Wednesday, June 26, 2024

HE IS RISEN!

Today’s Reading: Matthew 27-28

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem. “He is not here!”

Key Verse: Matthew 28:6

He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

The resurrection of Jesus is the most thoroughly reported fact of ancient history. The tough battle-hardened Roman guards “shook for fear.” According to Roman military manuals, a “guard” consisted of at least eight soldiers, and if one fell asleep on duty, the others were supposed to kill him on the spot. Those who deny the facts of the resurrection must answer some questions: Where’s the body? What would turn a man like Peter, who could not stand up to a waitress, into a bold, fearless man just 50 days later? What about the over 500 people who claimed to have seen Jesus alive after His resurrection? Many of these were still alive when the Gospels were written. What about the over 5,000 Jerusalem Jews who became believers (including many of the Jewish priests) after Peter preached in the Temple? (Acts 4:4 and Acts 6:7). No official source has ever been able to deny this history in an effort to prove that the resurrection is only a myth, nor has anyone in authority denied the amazing growth of the Jewish Church of Jerusalem. We have the Mishna, the minutes of the Sanhedrin (the ruling religious body) for that period of time. These contemporaries of Jesus and the Apostles knew the facts. HE IS RISEN!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, You raised Your Son and our Saviour from the dead. He’s ALIVE! I worship Him! Amen and Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

In the early 1960’s, Norma-Jean and I worked at establishing a congregation in Deep River, Ontario, the residential community for Atomic Energy of Canada at Chalk River. I found that some senior nuclear physicists were humble believers in Jesus. One told me that a change in the molecular structure of Christ’s body could enable Him to appear and do all that He did in His post resurrection appearances. One Easter Sunday morning, the parents of a baby named Tim Laronde presented him before the Lord at the altar of our church. Tim was born with a club foot. As I held him up before the congregation I was filled with God’s Spirit and said, “Either Jesus is alive and still does the same miracles today, or the soldiers were right when they said, ‘While we slept His disciples stole His body.’ Jesus is alive and when Tim is old enough to walk, He will walk normally.” The next morning, Tim’s mother, Marilyn, burst into our home carrying Tim and showed us both feet completely normal. Just over two years ago, I met Marilyn in Pembroke, Ontario, and we rejoiced in the fact that Jesus is alive and that He is the Healer.

Serving a risen Saviour,

David

P.S. In yesterday’s blog I mentioned actor Bruce Marchiano, who played the part of Jesus in the four-hour film production of The Gospel of Matthew. My son, Ron, has since found online that entire movie. What a blessing it has been for me to watch and listen to this film, which includes all of Matthew, word-for-word (the New International Version). If you only have time to watch the last few chapters of Matthew, you can fast-forward by dragging the little dot on the bottom left of the screen approximately 90% of the way across (the chapter and verse appear on the screen). Click here.

3 thoughts on “Wednesday, June 26, 2024

  1. The movie David spoke of is so good. I’ve watched half of it (up to 11:30), and plan to finish it in the afternoon/evening. It is so well made. Blessings all.

  2. Jesus sure had one tough row to hoe. No wonder He broached the subject with His Father.
    Will watch the movie Doreen. Looking forward to it.

    Blessings on all dear saints 🙏 ❤️.

  3. Amen,ladies and may God bless
    I put the link for the movie on my FB page and also shared much of David’s words.

    Off The Cross

    They opened my flesh to the bone,
    Harder still when they heard no moan,
    As meat was torn from my ribs;
    For my clothes they claimed dibs.

    As the cross was still on the ground,
    A mother’s sobs were the only sound,
    My body ached in so much pain,
    From the whips that fell like rain.

    They drove the spike through my hand,
    As my Father’s shadow covered the land,
    Then they raised the cross up high
    To where my body would soon die.

    Each breath then came with bolts of pain
    As Satan sought this world to regain.
    But he knew I would do it again
    Just to break his worldly reign.

    That is why I broke the serpent’s sword
    And became your loving,willing Lord,
    For to step down off the cross,
    The world then would be My loss.
    GW (Bill) Marshall/ (2011~2012)

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