READ IT ALOUD: He rose again the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:4b).

PONDER IT PRAYERFULLY: I was working on my computer a few days ago, listening to a documentary on TV that I thought I might find interesting, when I heard an argument that I first heard not too long ago – that Jesus did not rise again, but actually walked out of His tomb. This theory states that He did not really die – that He was just unconscious or in a coma from which He awoke the third day after His crucifixion.

Why should we find this preposterous?

Acts 1:3 rightly tells us that Christ’s resurrection was confirmed by many infallible proofs.

First of all, Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection were prophesied in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53:8-9 speaks of Jesus’ death – …for he was cut off from the land of the living… and made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. In Psalm 16:9-11, David prophetically spoke of Christ’s soul not being left in hell, but rather Jesus being shown the path of life and being set at the right hand of the Father. Many preachers see Hosea 6:1-3 as a resurrection prophecy as well.

Jesus Himself told of His resurrection: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again. (Matthew 20:18-19.) How could a man predict this? “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” He also said (John 2:19, see also vv 20-21).

But should that not be enough, the science that so many people think disputes God’s greatness actually confirms and proves it. Crucifixion is one of the most horrific forms of torture of all time. It is from the root of this word that we get the term “excruciating.”

When Mary Magdalene got to the tomb early Sunday morning, she found the stone rolled away, and she ran to tell the disciples that “they” had taken the Lord’s body away. There are religions today that believe Jesus got up and walked out of that tomb.

Is this true? We have established a few of the things Jesus went through in the previous devotion. After being scourged (until He almost fainted),slapped, pierced in the head with a crown of long, thick thorns, punctured in the hands and feet with huge, coarse nails, dehydrated, starved, hung on a cross, suffocated, and finally speared in the heart, not to mention the psychological and emotional torture as well as the spiritual torture of being forsaken by God, would someone really just “faint”? Would anyone even go into a coma? Historians say that the Roman soldiers had to make sure each crucifixion execution was complete and the victim was dead or else they could lose their own lives as a punishment. After lying in a dark tomb for three days, would any man (seeing as the Deity of Jesus is disputed by these same theorists) just get up, look around, wonder where he is, think, “Oh. A tomb,” get up, and find his way to the huge stone at the entrance?

Roman soldiers guarded the tomb with their very lives. They knew if Jesus disappeared, they would be killed. The day after Jesus was buried, the Pharisees told Pilate of Jesus’ prophecy. “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.” (see Matthew 27:63-66.)

They sealed the stone that already sealed the tomb. Two seals and armed Roman soldiers. Would this man then wake up from his coma, roll the stone away on his own, and walk out?

Many people wonder why the stone was rolled away. Jesus is God – if He rose again so powerfully, why would He need an exit to the tomb?

An angel rolled the stone away not for Christ’s sake, but for the sake of the disciples and for our own sakes, so that we would know that He is risen. Like one person said, “It was not for Jesus to get out, but for Mary and those coming to the tomb to get in.” (The stones that covered tombs were more than a ton in weight. It took many men to roll the stone away from Lazarus’ tomb – see John 11:39 – “ye” indicates Jesus is speaking to more than one person.)  Pictures and paintings depicting Jesus with one foot outside the tomb, as if He walked out, are therefore inaccurate.

Because the tomb was guarded by armed Roman soldiers, the disciples and Jesus’ followers could not steal the body; neither could any religious leader remove it from the tomb.

Only God could do this. It was a miracle, fair and square – the most amazing miracle of all time.

BE A DOER (JAMES 1:22): Dear friend, why doubt what Jesus did for you? Why not pay attention to that burning in your heart that tells you that He is speaking to you today? He did what He said He would – He gave His life, so that you would not die. He rose again and is seated on the right hand of God, and because of this, you have hope; you can have a reason to live. How difficult can your current situation be for a God who raised His Son from the dead? What miracle won’t He perform for you, if He did this so that you could have eternal life? Your problem is not too big; with God, all things are possible.

HIDE IT IN YOUR HEART (PSALM 119:11): For nothing shall be impossible with God (Luke 1:37).

PRAY IT PERSONALLY: Lord, thank You for this miracle. Thank You for the resurrection. Father, quicken those who long for life but have difficulty accepting Your love. Rescue us from the effects of today’s misleading culture. Revive the hopes and hearts of those whose candle of faith may have begun to smoulder… enlighten us in Your love; open the eyes of our understanding. Let us not be anxious about the future, but rather let us remember that all things are possible with You… in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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