The Resurrection of Jesus

What a wonder that women, those who were typically diminished in the then known culture, were the first to witness the unprecedented events leading up to finding out that Jesus was resurrected! Heaven’s realm crashes into the natural realm as the two Marys’ hear an Angel’s heavenly proclamation of the risen Jesus. The supernatural is awakening into the natural, shifting things.

Jesus was already risen before the Angel rolled away the stone. Remember when He appeared before the disciples who were inside their home with the doors locked (John 20:19-22)? Jesus may have walked right through the stone walls of the sepulcher.

However so, these women were privileged to hear the angelic proclamation that the King of Majestic Glory had indeed risen from the dead. Then the Angel of the Lord told them to go and tell the other disciples. The Angel also quoted Jesus from Matthew 26:31-32 when He said that after He was killed, He’d rise again and meet them in Galilee. The women hastened to go to the disciples, and on the way, Jesus appeared to the women! Glory! What a beautiful exchange they shared. The women were obedient to the Angels words, and on their way were met with a glorious surprise. Its a reminder of listening to the Word of the Lord with expectancy and readiness to do His will. Many are record to have seen Jesus: Paul on the road to Damascus and after his Damascus road experience (Acts 22:16-21, 23:1, 26:16), and many saw Him when He was with His disciples for 40 days (Acts 1:3).

Testimony of Guards at the Sepulcher

The Religious leaders went through such great lengths to cover up Jesus’ resurrection by bribing the guards who watched over Jesus tomb. The guards had experienced the earth quake as the Angel of the Lord came from heaven, rolling away the stone and then sitting atop it! No doubt these guards heard the Angel speak to the women. Yet when the guards told the chief priests and religious leaders about their 1st hand experience, the chief priests and religious leaders instead wanted them to spread false information about what had happened and for added incentive, they bribed the guards with money. Because of this bribe, the guards spread a false report that the disciples stole His body away. The scripture is true when it says the love of money is the root of evil (1 Timoty 6:10). Some who heard this falsehood were persuaded by its lie.

The Disciples Meet the Resurrected Jesus

When the disciples were able to see Jesus, they worshiped Him, but many of them doubted. Blessed are those who haven’t seen Him and still believe, yet they saw Him. We may not see Him in the physical, but He will reveal Himself to us in ways that are plain. Its just a matter of us growing in our discernment.

Commissioning His disciples, Jesus sent them out. He was sent by the Father to fulfill His course, and now having been given all authority by the Father He sends out the disciples and commissions them. Jesus says that they should go into the nations and baptism people. We know baptism is powerful to someone who has repented, because it is the means by which a soul is resurrected from spiritual death into the the life giving Spirit, Holy Ghost, Who makes them new creatures. Baptism also naturally leads to teaching and discipleship.

Summary

1. Be obedient
2. Never doubt what God is about
3. Being aware of Holy Ghost in you
4. He will move in your tomb if you let him
5. Expect the unexpected
6. Don’t deny the undeniable
7. Be fruitful and disciple
8. Open your eyes to see what lies

Judas Betray Jesus

Judas repents of his betrayal toward Jesus. Yet overcome with grief and regret, sadly Judas commits suicide. When someone wants to take their life, thoughts of negativity and evil wrap around their souls, shrouding the beauty they were created to emanate: the image of the living God. We are image bearers of the living God and He as our loving Father, is quick to forgive us of any offense if we come to Him with true repentance. One has to wonder if Judas would have known this, he could have been healed, heart and soul, so as not to take his own life.

What we think of ourselves has great power in determining how we treat ourselves. Negative thoughts and no good notions aid in weakening our resolve for all that our souls were created to receive: everything good, Godly and peaceful. Words have the power to kill and issue forth life, so be careful at how you view yourself and how you speak to others.

