Jesus Emerges from the Tomb with the Angel and Guardsby KandD
15:41 Corinthians 15:4
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
He was truly laid in the grave in Joseph's new tomb and did not remain there but came forth on the third day, bursting the bonds of death in fulfillment of Scripture and prophetic testimony. This death for sins, burial, and rising to life again is the gospel Paul preached about the risen Saviour, confirmed by His being seen by many witnesses. The resurrection is an unmistakable fact essential to faith, for without it preaching and faith are empty and believers remain in sins. The crucified and risen Saviour, now ascended as Advocate and interceding High Priest, is the only hope for sinners, so that through faith in Him as atoning sacrifice sins are pardoned and the repentant are reconciled to God. He rose as majestic conqueror over Satan's apparent triumph, establishing the resurrection of the dead and the promise that all who believe in Him and die in Him will be raised to immortality and eternal life.
Burial and Third-Day Rising
He was truly laid in the grave, His body lying in Joseph's new tomb during the Passover when He had been slain as the true Lamb prefigured by the feast, and the burial was hurried because the Sabbath was near so the commandment could be kept. After dying for sins He was laid in the grave and came to life again, confirmed by being seen by Cephas, then the twelve, then more than five hundred brethren at once of whom most were still alive, then James, then all the apostles, then Paul himself as one born late.
He did not remain in the grave but on the third day after His burial He rose from the dead and came forth, bursting the fetters of the tomb. Over the rent sepulchre He proclaimed the resurrection, declaring Himself the resurrection and the life, life and strength and grace through obedience in His humanity, so He is not in the tomb but is a living, risen Saviour and Intercessor. He was sent into the world and crucified in the most cruel manner but was not left in the grave, holding fast to divinity while living in humanity so that in Him humanity and divinity were combined.
That burial and rising on the third day took place in fulfillment of Scripture and prophetic testimony, in accordance with Scripture. His rejection, humiliation, death, burial and resurrection verified prophecy and confirmed the prophetic testimony about Him.
The three days He as a boy was separated from His parents after the Passover at Jerusalem foreshadowed the three days He would be separated from His own, lost to them in death for the sins of the world as Redeemer of the fallen race. After those three days He would reveal Himself to them and be found of them so their faith would rest on Him as Redeemer and Advocate with the Father in their behalf. That early experience was meant to lead to reflection and meditation beforehand on the prophecies of His suffering and death, so those painful events of death and separation would not come as new and unexpected, and His rising would strengthen faith in Him.
He Himself announced beforehand that He would die and rise the third day, opening the plan of salvation before the angels and concealing nothing from them. He would stand between the wrath of the Father and guilty man, bear iniquity and scorn, leave all His glory in heaven, appear on earth as a man and humble Himself as a man. He would become acquainted by His own experience with the temptations besetting man so He might know how to succor and help those who are tempted. After His mission as teacher He would be delivered into the hands of men and endure scorn and almost every cruelty Satan could inspire wicked men to inflict. Hung between heaven and earth as a guilty sinner under the weight of the sins of the whole world, He would suffer dreadful bodily agony and still greater mental agony, die the cruelest of deaths, then rise again the third day and ascend to His Father to intercede for wayward, guilty humanity.
Prophecy Fulfilled in Messiah
The burial and rising on the third day took place in fulfillment of Scripture, and this scriptural testimony is prophetic evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Messiah. Paul used this fulfillment to show that Jesus was the Messiah, and his arguments from prophecy confounded his hearers. The death, burial, and resurrection on the third day according to the Scriptures are the gospel Paul preached, with the resurrection central to the message of the risen Saviour. The risen Saviour was proclaimed alongside His crucifixion before a vast audience in Caesar's judgment hall, and that proclamation was a victory that began a work imperial power could not stop.
His rejection, humiliation, crucifixion, and resurrection belong to the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning His first advent. His rejection, humiliation, and death were verified, and His resurrection on the third day confirmed the prophetic testimony about Him. Saul recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah and saw Him as the crucified and risen Saviour foretold in Scripture.
