THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK COMETH MARY MAG-DA-LE'-NE EARLY, WHEN IT WAS STILL DARK, UNTO THE SEPULCHRE,{TOMB]. AND SEETH THE STONE TAKEN AWAY. THEN SHE RUNNETH, AND COMETH TO SIMON PETER, AND TO THE OTHER DISCIPLES, WHOM JESUS LOVED, AND SAITH UNTO THEM, THEY HAVE TAKEN AWAY THE LORD OUT OF THE SEPULCHRE, AND WE KNOW NOT WHERE THEY HAVE LAID HIM. PETER THEREFORE WENT FORTH, WITH THAT OTHER DISCIPLE, (WHOM JESUS LOVED AND WAS THE YOUGEST JOHN!) THEY CAME TO THE SEPULCHRE. AND STOOPING DOWN, AND LOOKING IN, SAW THE LINEN CLOTHES LYING; YET HE WENT NOT IN. THEN CAME THE SOLDIERS TO BREAK THE LEGS OF THE FIRST. BUT WHEN THEY CAME TO JESUS AND SAW HE WAS DEAD AND OF THE OTHER, BUT THEY DIDN'T BREAKE JESUS LEGS FULFILLING THE PROPHESY OF PSALM {34:20,21]. BUT ONE OF THE SOLDIERS WHO SAW IT AND SAITH IT'S TRUE AND BARES RECORD, [SPEAKS TRUTH]. SO THAT WE BELIEVE. ANOTHER PROPHESY FULFILLED FROM THE [BOOK " THEY LOOK ON HIM WHO THEY PIERCED." [ZECH, 12:10,] SO THAT THE SCRIPTURE SHOULD BE FULFILLED, " A BONE OF HIM SHALL NOT BE BROKEN" THE DISCIPLES WENT AWAY (BACK UNTO THEIR HOME.) BUT MARY STOOD WITHOUT AT THE SEPULCHRE WEEPING: AND AS SHE WEPT, SHE STOOPED DOWN, AND LOOKED INTO THE SEPULCHRE [TOMB], ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT COULD WRITE THIS BEAUTIFUL WORDS OF THE END OF OUR LORD ON EARTH ( JESUS!) MARY SEETH TWO ANGELS IN WHITE SITTING, THE ONE AT THE HEAD AND THE OTHER AT THE FEET, WHERE THE BODY OF JESUS HAD LAIN. THEY SAY TO MARY, WOMEN WHY WEEPEST THOU? SHE SAITH UNTO THEM, BECAUSE THEY HAVE TAKEN AWAY MY 'LORD", AND I KNOW NOT WHERE THEY HAVE LAID HIM. AND WHEN SHE HAD THUS SAID, SHE TURNED HERSELF BACK, AND SAW JESUS STANDING, AND KNEW NOT THAT THAT IT WAS JESUS. JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, "WOMEN WHY WEEPEST THOU? WHOM SEEKEST THOU? SHE SUPPOSING HIM TO BE THE GARDENER, SAITH UNTO HIM, SIR, IF THOU HAS BORNE HIM HENCE, TELL ME, WHERE THOU HAS LAID HIM AND I WILL TAKE HIM AWAY [GO GET HIM]. AND AFTER EIGHT DAYS AGAIN HIS DISCIPLES WERE WITHIN, AND THOMAS WITH THEM AND THEN CAME JESUS, THE DOORS BEING SHUT, AND JESUS APPEARED IN THE MIDST, AND SAID, PEACE BE UNTO YOU. THEN SAYING UNTO THOMAS, REACH HITHER THY FINGER AND BEHOLD MY HANDS; BE NOT FAITHLESS, BUT BELIEVING HITHER. THY HAND, AND THRUST IT INTO MY SIDE. AND THOMAS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, "MY LORD AND MY GOD" JESUS SAITH UNTO THOMAS, BECAUSE THOU HAS SEEN ME, THOU HAS BELIEVED. BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HAVE NOT SEEN, AND YET HAVE BELIEVED. JESUS IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS DISCIPLES DID MANY OTHER SIGNS (MIRACLES), WHICH ARE NOT WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK. BUT THESE ARE WRITTEN, THAT YE MIGHT BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, "THE