I WAS THERE.  I was there when they crucified my Lord. I was there when they nailed Him to the tree.  I was there when they pierced Him in the side. I was there when they laid Him in the tomb. O sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble.  I was there because sin was there. Sin crucified Jesus.  I am glad that I was there, for there at the cross I first saw the light. There upon the cross I saw the hope of my salvation.  There at the cross I realized that “God so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son, that if I believe in Him, I should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Yes, I was there, the fickle mob was there, immoral Herod was there, coward Peter was there, greedy Judas was there, prideful Nicodemus was there. In fact, the truth of the matter is, SO WERE YOU THERE.  We all had a part in the crucifixion of Jesus.  Our sins made Him go to the cross.  He died that we might have life, abundant and eternal.   

What a blessing it was when Jesus said, “It is finished.”  That cry from the cross says it all.  Our salvation is a done deal. He paid the price for sin, so that we need not ever face separation from the presence of God.

                           “It Is Finished”
“The scuptor laid his tools aside; unfinished though he was, he died.
The artist, with his work, undone, laid down his brush at set of sun.
The writer, with his tale half told, no longer to his life could hold.
The farmer put away his plough, sod still unturned; he’s resting now.
God’s Son alone, triumphant died, for “It is Finished” Jesus cried.
The price is paid the battle won, the work of great salvation done.
Because He finished all for me, complete in Him I know I’ll be.”    
     Ellen McKay Trimmer

Christ’s work in the flesh is finished.  OURS IS NOT.  Jesus leaves for us the sacred task of declaring and demonstrating the Good News of the love and truth of God.

“FALLOUT OVER CALVARY”

  The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on the 26th of April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.  Another such disaster occurred when the 9.0 earth quake hit Japan on March 11, 2011.  The three story wall of water dissolved coastal towns. But still it was not over; only the earth and sea had spoken. When the quake hit, the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi complex shut down. But, then the wave came over the sea wall, drowned the backup generators needed to cool the reactors and took out the spare batteries.  The electrical plant with six nuclear reactors on Japan’s northeast shore was badly damaged by the earthquake.  Tsunami prompted mass evacuations, as the 4 plants spewed radiation into the environment. In Japan, radiation has been found in raw milk, sea water and 11 kinds of vegetables grown near the complex. The immediate and long term health effects of the radiation are a real concern.  The news and pictures are almost more than we want to hear and see.     

  But, I want you to see the deadly fallout of sin.
We should readily admit sin has touched us, contaminated our lives.  Sin is a very deceitful force.  It slowly deteriorates us until we have completely become disintegrated into nothing. Sin robs us of our real meaning and purpose for living.  It separates us from our greatest need, God.  The Bible states clearly that “we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
A picture shows a man with dirty hands and someone asks, what is the first thing this man needs to do in order to have clean hands?  Most of us say, go wash them.  No, the man must admit first they are dirty before he will go to the agency for cleansing.  So, with man, we must admit that sin has soiled us, dirtied us, separated us from God.

  God’s remedy for man’s sin is in the fallout of Calvary. 
The Apostle Paul writes of this when he wrote in Galatians 4:4-5: “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” God made His Son to be sin for us.  Jesus walked directly into sin’s most concentrated radiation, allowing Himself to be touched by its curse, and let it take His life.  Jesus knew that there was no way to save mankind except to allow the deadly curse of sin to fall upon Him.

  The offended one, God, must prescribe the remedy. Sin had built up in intensity until it became a critical mass at Calvary.  But, the Son of God threw His own body across the chain reaction of sin and broke it’s destructive power in order to save you and me. Permit the radiation of the love of God in Christ Jesus to counteract the radiation of sin in your life.

  “I felt His love, the strongest love that mortal ever felt;  Oh how it drew my soul above, and made my hard heart melt.  My burden at His feet I laid, and knew the joy of heaven, As in my willing ear He said the blessed word, “Forgiven.”

  In the shadow of the Cross, every person may stand forever safe from the fallout of sin.

BROKEN STRINGS

  A story is told of a great violinist, how he was moving many an audience with his enchanting music.  During one concert, he came limping to the platform because a nail had run through the sole of his shoe.  Then, when he started to play, one of the strings broke and the audience laughed.  Shortly after, another string broke and the audience laughed louder.  But, when a third string broke, and the musician continued to bring glorious music from the one string, then the audience looked on in hushed wonder.  For indeed they were in the presence of a master musician.

  Is not this a parable about life?  We must draw music from the instruments upon which we are given to play.

  Many times when hope causes our heart to sing, then something happens, a string breaks.
It is said, “A heavy burden falls upon our shoulders, or an overwhelming misfortune lacerates our hearts.”
We are hard pressed to continue the melody, we had begun with such eager anticipation.  We ask ourselves, “How is it possible to go on playing with a broken string?” 

  And yet, we know, that life goes on and the song continues after a precious string has been snapped.
We soon discover that the secret that sustains us when our strings are broken is found in one word, “FAITH.”  “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”  1 John 5:4 

  It is faith to be willing to accept the instruments in our hands, broken though they be, and try through God’s help to use them for good.

  It would have been easy and understandable for the Apostle Paul to have quit, given up, because of all the difficulty that he had been through.  But listen to him as he writes God’s message for himself and us:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”   2 Corinthians 4:16-18