Blog Archives

BITE MARKS

4/30/2018

I was amazed at the headline! Who would not be? After all, it's not everyday one reads: "Man Bitten by Shark, Bear, Snake In Less Than 4 Years".

The article, written by Dom Calicchio and Christopher Carbone and published April 22, 2018 on FoxNews.com, told the story of a 20-year-old man from Grand Junction, Colorado named Dylan McWilliams who “achieved a distinction last week that few people would probably want to match”.

In less than four years, he has now been bitten by a bear, by a rattlesnake, and after Thursday, April 19, in Hawaii, also by a shark. He summed it all up best when he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “I don’t know; I’m either really lucky or really unlucky.”

The shark attack, requiring seven stitches to his leg, took place about 50 yards from Shipwreck’s Beach off Poipu. Last July, he received nine staples in his scalp after a nearly 300-pound bear invaded his Colorado campsite. The rattlesnake bite took place about three and a half years ago in Utah. Luckily, he says, he took in only a small amount of venom, so he was only briefly ill afterward.

He concluded his newspaper interview with what may only be deemed the understatement of the year: “My parents are grateful I’m still alive.” They will no doubt be reminded of that every time they look at him; for he now has the marks to prove how close he came to death three different times!

By God’s grace, even though I have seen each of them in the wild, I have never been bitten by either a bear, or a shark, or a rattlesnake. I hope I never am. And yet, I have been snake-bitten. As have you! And we each bear the marks in our lives to prove it!

Actually, serpent bitten would be the better term. For, according to Genesis, chapter 3, the devil in the form of a serpent, tempted Eve and, through her, Adam. By falling prey to this temptation, they were arguably snake-bitten. For as a result, the curse of sin entered into human history; and it has been with us ever since!

Like the afore-mentioned Dylan, we too have a Father who is happy that we are alive. Only this Father is a Heavenly Father. And we are only alive after being bitten by sin because He stepped in and intervened. He gave us a Divine antidote to sin – made possible by the atoning sacrifice and spilled blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

As the Apostle Paul puts it (in his New Testament Letter to the Romans, chapter 12, verse 17):

“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

STORY SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/04/22/man-bitten-by-shark-bear-snake-in-less-than-4-years.html.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/romans/5-17.htm.

CHECKING IN…

4/27/2018

Those of you who visit this page regularly will know by now that I have been away from my blog for the past week. My mother suffered a stroke last Saturday night; and I have been with her and my family for the last several days.

The good news is that she is now beyond the critical stage and is out of immediate danger. However, she does have some residual effects, and is just beginning the daunting process of rehab to address these issues. Our family continues to appreciate your prayers for her as she walks this difficult portion of life’s journey.

I would also request prayers for my uncle, with whom I was able to spend some time while with my family. He has been diagnosed with lung cancer that has now spread throughout much of his body. He is now under hospice care, and bravely living each day to its fullest.

As a Pastor, I am often called upon to support families during such times in their lives. This past week, however, my family and I have been on the receiving end of that equation. In the process, I have been reminded of just how much the love and support of fellow Christians means during life’s difficult times.

On behalf of my entire family, therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for the voluminous outpouring of love and support that has come our way over the past week.

The numerous phone calls, text messages, cards, flowers, and the like have all meant more than we can say. Above all, we thank you for your prayers. They have been warmly felt.

The Lord willing, I will return to blogging the first of next week. Until then, may God bless you all for your understanding and forbearance.

CEJ

MERRY HEARTS AND MENDING FEET

4/20/2018

I simply could not let my recent foot surgery pass downstream without recounting a story I once heard Tim Dowdy, Pastor of Eagle’s Landing Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia, tell a number of years ago. It seems that…

Early in his career, a pastor served in a small church in a rural community. Wilbur and his wife, Leah, attended every Sunday morning. Wilbur was a farmer, and whenever he came into his house from the field and sat down, he would fall asleep.

It was such a habit that when he came into church and sat down in the pew, he would also soon fall asleep. The pastor soon discovered that some members of the church were even taking bets on how long he could keep Wilbur awake on Sunday mornings.

