- Thank you, Father, for sending Your Son to suffer so much for our sakes!
- Thank you, Jesus, for Your death on the cross! You "could have called 10,000 angels," but You died alone for us.
- Pray for peace, patience, and recovery for Rita after her stroke. Also for Charlotte, Violet, Richard, and all the rest of the Augustin family who are trying to help the sisters through this. May their transfer to a rehabilitation home be successful and smooth if that is God's will.
- Continue to remember Dixie, Ruby, Vanessa, and Johnny Lee.
- Keep the Teiss family in your prayers after the death of their son.
- Pray that the Lord would send workers out into the harvest, that those who do not know the truth and beauty of the Easter story would learn, and be saved.
Easter-EmptyTomb, originally uploaded by Donut_Diva.
Have you ever been misunderstood by someone? No doubt you have. Sometimes when communicating there is a mouth-to-ear disconnect and the other person can't grasp what we've been saying over and over and over again. (Here's a Personal Application hint: Repeat what another person says back to them, like "Did I hear you say__?")
We see in Luke 24:44 that there had been some serious communication problems. The disciples were shocked and disbelieving at the presence of their resurrected Lord, and He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
"I told you so." And He had! Matthew 16:21 could hardly have been plainer. But Peter hadn't listened. He hadn't wanted to listen. The truth is that we usually don't hear what we don't want to hear.
Let's look at the Law, Prophets, and Psalms for evidence of Christ's suffering and resurrection:
Deuteronomy 18:14-18:
The LORD your God will raise up (resurrect?) for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.Isaiah 52:13-15:
See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up (resurrected?) and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.Isaiah 53:1-12:
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Psalm 22:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
“let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
all my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
Luke 24:45--We should pray that the Lord would open our minds to understand the scriptures, just as He opened the minds of His disciples.
What is the whole scope and purpose of Easter? It is infinite, as our God is infinite, but it can be brought down to a core concept that none of us must ever disguise or forget. In Luke 24:47 we hear what Jesus thought Easter meant for the world: "repentance and forgiveness of sins."
This is the culmination of Christ's death and resurrection. No matter how much we love spiritual power, healings, blessings, songs, great insights, etc., listen to all that Jesus didn't say in vs. 47. The other things are for encouragement, but the main point is repentance and forgiveness. Never water down the gospel to an experience or feeling. Never forget that we're Christians and that He is our Lord, and we are free to repent because of the blood of Jesus.
This makes getting up each morning worthwhile. Personal Application: Whenever you first wake up put on an invisible pair of eyeglasses that say, "I'm Forgiven." Look through them all day long and see if it doesn't change your life.
