He Is Risen!

Creation to Eternity - Part V - Conclusion

God - The Book Part V. Conclusion
Creation To Eternity


The Betrayal and Crucifixion Part 1.

After supper, Jesus walked to a garden called Gethsemane for a time of prayer. His disciples followed Him to this secluded place.

After His prayer, the chief priests and captains of the temple and the elders arrived there, looking for Jesus. Judas, who had just eaten with Him, was leading the group. Judas approached Jesus, greeting Him with a
kiss of betrayal.

Suddenly, Jesus identified himself to the mob by saying, "I AM."

The crowd went backwards and fell to the ground.

After that, Jesus allowed himself to be tied up and brought into the high priest's house.

The temple officers struck the blindfolded Jesus and then said, "Prophesy you holy man. Who hit you?" The temple officers who held Jesus ridiculed Him and spit in His face. And when they had blindfolded Him, they punched Him and slapped Him on the face, and then said, "Prophesy you holy man. Who hit you?"

Early the next morning, the crowd led Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this fellow corrupting our Jewish nation."

But after questioning Jesus, Pilate told the chief priests, the rulers and the people; "He has done nothing worthy of death. I'll just order Him to be beaten and then release Him."

But they called out all at once, saying, "Get rid of this man. Crucify Him. Crucify Him."

Pilate, wanting to satisfy the people, had Jesus brutally whipped, and then turned Him over to be crucified.

The soldiers pushed a crown of thorns onto Jesus' head, and then put a purple robe on Him. Mocking Him, and beating Him with their fists.
  
The Roman soldiers braided a mock crown of thorns, placing it on His head, and they put a purple robe on Him. They said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they beat Him with their fists.

Afterwards they took Jesus and led Him away, making Him carry a wooden cross up to a place called Calvary, also known as Golgotha or the place of a skull.


The Betrayal and Crucifixion Part 2


There in the same area, where many years before God had told Abraham to sacrifice his only beloved son Isaac, they nailed Jesus, God's only beloved son, to the cross.

As they did this, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they are doing."

While Jesus hung between two criminals who were also being executed, soldiers took His clothes, gambling for His robe, which fulfilled the prophetic words spoken by David.

For three hours, the people watched. The rulers with them mocked Jesus, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God ."

Then a darkness came on the land which stayed for three more hours as the prophet's words were fulfilled: "The Lord laid the sins of us all on Him."

Jesus then cried out with a loud voice, saying, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?"

Jesus, knowing that everything was now accomplished, fulfilled scripture when He said, "I thirst."

The soldiers ridiculed Jesus as they offered Him vinegar by saying, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."

Jesus tasted the vinegar, then called out, "It is finished. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Then He bowed His head, and let His spirit go.

As He died, the sun darkened and the earth quaked, and the thick veil of the Temple ripped down the middle.

Now when the Roman captain in charge saw what happened, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God."

Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two thieves who were hanging on the crosses beside Jesus.

But when the soldiers saw that Jesus was already dead, they didn't break His legs. Instead, one of them pierced His side with a spear, allowing blood and water to pour out.

All of this happened so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled: "None of His bones will be broken," and "They shall look on Him whom they pierced."

Afterwards, two believers (Joseph and Nicodemus) took Jesus' body, wound it in linen grave clothes dipped in spices, and laid His body in a tomb. Then, as requested by the Jewish leaders, the tomb was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers.


Resurrection to Eternity


Now, after three days, there was a great earthquake, and an angel of the Lord rolled back the stone from the tomb's door. In fright, the Roman soldiers trembled and then ran away. When followers of Jesus came to the tomb and saw the stone moved, they were confused.

Suddenly, two men stood by them in shining garments, saying, "Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here, He is risen. Remember how He told you before that He must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?"

Then they remembered His words.

The same day in the evening, Jesus came to the disciples and stood among them and said, "Peace to you."

But they were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a spirit.

So He said, "Look at my hands and my feet, it is really Me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones, like you see I have. Everything happened as I told you it would because all the writings that described me in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, had to be fulfilled."