His body lay in Joseph's tomb during the Passover, when He had been slain as the true Lamb prefigured by the feast. His burial was hurried because the Sabbath was near, so the disciples could keep the commandment. The events surrounding His death and resurrection fulfilled prophecy and established that the crucified Jesus was the world's Redeemer, and after He was raised some priests acknowledged Him as the Son of God.
Salvation in Crucified Risen Saviour
The resurrection is an unmistakable fact essential to faith, for if Christ did not rise then preaching is empty and faith is empty, believers still remain in their sins, and those who have died in Christ have perished. The foundational gospel handed down through Paul is that after dying for sins Christ was laid in the grave and came to life again, and this was confirmed by His being seen by Cephas, then the twelve, then more than five hundred brethren at once of whom most were still alive, then James, then all the apostles, then Paul himself as one born late. Christ crucified for sins, Christ risen from the dead, and Christ ascended on high as Advocate and Intercessor is the science of salvation to be learned and taught. That death and resurrection center the revelation of God's love, displaying infinite wisdom, infinite love, infinite justice, and infinite mercy whose full significance tongue cannot utter, pen cannot portray, and mind cannot comprehend. Closely connected with this is the office work of the Holy Spirit as Christ's representative sent with divine power and gifts for men, and those who receive and act on the light of justification by faith and imputed righteousness make the crucified, risen, and interceding Christ their themes to convert souls and bring them back to loyalty. Together with His ascension, His resurrection belongs to the saving message, with the risen Saviour ascended into heaven to be Advocate and Intercessor before God.
Because of transgression of God's law Christ became sin-bearer, substitute and surety, giving the life of the only-begotten Son to satisfy justice and vindicate the honor of the law by Himself taking undeserved punishment so that those who deserved it might go free. The object of the great sacrifice was to uplift fallen man degraded by sin and bring him back to allegiance to God. Through faith in the crucified and risen Saviour as atoning sacrifice sins are pardoned, and the repentant contrite heart that believes is forgiven and reconciled to God. Through His sacrifice those now on probation are prisoners of hope, to reveal to the fallen world and to unfallen worlds that there is forgiveness with God, and the risen Saviour is in the sanctuary as interceding High Priest making atonement and pleading the efficacy of His blood.
The crucified and risen Saviour is the only hope for sinners, for the plan of salvation has been carried out and the price of redemption paid through His atonement. Human sin caused His agony, and recognizing this leads to humility rather than self-exaltation or claims of freedom from sin. Salvation depends on this atonement and not on human merit, works, or any inherent power to earn God's favor, so people cannot replace reliance on Him with confidence in their own merits, and rejecting that dependence leaves them unable to benefit from the sacrifice. Sinners are to rely on the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, whose resurrection is part of the foundation of Christian hope and essential to the atonement and ransom paid for humanity. Helpless and unworthy sinners must depend solely on those merits, for they can do nothing of themselves, and those living in the last days when dangers surround them and despair seizes the soul must trust in those merits for pardon with the assurance that none who do so will ever perish. His death paid the redemption price to save every soul from eternal ruin and proves the value of every soul, with people belonging to the Lord by both creation and redemption. Laying hold by faith on His merits puts heavenly resources at each person's command, and obedience brings immortal life and an imperishable treasure, while on that basis God's people can leave sin behind, look to Him as helper, and depend on His blood as the ground of salvation.
Without His sacrificial death and resurrection people would have no peace or joy but only darkness, despair, and the horrors of misery. He left the glory of heaven, lived in poverty and deep affliction, and endured the cruel shameful cross despising the shame in order to reconcile the world to Himself and to provide the joys of holiness and heaven freely, so that whoever will may come and take the water of life freely. He was sent into the world and crucified in the most cruel manner but was not left in the grave, coming up and proclaiming the resurrection over the sepulchre. He did not lose His divinity but held fast to it while living in humanity, so in Him humanity and divinity were combined as life and strength and grace through obedience, and God wants that same combination in people today. His death did not abolish God's law, for the need for Him to die for transgressors shows the law could not simply be set aside, but His death instead magnified and honored it and upheld obedience to its precepts.