Jesus, Humble to the End

Jesus is self-less, even toward those who had such hatred toward Him to go so far as to want Him dead. Though the religious leaders interrogated Him bringing up false accusations, Jesus didn’t answer them, but he did respond to Pontius Pilate. Yet even with Pilate, Jesus was self-less and gave no defense of Himself against the charges of the religious leaders. Even the crowds were filled with bitter rage to see Jesus dead as they exclaimed, “His blood be on us and our children.” Its a reminder of how its best not to defend yourself against those who accuse you, but think what is good about them and pray for those that spitefully use you, as God Himself will be your defender. Love endures all things, and Jesus’ love was beyond intellectual understanding, for the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all and He demonstrated it by sacrificing His life for His accusers and all of humanity.

Jesus Condemned to Death

Jesus was humiliated being stripped of His clothes, having a crown of thorns placed on His head, ridiculed, mocked, spat upon, hit over the head with a reed staff, which no doubt lodged the crown of thorns into His temples, beaten with leather straps which were embedded with sharp pieces of metal; When one ponders the passion of Jesus, the agony He endured, the shame He withstood, the eminence pain He felt, one can’t help but feel His suffering love for all of humanity. Love is as strong as the finality of death and will compel even the most selfish of us to open our hearts and consider others around us, as this was the Mind of Christ Jesus. Love, Paul says, is what all of us should posses as our foundation, for without it, the gifts and work of God will be meaningless offerings that have no value to Him.

Jesus endured so much for us having been nailed to the cross. His hands and feet pierced in pain all for the sake of His undying love…for us. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him (Isaiah 53:10), for the sake of baring the sin of many (Isaiah 53:12), for He came to Earth to be the salvation for all of humanity. As He hung there, He was offered a mild painkiller, a drink of wine mixed with gall, yet Jesus denied it. It’s a testament to His deep feelings toward us to endure the pain for the sake of us.

The Death of the Saviour

Jesus gave up His life and died. While He lived, often supernaturally He raised people from the dead. Now, because of His death many supernaturally were raised from the dead and walked among the living. The beauty in His pain of death was that His life brought forth more life to others; its what He came to do, bring abundant life. Those who tormented and crucified Him, after the earthquake realized the gravity of who He was: Truly the Son of God.

Devoted Disciples Bury Jesus

Joseph of Arimathaea was another devoted disciple to Jesus to take His precious body, clean it up and give Him a proper resting place. What an honor of great care. Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Jacob and the mother of Zebedee were other devoted disciples of Jesus and were said to have ministered to Him in His Earthly ministry.

Guard Over His Tomb

The Pharisees and chief priests stuck with their unbelief to the end by having Roman guards stand outside of Jesus tomb, for they heard Him say He would be raised from the dead after 3 days. However so, they must have had an inkling that Jesus words about His resurrection were true, had they not, they would not have had guards to stand near His tomb.

Summary

1. A hardened heart can’t hear the truth
2. Be ready to be used like Joseph of Arimathaea
3. Never underestimate the power of God
4. Pay attention to your dreams
5. The price He paid is still active today
6. Minister to Jesus needs
7. Jesus death gives us life
8. Power of Jesus’ immeasurable love
9. Don’t diminish our loss at the cross or your soul will be lost

The Oil of Devotion

The woman pouring the costly ointment over Jesus is a beautiful display of her love for Him and relationship with Him. Deeds done with love as the basis are not without value. Yet her act was diminished by the disciples as impractical. Its a matter of the heart vs practicality, though the oil could have been sold to the poor, Jesus viewed her act as better because it was birthed from her heart. Mary’s alabaster jar was very expensive and so was the oil, which the Mark 14:3 mentions was spikenard. The disciples were so blinded that they didn’t take seriously the fact that Jesus’ death was imminent. They didn’t realize that truly she was preparing Him for burial. They overlooked the fact that they would not have Him for long and cared more about other things than the care of the Master. Their values were not in the same heartbeat as Jesus’ even after having been with Him for 3 years. Mary’s act of devotion He said would be remembered wherever the Gospel was preached. He never said that about any of the disciples.

The Passover Table

To break bread with someone was a sign of covenant friendship in the Middle East in those days. Though Judas had evil in his heart, Jesus still showed him friendship, even to the end. When you drink from the same cup as someone else, there is a sense of bond-ship, familiarity, love. When you eat directly from someone else hand, there is a release of both parties in the bond of unity, acceptance and desire. There was a covenant, a testament, an agreement of unity that Jesus was making with His disciples and all who would believe in Him through their lives, lived for the Gospel. This was no ordinary bread or ordinary wine. It was His body and His blood.

