Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Thursday, June 6, 2013

We Have Seen the Lord!

Thursday, June 06, 2013, 10:45 a.m. – the song “Come and See” has been playing in my mind for a while now. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read John 20 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020&version=NIV

Both Were Running

Jesus Christ, God the Son, was betrayed by one of his twelve disciples, denied three times by another, and deserted by all. He was arrested falsely, given a mock trial in a kangaroo court, scourged, and then hung on a cross to die as a common criminal although he had done no wrong. When he died, he took upon himself the sins of the entire world, crucifying and burying them with him. Through his death and resurrection he conquered hell, death, Satan and sin so that we could go free from slavery to sin and free from eternity in hell.

When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, the angel of God rolled the stone away from the tomb. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early Sunday morning while it was still dark, and she saw the stone had been removed from the entrance. She came running to Peter and John and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and John ran to the tomb, and one by one they entered the tomb and saw the strips of linen lying there, but Jesus was gone. John went inside the tomb, saw, and he believed. “Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.”

Why are You Crying?

Mary didn’t leave, though. She stood there crying. She was brokenhearted because her Lord was gone and she didn’t know where they put him. Suddenly two angels appeared. They were seated where Jesus’ body had been. They asked her why she was crying, so she told them. Then, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t recognize him. He, as well, asked her why she was crying. She thought he was a gardener, so she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus then said to her, “Mary.” “She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’).”

I have to tell you here that when I read this account of Jesus’ resurrection this time through that I was deeply moved emotionally by the love Mary and the disciples had for Jesus, but especially I empathized with Mary. Even though Jesus had died, and he was no longer with them, still there was a warm affection and close relationship that had developed between the Lord and his followers, so the thought that someone might have stolen his body greatly troubled Mary. There, perhaps, was some sense of security just in knowing he was in that grave, even though it was just his body. And, perhaps it is because I’m a woman that I identify with Mary so much. Sometimes I get troubled when things just aren’t right. It is usually when I am really tired or I have overdone it. I was there last night and some again today. I’m sure Mary’s emotions were raw right then, because Jesus was missing.

I was also emotionally moved by Jesus’ approach with Mary. He was so gentle with her. I feel that from him, too. He understands why I’m crying more than I do myself. He knew why Mary was crying, too. He didn’t ask her because he didn’t know, but because he wanted her to voice to him what was going on inside her heart so that she would look up and see her Lord standing there and recognize that he was right there all along in all of her troubles. Sometimes we just get overwhelmed by what we’re going through so much that we just can’t see Jesus, so we need to call out to him in our sadness and pain and invite him into our situations, and then he’ll reveal himself to us, and then we’ll realize he was there all along, even though we didn’t see him. When he said her name, I cried, because I felt with her the joy she must have felt at that moment to see her Lord alive and standing there. And, that’s how I get, too, when I see the Lord revealed in my life’s situations.

Go and Tell

I love how Jesus treated (and treats) women. That was a time in history when women were not given the honor and distinctions that many women are given today. Jesus was so compassionate and gentle with her. He allowed her to express how she felt without shutting her down emotionally. Not only that, but he honored her by allowing her to be the first to see him resurrected from the grave, and by giving her the privilege of being the first to go and tell the good news that Jesus was alive! Not only that, but she was to announce this to men. Jesus will use us even when humans (even those within the church) toss us aside. He sees what people don’t see. He saw Mary’s heart, and he knew she could be trusted with the good news, and that she would go and tell the disciples exactly what he told her to say.

Again, I identify with Mary. She did exactly as her Lord had commanded her to do without reservation. She may have gone “trembling in her boots,” so to speak, but she went out of obedience to her Lord and out of her love for him and in her excitement at seeing him alive. She told the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” Awesome! Shouldn’t this be the testimony of each one of us? Shouldn’t we run to tell others about Jesus and exclaim to them, “I have seen the Lord!”? We haven’t seen him physically as she did, but if we have accepted his invitation to make him Lord and Savior of our lives, we have seen him in what he does in and through our lives each day, and in the transformation he brought about in our hearts, and in how we can sense his presence with us and can hear his voice speaking gently to us. Jesus told his disciples that as the Father had sent him, so is he sending them (us).

Peace, not Fear

The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders after they saw what they did to Jesus, so when they were together, they locked the doors. Sunday evening “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” I am certain they must have felt some amount of fear, too, when Jesus suddenly was among them. He was basically telling them not to fear, and then he showed them his hands and his side. “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” Can you even begin to imagine this scene? Their Lord had just been killed in a horrible way, then his body went missing, and then suddenly he was there among them and alive, and speaking to them. I can imagine quite a mixture of emotions might have swept through their beings – from fear, to confusion, to wonderment, to relief, and then to crying tears of joy that they had been reunited with their Lord!

Thomas was not there for this reunion, though, so when the other disciples saw him they said, “We have seen the Lord!” Yet, Thomas doubted. He refused to believe unless he saw with his own eyes the nail marks in his hands and until he could put his finger where the nails were, and put his hand into his side. And, the Lord Jesus gave him that opportunity, too. Jesus told him, “Stop doubting and believe.” And Thomas did believe. Doesn’t Jesus still say that to us sometimes when we get all troubled about things and we start to worry? Yet, I sense a gentleness in his voice as he was so patient with Thomas by allowing him to touch his side and the nail prints in his hands. Oh, if we could all learn to be so gentle with one another! And, if we could all believe without doubting, that would be awesome, too!

Yet, the Lord added a word of admonishment and encouragement, too. He told Thomas that he believed because he saw the Lord, but blessed are those who have not seen the Lord physically and yet they (we) believe. By believing we have life in his name. And yet, though believing, we will not always see the Lord in our situations intellectually or emotionally, and sometimes we just won’t even feel him there, but that is where faith comes in to play. We need to believe even when we can’t see God working. We just need to trust that he is, and that he knows exactly what is going on, and he has a plan, and a purpose, and if we just trust in him, we will have peace. He will work it all out according to his plan.

Do Not Fear / An Original Work / June 2, 2013

Based off John 14

Do not let your hearts fear.
Trust in God. Trust in Christ.
“In My house you will find
Many rooms I have
Prepared for you,
And I will come back
And take you to heav’n.”

“I will take you to be with Me;
You’ll be where I am.”

“I am the way and
The truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father,
Except he comes through Me,
So put your faith in Me,
And do all of what I command.”

“Whoever has My commands
And obeys them loves Me.”

“I did not leave you as orphans.
I sent you the Counselor;
The Holy Spirit to live in you.
He teaches you all things,
And He reminds you of Me.”

“My peace I give to you,
So do not fear, trust in Me.”



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