Needless to say, Wilbur's wife was embarrassed by his behavior, especially when he began to snore. She tried everything she knew of to keep her sleepy spouse awake. She complained to him that she was getting calluses on her elbow from poking him in the ribs in a futile effort to keep him alert.

So in desperation, she approached the pastor for advice. In turn, he advised her to pick up some Limburger cheese on her next trip to the grocery store.

He then suggested that, keeping it in a tightly sealed package, she should bring it to church with her the next Sunday, in order that, once her husband began to snore, she could open the package of cheese and run it back and forth under his nose. “That should do the trick and keep Wilbur awake!” said the pastor confidently.

As anticipated, the following Sunday morning, shortly after the pastor had started his sermon, Wilbur began to nod off. Then, just like clockwork, at the end of the first point of his customary three-point sermon, the whole congregation could see that the Pastor was losing Wilbur.

As he started the second point, Wilbur began to snore. Quietly, Leah opened her purse, took out the Limburger cheese, and passed it back and forth under her husband's nose. To the delight of both Leah and the pastor, it worked.

Wilbur sat straight up and, in a voice that could be heard all over the church, belted out, "Leah, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times, keep your stinkin’ feet off of my pillow!”

Now admit it… You probably smiled at the end of that one, at least a little bit! I know I still do every time I remember Tim telling this story after all these years. And with good reason, for as Solomon told us (in Proverbs 17:22), “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine!” He was right. I believe my feet feel better already!

SOURCE: While I do not know the origin of Dr. Dowdy’s version; this story exists in various forms in both print and online sources. See, for instance, http://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/2001/01/did-jesus-laugh.aspx.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/proverbs/17-22.htm.

A PICTURE OF LIFE

4/16/2018

I have a confession to make. I am among the world’s worst at holding on to pictures on my smart phone. Of course, this is okay, unless and until you begin to reach the point that you have little to no more space left on your device - which is exactly what just happened to me.

With the recent birth of my grandson, I was merrily snapping pictures with my smart phone camera, rolling up even more of them on an already precariously overloaded drive. A day or two later, when I was attempting to show these pictures to someone, my phone proceeded to tell me that it could not perform this basic function unless I freed up some space.

It gave me options for deleting any and every thing from apps to games to documents to downloaded files to music. And also pictures. After undertaking a thorough examination, I soon realized that there were pictures on my phone dating back years ago.

What is more, I also soon discovered that, as is the case with the vast majority of people, all of my pictures were already backed up on a cloud anyway. This process comes as a basic feature included as a part of my carrier’s package.

So I checked, and lo and behold, there sat all my Christmas, Easter, and birthday photos from past years, as well as pictures from vacations, mission trips, sabbaticals, and other overseas travels. These were the very same pictures that were clogging up my phone.

All of this, of course, raised an inevitable question. Why was I carrying around all of these unnecessary extra copies of pictures from yesterday on my smart phone - pictures which were only clogging up my already overcrowded disk space, and thereby hampering my ability to snap new and equally important pictures in the future?

My wife keeps a little sign hanging up that says, “Turn the corner and let it go!” I decided that was pretty good advice. And so, after checking one last time to see that the pictures were already backed up, I finally mustered up the courage and pressed that little button labeled “Delete”.

The result? You guessed it. Scores of gigabytes of disk space were instantly freed up, enabling me to be prepared to record whatever next memorable moment(s) might come my way in life. Not to mention the added benefit of a smart phone that now works noticeably faster than before.

As I have reflected on this, I have concluded that herein lies a pretty good lesson for life. If we are not careful, we can wind up going through this world needlessly carrying excess baggage with us. But when we do, we unnecessarily burden ourselves, not only with a cumbersome load, but also with an unhealthy fixation on the past that can actually hamper our ability to embrace and enjoy the blessings of the future.

Thus, my smart phone now has a clean slate; and, encouraged by this development, I am beginning to apply the same approach to other areas of my life. Already, I am seeing the difference!

