June 16, 2013
Scripture:
Let’s go back to Ephesians 5:25; this is not the end of the sentence. These words were written about the work that was accomplished; but what is the Lord doing in the mean-time? Read v. 26, and we see what He has done on Calvary and what He is doing now. Then, we read about the future in v. 27. It is all so wonderful!
Hymn 319 - Little child, do you love Jesus?
Prayer
2 Kings 6:1 - 7
We are almost finished the story of Elisha. Today, our story is about an axe head.
The sons of the prophets told Elisha that their house was too small. They asked him if they could go to Jordan to build a bigger house. Elisha thought this was a good idea and even agreed to go with them. Once they arrived, each man took an axe and started cutting wood for the house. While cutting down a tree, one of the son’s axe head came off and flew into the water. An axe head is quite heavy, so it sank right away. It would be bad enough to lose your own axe head, but this man had borrowed this axe.
When the axe fell into the water, it would have definitely sunk right away. The man called Elisha and told him about the axe head. Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water, right where the axe head went in. Amazingly, the axe head then floated to the top of the water. By nature, God made the axe head to sink, but a miracle brought it to the surface.
An axe is a useful tool when it is on the handle. Man had a responsibility given to him by God; but because of sin, there is death—not physical death, but spiritual death. The Jordan is a picture of death. When Elisha threw the stick in, the head floated. It’s a picture of the cross. Jesus went into death and conquered it when he rose from the dead.
2 Corinthians 5:14 & 15
The axe head was able to float because the stick went into the water and the man was able to use it again. The Lord gave His life so that we could have life.
Luke 23:50 - 56
Luke doesn’t mention Nicodemus, but we know from other gospels that he helped Joseph of Arimathea bury our Lord. These men wrapped the Lord’s body in cloth and spices and laid it in Joseph’s new tomb, which had never seen corruption. This was a much better burial than other condemned people would get. Our Lord was with the rich in His death.
Both Joseph and Nicodemus were shy people. Joseph was a secret disciple, and Nicodemus came to see the Lord by night. It took an event like the cross to bring these men out of the woodwork. All of a sudden they became bold. John 19:39-42. The myrrh and aloes that Nicodemus brought was probably a liquid with which they soaked the cloth and then wrapped the body in. We see so much hatred when Jesus was put on the cross, but now these loving hands come gently and give Christ’s body an honourable burial.
What were Joseph and Nicodemus thinking when they wrapped up that body? “He raised Lazarus, couldn’t He raise Himself?” He had died, and they buried Him and put Him in a tomb. The disciples didn’t do anything. The women that followed the Lord, however, felt that they must do something. But what can you do for a dead person? He had done so much for them in His life. They decided to prepare spices and anoint His body again, but the Sabbath came on and interrupted their work.
The day Jesus was crucified was the day of the preparation: the day before the Sabbath. The Jews spent Friday each week preparing for the Sabbath (Saturday). On Saturday we should prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Day.
Luke 24:1 On the morning after the Sabbath, the women came early to the tomb. That’s where their hearts were. It’s like the time Jesus was going to Lazarus and Thomas said to the disciples, “Let’s go to so that we can die with Him.” These ladies had had a long Sabbath waiting to go to the tomb. They worried about who would roll the stone away, but it was already gone.
The next day the priests were worrying about what Jesus said about rising from the dead. The disciples should have remembered that He said He would rise and should have been expecting it.
The Lord didn’t need the stone rolled away to get out of the grave. With His glorified body, we know that He could go through walls. When He died, the Lord went to paradise, and was with the repentant thief; but His body was left here on earth. At His resurrection His spirit and body were reunited.
The women found the Lord’s tomb open and entered it. They couldn’t find the body, but two angels appeared to them. The ladies were perplexed because they had seen the Lord crucified, they had seen Him die, they had seen Him buried; and yet He wasn’t there. For Mary Magdalene in John, the only person who mattered to her was gone, and now even His dead body had disappeared. The angels were able to tell these women, “The Lord is risen!” This good news was followed with a bit of a rebuke, “Don’t you remember that He told you He would rise?”
The cross is the centre of the Bible and of eternity. It’s where our atonement was made, our sins paid for, and where dead men live. Even so, the backbone of the gospel is the resurrection. The worst that Satan can do is kill you. He can torture and trouble, but his worst is death. Death, however, is where life with Christ starts for the Christian.
Ephesians 1:18 - 20. The resurrection is the greatest recorded act of God’s power. It surpasses even creation. Why was it so great? Verse 21 gives us a hint. There were other powers present there to hinder the resurrection. Satan and his forces were there. He had put the Lord to death, and he had to keep Him in the tomb. The greatest act of God’s power was to take Jesus out of death. Satan and all his power were broken by that action, because he can only go to death, but God can go beyond. The resurrection, therefore, was the start of the New Creation. Galatians 5:22 & 23. Those powers put our Lord to death. But on that first day of the week the grave stone was removed, and the Lord lived. There is no gospel without the resurrection; and there is no other religion that proclaims a Saviour who has died and lives again.
Hymn 94, Little Flock – The Lord is risen indeed
Prayer