The Easter Season: The Showbread of Jesus

“When Jesus was at the table with them, he took bread and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus; and he vanished from their sight” Lk: 24:30-31

On the Evening of that first Easter when the two Disciples of Jesus, Cleopas and the other,  were walking  on the road to the village of Emmaus which sat about seven miles northwest from the Holy city of Jerusalem.

“Now that same day two of the Disciples were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem” Lk: 24:13

Jesus Comes in Uncertainty

The Disciples discussed the events which they had been a part of over the last three years , but especially over the last week ,wherein they had thought that their Teacher Jesus of Nazareth  was entering Jerusalem to become the promised king of Israel, but all of the hopes which they had vested in Jesus were seemly shattered in but a matter of less than twenty-four hours with the arrest, mock trial convened by the religious leaders and then Jesus was given over to the hands of the Roman’s to be put to death upon a cross and they thought was now dead and in the Tomb.

“we had hoped that Jesus  was the one who would redeem Israel”(21a)

They Disciples were joined on the road to Emmaus by a stranger whose words had stirred their hearts.  Due to this Stranger words the two had hoped that the one who had walked along with them would at least come into the inn were they had planned to stay and eat with them. 

They found this stranger’s words regarding the Messiah and his work so compelling and moving that the two wanted him to remain with them and have this inspiring stranger to stay with them and speak more of his powerful insights into the Sacred Scriptures about the Messiah.

“But beginning with Moses and all the prophets Jesus open the Scriptures to them regarding the things which were to happen to him” (27)

Unknown to the Disciples was that this unrecognized stranger who spoke such profound things out of the Word of God was their very own Lord and teacher Jesus, yet he went unrecognized by them both.

The very Jesus who offered so much promise to them and raised their hopes that he was the long awaited Messiah. As Jesus walked along with them and spoke to them regarding the things of God, causing their hearts to burn with the fire of truth instinctively knowing the strangers words were correct but even in his words, even as Jesus spoke to them he went unrecognized by the pair of Disciples. 

When the three arrive at Emmaus, Jesus acts as through he was going to continue on his journey alone, but the two Disciples ask him to come stay and eat with them.

“When they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus walked ahead of them as if he was going on” (28)

The two Disciples, seeing that Jesus was walking on as if to depart from them, then urged their unrecognized Lord, to stay and eat with them. Jesus accommodates the pair and enters the inn with them.

“But they urged him strongly saying “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is almost spent.” So Jesus went in and stayed with them” (19)

 Later on, after their realization and encounter with Jesus, the two would comment on the words which their unrecognized Lord spoke to them, “did not our hearts burn within us burn within us while he spoke to us regarding the Scriptures” (32)

Revealed at the Table

As the three arrive at the inn at the village of Emmaus, Jesus momentarily walks on, as if, to continue on his journey alone, but the two Disciples, still with the flame of truth ignited within them asked Jesus to stay and to join them.

“ they urged him strongly”.

When the three enter the establishment, they are then gather at a table, and it is here, as they come together at the table with Jesus, that he assumes the  role as the table host  to reveal to the Disciples that it is he himself who was with them on the journey to Emmaus. Jesus does this through a simple yet powerful way.

Jesus assumes the role as the table host and then takes some bread, blesses it and breaks it, then presents the portions to the both of them.

“When Jesus was with them at the table, he took bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.” (30)

As the two men accept the offered bread.  The astonished Disciples then receive the revelation of who it is that is, and was that is with them. Jesus is now made known to them, their eyes are now opened and they see that it is Jesus who gives them the bread. In the sharing of the table bread there at Emmaus, they recognize Jesus, he is shown to be he himself; alive from the dead.

“Then their eyes were opened; and they recognized Jesus” (31a)

It is then, that their Lord vanishes from their sight but only after “they recognized Jesus” through the presentation of the table bread.

“and he vanished from their sight” (31b)

 The Showbread or Presence  

As Jesus “vanished from their sight” the two Disciples are left holding the bread that remains, which Jesus gave to them as evidence of Jesus himself being with them. The bread remained there with them and was in their hands and upon the table around which they were gathered with the risen Lord.

This bread which remained which was given to the Disciples reveals a powerful truth.  Jesus has given us, his Disciples, there at the inn at Emmaus, and throughout the ages, bread from his very own table as the evidence that he has risen from the dead and he himself is among us.