The crucifixion and third-day resurrection are the plan of salvation that Satan could not hinder, yet he determines to turn them to his own advantage. He is willing for those who profess faith to believe that the laws regulating sacrifices and offerings ceased at Christ's death, if he can push them further into believing that the law of ten commandments also died with Christ. Professing belief in the crucifixion and resurrection does not by itself show a changed heart or genuine conversion, since people may accept these central doctrines while retaining idolatry and corrupting biblical teaching. After rejection, trial, and crucifixion He rose to finish His work on earth and ascended to serve as humanity's Advocate before God. Though Satan caused the Son of God to be crucified in defiance of mercy to shut out all light and communication from above, Christ rose from the grave and today lives as Advocate in the courts of heaven, reconciling sinners unto God by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and this gives Him claim to wills and affections as He calls in love and mercy for all who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him for rest under His easy yoke.
In love for fallen men He gave His life as Sacrifice to save from eternal ruin, rose again, and ascended to intercede to bring belief in Him whom the Father sent. This gospel of Christ crucified — His love, forgiveness, grace, humiliation, meekness, and lowly life of poverty to make Adam's children rich — must be presented in distinct lines with power rather than neglected, since justification by faith in living experience is the life-giving power to convert souls dead in trespasses and sins and lead them to holiness. The anointed, crucified, and risen Saviour was witnessed to by prophets and testified of by believers, and through His name people receive forgiveness of sins. His resurrection belongs with His crucifixion as the sinner's hope of unlimited pardoning power, so the cross is to be kept prominent as revealing Him who pardons sin and saves fallen humanity. Accepting Him is not a lowering of self but the highest exaltation, giving salvation and hope of heaven.
Resurrection Victory and Future Hope
He rose from the dead as a conqueror, walking forth from His prison house as a majestic conqueror whom all Satan's efforts and power could not overcome. The laying of the Lord of life in the grave gave Satan and his angels a brief, apparent triumph through their power over fallen man, but that triumph was short and was ended by His rising. By that rising He laid open a way of salvation for humanity in which whosoever will may walk and be saved, which anyone may choose to follow. His rising proves that after a season Satan must die and his kingdom pass to Jesus whose right it is.
His burial and resurrection on the third day are sacred facts: He passed through death, came out of the grave, appeared again in person, and ascended to the Father. His resurrection establishes the resurrection of the dead and the future immortal life of the righteous for those who believe in Him. His resurrection means death is not an eternal sleep, for all who believe in Him may have eternal life as part of the plan of redemption fulfilled in His being buried and raised. Those who die in Christ, live in obedience to His commandments, and honor their Creator will be raised to immortality at the last day when He comes for His people, because He was truly buried but did not remain in the grave and rose on the third day after His burial.
The verse points to a risen, living Saviour, not one still held in a tomb. As King and Lord of hosts He guards His people amid the strife of nations and their trials. He is a crucified and risen Saviour who is living now rather than a dead one to be kept ever present and mourned.
Preaching and Christian Living
The resurrection belongs at the center of the gospel the apostles were charged to proclaim as good news of salvation, and through the hope it gives they urged believers to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness, so that to neglect it is to obscure a central gospel teaching. It is one of the inspiring themes to be set before the people together with His miracles, self-denial, self-sacrifice, sufferings, crucifixion, and triumphant ascension. To exhibit Him in this way is to set forth Christ as the divine object of faith and love, awakening love and intense fervor in every heart and opening treasures of wisdom and knowledge as an inexhaustible fountain that grows greater in value the more it is sought in experience. When He is preached as the crucified and risen Saviour who gave His life on Calvary's cross, God giving His only begotten Son to save sinners and to save to the uttermost all who come to Him, and when the preacher's heart is guided by the Holy Spirit, the preaching makes a deep impression on minds, arousing hope and awakening courage and faith.