Perhaps this is what God meant when He spoke through Isaiah the prophet (chapter 43, verses 18-19, GWT), saying: 18Forget what happened in the past, and do not dwell on events from long ago. 19I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Don't you recognize it?

Picture that! A life spent looking forward as much as backward! Maybe you might benefit by taking similar steps. If so, go ahead, my friend, hit that delete button. Sure, it requires a little courage. But take it from one who has been there… it’s very freeing once you do!

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/gwt/isaiah/43.htm.

CHAIN GANG!

4/13/2018

Some time back, I titled one of my previous New Year’s themed blog posts “BACK AND FORTH”. I would like to revisit this fairly common phrase today. More than likely, most everyone reading these words has both heard and employed this particular phrase. In common usage, it gets applied to everything from the exchange of words within a conversation to the process of mowing one’s lawn. It is even a metaphor for the living of one’s life.

Charles Swindoll likely had this in mind when he wrote a book titled Three Steps Forward, One Step Back. Both this book’s title and its content assert that life is rarely a continual progression from bad to good, or good to better. It is rather a series of advances interspersed with retreats, of successes intermixed with setbacks.

Dr. Swindoll is right. If we would be honest, most all of us advance by taking a few steps forward and then one or two back before proceeding yet again. What is more, God‘s Word amply affirms this principle. The Holy Bible contains numerous examples of people whose progression through life was peppered with intermittent failures, with no less than King David, John the Baptist, and Simon Peter among them.

It has been said the Bible paints pictures of the people within its covers “warts and all”. That is to say that it makes no attempt to hide their frailty. For my part, I’m glad it does. I find encouragement as I read of the struggles and eventual successes among the various lives unfolding on the pages of Scripture. For this has helped me to accept the fact that I am not perfect. I cannot be. Nor must I be. Rather, I realize that my own journey forward in life may be periodically punctuated with a step backward.

But this does not mean I cannot make progress. God understands my weaknesses; yet, He works in and through me in spite of them! Thus, with His help, I can learn from my mistakes and make tomorrow a better day than today, even as today can be made a better day than yesterday. But I digress.

The events of the past couple of weeks have helped me to gain yet another, perhaps even greater, appreciation for the phrase “Back and Forth”. Knowing that I would be laid up for a couple of weeks while recovering from foot surgery, I had prepared a number of personal projects in advance to which I hoped to give my attention. Among them was some long overdue genealogical research.

My personal love for genealogy came about as the natural result of a combination of two other loves: history and family. The wonder of genealogy is that it combines the two and thereby makes history come alive. It literally imbues history with personal meaning. Thus, one does not just merely read about such historical events as World War Two or the Great Depression. Instead, one begins to sense the very personal nature of these historical events, particularly when he or she sees how it personally affected one’s family.

By way of illustration, few things make such times come alive like holding a book of Ration Stamps that once belonged to one’s very own grandfather. To see the limits imposed on sugar, coffee, gasoline, and other such simple, everyday necessities is to see how they lived their everyday lives in the midst of times that required tremendous sacrifice from everyone.

As I have worked on updating my genealogy over the last few weeks, I have been reminded of all those in my family who came before me, as well as the untold number of sacrifices they undertook on behalf of me and all successive generations. It has been both humbling and beneficial to look back and be reminded of this.

But then came the events of this past Wednesday, when my son welcomed his own firstborn son into the world. As he did, I welcomed my second grandson (and the first to bear my surname). As you might expect, this has been a time of great joy in our family. Emotions have abounded as we have celebrated this wonderful event together.

For me, though, it has not just been a time of emotion. It has also been a time of reflection. For suddenly, in the midst of spending so much time looking “back” into the past (in my genealogical studies), I have now found myself looking “forth” into the future as well. In the process, I have reached some important conclusions.

Yesterday matters. Without it, there would be no today. Or at the very least, without the events of yesterday, today would not have turned out as it has. Conversely, part of why today matters so much is because of its impact on tomorrow. In short, tomorrow matters. And for this reason, today matters. And for both of these reasons, yesterday matters.