SON OF GOD;" THAT BELIEVING YE MIGHT HAVE LIFE THROUGH HIS NAME.IN JOHN'S GOSPEL THE RISEN CHRIST APPEARS TO THE DISCIPLES AND OFFERS THEM THE GIFT OF PEACE, A BENEDICTION, A COMMISSION, AND THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. BUT ONE OF THEIR NUMBER IS MISSING, AND HIS UNBELIEF PROMPTS ANOTHER VISIT FROM THE LORD.. ON THE EVENING OF EASTER DAY, BEING THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, WHEN THE DOORS WERE CLOSED WHERE THE DISCIPLES WERE ASSEMBLED FOR FEAR OF THE JEWS, JESUS CAME AND STOOD IN THE MIDST AND THE DISCIPLES WERE GLAD WHEN THEY SAW THE LORD. "PEACE BE UNTO YOU." EVEN SO I SEND YOU, AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THIS, HE BREATH ON THEM, AND SAID UNTO THEM, "RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT;" WHOSOEVER SINS YOU REMIT, THEY ARE REMITTED UNTO THEM,AS THE FATHER HAS SENT ME SO I SEND YOU; JESUS GAVE HIS DISCIPLES SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF HIS RESURRECTION.
ON THE VERY SAME DAY, IN THE EVENING, AFTER HE HAD APPEARED TO VARIOUS INDIVIDUALS AND SMALL GROUPS. HE SHOWED HIMSELF ALIVE TO TEN OF THE APOSTLES-THEY WERE ASSEMBLED TOGETHER IN SOME HOUSE IN JERUSALEM AND HAD CAREFULLY LOCKED THE DOORS, LEST A SUDDEN ATTACK OF THE JEWS MAKE THEM, TOO, VICTIMS OF THEIR HATRED. BUT FOR THE GLORIFIED BODY OF THE RESURRECTED. NEITHER LOCKED DOORS NOR HEAVY WALLS WERE A HINDRANCE. HIS BEING WAS NO LONGER CIRCUMSCRIBED BY THE CONFINES OF TIME OR SPACE. THEY HAD BEEN ALONE BUT A MOMENT AGO, AND NOW JESUS STOOD IN THEIR MIDST. THIS WAS THE GREETING OF THE RESURRECTED:"PEACE TO YOU!" THE PURPOSE OF HIS COMING WAS NOW REALIZED. THE ENMITY BETWEEN GOD AND MAN HAD BEEN REMOVED. GOD WAS RECONCILED TO HIS WAYWARD AND ERRING CHILDREN. THE PEACE OF THE LORD IS THE COMFORT AND JOY OF ALL BELIEVERS." FOR THAT REASON CHRIST BECAME MAN, FOR THAT REASON HE DIED ON THE CROSS. AND AROSE ON THE THIRD DAY, IN ORDER THAT, WHERE EVER OUR HEARTS, THE DEVIL, HAS NO CHANCE, AND THE WHOLE WORLD CRY ABOUT AND AGAINST US BECAUSE OF OUR SINS, AS THOUGH WE WERE NOT AT PEACE, THAT GOD DID NOT WANT US., THAT HE MIGHT SAY TO US: NO DEAR MAN, NOT THAT, BUT PEACE BE WITH YOU, GOD IS NOT ANGRY; ON THAT ACCOUNT DO NOT FEAR, FOR YOUR SINS I HAVE PAID, DEATH I HAVE KILLED. IN THIS BE COMFORTED, THAT I HAVE DONE IT ALL; THEN ALL WARFARE MUST COME TO AN END AND PEACE MUST COME. WHEN THE DISCIPLES WERE SURPRISED AT THE RISEN LORD'S COMING AND FILLED WITH SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR, AS THOSE SEEING A GHOST, JESUS SHOWED THEM HIS HANDS, WHERE THE MARK OF THE NAILS WERE STILL PLAINLY VISIBLE, AND HIS SIDE, WHERE THE SOLDIERS LANCE LEFT A DEEP GASH. THIS DEMONSTRATION CONVINCED THE DISCIPLES; THEY WERE GLAD THEY ACTUALLY SAW THE LORD. IT WAS THE SAME BODY WHICH HAD HUNG