Last week we talked about the power of the
resurrection. Jesus’ beating and death would have little meaning without
His resurrection. The resurrection is the power over the grave – power
over death.
The
religious leaders of the day were worried that Jesus’ disciples would
come in the middle of the night to steal His body in order to perpetuate
the story that He had been raised from the dead. So they assigned Roman
soldiers to guard the tomb. An angel appeared and rolled away the
stone. The soldiers were so frightened they passed out and eventually
ran to the priests to tell them what happened.
Two
women come to the tomb and are the first to hear the Good News. Then
Jesus appears to them and tells them to go tell the others. So, I guess
this means that women were the first evangelists J.
When
the priests hear the report from the soldiers they are worried. They
give the soldiers a lot of money to keep their mouths shut and to help
spread the lie that the disciples took the body. You see, whenever God
does a miracle, the enemy likes to come and immediately cast doubt and
offer an “alternative” explanation. When you know you have received
something from God, you can know that the enemy’s attempt to get you to
doubt anything happened is actually confirmation of what happened!
A
short time later, Jesus comes to His disciples. Among them is Thomas,
who had told the others that he would not believe unless he saw and
touched the wounds. Jesus immediately addresses him and allows him to
touch the wounds. Thomas then believes.
Jesus
next words are for all of us. He says that those who will believe
without seeing are blessed. That is us. We, who choose to believe in
Him, though we have not actually seen or been offered incontrovertible
physical evidence, are blessed.
Choose to believe in who Jesus is and what He did for you out of His pure love and you will begin to live in His blessing.