In the first part of my life (during my childhood), I more or less viewed myself as the end result of a process. I was the recipient of what all had come before. After all, I was the grandchild alongside of my parents and grandparents. Later on, as an adult, I began to view myself more as a contributor. Finding myself with children of my own, I began to see that I too gave as well as got.

Now, I am beginning to see myself less as either one of these (as in the receiver OR the giver) and more as a combination of both of them. The events of this week in particular have helped once more to underscore for me that I am merely one among many in a very long line between the past and the present. I am, quite literally, just one of many, many, many links in a vast chain. Viewed against the backdrop of human history, I am but a small part of something far, far bigger than myself.

And yet, I am a vital part of that chain. Without me, the chain would have been broken. It would not have gone forward. Of course, the same thing can be said of every other link in this chain. Every single link has mattered. And every single link will matter. Each piece simultaneously represents the past, the present, and the future! That is the very nature of the chain.

For this reason, it is important that I stay strong in my appointed time. It is essential that I connect with both the past and the future, that I take what I have received from all that have come before me and pass it on to all that come after me. This is my responsibility – to keep the chain connected, strong, and growing. Oh, how I pray that I will be found faithful in my time. Oh, how I pray that will be found faithful as a part of this “chain gang”!

In the Old Testament Book of Esther (chapter 4, verse 14), the title character was told by her uncle, Mordecai, that she may very well have been placed by God when and where she was for the sole purpose of protecting and procuring the future of her people.

I would suggest that, in a very real sense, this can be said of all of us. In His divine sovereignty, God has surely positioned each and every one of us as individual links at precisely the point in the chain where we can be the most effective. And we do this by acknowledging our debt to all those before (and around) us, and then by passing these blessings along to those after and beyond us!

At the risk of extending a post that is arguably already too long, I would like to share one last thought. My genealogical research has taught me that what is true for individuals is also true for families: they each progress by taking a few steps forward and then one or two backward. A lineage can go up for generation or two, improving both its standard of living and its standing in its community.

And then, through such uncontrollable events as war, disease, famine, economic downturns, and the like, fate can dictate that it go backward a step or two. In these times, there is little doubt that the struggles and eventual triumphs of previous generations can and do serve as powerful encouragement for facing difficult days. I am the recipient of such encouragement from my own ancestors. I now trust that I will be the provider of such for own descendants.

I leave you with the words of Steve Green from his number one song, “Find Us Faithful”, found on his multiple award winning 1994 album, “People Need the Lord”…

We’re pilgrims on the journey
Of the narrow road
And those who’ve gone before us line the way
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary
Their lives a stirring testament to God’s sustaining grace

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who’ve gone before us
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness
Passed on through godly lives

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we’ve left behind
May the clues that they discover
And the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them
To the road we each must find

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

Amen! So may it be!

SOURCES:

LYRICS SOURCE:
http://stevegreenministries.org/product/find-us-faithful-5/.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:
http://biblehub.com/esther/4-14.htm.

FOR MORE ON CHARLES SWINDOLL, CHECK OUT:
http://www.stonebriar.org/about-us/staff-elders/staffmembers/1/, http://insight.org/about/chuck-swindoll, and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Swindoll.

HIS ABOVE REFERENCED BOOK IS AVAILABLE HERE:
https://www.christianbook.com/three-steps-forward-two-back-paperback/charles-swindoll/9780849940989/pd/31272.

LASTLY… For what it’s worth, through the marvels of the internet, I have now been able to trace my personal genealogy all the way back to my 26th great grandfather - a certain Roger DeLascelles Jackson Sr., in England in 1086 AD. It is interesting that this man, born in the first generation after William the Conqueror's Norman invasion of 1066 AD, bears both English and French names! At some point, I hope to update my webpage to reflect this wealth of new information. Hopefully this will all come about in time.

BEYOND QUESTION!

4/9/2018

It appears that one of the world’s most perplexing questions may have finally been answered. In an article titled “Here's How Many Licks Get You to Tootsie Pop's Center”, Newsor contributor, Matt Cantor, reported that scientists finally have the answer.