St. Luke’s accounts gives us the careful wording that Jesus had only “vanished out of their sight”, St. Luke does not say that the Lord has departed from them. The bread which was given them, and now was in their hands, speaks of this glorious truth and was the evidence of Jesus risen life.

That very same Jesus is still there with the Disciples, even though he is unseen by earthly eyes, and still at the table of which he assumed the role of table host through his blessing and presentation of the bread to the Disciples.

The bread which remained in the Disciples hands and that, harkens back to the Table of the Showbread or Bread of Presence which was found within the Wilderness Tabernacle and then latter in the Temple of God at Jerusalem. Ex: 25:30, Lev: 24:5-9.

This Showbread or Bread of Presence was only for the Priest of the Lord God, and was the Earthly evidence within the Sanctuary that their God was present with and among them. This Showbread was given to the Priest to eat as an ongoing symbol of the communion between Israel and their God.

The Bread of the Lord’s Table  

The truth of the abiding presences of our Lord Jesus is demonstrated and presented to his Disciples as the evidence of the eternal  presences of our risen Lord within the Sanctuary of the Church, that is, we are given, by our Lord the Bread of Communion, which remains with us to convey to each and all his Disciples whenever we share in the  Holy Sacrament of Eucharist,   that our Lord Jesus, though “vanished” from our earthy sight, is yet with us;  and it is through the breaking of the bread, the Communion,  that Jesus reveals himself to us as our “eyes are opened” and is  recognized by us and is seen by the eyes of faith.

This was the purpose for which Jesus assumed the role as the host of the table and “took bread and broke it and gave it to them” so that they might recognize Jesus, that is see, him as who he is, the eternal Son of God incarnate who went to the cross died is risen from the dead and now is alive and with us forevermore.

Each time we share in the bread of the Lord’s Table, Jesus as the true host, blesses the Communion Bread breaks it and gives it to us all so that we might “recognize “ him and know that he presence is with us. This a central focus of the sharing of the Eucharistic Sacrament, in it Jesus is revealing himself to us and telling us that he is here with us.

I Am With You

Even some of Jesus’ parting words which he declared to his Disciples just before his ascension into the Heavens confirms that he will be with his Disciples even until the very end.

“I am with you always even until the end of the world” Matt: 28:20

Jesus Reveals Himself

Jesus’ Disciples have this ongoing assurance and affirmation from our Lord of his abiding presence each time we receive from Jesus our table host, the glorious Sacrament of Communion, the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper however our particular Church culture refers to this Holy Sacrament.

Our Lord Jesus invites us each and all to come and share the bread of his table that we like the Priest of God who ministered in the Temple were given to eat to eat of the Showbread that represented the presences of the Lord God among the people of Israel. 1Pet:2:9, Rev: 5:10

Each time our Lord Jesus invites us to his table we are strengthen in our fellowship and given the deeper revelation who Jesus is and the assurance that he is with us. That he has died and has risen again.

In Reembraced

St. Paul speaks of this truth in his first Epistle to the Christian Church at Corinth Greece. St. Paul begins by quoting the words of our Lord Jesus who as the table host, took the Old Covenant Passover and through his own self made it new and transposed it into the New Covenant Sacrament of the Communion.

 “For I received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said “Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me” In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”1Cor:11:23-25

This remembrance which Jesus spoke of, is not only the recalling of an event which took place long ago surrounding the death of our Lord and his glorious resurrection, but rather, it is the ongoing awareness in continuous reembrace, that means that these things are always and ever in the uppermost parts of our thinking and shaping how we live in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus and his presence in our lives and into his grace.

It is true, that our Lord speaks of the Communion as being taken to “proclaim his death”, but this truth would have no relevance nor this Sacrament would have no power to transform us or to reveal to us our Lord without Jesus’ resurrection on that Easter morning.

This Sacrament’s power is only found in the resurrected life of Jesus himself; apart from his resurrection it would be only an empty ritual to commemorate the death of a Rabbi from Galilee who angered the religious establishment of his day a little over two thousand years ago.

As St. Paul wrote “if Christ be not raised we are above all people the most miserable.”

We can praise our Lord Jesus and thank him that he as the table host has invited us all to his table where we share in the bread he gives to us so that each time come to recognize him and know that he is ever with us that though he be “vanished from sight” through the bread which remains we have assurance of his abiding presence. This is a lesson of the Easter Season.

