Christ Is Risen - The Rest of The Story

While I was having lunch with my family in Pennsylvania recently, someone shared a cute email story about a father putting his son to bed.

The son said, “Dad, I’m afraid of the dark; someone bad could come in and get me.” The dad tried repeatedly to reassure his son, but to no avail. When the son would not calm down the dad said, “Son, remember Jesus is always with you. He will protect you.”

The son then retorted, “But Dad, bad men killed Jesus!”

Yes, bad men did kill Jesus (of which we are one), but that was not the end of the story.

On Easter 1993, my 11 year old son, Lance, drew the following picture while sitting in our worship service and I have kept it in my bible ever since.

Regarding the promised Messiah, King David prophesied 1,000 years before He was born about His excruciating death. “I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint…they pierced My hands and My feet…” Later, Isaiah foretold why the Savior would suffer, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But, He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

Crucifixion as a mode of torturous execution was unknown when David and Isaiah penned God’s word. But God's word is always fulfilled. Therefore, Jesus hung on a cross with pierced hands and feet and with bones out of joint. His blood flowed freely for us on Good Friday. They laid His body in a tomb and placed a huge stone to block the entrance.

But just paper has two sides, so too the death of Jesus. Here, Lance is giving us, as Paul Harvey says, “The rest of the story”.

Early, on the first day of the week, the third day after the crucifixion, the women found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Angels said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!”

“…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,… He was buried and… He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” The only scriptures in existence at the time Paul penned these words to the Corinthian church, were the Jewish Scriptures, known to us as the Old Testament.

Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him - making a way for us, His creation, to be with Him in heaven.

Jesus is the Lamb, or sin offering, slain from the foundation of the world, alive for evermore. He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, our Messiah, Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. He is our soon-coming Bridegroom, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In these uncertain days, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Him, for He is truly, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

For more study please see Psalm 22: 14-18, Isaiah 53, I Cor. 15:3-4.