Then He opened their understanding, saying, "It is written in the Scriptures that Christ must suffer and rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name
among all nations. And you have seen these things."

Jesus continued appearing to many people, showing them that He was alive, which gave infallible proof of His resurrection. And He instructed His disciples, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel."

At the end of forty days, Jesus announced to His disciples, "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall tell others about Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth."

As they watched, Jesus was taken up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. Two men in white clothing said, "Why are you standing there staring up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was just taken up into heaven, shall come back again in the same manner as you saw Him go."


Resurrection to Eternity Part 2

So the followers of Jesus went throughout the land, preaching and baptizing, telling everyone that Christ the Savior was risen from the dead. They showed in the Scriptures how by Adam came sin and death, but by Jesus Christ came forgiveness and the resurrection of the dead.

Christians, dead or alive, will one day be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
 
They told how one day all the new bodies of those who have trusted God and believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be raised from the dead and, together with those who are alive, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

God's book also says that Heaven will open, and Jesus will return to earth as the conquering King and righteous Judge.

And the name written on his clothes will be KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And the armies which are in heaven will follow him upon white horses.

Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives (just as the prophet Zechariah said), and the mountain will divide. And Christ will reign over all the earth. But when a thousand years expire, Satan will once more go out to deceive the nations, but fire will come down from God and devour those who follow Satan.

Then finally, Satan, the deceiver, will be thrown into the lake of fire and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

And then, in front of a great white throne, the dead, both small and great, will stand before God; and who ever is not found written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire.

We will all stand before God, the great white throne judgment; and who ever is not found written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire. 

But in a new heaven and a new earth, God will be with His people. And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. And there shall be no night and no need for candles, nor light from the sun; because the glory of God and the lamb will be the light; and They shall reign for ever and ever.

And the Tree of Life will be there and the curse on mankind will be gone.

Jesus says, "Let those who are thirsty come. Let them freely drink the water of life. Behold, I come quickly; blessed are they who obey My words.

He that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not be condemned; but is passed from death unto life."

This is God's Story for You.

This is God's Story for Them.

You know this story; have known it most all of your life. But what about those people that don't know it?

I fully admit that I am not the door to door kind of person. It's really not in my nature to go out and ring a stranger's doorbell and say: Can I share something with you? Two thumbs up for those that can but it just isn't me.

Still; opportunities come up everyday for each of us to share this Story ...  in Part or in Whole.

Facing an Non-Believer is a difficult task at best.

Coming from a scientific background and through the trials of a lifetime I have found that, at least for me, it is much easier to reach out to some people on a Scientific level than it is to try and reach them on a Religious level.

I want you to look at this Questionaire that I will be including in the final segment.

In fact I encourage you and want you! to feel completely comfortable to print it out in several copies and keep them on hand. The next time you are confronted with a Non-Believer just give it to them to look over at their leisure and reach their own conclusions.

At the very least you will be setting them up to do a little investigative work on their own. Supernaturally you are setting them up for the Holy Spirit to minister to them as they study these questions.

You may never know if you have reached them on some level- but you can take great comfort in knowing that you tried. Which is all that God really expects of us.

To know God's Story

To Believe it

To try and live a good life

To Share it with others.

It is my hope that while reading this you will have come to better understand Your place in the Kingdom of God. You are Important and You Matter greatly in the furtherment of spreading the Word of God.

Let our hearts join with the Heart of Jesus Christ that no man be left behind. That we will feel the pain that He feels when one leaves this planet unsaved.

Until we each, in our appointed time, unite with Our Saviour, I wish you a life filled with the Peace that surpasses all understanding!

Dr. Angel Koerner Ph.D

Dawn With Fresh Eyes

~ Maryam from Magdala ~
At the Empty Tomb...

She hasn't moved. Still she kneels in front of the tomb. And she is weeping. Not in lamentation; not in remembrance and honor for her Lord, which would have been her final act of love; but in loss. The body of Jesus is lost. Therefore, Maryam has lost her life. She has lost her way. There is absolutely nowhere to go from here. She will lie down and die before the Feast of Weeks.

