Monday, March 25, 2013

March 26, 2013

"Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” Matthew 28:1-7
 
Easter Sunday is the most important day of any year and it is one of the top three or four events of history! (Creation was real important! Noah building the ark was real important! The birth of Jesus was very important! The second coming of Jesus will be real significant!)
 
Not only is the resurrection of Jesus of central importance to the Christian faith as an historical event, it is equally as significant on this 26th of March, 2013!
 
Let me show you what I mean and why the resurrection REALLY matters!
 
In John's account of the resurrection, as in the other three Gospels, the followers of Jesus went to the tomb at dawn on the third day expecting to find a body to prepare. In each case they were shocked to find the tomb empty, the body gone and an angel present. In other words, they were wrong!
 
It wasn't that Jesus hadn't told them that He would rise again because He clearly had! They just didn't get it. He told them right but they heard it wrong!
 
Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is an enduring reminder that He was right and His disciples were wrong. He always is right and when we disagree with Him we are always wrong!
 
Doesn't it make you wonder what else He is right about that we have wrong? I can think of several relevant issues where men think they are right but God says is wrong.
 
How about a moral issue that is begin considered today by our Supreme Court - the issue of same-sex marriage?
 
Here is what God says is right:
 
"Then He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again. The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him. And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Mark 10:1-9
 
The conclusion Jesus gave is that if God has designed marriage as a lifelong relationship, why end it? Yes, adultery/sexual immorality and desertion are named in other places in the New Testament as reasons (and these can possibly be interpreted broadly to include other situations), Jesus' standard is lifelong, monogamous, male-female marriage.
 
Some argue that marriage ought to be redefined to include two partners of the same sex. Jesus said on this and other occasions that marriage is defined as and therefore limited to a man and a woman.
 
Just as it was with the resurrection, He is right and those who want to redefine marriage are wrong.
 
Furthermore, not only is the Supreme Court being asked to redefine marriage but it is being asked to overturn Proposition 8 which was a referendum passed in California by a majority of the voters in that State to legally uphold the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.
 
So, not only are these proponents of same-sex marriage asking the Court to say the expressed will of God is wrong but they are also wanting the Court to overturn the expressed will of the people of California! (And 30 other states who have voted to support the Biblical definition of marriage!)

Jesus told everyone who would listen He would be killed and would rise again on the third day. No one believed Him but the First Easter is proof that God is right and anyone who disagrees with His Word is wrong!