Benediction: May we each and all, come to recognize and have an ongoing revelation of the abiding presence of our risen Lord Jesus Christ today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor   

The Fountain of life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion 2101 Old National Pike.  Washington, Pennsylvania, 15301   

  www.gcfountainoflife.org

The Fountain of Life is heard on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM in the Arden Fair Grounds area of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela, Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com

You can follow the Fountain of Life on Face Book - Click on our Face Book link : https://www.facebook.com/Fountain-of-Life-Church-349595355088375/

Easter: So I Send You

“Again Jesus said to them “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me so I send you. Then Jesus breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Jhn: 20:21-22.

The First Sunday after Easter is called by many Christians Thomas Sunday, for on that Easter day when Jesus showed himself alive to his astonished Disciples, St. Thomas was not present. This is not a condemnation of St. Thomas, rather is symbolic showing us the great Commission which the Lord Jesus has placed upon all Christians in every and in all ages.  

After that glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus and the showing of himself alive to his Disciples on that first Easter evening. After our Lord, through the showing of his hands, feet and wounded side, demonstrated unquestionably to be that very same Jesus who they had known for so long, who taught them and showed them the glories of the Kingdom of God, after he was witnessed by the Disciples to be his very self and declared peace upon and to them, he came again this time to reveal the very mission of their, and all followers of our Lord, lives individually and collectively.

St. John records the words of our Lord at his first post-Resurrection manifestation on that First Easter to the assembled Disciples there in that Upper Room.

“and Jesus came and stood among them and said “Peace be to you”Jhn:20:19c

Our Lord then makes an important and highly symbolic gesture toward those amazed Disciples, and accompanies it with his intent and reassurance to them, and all his followers, the Church,  throughout the ages, and reveals his purpose for coming and giving them the conformation of his Resurrection, which confirms his words, and verifies Jesus’ divine identity.    

So I Send You

In St. John’s narrative he tells us of this moment, a moment which in truth transcends itself and speaks to us all and in every age in which we live. This moment is for us all who come to see, to believe in Jesus, that is, he has revealed himself to us, as having come again from the grip of death and now lives in glory. That, very Jesus has stood before us and declared his peace to us and showed us his wounds of the Crucifixion and death.

We have come to believe and to have experienced the reality of his risen life, we have seen that Jesus who was dead is alive now for evermore.

After our Lord conclusively proved that it was he, Jesus then again spoke his peace to them and reveals his purpose for them and his sure affirmation of his divine assistance and presence in the fulfilling of their heavenly appoint commission.

“Again Jesus said to them “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me so I send you. Then Jesus breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit”. (21-22)

Jesus gives the Disciples his purpose in the revealing of himself alive from the grip of death.

“as the Father has sent me so I send you”(21b)

 Jesus has revealed himself so that they, and Disciples throughout the ages, the Church, might have the godly confidence that Jesus is alive, as they, and we, enter into his divine undertaking.

“Peace be with you” (21a)

 And by way of the agency of the Holy Spirit Jesus is with them, and we, and will empower his Disciples to accomplish his work entrusted to them, in the very same manner as he was in his time upon the Earth, and that they might deeply know that words, the Gospel message about Jesus, which they proclaim to the yet unbelieving, world is true.

“receive you the Holy Spirit” (22b)

Jesus’ peace abides with they, and we all when we face opposition, and that the Disciples of the Lord can know that the ultimate outcome will be for their good, and that the yet unbelieving world can experience the salvation wrought by Jesus for us all, and that our Lord and God will be glorified. 

We, like they, who have touched the wounds in his hands feet and side and have seen Jesus alive from the dead so-to-speak, are to go forth without fear and witness the truth that we have seen Jesus alive from the dead even as those Disciples did so long ago.

St. Thomas Not There

Now, it had been, when our Lord Jesus came and stood among them there even as they hid in fear behind closed doors on that first Easter evening, one of their company, St. Thomas, was not present and did not witness that glorious revealing of our Lord Jesus’ Holy self to his beloved followers.

‘But Thomas (called the twin) one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came” (24)

When St. Thomas rejoins the group in the Upper Room, the other Disciples were unable to contain their joy at now knowing that their Lord and friend Jesus was now come again from the cold darkness of the grave and death and that he has come among them.

“the other Disciples told Thomas, “we have seen the Lord” (25a)

Unless I See the Wounds

When the joyful Disciples relay to St. Thomas the message that they have “seen the Lord”, that is, they have first had witnessed the truth of his glorious Resurrection, that Jesus is risen from the dead, that Jesus lives.