Preaching the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour gives an education in faith and experimental knowledge of the love of God and makes Jesus precious to the soul. Believing what is heard brings new conversion, freedom of soul, forgiveness of sins, and the love of Jesus in the heart. It brings tenderness of heart and contrition of spirit that make evident the work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ, with assurance of the favor of God and the indwelling peace of Christ, joy mingled with tears, and power to go forth to preach Christ as never before. What every family needs is a crucified and risen Saviour, and what young men need is to become acquainted with Him. He is to be set before the people on the platform with plain common sense and true religion, and young men are to be put into schools built on the very highest principles so their education builds up instead of destroying, for He gives heaven and eternal life, a life that measures with the life of God, received by following on to know the Lord whose goings forth are prepared as the morning.
His death for sin, resurrection, ascension, and continuing work as humanity's Intercessor are the saving truth that teachers need to learn and teach constantly to children and youth. Loyalty to Him as the crucified and risen Saviour is shown not by preaching alone but by holy living, fervent prayer, painstaking effort to discharge duty, and personal contact with people. Those who serve Him do everything possible in every way to save a soul from perdition and to build up souls just entering a new experience in truth and righteousness, seeking results and not praise. He is a living Saviour now, not one still held in death, and to keep a dead son ever present in mind while refusing to see Him displeases God, extinguishes the light God would have burning to show the beauty of His precepts, weakens physical and moral power by letting grief have control, and leaves a person under Satan's jurisdiction, whereas turning attention from the dead to the living Saviour gives resignation and peace in God by His grace.
Because He lay three days in Joseph's new tomb and then burst the fetters of the tomb and rose, triumphing over the rent sepulchre and proclaiming Himself the resurrection and the life, believers have no time to spend on the enemy's side or in the enemy's service but must be laborers together with God. Without His cruel, shameful death and resurrection humanity would know nothing but the horrors of darkness and the miseries of despair, for human sins mingled the bitter cup He drank. He left the glory of heaven, lived in poverty and deep affliction, and endured the cross despising the shame in order to reconcile the world to Himself and to provide the joys of holiness and heaven, so that whoever will may come and take the water of life freely. Looking on Him whom sins have pierced calls sinners to be willing to drink with Him the cup of humiliation and sorrow instead of seeking a better portion in this life than was given to the Redeemer.
He was truly laid in the grave in Joseph's new tomb and did not remain there but came forth on the third day, bursting the bonds of death in fulfillment of Scripture and prophetic testimony. This death for sins, burial, and rising to life again is the gospel Paul preached about the risen Saviour, confirmed by His being seen by many witnesses. The resurrection is an unmistakable fact essential to faith, for without it preaching and faith are empty and believers remain in sins. The crucified and risen Saviour, now ascended as Advocate and interceding High Priest, is the only hope for sinners, so that through faith in Him as atoning sacrifice sins are pardoned and the repentant are reconciled to God. He rose as majestic conqueror over Satan's apparent triumph, establishing the resurrection of the dead and the promise that all who believe in Him and die in Him will be raised to immortality and eternal life.
Burial and Third-Day Rising
He was truly laid in the grave, His body lying in Joseph's new tomb during the Passover when He had been slain as the true Lamb prefigured by the feast, and the burial was hurried because the Sabbath was near so the commandment could be kept. After dying for sins He was laid in the grave and came to life again, confirmed by being seen by Cephas, then the twelve, then more than five hundred brethren at once of whom most were still alive, then James, then all the apostles, then Paul himself as one born late.
He did not remain in the grave but on the third day after His burial He rose from the dead and came forth, bursting the fetters of the tomb. Over the rent sepulchre He proclaimed the resurrection, declaring Himself the resurrection and the life, life and strength and grace through obedience in His humanity, so He is not in the tomb but is a living, risen Saviour and Intercessor. He was sent into the world and crucified in the most cruel manner but was not left in the grave, holding fast to divinity while living in humanity so that in Him humanity and divinity were combined.
That burial and rising on the third day took place in fulfillment of Scripture and prophetic testimony, in accordance with Scripture. His rejection, humiliation, death, burial and resurrection verified prophecy and confirmed the prophetic testimony about Him.
