Tried With Fire

Now, let it be known and understood that our faith is that those very limbs that lay stiff and cold in death, became warm with life again; that the very body with its bones, and blood, and flesh which lay there, became again instinct with life, and came forth into a glorious existence! Those hands broke the piece of honeycomb, and the fish in the presence of the disciples; and those lips partook of the same. And He held out those wounds, and said, “Reach here your finger, and put it into the print of the nails.” And He bared His side, the same side, and said, “Reach here your hand, and thrust it into My side and be not faithless, but believing.” He was no phantom, no spectra! As He Himself said, “A spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have.” He was a real man as much after the resurrection as He had been before! And He is real man in glory now, even as He was when here below! He has gone up—the cloud has received Him out of our sight. The same Christ who asked Peter, “Do you ...

 “If Christ is not risen, then is our preaching in vain, and your faith is also in vain; you are yet in your sins.” But if Christ is risen, then I know where I am. If it is really so, that He is God in human flesh—if He took my sin and bore the consequences of it, and made a clear sweep of it from before the judgement seat of the Most High—and if His rising, again, is God’s testimony that the work is done and that Christ, who stood as Substitute for me, is accepted for me, oh, hallelujah, hallelujah! What more do I need, but to praise and bless the name of Him who has saved me with an effectual salvation? Now will I work for Him! Now will I spend and be spent in His service! Now will I hate every false way, and every sin, and seek after purity and holiness, but not, in any sense, as the groundwork of my confidence! My one hope for time and eternity is JESUS, only JESUS! Jesus crucified and risen from the dead!  I do not know any passage of Scripture which, more thoroughly th...

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Job 19:25-26 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him....

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:1-3 (KJV) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Isaiah 50:6 (KJV)

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go a...

The cross is not to be thought of as an abstract idea or a religious symbol; the meaning of the cross is what God declares it to mean. The cross was the place where God, by imputation, heaped the sins of his people upon his Son. On that cross there was substitutionary, curse-bearing.  In the language of the apostle Paul, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13), and "He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). The cross is not a nebulous, indefinable symbol of self-giving love; on the contrary, the cross is the monumental display of how God can be just and still pardon guilty sinners. At the cross, God, having imputed the sins of his people to Christ, pronounces judgment upon his Son as the representative of his people. There on the cross, God pours out the vials of his wrath unmixed with mercy until his Son cries out, "My Go...

As I read John 18-21 today in preparation for Easter, these verses stood out to me in a new way: 'Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover ." John 18:28 I found it very interesting that the Jews were so careful to not defile themselves so they could eat the Passover, but they were rejecting the Lamb of God. All that the Passover was pointing to was about to be fulfilled, and they completely missed it. But before I could do any finger pointing, I recalled the words from Shai Linne's song "Were You There": "The way we treat the Lord of glory is debased and it’s foul Ashamed, I bow because I see my face in the crowd" As I considered what the Lord Jesus suffered on my behalf, I don't want to take it for granted or lose the sense of my sinfulness and complete lack of...

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ...

Bunnies are cute and make great house pets. We've had house rabbits for 7 years. However, they are not the easiest pets to have and have many unique requirements. A lot of pet stores sell baby bunnies around Easter. Sadly, people buy them on a whim and end up surrendering them to shelters when the novelty has worn off or worse, releasing them into the wild thinking they can fend for themselves. That would be like abandoning a chihuahua because its ancestor was a wolf. Don't get a bunny on a whim and consider adopting from a shelter or a rabbit rescue group rather than a pet store. Check it out first and be prepared to be a responsible pet owner and make the committment to take care of it for its lifetime. And now for our non-Easter bunnies: Big Bun is the bunny in my avatar. He came to us from a local SPCA. He is very snuggly and will let you pet him forever. Big Bun can be on the lazy side. His main activities are eating and napping. Lizzy does not approve of me disturbing ...

Because Easter is tomorrow, many folks in the blogsphere are posting hymns and scripture relating to Christ's death on the cross and resurrection. It has been very edifying for me to meditate on Christ's death and atoning work. The flip side is that there are people who take on the name of "Christian" and don't believe in the penal substitutionary death of Christ at all. That boggles my mind, and I can't wrap my brain around that one. This may be completely obvious, but I wonder if the belief that man is inherently and totally sinful goes hand in hand with believing that God is a just and holy God. It seems you can't have one without the other. If God is just, holy, and righteous as well as loving, He would not be God if He did not demand punishment for sin. He is the judge. He is the standard maker and that standard has been violated. In that case and given His absolute perfection, there is no question that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G...