Jesus spoke more of His death and even His resurrection and that He’d meet them in Galilee, but the disciples weren’t in awe of any of that. Peter was concerned about being more loyal to Him than the other disciples; competition and pride were evident. However so, Jesus cautioned Peter about his self-righteous pride, though He prophesied Peter would deny Him three times. Yet not only Peter, but all the disciples chimed in and declared their pride of never denying Jesus. Yet we find when he was betrayed by Judas and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, they all fled, leaving Him completely abandoned.

His Grief in Gethsemane

Peter, Jacob & John were the 3 disciples who had gone with Jesus to the mount of transfiguration. He also took these 3 to the Garden of Gethsemane. It seems they were privileged to share with Jesus in moments of glory on the mount and moments of pain in Gethsemane’s garden.

Jesus going away to pray to the Father to ask in humility to allow the cup of suffering to pass shows that truly, He as God in flesh, walking as a Man, relinquished all of His power and became lower than the angels and lived completely dependent on Abba Father. Jesus, in every aspect of His life on Earth endured everything that we have or will go through as humanity and showed us how to be led by the Spirit and depend on God in every way.

As Jesus prayed and the 3 disciples who were with Him slept, Judas was coming with a mob to betray Him. Judas told those who would arrest Jesus that he’d be distinguished by a his kiss of greeting. Paul, in many of his epistles to the Churches encouraged those in the fellowships to greet one another with a holy kiss. Judas uses this act of endearment and friendship under the guise of betrayal. Yet amid the evil that manifested in Judas’s actions, Jesus returned the greeting with humility and care in still calling him a “Friend.” I have a friend who had a vision of being in God’s arms, yet God wasn’t looking at him and he wondered why. He saw that God’s attention was on something else. When he looked in the direction God was looking, the Earth came into view and a person whom he knew came into view. This person had previously betrayed him, yet God looked at that person with longing and love. Though this person had done wrong to the person who was in Gods arms, God’s heart was longing for that person to know His love. What a perfect picture of God’s heart toward humanity especially those of us tied up in sin.

Jesus was arrested and Peter, in His defense resorted to violence. Jesus said those who live by violence will die by violence and what was happening was prophetically designed. Jesus was merciful to the end, and a teacher to the end.

Summary

1. Don’t allow life to tare you away today
2. Surrender your will to God’s
3. Extend mercy despite the offense
4. Live by anger and you’ll die by it
5. Be steadfast in prayer
6. Don’t fail to be on watch
7. Jesus doesn’t need defending
8. Don’t let tragedy lead to tragic measures

Jesus gives many parables here about the end of the Age and His return.

The Parable of the 10 Virgins

People aren’t prepared. The wise used their wisdom and decided not to share. We sometimes stop to help people and they endanger our walk and delay us, as we only have enough for ourselves. The foolish, when the Bridegroom came weren’t even present to Him for they were preoccupied with everything but Him. We need to make sure that we aren’t lackadaisical about our pursuit of Him. Our lamps need to be filled with oil and we need to have extra oil to spare.

The oil represents our relationship with Him through the indwelling Spirit of God. We don’t care enough about our union with Him to preserve and treasure the relationship. Oil is often used to anoint for the purpose of revitalizing, for consecrating someone to God and is a representation of Holy Ghost. The oil is constantly being replenished by our daily union with the Bridegroom. If we’ve run out of oil, our hearts aren’t solely for Him anymore. We’ve become foolish, letting everything, sin, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, pull us away from our life support: Jesus. The wise were in constant fellowship with Jesus and knew His heart and passion. He was their only pleasure. The flasks the virgins carried holds such significance in our walk with Christ:

1. No oil means there is no Holy Ghost in our lives
2. The flame cane be blown or snuffed out
3. Pulling out the wick means the soul is disconnected to Holy Ghost
4. The wrong fuel is anything you take in that doesn’t edify your soul
5. No ignition is the lack of the Word of God, prayer and the people of God in ones life