The three days He as a boy was separated from His parents after the Passover at Jerusalem foreshadowed the three days He would be separated from His own, lost to them in death for the sins of the world as Redeemer of the fallen race. After those three days He would reveal Himself to them and be found of them so their faith would rest on Him as Redeemer and Advocate with the Father in their behalf. That early experience was meant to lead to reflection and meditation beforehand on the prophecies of His suffering and death, so those painful events of death and separation would not come as new and unexpected, and His rising would strengthen faith in Him.
He Himself announced beforehand that He would die and rise the third day, opening the plan of salvation before the angels and concealing nothing from them. He would stand between the wrath of the Father and guilty man, bear iniquity and scorn, leave all His glory in heaven, appear on earth as a man and humble Himself as a man. He would become acquainted by His own experience with the temptations besetting man so He might know how to succor and help those who are tempted. After His mission as teacher He would be delivered into the hands of men and endure scorn and almost every cruelty Satan could inspire wicked men to inflict. Hung between heaven and earth as a guilty sinner under the weight of the sins of the whole world, He would suffer dreadful bodily agony and still greater mental agony, die the cruelest of deaths, then rise again the third day and ascend to His Father to intercede for wayward, guilty humanity.
Prophecy Fulfilled in Messiah
The burial and rising on the third day took place in fulfillment of Scripture, and this scriptural testimony is prophetic evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Messiah. Paul used this fulfillment to show that Jesus was the Messiah, and his arguments from prophecy confounded his hearers. The death, burial, and resurrection on the third day according to the Scriptures are the gospel Paul preached, with the resurrection central to the message of the risen Saviour. The risen Saviour was proclaimed alongside His crucifixion before a vast audience in Caesar's judgment hall, and that proclamation was a victory that began a work imperial power could not stop.
His rejection, humiliation, crucifixion, and resurrection belong to the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning His first advent. His rejection, humiliation, and death were verified, and His resurrection on the third day confirmed the prophetic testimony about Him. Saul recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah and saw Him as the crucified and risen Saviour foretold in Scripture.
His body lay in Joseph's tomb during the Passover, when He had been slain as the true Lamb prefigured by the feast. His burial was hurried because the Sabbath was near, so the disciples could keep the commandment. The events surrounding His death and resurrection fulfilled prophecy and established that the crucified Jesus was the world's Redeemer, and after He was raised some priests acknowledged Him as the Son of God.
Salvation in Crucified Risen Saviour
The resurrection is an unmistakable fact essential to faith, for if Christ did not rise then preaching is empty and faith is empty, believers still remain in their sins, and those who have died in Christ have perished. The foundational gospel handed down through Paul is that after dying for sins Christ was laid in the grave and came to life again, and this was confirmed by His being seen by Cephas, then the twelve, then more than five hundred brethren at once of whom most were still alive, then James, then all the apostles, then Paul himself as one born late. Christ crucified for sins, Christ risen from the dead, and Christ ascended on high as Advocate and Intercessor is the science of salvation to be learned and taught. That death and resurrection center the revelation of God's love, displaying infinite wisdom, infinite love, infinite justice, and infinite mercy whose full significance tongue cannot utter, pen cannot portray, and mind cannot comprehend. Closely connected with this is the office work of the Holy Spirit as Christ's representative sent with divine power and gifts for men, and those who receive and act on the light of justification by faith and imputed righteousness make the crucified, risen, and interceding Christ their themes to convert souls and bring them back to loyalty. Together with His ascension, His resurrection belongs to the saving message, with the risen Saviour ascended into heaven to be Advocate and Intercessor before God.
Because of transgression of God's law Christ became sin-bearer, substitute and surety, giving the life of the only-begotten Son to satisfy justice and vindicate the honor of the law by Himself taking undeserved punishment so that those who deserved it might go free. The object of the great sacrifice was to uplift fallen man degraded by sin and bring him back to allegiance to God. Through faith in the crucified and risen Saviour as atoning sacrifice sins are pardoned, and the repentant contrite heart that believes is forgiven and reconciled to God. Through His sacrifice those now on probation are prisoners of hope, to reveal to the fallen world and to unfallen worlds that there is forgiveness with God, and the risen Saviour is in the sanctuary as interceding High Priest making atonement and pleading the efficacy of His blood.
