Easter. He is alive again.

When pressed to give proof positive as to His identity Jesus pointed the Pharisees to the prophet Jonah.
He said, in effect,
"No matter what I do or say you won't believe Me."

He went on to say:

"There is one final sign that I will give you and that is the sign of Jonah. He was three days in the belly of the fish and I will be three days in the heart of the earth and then I will come back to life. That's my sign to you people"

Nothing has changed in 2012. People are still clamoring for proof and special signs about this and about that.
St Paul simply said:

 "Christ died for our sins, was buried and after three days rose again according to the scriptures"

I guess if the scriptures are not good enough for you concerning what happened on Easter Sunday then that's it.

But, I must add, the Bible account has been sufficient for millions of others and God will not be writing another one anytime soon.

Incidentally my grandchildren just LOVE the story of Jonah!

Jubilate.

Ian

Easter week. The empty tomb

What is it that defines Christianity from all the other religions and false hopes of the world? Simple.

An EMPTY TOMB.

Somewhere on earth the bones of Buddha are turning to dust; the tomb of Mahomet is in Mecca and Confucius has disappeared into the sands of the Gobi Desert but in Jerusalem there is an empty tomb.
Hallelujah.
The Victorians had their sceptics. Two belonged to the same gentleman's club. One was Lord Lyttleton and the other Stanley Gilbert. Both set themselves a task; Gilbert to disprove the Resurrection of Christ; Lyttleton to prove that Paul's conversion was bogus. After six months they met to discuss their findings.

Gilbert immediately confessed that he had come to believe in the gospel account of the resurrection. Lyttleton himself declared that he believed that St Paul had genuinely met Christ on the Damascus Road.

Both became committed Christians.

The narrative of Easter DEMANDS INVESTIGATION.

I challenge you this year, at the end of this series, to do your own research. Guaranteed, the evidence will deliver it's own verdict.

Jubilate.

Ian

The Stations of the cross. He descended into Hell!

In "Paradise Lost" John Milton refers to the Headquarters of Hell as the Palace of Pandemonium. A good description and well depicted here in this painting of Christ arriving in the Underworld.

Here, indeed, in another point to ponder.

If you, like many others, do not believe in the devil then we must conclude that it is his Mother that is wreaking all the havoc in the world.

The scripture admits us to deep mysteries, one of these is referred to in the Epistle to the Ephesians where Paul refers to Jesus descending into Satan's territory to "lead captivity captive" and from thence rising in triumph over Lucifer and all his horde.

To me, this truth is at the very core of the Easter message. Christ has not only died for us on the Cross but has harrowed hell and declared the devil to be an impostor and a defeated foe.

Put your signature to that and it will give you new confidence as a believer and fresh joy as a child of God.

Jubilate.

Ian

The Stations of the cross. The Body

The body of Christ was requested of Pilate by Joseph of Arimathea.

The story goes that when Pilate expressed his surprise that this Jew would donate such an expensive family tomb to Christ, he replied:

"That's O.K. He only needs it for the weekend!"

Well that's a point to ponder.

The propaganda from the Jewish authorities claimed that the body of Christ was stolen. If that was so, to quench the rumour of His resurrection, all somebody had to do was produce it.

It couldn't be done because it was still being used!

This week Pauline and I picked our grave site in a little village near Barrie. We selected plots 34 and 35 in Craighurst cemetery, with the sure knowledge that what was good for the body of Christ will be good for ours. 

We won't be needing those plots for long because we have booked a far better place somewhere else. And that's another point to ponder!

Jubilate.
Ian

The Stations of the cross. The final hours.

We have come to Station Eleven on Christ's Mission to redeem mankind.

I was mentioning today at our church service that Christ's crucifixion took from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Six hours. Six hours of work that concluded with the cry "It is Finished." Six hours that changed the course of history. Six hours that transformed the hearts of countless human beings. Six hours that altered the destiny of billions of souls, my own being one of them.

His work on the cross cannot be added to: "It is Finished".
His work on the cross cannot be diminished: "It is Finished"
His work on the cross cannot be denied: It happened.

Peter says in his epistle:

 "When Christ died He died for sin ONCE and for ALL." His work on the cross will never be repeated.

When He died it was not the paper-boy who was dying for us it was the Only Son of God.

May I suggest that you take advantage of His offer of redemption while there is still time. Tomorrow may never come. Today you can pray:

"I believe that Christ is truly the Son of God. I place my faith in Him and His finished work on Calvary. Help me to make my home in heaven, Father." Amen.

That is your ten second response to His six hours of work on your behalf.

Ian