Parable about Financial Stewardship

In all that the Lord has given to you, He wants you to be a good steward over it, whether it be in your gifts or your abilities. It doesn’t matter how many gifts or abilities you have, but how you are using His grace to use those gifts and abilities. But those of us who are lazy throw away His grace and waste their time on things that bear no fruit. The Lord is looking for a return on the investment He’s placed in you. He wants to use you to bear more fruit for not only Him to enjoy and glory in, but for you to enjoy with Him and glory in. If you refuse to be fruitful, you refuse Him and all His riches and all that you have will be taken away because of your selfish disobedience. If you’ve really been filled with Jesus, there will manifest within you a desire to perform His works because you’ve joined not only yourself to Him in name, but you’ve joined your whole heart and being to Him to do for Him what brings Him pleasure. If you’ve not been filled with Jesus then your heart will not be changed and you won’t have a desire to do anything but what you want.

Parable of Sheep and Goats and Judgement

Sheep and Goats are different in that one is humble and the other is aggressive. The sheep exhibit the characteristics of the King, rooted in love showing compassion, tenderness and care to others. Goats are self-preserving, selfish, domineering and ruthless and show no concern for those who are in need. Jesus gives all nations, whether they are sheep or goats, the opportunity to learn how to have compassion because the poor and broken will be with you always. They are often presented to us so that we can learn to love. However, those who have chosen not to learn lessons on how to love have inadvertently cut themselves off from being joined to the King of Eternal Love and Life.

Summary

1. Be prepared
2. Don’t let fear control you
3. Don’t sit on what God gave you
4. Check your walk all the time
5. Are you the right bride
6. Abide in obedience
7. Are you a sheep or a goat

Summary of Verses 1-15

Jesus prophesied that the Jewish Temple would be leveled and destroyed, and His prophecy came true. Wars and conquest have been happening for such a long time. This is just the beginning. Many now are very cold, selfish and rarely have smiles on their faces. Many people also become so easily offended over the smallest of matters. Be aware, stand your ground about who you are and Whom you believe in, and do not compromise. Stay connected to God so you know who you are and Who you serve so you’re not deceived, for many false prophets will come about. Continue to be the light of God. Stay the course and remain connected and many will be saved. Yet, through all of these premonitions of doom upon the Earth, Jesus is giving every nation the opportunity to hear the Gospel of the Kingdom and everyone who endures until the end will be saved. Then the end will come.

Summary of Verses 16-30

When the end comes, even those who belong to Jesus have the potential to be lost, but the days will be shortened so they can be saved. Faith in Jesus and trust in Him is everything. This is how you will make it. Its His strength, not ours or our ability or merits. Cleave to Christ now and to the end, because your salvation depends on it. When Jesus comes, why would all nations mourn? Because it will be time for judgement because of all the things they’ve done contrary to the Will of God.

Summary of Verses 31-45

We have to be aware and watchful, knowing what to look for to know when Christ is coming back. He will give us signs for us to be alert. Just as we know that spring is coming when we see tender branches and sprouts upon the trees, we can know when the Lord is coming back by signs He gives us.

Summary of Verses 46-51

We don’t know when the Lord is coming, but we shouldn’t take advantage of His delay and do what we want to do, getting entangled with evil in the process. We will become blinded in our sin, and miss when the Lord comes. But someone who is faithfully waiting on Him does not become idle while the Lord delays His coming. That person faithful does what is pleasing to His master while waiting for His return.

Through all this, there is hope if we turn from our sins and to the Lord Jesus now and endure, living life in holy awe toward Him. God is merciful. Yet, if you refuse His goodness, you will exchange it for His judgement. His judgement will rest upon you and sorrow, pain and anguish will be your experience and demise.

What We Learned

1. Be aware of God’s timing
2. Caution of deceptions & false prophets
3. Don’t be easily offended
4. Don’t be attached to this life
5. Serve Jesus with a true heart
6. The Word of God will be your end, good or bad
7. Expect persecution for your loyalty to Jesus