The crucified and risen Saviour is the only hope for sinners, for the plan of salvation has been carried out and the price of redemption paid through His atonement. Human sin caused His agony, and recognizing this leads to humility rather than self-exaltation or claims of freedom from sin. Salvation depends on this atonement and not on human merit, works, or any inherent power to earn God's favor, so people cannot replace reliance on Him with confidence in their own merits, and rejecting that dependence leaves them unable to benefit from the sacrifice. Sinners are to rely on the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, whose resurrection is part of the foundation of Christian hope and essential to the atonement and ransom paid for humanity. Helpless and unworthy sinners must depend solely on those merits, for they can do nothing of themselves, and those living in the last days when dangers surround them and despair seizes the soul must trust in those merits for pardon with the assurance that none who do so will ever perish. His death paid the redemption price to save every soul from eternal ruin and proves the value of every soul, with people belonging to the Lord by both creation and redemption. Laying hold by faith on His merits puts heavenly resources at each person's command, and obedience brings immortal life and an imperishable treasure, while on that basis God's people can leave sin behind, look to Him as helper, and depend on His blood as the ground of salvation.
Without His sacrificial death and resurrection people would have no peace or joy but only darkness, despair, and the horrors of misery. He left the glory of heaven, lived in poverty and deep affliction, and endured the cruel shameful cross despising the shame in order to reconcile the world to Himself and to provide the joys of holiness and heaven freely, so that whoever will may come and take the water of life freely. He was sent into the world and crucified in the most cruel manner but was not left in the grave, coming up and proclaiming the resurrection over the sepulchre. He did not lose His divinity but held fast to it while living in humanity, so in Him humanity and divinity were combined as life and strength and grace through obedience, and God wants that same combination in people today. His death did not abolish God's law, for the need for Him to die for transgressors shows the law could not simply be set aside, but His death instead magnified and honored it and upheld obedience to its precepts.
The crucifixion and third-day resurrection are the plan of salvation that Satan could not hinder, yet he determines to turn them to his own advantage. He is willing for those who profess faith to believe that the laws regulating sacrifices and offerings ceased at Christ's death, if he can push them further into believing that the law of ten commandments also died with Christ. Professing belief in the crucifixion and resurrection does not by itself show a changed heart or genuine conversion, since people may accept these central doctrines while retaining idolatry and corrupting biblical teaching. After rejection, trial, and crucifixion He rose to finish His work on earth and ascended to serve as humanity's Advocate before God. Though Satan caused the Son of God to be crucified in defiance of mercy to shut out all light and communication from above, Christ rose from the grave and today lives as Advocate in the courts of heaven, reconciling sinners unto God by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and this gives Him claim to wills and affections as He calls in love and mercy for all who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him for rest under His easy yoke.
In love for fallen men He gave His life as Sacrifice to save from eternal ruin, rose again, and ascended to intercede to bring belief in Him whom the Father sent. This gospel of Christ crucified — His love, forgiveness, grace, humiliation, meekness, and lowly life of poverty to make Adam's children rich — must be presented in distinct lines with power rather than neglected, since justification by faith in living experience is the life-giving power to convert souls dead in trespasses and sins and lead them to holiness. The anointed, crucified, and risen Saviour was witnessed to by prophets and testified of by believers, and through His name people receive forgiveness of sins. His resurrection belongs with His crucifixion as the sinner's hope of unlimited pardoning power, so the cross is to be kept prominent as revealing Him who pardons sin and saves fallen humanity. Accepting Him is not a lowering of self but the highest exaltation, giving salvation and hope of heaven.
Resurrection Victory and Future Hope
He rose from the dead as a conqueror, walking forth from His prison house as a majestic conqueror whom all Satan's efforts and power could not overcome. The laying of the Lord of life in the grave gave Satan and his angels a brief, apparent triumph through their power over fallen man, but that triumph was short and was ended by His rising. By that rising He laid open a way of salvation for humanity in which whosoever will may walk and be saved, which anyone may choose to follow. His rising proves that after a season Satan must die and his kingdom pass to Jesus whose right it is.