A roseate light falls on Maryam's small back, which shakes with her silent sobbing. She is a slender damsel bending groundward. She is a stalk of sweet grass, bent by the jackal's paw in its passage. Her face swells; her hands are wringing themselves into a bloodless white.

A voice says, Woman? Two voices, echoing as if in a stone basilica, say: Woman? Why are you crying?

Her eyes shut tight, it seems to Maryam that the sun is bright against her face. But when she opens her eyes she finds no sun. The sun has not arisen—and when it does it will rise behind her. No, the light is playing her false: it comes from the clothing and the countenances of two men sitting inside the sepulcher, one at the head and one at the foot of Jesus's shroud. They are the ones who have spoken to her.

Slowly, Maryam rises to her feet. "O sirs," she whispers in a voice destroyed by sorrow, "because they've taken my Lord, and I don't know where they've put him."

Her eyes ache. Her sight is stunned by the angelic brilliance. Instinctively, she turns away, rubbing the water that pools in her vision—and there, in the road, she makes out the blurred figure of a man.

"Woman, why are you crying?" asks the figure, walking toward her. "Tell me: what are you looking for?"

"Him," Maryam answers. "My Lord." She begins to babble: "Are you an intendant of cemeteries? Did someone ask you to take the body out of this tomb? Did you? Did you take the body, I mean? If so, could you tell me where you put him? I'll go, and I will get him—"

But the watery figure continues to approach her until he stands but an arm's length away. He, too, is growing bright. But not like the men in the tomb. Like the morning. He is the morning itself, splendid, filling the space between heaven and earth, sparkling like stars ascending and descending on the open tomb!

O good and holy God! — who? —

Then the figure clothed in white, this man composed completely of light, speaks. He utters a single word. But in that word Maryam knows everything. She knows him; she knows herself; she knows the grace of the Father and the glory of his only begotten Son.

The Light says, Maryam.
Jesus! It's Jesus!
He calls her by name, saying, "Maryam from Magdala."
She leaps straight up and cries, "Rabboni!"

Oh, how beautiful the planes of his face! He stands with his head in the heavens, and yet he is only just her size; and he is—his rust-bright eyes and the freckles that emblazon them are—deft and dazzling and full of life.

Bolder than she has ever been, Maryam spreads her arms. She will embrace the Lord whom she loves! She will throw herself upon the neck of him for whom her face and her throat are flaming: "O my darling Teacher!"

But: "Hush," the Lord commands her. "Don't take hold of me," he says, "I haven't returned to my Father yet."

Such impetuosity, Maryam; she tells herself! You've never acted like this in front of Jesus! And on any day before she would have been terrified by such emotion; she'd have feared it was her devils returning again. But on this day, at this daybreak hour, nothing at all can trouble Maryam from Magdala. Not even the Hush! of her Lord.

Because he is alive! And so is she: alive.

And more than that, he has a job for her to do. See? Maryam has become the first servant of the newly risen Jesus. Maryam, that once bore evil spirits here and there, now bears the good news of the Lord!

For "Go to my brothers," he says. "Tell them that I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Fleet afoot is our pale, our wraithlike child! And she has torn the veil from round her face; it streams behind her as she runs. Her ankles flash like lambs on the hillside, her feet like ibex high on the mountains. And her mouth is open. And she is singing. And the song precedes her where she goes.

I have seen, sings Maryam from Magdala.

She is greater and more beautiful than the swallow now. She is the osprey, white at the throat, her bosom and abdomen snowy white: I have seen the Lord!

She is the osprey who skims the seas to wash her feet in their salty waters. And high above her, soaring on the mighty thermals, on those invisible pillars of the dome of the universe, flies the eagle.

I've seen the Lord! I've heard his voice! Attend his word, O nations, And rejoice!

Faith Awaiting a Dawn...

