The Resurrection (Then And Now!)

OPEN with video, “Voices of the Cross”

We gather together in this building today, as brothers and sisters, to praise and glorify the only one who is deserving and worthy of our praise and our honor. We gather here today in this building, like millions of others around this nation and around the world today in buildings much like this one, to lift our praise and our honor and to glorify the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus the Christ!

I posted a video a couple of days ago, in which I asked the question of, “What will your expectations be when you assemble in church buildings on this Sunday, or on any other Sunday for that matter?”

Why do so many people gather together in these buildings every year on this one particular Sunday and for that matter, any other Sunday of the year?

Do we come with an expectation that Holy Spirit is going to reignite and strengthen us for the coming week?

Do we come with the expectation that Holy Spirit is going to stir in our midst and give us revelation knowledge for our personal lives and our families and our jobs and our church family?

Do we come with any sense of expectation that Holy Spirit is going to direct our thoughts and our hearts and our minds into a glorious time of worship to the one true God, the God of Israel, the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah)?

Do we come with even the slightest shred of expectation of Holy Spirit moving and stirring and shaking and healing and equipping and delivering and empowering and loosing and all the things that are His to do in our lives?

Because if we only assemble together in these buildings to appease ourselves and to make our consciences feel like we have done right by God, so that He will do right by us, then we are deceived in our hearts and in our way of thinking.

God has already done for us all that is needed for us to live Godly lives, as His Word tells us in , “His divine power has granted to us ALL THINGS (everybody say, “ALL THINGS”), that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

I mentioned in that same video, of how Jesus had told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. He told them that when they recieved Holy Spirit, they would receive POWER to become His witnesses to the world!

Then in , we read of the disciples and the others who made up the 120 people, waiting in the upper room, not knowing what was going to happen, but with an expectation that what Jesus had said would happen, was going to happen!

tells us that on the Day of Pentecost, Holy Spirit filled that upper room, like a mighty rushing wind and lit upon the heads of the 120 in that room with what appeared to be tongues of fire and FILLED THEM ALL WITH POWER!

And then, in we read of Holy Spirit doing the same thing again to those who assembled together and lifted their hearts and voice together with the expectation of being empowered for the work of spreading the gospel message.

tell us,

Acts 4:29–31 ESV

29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31 ESV

31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

My point in posting that video and the point that I making, right now, this morning, is that when we come together each and every Sunday and any day in between, we should do so with the faith and belief that Holy Spirit is going to meet us here and move on our behalf, as we worship and praise God with our hearts and with our voices!

And what a day this is to assemble together on, AMEN?! Today, on this Sunday, Resurrection Sunday 2019, we gather together as God’s children, to praise and worship our Lord and Messiah, Jesus the Christ, and thank Him for the price that HE paid for us on the cross, some 2,000 years ago! And yes, most definitely, we should do so, with an EXPECTATION!

BRING OUT THE LETTERS FROM 5 YEARS AGO. MENTION OF HOW PEOPLE WANTED TO LAY THESE THINGS DOWN AT THE FOOT OF CROSS 5 YEARS AGO. MY QUESTION IS HOW MANY PEOPLE LEFT THOSE THINGS THERE, OR DID THEY PICK THEM BACK UP AND KEEP CARRY THEM AROUND? DID THEY TRULY HAVE AN EXPECTATION THAT DAY?

Hand out pieces of paper and ask the people to allow Holy Spirit to reveal to them, the things that they need to get out of their lives, that they are holding onto.

You know, there are basically two accounts that we turn our hearts and our minds to on this day.

The first account that we remember, is that of the high price of the cross itself and everything that led to it, that Jesus had to endure.

And the second account that we remember, is that of the empty tomb and what it means for us today!

What I want to do here this morning, is to talk very briefly about the road to the cross and a few details about this, but then turn our attention, large and in part, to that of the empty tomb and what it means for us today.

The road that led Jesus to the cross of Calvary, was one of abandonment and great pain and suffering!

I have mentioned in other messages in the past, about the last week of Jesus’ life and of all of the amazing details that had Biblically been pre-ordained that took place that week and that led Jesus down the path and to the cross of Calvary.

Details such as the fact that on the day that Jesus road into Jerusalem on the donkey, (which was, itself prophesied in , some 500 years earlier) in what we refer to as His Triumphant Entry, was a fulfillment of part of the ancient Passover ritual that God put into place all the way back in the book of Exodus, almost 1,500 years earlier!

In , God told the children of Israel, to select for each household, a spotless lamb, on the 10th day of the month of Nissan and they would bring that lamb into their homes and it would live with the family and become part of their lives, for 4 days.

Then, on the 14th day of Nissan, this same family would slaughter that same lamb and use hyssop branches to apply its blood to the doorposts of their houses, as a symbol of protection against the death angel of God, who was passing through the land!

Wherever the blood of the lamb was seen upon the doorposts of houses, the angel of death would pass that house by.