ON THE CROSS AND THUS EARNED AND MERITED REDEMPTION FOR ALL MEN. HIS RESURRECTION IS NOT ONLY A GUARNTEE OF OUR RESURRECTION, BUT ALSO OF THE FACT THAT OUR VILE BODIES WILL BE CHANGED TO CONFORM TO HIS GLORIFIED BODY AND THAT WE SHALL BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE OUR LOVED ONES IN HEAVEN. THUS THERE IS GREAT JOY FOR ALL CHRISTIANS IN THE APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN LORD. NOW, BY ANY STANDARD AVAILABLE, THE RESURRECTION IS A MIRACLE- THE GREATEST OF ALL MIRACLES. DEAD MEN DON'T JUST RISE. JESUS WAS DEAD, DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL FOR THREE DAYS, DYING AFTER TORTURE, CRUCIFIXION, AND FINALLY A SPEAR IN THE SIDE. THERE WAS NO DOUBT. BUT HE ROSE AGAIN. YET, MIRACLE THOUGH IT MUST BE AND THE GREATEST OF ALL MIRACLES AT THAT, THERE IS SOMETHING DEEPLY MYSTERIOUS ABOUT CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. A FETE LIKE THAT, BREAKING DEATH'S CHAINS TO WALK FROM THE GRAVE. AS JOHN TELLS IT, MARY MAGDALENE WAS THE FIRST TO DISCOVER THAT THE TOMB WAS EMPTY. THE DISCIPLES SCARED OF THE SOLDIERS, WERE OFF HIDING IN A ROOM IN JERUSALEM. WHEN MARY TOLD SIMON PETER AND THE DISCIPLES THAT JESUS WASN'T THERE, THEY RACED TO THE TOMB TO SEE FOR THEMSELVES, BUT THEY ONLY FOUND, LINEN CLOTHS AND A NAPKIN. MEAN WHILE, AS MARY STOOD OUTSIDE THE TOMB WAITING, SHE MISTOOK JESUS AS THE GARDENER. BUT BEFORE SHE COULD REACH OUT AND TOUCH HIM, HE DISAPPEARED. MARY DIDN'T RECOGNIZE HIM BY HIS FACE; BUT BY HIS VOICE. JOHN REPORTS ANOTHER APPEARANCE. THE DISCIPLES WERE OUT FISHING. JESUS STOOD ON THE SEASHORE, TOLD THEM TO CAST THEIR NETS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BOATS, AND LATER BARBECUED SOME FISH AND BREAD FOR THEM OVER CHAR COAL. AFTER THAT ACCORDING TO JOHN, JESUS DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY. PAUL IN 1-15 CORINTHIANS TELLS OF A SERIES OF APPEARANCES, FIRST TO PETER, JAMES, THEN TO THE TWELVE AND FIVE HUNDRED OF THE BRETHREN,
AND LAST OF ALL TO PAUL HIMSELF. BUT ALL THESE APPEARANCES SEEM TO POINT TO OUR MYSTERY? HAVING TRIUMPHANTLY RISEN FROM THE DEAD, IT ALMOST LOOKS LIKE JESUS WAS HIDING. BY DOING THESE THINGS, JESUS WAS KEEPING A PROMISE THAT HE MADE EARLIER TO HIS DISCIPLES, BEFORE HE WAS CRUCIFIED. I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU "DESOLATE," I WILL COME TO YOU.(JOHN 14:18; AND THERE WILL BE ANOTHER PRESENCE AMONG YOU,TOO. " THE COUNSELOR," THE HOLY SPIRIT, WILL COME TO YOU. "AND WHEN HE COMES, " HE WILL CONVICT THE WORLD OF SIN AND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND OF JUDGEMENT. (J
JOHN 16: 7-8). ON THE LAST DAY HE WLL RAISE ME AND ALL THE DEAD BELIEVERS IN CHRIST TO ETERNAL LIFE. THIS IS THE "GIFT " THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE.
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