His burial and resurrection on the third day are sacred facts: He passed through death, came out of the grave, appeared again in person, and ascended to the Father. His resurrection establishes the resurrection of the dead and the future immortal life of the righteous for those who believe in Him. His resurrection means death is not an eternal sleep, for all who believe in Him may have eternal life as part of the plan of redemption fulfilled in His being buried and raised. Those who die in Christ, live in obedience to His commandments, and honor their Creator will be raised to immortality at the last day when He comes for His people, because He was truly buried but did not remain in the grave and rose on the third day after His burial.
The verse points to a risen, living Saviour, not one still held in a tomb. As King and Lord of hosts He guards His people amid the strife of nations and their trials. He is a crucified and risen Saviour who is living now rather than a dead one to be kept ever present and mourned.
Preaching and Christian Living
The resurrection belongs at the center of the gospel the apostles were charged to proclaim as good news of salvation, and through the hope it gives they urged believers to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness, so that to neglect it is to obscure a central gospel teaching. It is one of the inspiring themes to be set before the people together with His miracles, self-denial, self-sacrifice, sufferings, crucifixion, and triumphant ascension. To exhibit Him in this way is to set forth Christ as the divine object of faith and love, awakening love and intense fervor in every heart and opening treasures of wisdom and knowledge as an inexhaustible fountain that grows greater in value the more it is sought in experience. When He is preached as the crucified and risen Saviour who gave His life on Calvary's cross, God giving His only begotten Son to save sinners and to save to the uttermost all who come to Him, and when the preacher's heart is guided by the Holy Spirit, the preaching makes a deep impression on minds, arousing hope and awakening courage and faith.
Preaching the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour gives an education in faith and experimental knowledge of the love of God and makes Jesus precious to the soul. Believing what is heard brings new conversion, freedom of soul, forgiveness of sins, and the love of Jesus in the heart. It brings tenderness of heart and contrition of spirit that make evident the work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ, with assurance of the favor of God and the indwelling peace of Christ, joy mingled with tears, and power to go forth to preach Christ as never before. What every family needs is a crucified and risen Saviour, and what young men need is to become acquainted with Him. He is to be set before the people on the platform with plain common sense and true religion, and young men are to be put into schools built on the very highest principles so their education builds up instead of destroying, for He gives heaven and eternal life, a life that measures with the life of God, received by following on to know the Lord whose goings forth are prepared as the morning.
His death for sin, resurrection, ascension, and continuing work as humanity's Intercessor are the saving truth that teachers need to learn and teach constantly to children and youth. Loyalty to Him as the crucified and risen Saviour is shown not by preaching alone but by holy living, fervent prayer, painstaking effort to discharge duty, and personal contact with people. Those who serve Him do everything possible in every way to save a soul from perdition and to build up souls just entering a new experience in truth and righteousness, seeking results and not praise. He is a living Saviour now, not one still held in death, and to keep a dead son ever present in mind while refusing to see Him displeases God, extinguishes the light God would have burning to show the beauty of His precepts, weakens physical and moral power by letting grief have control, and leaves a person under Satan's jurisdiction, whereas turning attention from the dead to the living Saviour gives resignation and peace in God by His grace.
Because He lay three days in Joseph's new tomb and then burst the fetters of the tomb and rose, triumphing over the rent sepulchre and proclaiming Himself the resurrection and the life, believers have no time to spend on the enemy's side or in the enemy's service but must be laborers together with God. Without His cruel, shameful death and resurrection humanity would know nothing but the horrors of darkness and the miseries of despair, for human sins mingled the bitter cup He drank. He left the glory of heaven, lived in poverty and deep affliction, and endured the cross despising the shame in order to reconcile the world to Himself and to provide the joys of holiness and heaven, so that whoever will may come and take the water of life freely. Looking on Him whom sins have pierced calls sinners to be willing to drink with Him the cup of humiliation and sorrow instead of seeking a better portion in this life than was given to the Redeemer.