How many of you here today, know and understand, that if you are not covered and cleansed by the blood of the lamb of God, then you will face eternal spiritual death?!

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that donkey, as prophesied, it was on the 10th day of Nissan. And all of the people were hailing Him and places palm branches before Him, preparing His way into the house of Jersualem! (Which is why we call it, Palm Sunday!)

In a sense, they were bringing in the selected lamb of God into their house, on the same day as the other sacrificial lambs were being selected and brought in!

And just like the other lambs, the lamb of God was there, for 4 days, until the 14 day of Nissan and then slaughtered!

Another detail about the road to the cross that is striking, is that of the day of Jesus’ arrest and trial before Pilate and the Jewish religious leaders. Jesus was flogged by the Roman guards, (as prophesied by Isaiah) and then brought out by Pilate before the leaders and the other people assembled.

Pilate found no fault in Jesus and was basically willing to release Him, but the leaders would have no part in it.

So, Pilate, being a politician, made an offer that he probably thought would get Jesus a pardon.

The Bible tells us, “Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

Pilate said to the people, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

Pilate probably felt certain, that this notorious criminal, Barabbas, would be picked for death, over this man, Jesus.

Did you know that in many older manuscripts of the Bible and in some modern translations, the full name listed for Barabbas, was Jesus Barabbas, or, Yeshua Barabbas?

Many textual scholars believe that this was actually the original reading of the name of this criminal.

They believe that it was altered, because the translators didn’t want the name of Jesus being attributed to this criminal, out of reverence!

Did you also know, that the name Barabbas, in the Aramaic, means, “son of the father”?

So, let me put this whole encounter together for you and show you how every detail of the life and death and resurrection of the Christ, was embedded in the history of the Jewish people, by God and through His sovereign will!

In God told Aaron and the priests of Israel, that on the day of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), they were to select 2 male goats and present them before God.

One goat was to be released as a scapegoat (signifying that it carried away sins of the people into the wilderness), while the other goat was offered up as a sacrifice before God and its blood used as a sin offering for the nation!

So, the blood of the one was offered before God and as soon as it was done, then the priest would lay his hands on the head of the scapegoat and pronounce the sins of the nation of Israel upon it and then lead it out into the wilderness and leave it there.

Thus signifying that the sins of the people were removed from them.

When Jesus stood alongside of Barabbas, before the people, Pilate was, in a sense, asking the people the following question, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Yeshua Bar Abba (Yeshua the son of the father), or Yeshua the Son of THE FATHER?”

The two scapegoats were presented and one was to be sacrificed and the other to be released.

But in this final case, the one would serve as both the atoning blood sacrifice, as well as the means of forever removing the sins of the people. for ALL TIMES!

Sinful mankind, could not play a part in this removal of sin. Only the Son of God could fill both spots!

And that is what happened at the cross. The blood was offered and ultimately, the sins were taken away.

The cross is where Jesus presented payment to God, for your sins and for mine.

And at the exact same time at the temple in Jerusalem, when the priesthood blew the shofar, to announce the commencement of the sacrificing of the passover lambs, the Lamb of God was being sacrificed on the cross!

The most beautiful and amazing thing ever in creation, is what happens next!

And when Jesus slid His bloodied and marred back, up that jagged and splintered beam of the cross to get a breath of air in His lungs on the cross and then tilted His head back, so that everyone could hear His presentation of payment before God, by His announcement of, “IT IS FINISHED”, He used a used a very prominent word before the people, that everyone there would have been familiar with.

When Jesus yelled out, “It is finished”, the Greek word used in this passage was, “Tetelestai”.

This word actually means the three words, “it is finished”, but did you know that it also had another meaning?

Tetelestai, was also used as an accounting term back then which had the meaning, or the understanding of, “paid in full”!

When Jesus yelled out for all to hear, “it is finished”, He was also saying to everyone, your sins are, “PAID IN FULL!”

You see friends, the cross and what happened upon it, would forever change those who encountered it.

Much like the theologian, Emil Brunner stated about it where he said, “Just as the touch of a King’s sword on the head of a soldier makes him a Knight; so does the touch of the cross on the life of a sinner make him a child of God.”

that just as the touch of a King’s sword on the head of a soldier makes him a Knight; so does the touch of the cross on the life of a sinner make him a child of God.

POSSIBLE DUE THE PADDED CROSS

But the story of our redemption and the reason for the hope and expectation of the believers in Jesus the Christ, didn’t die and end upon the cross that day. No, in fact, the “grain of wheat”, as Jesus made mention of Himself in , had to be taken down and put into the ground, so that new life could come! Do you remember that, where Jesus said, shortly before His death, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

I said earlier that there are two aspects of this day that Christians look at, “the cross” and then the “empty tomb”.

Well, we know why the cross is so special to those who believe. Redemption, salvation, was bought upon that cross, at the high cost of the blood of the Lamb of God!

To those who “TRULY” believe in the work and the message of the cross, there is salvation!

