[The women] found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. . . . Two men stood by them in shining garments. . . . They said to them, . . . "He is not here, but is risen!" (Luke 24:2-6).
THEME
VICTORY OVER SIN
John Sobieski, the seventeenth-century king of Poland, defeated the invading Turks near Vienna in 1683. He described his victory by rewording Caesar: "I came, I saw, God conquered."
The resurrection shows God doing what human beings could never do. Like Caesar, many declare, "I conquered," thereby drawing their own winner's circle. But when it comes to raising the dead, human beings finish last.
When God ripped the death mask from Jesus' face, He not only revealed His triumphant Son, He also exposed and deposed Satan, sin, and death. In conquering death, He assured our future glory; in mastering Satan and sin, He secured the possibility of victorious living.
Knowing that humanity's death warrant would stand until time stopped, Paul sought here-and-now resurrection power (Philippians 3:10). He wanted to live God's good life despite sin's handicap. Paul did not expect perfection; but he believed that if God knew all about dying, surely He must know all about living. Real life had to be the life Jesus lived on earth, and the Holy Spirit could create that again in human beings (Romans 8:11).
We have won wars, lined the streets to watch victory parades, and celebrated our supposed invincibleness. Yet singing the winner's song does not fill the emptiness inside. Sometimes we turn from the heroes of the hour and see the true Conqueror making His way through the crowd, and we fall at His feet.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 02
2 CORINTHIANS 2
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14).
As British writer Guy King stood on a railroad station platform waiting for a train from London, another train pulled into the station from the opposite direction. Members of a soccer team returning from a game in another city got off. News had not yet reached home as to the outcome of the game, so those awaiting the team didn't know if they had won or lost. A small boy wiggled his way through the crowd and asked one of the players the score. As soon as he heard it, he ran excitedly up and down the platform shouting, "We won! We won!" That youngster was brimming with joy because he identified himself with the players. In one sense, their victory was his victory.
We too can participate in a great celebration because Jesus won the victory over sin nearly two thousand years ago. He paid sin's penalty by dying on the cross, and He broke its power by rising from the dead. We share in His victory through faith because "as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). He is the conquering Savior before whom no foe can stand. We can thank God "who always leads us in triumph in Christ" (2 Co 2:14).
Victory, not defeat, should be the norm in the Christian life. God sees every believer as being in Christ, whom He raised from the dead and seated "at His right hand . . . , far above all principality and power" (Eph 1:20-21). Because He is the Victor and we are "in Him," we too can be victorious over sin.
--P.R.V.
We can be "more than conquerors" when we yield ourselves to the all-conquering Christ.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 03
JOHN 20:1-10
Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple. . . . So they both ran together (John 20:3-4).
When the dark day of Jesus' crucifixion drew to a close, it seemed that the most wonderful of all lives had come to an end. For a few brief years, Christ had astounded the crowds and His followers with the wisdom of His teaching and the wonder of His miracles. But Jesus chose not to save Himself from the cross, and now His life was over. It seemed hopeless to expect more of Him now.
But hope returned that first resurrection morning. Shortly after dawn, Mary Magdalene told Peter and John that she and her friends had found the tomb empty. Artist Eugene Burnand painted Peter and John running to the tomb. In Burnand's painting the men's faces show contending emotions--anguish and relief, sorrow and surprise, despair and wonder--as they race toward the tomb. Their gaze is eagerly fixed forward, and their bending forms turn our attention to the sepulcher--an empty sepulcher--and to a living Savior.
Christ still lives. And He still works the wonders of salvation in the lives of His followers. But many of us go from day to day as if He were still in the grave. How much better to be filled with expectation, looking beyond the empty tomb to the One who is in heaven to fill our lives with the power of His resurrection.
--D.C.E.
The Victim of Calvary became the Victor of Easter.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 04
ROMANS 6:1-13
As Christ was raised up from the dead . . . , even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
The day after Easter, the newspaper headline read: "Entire World Celebrates the Risen Christ." On the same page under smaller headings ran stories about war and death, racial clashes, and an ultimatum issued to the United States by a hostile nation. As I read the discouraging news, I thought, how contradictory. The headline declares that the entire world celebrates the risen Christ, but the balance of the page tells of people disregarding the blessing and grace Christ provided by His resurrection. Apparently the millions of people around the world who flock to churches on Easter don't all live as if they believe in the historical resurrection nor recognize its true spiritual significance.
Even Christians can err in this way. Sometimes we simply go through the motions of expressing our faith without acknowledging our identification with Christ. In Romans 6, Paul said that we have been crucified with Christ and have died to sin. But we have also been raised with Christ so we can "walk in newness of life." That's why the apostle said, "If then you were raised with Christ, . . . Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col 3:1-2).
Having been crucified with Christ, we are now privileged to live for Him. As we do, we show our gratitude for being "risen with Christ."
--R.W.D.
The power that opened Christ's tomb opens the door to the fullness of life.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 05
PSALM 138
The Lord will perfect that which concerns me (Psalm 138:8).