When St. Thomas first hears this glorious report of Jesus’ Resurrection, he is, at first, hesitant to believe it on face value of the Disciples word alone. St. Thomas has not yet experienced Jesus’ Resurrected life for himself, St. Thomas wants his own experience with the living Jesus.

“But Thomas said to them “Unless I see the wounds left by the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds of the nails , and put my hand into the wound of his side, I will not believe”(25)

Jesus Among Them

The week now passes until once again as they gather together in that Upper Room, and all are now present, including St. Thomas and is still set on his hesitation to embrace the truth that his fellow Disciples have experienced.   

Then upon first day of the week, one week after that first Easter, in the midst of the gathering of the Disciples, our Lord manifest himself to them even as they were behind a closed door and stands among them.

Again joyfully startled by the sudden appearance of Jesus, he then declares again his peace upon his Disciples to calm their fears and uncertainties.

“a week later his Disciples were  again in the house and Thomas was with them. And although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them “Peace be with you” (26)

Put Your Finger Here

Jesus then gently and graciously deals with his hesitant friend and Disciple St. Thomas who stand among them seeing now the divine truth of the Resurrected Jesus. Jesus does this by giving St. Thomas what he himself stated that he would require to believe the others Disciples report about Jesus.

 St. Thomas wanted to see that the one who the Disciples spoke about as alive was the very same one who had been crucified the evidence would be the wounds inflicted by the cruel and bitter death by which St. Thomas knew Jesus had experienced, as St. Thomas had said “Unless I see the wounds left by the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds of the nails, and put my hand into the wound of his side, I will not believe”.

Jesus accommodates his hesitant Disciple, not, to in any way, to shame, berate or humiliate St. Thomas or to dismiss him in anyway, but rather, Jesus is motivated only by the divine Holy love of God which he demonstrated, there upon the cross of Calvary for all humanity.

Jesus himself provides the evidence of which turns St. Thomas’ hesitation into glorious certainty and worship and confession of the Holy truth that Jesus is Resurrected and now lives glorified.

Jesus approaches St. Thomas and extends his wounded hands and offers his wounded side to show his Disciple that the ones who lives is the very some who died there upon the bloody Cross that Good Friday.

“Then Jesus said to Thomas “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out and put it in my side. Believe and do not doubt.” (27)

When presented with the truth shown to him by Jesus himself, St. Thomas filled with the secure knowledge that his Lord and friend lives and is now found among them, he responds with his confession which echoes in all of time and eternity.

“And Thomas answered Jesus “My Lord and my God” (28)

We Have Seen the Lord

Recall at the very onset of St. John’s account the risen Lord Jesus comes and stands among them and tells the assembled Disciples that he is come to them showing himself to be Resurrected and that he is placing upon them a Holy calling sending his empowered Disciples forth and in so doing he is them into participation into the calling which his Holy Father placed upon his divine Son, “as the Father has sent me so I send you”.

What is the very heart of message that we, like the Disciples, are sent forth to proclaim to all around us for which our Lord has given to us? The answer is found in the report given to St. Thomas by the other Disciples. What was the focus of the report to the then absent St. Thomas when he rejoined the assembled Disciples at a later time?

“We have seen the Lord”.

This is the very heart of the message, the good news, the Gospel which they shared with St. Thomas. This has been the message throughout the ages, which the Disciples of Jesus are to give to the hesitant world around us, that “we have seen the Lord”, maybe not with eyes of our sight but surely with the eyes of the Spirit and our hearts. This is the very same message which was given to St. Thomas and for which we are sent into the broader community of the world.

 Our risen Lord has “breathed on” us as he did the Disciples gathered in that Upper Room, giving us the Holy Spirit and Jesus then sends us forth into the ends of the Earth to tell others that Jesus is risen from the dead, “that we have seen the Lord” even if they, like St. Thomas initially is hesitant to believe it.

We, his Disciples, the followers of the Lord are, each time we gather together or in our private times of worship and prayer, handling the risen Lord, touching his wounds. St. John was recalling the moments when our Lord had shown himself alive to his followers, when the aged Apostle wrote his fist General Epistle to Christians around 85AD.

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life” 1Jhn:1:4

St. John then proceeds to tell us why and the other Apostles shared their experiences with the Resurrected Jesus through the Gospel message which they proclaimed over Erath and down through the centuries.