Paul said that “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.”

And someone might say, “I don’t see a man dying a horrible death on a wooden beam as something of power! Morbid and sad maybe, but not powerful!”

Ahhhhhhhh yes, you see, that is why we need the empty tomb!

That is where the real human battle for proof of the Christ comes into existence!

2,000 years later and that debate rages on for many, around the world!

“DID JESUS CHRIST WALK OUT OF THAT TOMB?!”

This is why we MUST HAVE the RESURRECTION of , “Yeshua, Son of the Father”, for without it, we have just another burial account in the Bible and in the annuals of history!

But wait a minute, was Jesus Christ, the first resurrection in the Bible, in all of history?

The Bible does say in , “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

And then again in , “and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.”

Are these verses declaring that Jesus was the first person to brought back from the dead; the first resurrection?

NO! In fact there are several listed throughout the Word of God, from the Old Testament and throughout the New Testament, we find people being brought back to life, from the dead.

Well, maybe Jesus was still the first one who was resurrected and brought out of the tomb after a few days, right?

Nope, Jesus, Himself, called out Lazarus from the tomb, after he had been in it, dead for 4 days!

And what did Jesus say to Martha on the day that He called out her brother and His friend, Lazarus, from the tomb?

“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

The term used to describe Jesus as the, “firstborn from the dead”, is not a chronological or categorical title, but rather, it is an order of preeminence!

Jesus is called the “firstborn from the dead”, because when He walked out of that tomb, He was the first person to defeat death and never, ever have to see it again!

,

Romans 6:9 ESV

9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

This is why the RESURRECTION of Jesus was and is so special for those who BELIEVE and who have been saved by their FAITH in Him................the empty tomb was the proof that God the Father, had accepted the payment in full for our sins!

God had heard and accepted the statement by His Son, when He yelled out from that old rugged cross, in one final and agonizing breath, “Tetelestai”, “It is finished Father.........paid in full!”

“The resurrection is God’s, “AMEN!” to Christ’s statement, “It is finished!”

And then Jesus released His spirit and placed everything into His Father’s hands!

His lifeless, bloodied and marred body was carefully taken off of the cross and wrapped and placed into the tomb which was bought and prepared by a rich man, just as the Old Testament prophets had spoken of.

Turn with me in your Bibles to ,

Luke 24:1–7 ESV

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

No matter which one of the gospel accounts that you read, you see it in each one, the TOMB WAS FOUND EMPTY........HE HAS RISEN!!

READ the story of Philip and the Pantyhose egg.

It is the empty tomb, the resurrection of the Christ, with which we find our blessed hope and identity. says,

1 Peter 1:3 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

As believers in Jesus Christ, we identify with Him, in both His death, as well as His resurrection!

Turn real quick with me to ,

Romans 6:1–11 ESV

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:3–11 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Christ said in ,

John 10:17–18 ESV

17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Jesus was given the authority over His life, death and His resurrection, by His Father.

Then in , Jesus said,

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The risen Christ transferred to you and I the authority of the kingdom to spread the good news of His death and resurrection!

Without the resurrection, there would be no ascension back to heaven and the sending of all power to us, as Jesus said in ,

John 16:7 ESV

7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

The empty tomb gives to us our Blessed Hope and our continual EXPECTANCY from Holy Spirit active in our lives!

says,

Romans 5:5 NLT

5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

The word used in this passage for “hope”, also means, an “EXPECTATION”!

So, I will end with the question that I started with, “When you came to church this Resurrection Sunday, did you do so with an expectancy of Holy Spirit moving in your life?”

Those people who wrote those things down 5 years ago and placed them at the foot of the cross, said that they had an expectancy and yet sadly enough, many of those people walked away, right back into the place they were before.

You see friends, if you do not take up your cross and follow Jesus and expect and allow Holy Spirit to work in you and through you, versus turning back to the world, then you begin to die in your faith a little bit at a time inside.

And when you begin to die in your faith, then the devil shows up and tries to RESURRECT the lies that he has placed within you!

So, today, RESURRECTION Sunday 2019, here is what we are going to do.

We are going to revisit the Cross and the tomb.

Those pieces of paper that you wrote on, you are going to bring those down here and place them at the foot of cross and as you leave it there, whatever Holy Spirit speaks to your heart, as you symbolically lay it down, I want you to speak out gently whatever He says to say as you release those things!

Then everyone is going to line up here at the front and we are going to anoint your heads with oil and speak a blessing over you!

As we come by to anoint you with oil, whatever you have the expectancy of and the faith to believe Holy Spirit will do for you and RESURRECT within you, speak that out.

For instance, if you have the expectancy of Holy Spirit RESURRECTING your passion for praise and worship, then declare that as we anoint you with the oil! AMEN?!

“He is Lord, He is Lord! He is risen from the dead and he is Lord! Ev'ry knee shall bow, ev'ry tongue confess That Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Everyone come at this time!