Most of us will admit that we have personality flaws and character weaknesses. We see undesirable tendencies in ourselves such as selfishness, irritability, impatience, cruelty, vindictiveness, hot-headedness. They are with us because of our sinful condition. Yet many Christians testify that their defects and weaknesses have become a blessing, causing them to rely more heavily on Jesus. By acknowledging their weakness, these believers have experienced God's grace and strength.
We see this link between imperfection and improvement all around us in nature. For instance, scientists tell us that few things develop more orderly and predictably than crystals. Each kind of mineral and gem has its own special shape or appearance. In addition, every one is made up of a great number of atoms stacked in perfect alignment. Occasionally one of these basic particles gets out of line, but that is an essential step in the development of the crystal. Most gems owe their brilliant colors to these flaws.
We need not worry about faults or shortcomings in our lives, and we should not let them get us down. Instead, we should admit their presence, commit them to the Lord in prayer, and trust Him to give us victory. The psalmist said, "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me."
--M.R.D.II
God's resources are greater than our need.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 06
1 CORINTHIANS 6:1-11
[Jesus] bore our sins . . . that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).
Counseling, mood-altering drugs, psychosurgery, and other forms of therapy are often needed to help and cure people with emotional disorders. But these treatments can't make them good. Charles Colson tells of a frustrated prison psychiatrist who exclaimed, "I can cure a person's madness, but not his badness." To do that calls for getting to the heart of the problem--sin.
The only way to make bad people good is to expose them to the gospel. Even Charles Darwin, the man who contributed so much to evolutionistic thinking, admitted this. He wrote to a minister: "Your services have done more for our village in a few months than all our efforts for many years. We have never been able to reclaim a single drunkard, but through your services I do not know that there is a drunkard left in the village!"
Later Darwin visited the island of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. What he found among the people was horrifying--savagery and bestiality almost beyond description. But when he returned there after a missionary had worked among the people, he was amazed at the change in them. He acknowledged that the gospel does transform lives. In fact, he was so moved by what he saw that he contributed money to the mission until his death.
First Peter 2 reminds us that Christ's sacrifice on the cross not only paid sin's penalty but also broke its power. The apostle Paul, listing some terrible sins, wrote to the Christians in Corinth, "Such were some of you. But you were washed" (vv. 9-11). Praise God. Jesus does make bad people good.
--H.V.L.
God formed us; sin deformed us; Christ transforms us.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 07
MATTHEW 16:21-28
"Get behind Me, Satan!" (Matthew 16:23).
When Peter objected to Jesus' statement about going to Jerusalem to die, he unwittingly spoke for the devil. A song portrays Satan as gleeful when he saw Christ on the cross, but I believe the devil was dismayed when he realized that Jesus was paying the price for mankind's sins and that His sacrifice would break forever the power of death.
From the time John the Baptist declared Christ to be "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), Satan tried to keep our Lord from going to the cross. In the wilderness temptation he suggested that Jesus take the kingdoms of the world without the ordeal of Calvary. He incited the Jewish leaders to hate Christ, hoping they might kill Him by stoning. When these attempts failed, he switched tactics. He induced Peter to speak against God's plan, and he "entered" Judas (John 13:27). He prompted Peter's denials of Jesus, the cowardice of the apostles, the brutality of the soldiers, and the heartlessness of the mob. Through all of this he hoped to convince Jesus that mankind wasn't worth dying for.
Satan lost that battle, but he continues to fight. He does all he can to hinder the spread of the gospel. He even uses religions that promote salvation by works and ritual. Despite his efforts, thousands are being saved through faith in Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. They can joyfully sing, "Hallelujah for the Cross," because the cross and the empty tomb spelled Satan's ultimate defeat.
--H.V.L.
Calvary stands for Satan's fall.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 08
REVELATION 6:12-17
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (Romans 8:12).
Following the terrible Mexico City earthquake of 1985, live satellite coverage carried the news of Mexico's anguish to a watching world. I sat in front of our television set stunned by the extent of the damage. Mountains of broken concrete filled the screen. Rescue workers dug frantically. Fires raged. Smoke and dust filled the air. Then suddenly in the lower left-hand corner of the screen appeared the words "Courtesy: SIN." The letters S-I-N actually stood for Spanish International Network, but for a moment it meant something different to me. It reminded me that in some way all trouble, pain, and suffering can be traced back to the problem of sin. That's not to say that God judged Mexico City with an earthquake. But if sin directly or indirectly causes such tragedy, or even the more disastrous quake described by John in Revelation 6:12, it deserves to be treated with contempt, not courtesy.
Since all human anguish can be traced back to the entrance of sin into this world, how can we take it so lightly? Why do we give it our attention? Why do we comply with an evil that causes a loving God to react with the judgment described in Revelation 6? We don't owe sin anything. Jesus paid sin's debt and broke its power when He died on the cross and rose from the grave. We can avoid the "courtesy" sin offers by living in the power of the resurrection. The wages of sin is death (Ro 6:23), and that's a courtesy we don't need.
--M.R.D.II
God will give us the victory if we will go to the fight.