“and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us-what we have seen, and heard we also proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ” (2-3)

 What St. John is telling all believers is, that he and the other Disciples “have seen the Lord” and they are telling us about it so that we might share in the experiences, that is, we will have fellowship, that is we like they, can look upon and handle the wounds and know that Jesus lives and is come from the dead. That one who eternally stands before us is the one who laid within the tomb.  That Jesus has “tasted death for all”, as Hebrews tells us.

My Lord and My God

We, the Disciples of the Lord, the Church, are to continually come together where, our Lord is even now manifesting himself to us in the midst of the assembled Church. Jesus does this to give us ongoing confirmation that he is among us and that he lives. This is so that when we assemble we find our Lord always there among us declaring “Peace be with you”.  We can be at peace because he lives, Jesus shows us his wounds which are the eternal evidence that Jesus is, as St. Paul would write.

“Is our Peace”.Eph:2:14

And Jesus’ wounds which he holds forth for our inspection are that eternal evidences of this divine truth and reveal to us all for time and eternity that one very one who stands before us alive is the very same one who died and entered into death for us all.

It was his wounds offered to St. Thomas which proved to the hesitant Disciple that it was Jesus himself. St. Thomas wanted to believe, but he wanted his own experience with Jesus which our Lord graciously gave to him. This is an important lesson for all Disciples of the Lord, especially to those who are ordained to proclaim the Gospel to consider, that we, like the Disciples who encountered Jesus among them and told absent St. Thomas about the encounter could not make St. Thomas believe the report, it would require Jesus himself to graciously show the hesitant in the world around us that he lives. We can only speak about as St. John wrote: “what we have seen, and heard we also proclaim to you”, to the St.Thomases in the world around us but only the Lord Jesus can through the Holy Spirit show them his wounds and they believe and worship Jesus.

We are called and given the certainty that our Lord Jesus has risen from the dead and sent forth into the world to proclaim to all the Holy truth that “we have seen the Lord”  so that all might join in fellowship of the risen Lord and share is the confession of  St. Thomas “My Lord and My God”.

This is a lesson of the Season of Easter that we are sent forth by our Lord to declear that he lives.

Benediction: May we each and all ever look upon the wounds of our Lord Jesus who shows himself alive risen from the dead, that we might forever declare that “we have seen the Lord” so that all around us might join in the confession of St. Thomas “My Lord and My God”, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor   

The Fountain of life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion 2101 Old National Pike.  Washington, Pennsylvania, 15301   

  www.gcfountainoflife.org

The Fountain of Life is heard on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM in the Arden Fair Grounds area of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela, Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com

You can follow the Fountain of Life on Face Book - Click on our Face Book link : https://www.facebook.com/Fountain-of-Life-Church-349595355088375/

Easter: I AM the Resurrection

"I AM the Resurrection"

The resurrection of Jesus is the central event in all of history. Nothing can compare with it, it is an event as no other. It speaks to us regarding the faithfulness of our God and his eternal love and desire for each and all of us.

The resurrection is the moment when our Creator , who in the person of Jesus, entered into the depths of the most helpless of conditions, that of death itself , and came forth again.

Death, the grave, the very absents of life, that place which is far beyond hope, when all is lost, it is from such a place that our Lord Jesus Christ descended and from which he came forth to great glory.

Our Lord Jesus entered that place where all humanity would have been destined to find itself. Yet , our God in his divine providence,  did not create us for death, but for life, and not just life which arises but for a moment then passes away, no our loving God created us to have life eternally within  deep communion with himself.

Jesus came and walked the Earth, he accepted the lowly place  as a Son of Man to show us that he is the Son of God ,  that he wants us to know him and Jesus as the very self of God, revealed himself to us through Jesus.

Jesus gave us the most perfect clearest revelation of the great God which could possibly be conveyed to us. Jesus did not just tells us about God he showed us about God. In Jesus we see the glorious love of the Father and the divine working of the Holy Spirit all through the Son. In Jesus all of the Holy Trinity is brought into perfect view.

Jesus moved among the people seeing their suffering and life’s struggles. Jesus witness the full spectrum of the human condition, whatever we might face in this life Jesus either witnessed or he himself experienced.

Jesus saw the helplessness and the seemingly futile condition of humanity and spoke to them of a sure hope that their God had not abandoned them. He healed them, comforted them and encouraged them about the future that ultimately good would prevail, not through human efforts and plans of humanity, but through the divine intervention of God himself. Even as Jesus spoke of these things, he embodied them, Jesus was and is the true and only hope of humanity.