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed." John 20:1-8

I am so glad God put a Sunday in each week, because the first day of the week is that routine reminder that we especially notice: Jesus rose from the dead on the first Sunday after Passover ... and nothing has been the same since!

Dawn burst through the power of darkness on that Sunday morning!

This simple recounting of part of the resurrection story is precious for me because it talks about the events of that first Sunday that forever changed all Sundays that have followed. Two simple things stand out for me in these few verses.

First, Jesus is dead and buried. In every way common to mortals, hope is lost ... the future is destroyed ... and the past three years of relationship with someone Mary has called "Jesus" is wasted. Yet Mary, in a tenacious love filled with unconscious anticipation, refers to Jesus as "Lord." She clearly does not know that He is raised from the dead - she thinks someone has stolen his body. "Lord!" Her name will be Jesus' identity because of what has happened. Mary had faith that was just awaiting a dawn. That dawn burst through the power of darkness on that Sunday morning!

Second, the mysterious "disciple whom Jesus loved" races to the tomb to see if the Lord's body is stolen. While he outran Peter to the tomb, his thoughtfulness gave him pause while Peter rushed inside. As the beloved disciple saw the abandoned death shroud that once held Jesus' lifeless body, he slowly entered the now unneeded tomb, saw the truth, and believed. He had faith that was just awaiting a dawn. That dawn burst upon him as he saw the remnants of death's grip left behind by the risen Lord.

"The gospel of God ... regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord" Romans 1:1-4

Though another Easter has come and gone; I pray that God will bless you so that your faith may see God's dawn with fresh eyes!

HE HAS RISEN!

                     ~ An Easter Card For My Beloved Lord ~


HE HAS RISEN! CHRIST HAS RISEN!

"O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?  O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY"?
1 CORINTHIANS 15:55

"FOR IF WE HAVE BEEN PLANTED TOGETHER IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH WE SHALL ALSO BE IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION".
ROMANS 6:5

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life".
Romans 5:10

"Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth".
1 CORINTHIANS 5:7-8

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me".
Galatians 2:20

"GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS FROM YOUR EYES; AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH, NEITHER SORROW, NOR CRYING NEITHER SHALL THERE BE ANY MORE PAIN: FOR THE FORMER THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY".
REVELATION 21:4


HE HAS RISEN!
CHRIST HAS RISEN!
My REDEEMER LIVES!



The Resurrection

Jesus' Resurrection was already causing a great stir in Jerusalem. A group of women were moving quickly through the streets, looking for the disciples to tell them the amazing news that Jesus was alive!

Matthew 28:5-8
Then the angel spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you." 

The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel's message. At the same time, a group of religious leaders were plotting how to cover up the resurrection.

Matthew 28:11-15
As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. They told the soldiers, "You must say, `Jesus' disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.' If the governor hears about it, we'll stand up for you so you won't get in trouble."

Today, this is still why the Jews refuse to believe that Jesus Christ was the chosen Messiah. They listen to the lies that Jesus' body had been stolen and not resurrected. There is still a great stir over the Resurrection, and there are still only two choices: to believe that Jesus rose from the dead and lives today, or to be closed to the truth- denying it, ignoring it, or trying to explain it away. But the "fact' is  - Jesus rose from the dead and He is alive today!

On Easter morning as I awake,
I recall memories that make me quake.
For long ago on Calvary
My Jesus died to set me free.

I'll never really understand
Why God made such a wondrous plan,
That when we saw a humble man,
Jesus fulfilled God's perfect plan.

The crown of thorns upon His head,
The blood that for my soul He shed.
The cries of pain and agony,
It was all to set this captive free.

In life and death He bore my pain,
To make a way that life I'd gain.
And when He comes for us again,
The plan of God will be made plain.

Those nail-scarred hands and feet
Were all for us to stop defeat.
For now our soul can soar with Him.
The final victory we will win.

My eyes will I lift to heaven above
To catch a glimpse of God's divine love.
For He was the dove, pure white like snow.
Our flight will end in heaven I know.