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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
Resurrection - Easter Sunday Morning Service |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
John 1:25-26 |
Date |
2010-04-04 |
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Passage
[John 1:25-26]
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Let us congratulate the resurrection of the Lord!
For the newcomers and new believers, it might be something unfamiliar to congratulate one another with the Easter greetings.
But Easter is a truly a Festivity of blessing which all believers celebrate.
It's because we have gained eternal life and hope of Heaven through the resurrection of the Lord. What a happy thing this is!
Resurrection is also the best of all gifts for all the believers on earth. It has a very important meaning.
But the meaning contained in the resurrection is not just eternal life and Heaven.
In this message, I will talk to you about the three important meanings of the resurrection.
Imagine you have a very precious gem stone.
One day, a gemologist tells you how precious that gem stone really is.
The value was much more than what you imagined.
Then, you should have even greater joy in possessing that gem stone.
Now, you have received such a precious gift, it is called 'resurrection'.
If you realize how precious it is, you will have greater joy and hope of resurrection.
At this time, I hope you will realize deep inside your heart the meaning of resurrection and give thanks and glory to God the Father who has given us the hope of resurrection.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, other than eternal life and Heaven, what meanings does the resurrection have?
First, the resurrection represents the power which pertains to the Father God alone.
Nobody in this world can revive a dead person.
Recently, scientists and medical doctors anticipate that human cloning will be possible in near future.
As science and medical science develop so much, some people come to think that human beings may one day be able to control life and death.
But what is the reality?
Even with the most sophisticated medical science and equipment, nobody can revive the dead.
So, they try to live longer. They try all the methods to extend their lives.
Here, to revive a dead person does not refer to bringing back to life somebody who is momentarily dead through methods like CPR.
Jesus revived Lazarus who had been dead for four days.
When He commanded towards the grave, "Lazarus, come out!" the decaying body with foul odor was brought back to life.
Namely, Jesus revived each of the cells that had stopped metabolism and decayed. It should have been impossible to revive such cells.
This is something that is impossible with human power.
But it is possible for God.
In Ezekiel chapter 37, God showed Ezekiel the vision of dry bones coming back to life.
In the vision, God had Ezekiel proclaim the word of God to the dry bones as follows.
Ezekiel 37:6 says, "I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD."
When Ezekiel prophesied the word of God to the dry bones, the bones began to move, and each joint came together and the bones were connected.
The sinews were made on the bones and the flesh grew back, and they were covered with skin.
But it didn't mean the bones were alive yet.
When Ezekiel prophesied the word of God by telling the breath of life to come into the dead man and let him live, the breath of life actually went into the body.
Then, the bodies were alive, and they formed a great army.
Of course, it was symbolism revealed in a vision to show that Israel, which had been destroyed by Gentile countries, would later be reconstructed.
But here, we can understand the power of God who can make the impossible things possible.
When the Lord comes back in the air, the resurrection will actually take place.
In fact, something more amazing will take place.
The scene is well described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
It says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."
The dead in Christ means those who died while believing in the Lord.
Some of them died hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
The human body will completely decay just in a couple of decades.
So, when the Lord comes back in the air, not even dry bones but completely decayed bodies will revive.
The form of the body will be recovered, and the spirit which is the owner of the body will combine with the body.
What is more amazing is that the body that is revived at this moment can be caught up into the air, and also can stay in the second heaven where the Seven Year Wedding Banquet will be held.
Namely, the body that is made from the dust of the ground will change into a spiritual body that can go into the spiritual space.
And God is the one who does all these things with His power that created all things in Heaven and on the earth.
With this power, God revived Jesus who had been crucified.
And He recorded the history of the resurrected Lord in the Bible so we can understand the characteristics of the resurrected body.
He showed us the evidence of resurrection so the believers can really believe the resurrection did take place.
Furthermore, God the Father is showing us the works of His power even today so we can believe in the resurrection.
For example, He created the new skin to replace that which had been totally burned.
He revived the nerves that had been completely deadened.
So many people came to see, hear, and walk again by the power of God.
Even those people who stopped breathing completely and their bodies had become stiffened came back to life again.
He showed us countless evidences that we cannot doubt at all.
God will show us more works of His power through this church to prove that the work of resurrection is true.
He will show to the world that God the Creator, who can revive the dead, is really living.
He has already shown us enough evidences to believe, but there are people who still doubt, for this age is full of sins.
When Lazarus died of a disease, one person said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"
Even after seeing the great sign of making the blind see again, there were people who couldn't believe Jesus' power completely.
So, Jesus showed a greater work of power by reviving a dead person.
This is the heart of the Lord, and the Father God. He wants even just one more soul to have true faith and receive salvation.
Resurrection can be done only by the powerful God in whom we believe.
I pray in the name of the Lord that whenever we remember the resurrection of the Lord and whenever we see powerful works, our faith in resurrection and the hope of Heaven will increase.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what does "resurrection" represent?
Secondly, resurrection represents the glory that God gives to us.
1 Timothy 6:16 says, "...who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen."
God the Father is a precious being.
He exists from eternity through eternity, and He dwells in the light that is unapproachable for men of flesh.
God has no darkness at all, and the space in which He dwells is a space of beautiful lights.
It is such beautiful and mysterious place beyond description.
God rules over the whole universe dwelling in that spiritual space.
He is worthy to receive all glory.