This very one who came as the perfect expression of the love of God, the one who did no harm to any however was not exempt for the injustice and violence of the world driven by a lust for power and prominence over the lives of others. Jesus was wrongfully and illegally arrested under Jewish law and tried under false accusations and false pretenses by the very ones who were charged to prevent just such a thing from ever taking place.

Jesus, though he faced great pressures from all directions, spiritual, instructional and political  Jesus kept his peace and was for the most part silent knowing that even now in the midst of all the wrong being perpetrated against him that his Father’s will was unfolding .

Jesus was standing in all of our places. He was suffering for us and with us identifying himself with us, so that we might find our identifying with him.

Though Jesus being fully God, he yet subjected himself to the will of the Father no matter the outcome of the unfolding events. Jesus knew that his Father was faithful and would not allow him to be lost to the grip of death and through his resurrection we can know that God will be faithful to us.

Jesus was not just scarifying himself there, that day, but rather Jesus’s whole life was based upon sacrifice to the will of God. Jesus sacrificed himself his whole life, his whole life. All his life, all his life. In many ways the cross was the logical conclusion to a life entirely scarified to the perfect will of God. This means that Jesus sacrificed his “self”.

Jesus accepted the place, of the lowest status and was condemned to die. He took on the weight of the cross, a weight which would have been justly placed upon our own shoulders, but Jesus willingly took it on for each and all of us so that we might not have to.

  

The Good Shepherd Jesus laid down his life for the flock of humanity .He did so to show us the love of God, to show us how far our God would go just have us with him even unto death. God was saying to us all that he loves us more than he loves himself.

 The cross of Jesus there upon Calvary, was not in truth directed toward God as a legal appeasement of some law, but rather is directed to all humanity as a demonstration of God’s divine love, grace, forgiveness and so much more.

The cross of  Jesus is there that we might look upon it and know that God has removed any and all things which would separate him and humanity, that none need not be excluded for entering eternal life, which is a relationship with God and one another all through Jesus.  The cross takes away all of our excuses from being left out. We may look at the cross and know that upon it that manifested work of our salvation was finished.

Jesus as all humanity must went to the darkness of the grave and closed in by the stone. From all human vantage points Jesus and movement which he began was now over, that it would be forgotten and passes into nothingness.

Out of this place of death and hopelessness however the Spirit of God moved and the one great enemy of all humanity, that of death was defeated in and by Jesus. He came forth in glory unequalled as no other has or ever could. Jesus not only has the full glory of his divine nature restored, even his humanity is risen to a place as glory as well.

No power seen or unseen could keep Jesus in the bounds of death. Not even the military might of Rome could stop the resurrection, nor the political scheming of the religious establishment, it could not, then nor now, keep Jesus in the grave.

Jesus though death and resurrection has gone and come again as no one else. The resurrection confirms the power of the cross, for without the resurrection the cross would have no meaning.

The resurrection confirms Jesus’ divine identity as the Son of God. Jesus is not the Son of God because he was resurrected, but rather he is resurrection because he is the Son of God.

Our Lord Jesus speaks to each and all; “I am the Resurrection” .Jesus told this to Martha the grieving sister of dead Lazarus to encourage her and all of us, that his power to intervene is always available even when all hope is dead, lost or gone , with Jesus it is never too late.

The “Resurrection” therefore is not just an event, but is who Jesus is.

Jesus would speak to all of now, that he is “the Resurrection” for us, that is Jesus can and will bring forth life from the dead, no matter how dead our hopes may be. Even if we passes from this Earthly life we are assured that through Jesus our grave of death will be empty even as his is as we will share in the life eternal which awaits us.

Jesus give us these words of comfort,  each time we consider the resurrection of our Lord, that we might take hope and comfort that in Jesus there is hope and life.

Let each and all consider this truth as we celebrate this Easter season. Jesus speaks to us all “I am the Resurrection”.

Benediction: May we each and all be ever mindful and encouraged that in our Lord Jesus our God has given us an eternal hope all through his Holy Son, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor   

The Fountain of life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion 2101 Old National Pike.  Washington, Pennsylvania, 15301   

  www.gcfountainoflife.org

The Fountain of Life is heard on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM in the Arden Fair Grounds area of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela, Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com

You can follow the Fountain of Life on Face Book - Click on our Face Book link : https://www.facebook.com/Fountain-of-Life-Church-349595355088375/