But God the Father wanted to share this glory with us rather than enjoying it all by Himself.
He planned for human cultivation so that we can also dwell in the space of beautiful lights eternally without dying forever.
God created the first man Adam as a living spirit, and He set him in the Garden of Eden to live, which is in a spiritual space.
But the life in the Garden of Eden could not give men the complete glory that God wanted to give us.
God the Father wanted Adam to dwell in the space of light where God was dwelling and share love with Him.
Adam experienced the relativity of things only after he had committed sin. Then he came to enjoy eternal happiness in Heaven after he came forth as a child who understands God's love.
Heaven is completely different from the Garden of Eden in its dimension.
But in Heaven also, there are different glories.
Beginning with the Paradise, there are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd kingdoms of Heaven and New Jerusalem.
The glory that God the Father wants to ultimately give to us is the glory of New Jerusalem.
He wants to lead us to the place that has more beautiful and greater glory and honor.
So, God sent to us His one and only Son, Jesus, and He also sent the Holy Spirit without hesitation.
He redeemed us from our sins through Jesus' blood, and He gave us the glory never to die, and even if we do die, He allowed for us to live again if we just believe in the Lord.
What a great honor it is for a dead body to come back to life again!
Also, those who believe in the Lord and are living will put on spiritual bodies without seeing death and be caught up to the spiritual space alive.
How glorious it will be for a perishing body to change into an imperishable and spiritual body!
Moreover, when we go into Heaven in spiritual realm, we will enjoy the magnificence and beauty of the spiritual realm, sharing our love with God.
So, how good our Father God is!
God the Father blessed us in a way that we can enjoy such heavenly glory on this earth as well, to some extent.
To the extent that we dwell in the light, namely in the truth, He lets us realize and experience the things that can take place only in the space of God's light.
Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know."
When our church believed in God's promise and prayed to Him, He showed us the secret things, the spiritual things.
He told us about the things of the spiritual realm in detail.
He always lets us experience the amazing power of God.
He also lets us manifest the amazing power of God.
John 14:12 says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do," and this verse is being realized today.
As the end is drawing near, God the Creator is being preached to numerous souls through these works of God.
Those who were going towards death are receiving salvation.
And we are giving God all the glory.
Once God receives glory, then He wants to share His glory with His children.
He wants us to get into glorious positions shining like the sun not just on this earth but also in Heaven. He desires it more than we do.
Jesus said in John 13:32, "if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately."
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will participate not only in the glory of resurrection but also in the glory shining like the sun.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, thirdly, the resurrection represents the great love of God the Father.
We were such people who couldn't even imagine living in Heaven.
Once our lives on earth were over, our bodies would have become dust of the ground, and we were destined to be thrown into the eternal fire of Hell.
But now, we can enjoy a happy life in Heaven eternally.
It's because God the Father gave His one and only Son Jesus over to death.
Jesus, who is God in origin, did not have any reason to take on a human body or to suffer death.
But He submitted to all the sacrifices to save us from death.
He was killed miserably on the cross.
But because He did not have any sin, He was resurrected by the power of God.
John 11:25-26 says, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die."
Through His resurrection, He gave us the hope to have spiritual bodies and to go into the eternal kingdom of Heaven.
All this is the great love of God the Father.
God the Father adopted the enemies who killed His only begotten Son, Jesus, as sons.
He washed their sin-stained hearts and bodies with the blood of His Son.
Then, He allowed them to call Him Abba Father, the God who is so great, beautiful, and good.
He also gave us beautiful dwelling places so we can have eternal rest.
Just like the parents would decorate the room of their children, He is preparing our dwelling places that are filled with the things that we want.
Not just the second Heaven where the 7-Year Wedding Banquet will be held, but also the fourth Heaven where God dwells and the third Heaven, which is the Kingdom of Heaven are all mysterious and glorious spaces.
Before, we could not go into these spaces or live there.
But when the time comes, God will clothe us with the spiritual body and white linen, and lead us to the wedding banquet.
After the banquet and the Millennium Kingdom, He will lead us to the dwelling place in Heaven that He prepared for us.
There, we will live forever sharing our love with the Triune God.
In order to give us this kind of love, God the Father has been enduring considering a thousand years like a day, and a day like a thousand years.
Resurrection is the fruit of this endurance.
Just to pay back this great love, let us rid ourselves of any trace of sins, which caused Jesus Christ to be crucified.
In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be at the bosom of the Lord having a most shining resurrected body.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, [4] and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, [5] and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep."
As said, so many people witnessed the Lord who had died and resurrected.
The disciples spread this news to Judea, Samaria, Asia Minor, and Rome, and later so many preachers spread it to the whole world.
That news came all the way to us as well.
And now, the news went back to the land of Israel, where the Lord resurrected, with the powerful works that confirmed the resurrection was true.
Through these powerful works, many more souls were reaffirmed of the resurrection of the Lord.
The more you live for other souls rather than for your flesh, that will go back to a handful of dust, the firmer faith you will have on resurrection.
Also, the clearer spiritual eyes you will have so that you can see in resurrection the eternal power and divine nature of God, the glory that He will give to us, and the great love of God the Father.
If we realize the meanings contained in resurrection, we cannot help but give thanks and glory to God the Father.
From today, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always give thanks and glory to God the Father in your everyday life, and also in Heavenly kingdom.
[Amen!] |
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