In the classic commercial asking how many licks it takes "to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop," the conclusion was: "The world may never know." Turns out that was wrong—scientists have figured out how many licks are required, though the figure is approximate. It takes about 1,000 licks to get to a lollipop's center, researchers say in a New York University press release.

The finding was incidental to research on what some might see as a topic of more importance: the way water currents shape objects they're rushing past. The findings help explain how solids dissolve—handy knowledge for pharmacologists making pills and geologists studying erosion.

Researchers used candy to reach their conclusions. When they dipped homemade hard candy into flowing water, they found that the same shape was eventually left—no matter how the candy was shaped to begin with—before the candy disappeared completely. "We used these results to figure out in general how fluids dissolve materials, and we realized that that is basically what you're doing when you're enjoying a lollipop," a scientist tells ABC News.

Tootsie Roll Industries applauds the work. "How many licks is a question fans of our candy have asked us for decades," the company's president tells ABC. “We're thrilled that New York University has conducted a study to help find out." But it wasn't without sacrifice, says the researcher: "Resisting the temptation to just bite into one is tough."

I will admit, as a child, I often pondered the answer this question. On numerous occasions, I even attempted to solve this conundrum by personal experiment. But while I got always beyond the three licks undertaken by the wise old owl, I never got to the center of the pop without giving in and crunching down on the remains. For that reason, if for no other, I am glad to finally have my answer.

But as I grew older, far more serious questions arose in my mind – questions about my identity as a human being, as well as about my origins, and above all about my destiny. In other words, who I am, where I came from, and what my future holds.

In my study of the Holy Bible, I have been able to find the answers to all three of these profound questions.

The answer to the first two questions comes in the opening pages of the Bible… the early chapters of the Biblical Book of Genesis tells us that all men and women everywhere have been created by God in His very image! Quite literally, we all bear the stamp of God! We are His children! As such, we exist to glorify our Creator as we enjoy the goodness of life He has given to us within all that He has created.

The answer to the third question comes in the closing pages of the Bible. Here, we discover that God desires that all humans being everywhere, created in His image and placed within this world, to one day dwell with Him forever in a wonderful place called Heaven.

Of course, if that were all the Bible had to say, things would be great. But alas, the Bible has far more to say. For that which ties these two portions of the Bible together, and which constitutes the bulk of the Bible’s content, is the story of mankind’s fall into sin by rejecting God, resulting in spiritual death, followed by the story of God’s work of redemption to restore fallen men and women to a proper relationship to Him, in and through the death, burial, and resurrection of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

Along the way (in the Old Testament Book of Job, chapter 14, verse 14), the question is asked: “If a man dies, shall he live again?” And the resounding answer is “Yes, as long as he has a relationship with God’s Son!” As the Apostle John puts it (in his first general New Testament Letter, chapter 5, verses 10-12)…

10Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

And there you have it – the essential assertion of the entire Bible! Here we see why it was written. Here we see what all its stories and teachings lead up to. And it also explains why the passage containing the world’s most well-known Bible verse (the New Testament Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16-18) is of such great significance:

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Have you ever wondered about your identity? About your origins? About your destiny? If so, then I have some really good news for you! I have found the answers. And you can find them too! Read the Bible and you will see!

SOURCE: http://www.newser.com/story/202533/heres-how-many-licks-gets-you-to-tootsie-pops-center.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=foxnews&ut
m_campaign=rss_science_syn.

YOUTUBE VERSION OF ORIGINAL CLASSIC 1970 TOOTSIE POP COMMERCIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6rHeD5x2tI.

SCRIPTURE SOURCES: http://biblehub.com/niv/1_john/5.htm and http://biblehub.com/niv/john/3.htm.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

4/5/2018

Let’s "FACE" it: the folks who wrote the "BOOK" on social media have not had a good month. After a major scandal in which upwards of 50 million of their users had their data mined by a third party for political purposes, they initially failed to accept responsibility and “own” the matter.

Predictably, the results rapidly snowballed. Public trust began to erode and members soon began dropping and deleting their accounts over privacy concerns. Even celebrities got in on the act. Ultimately, advertisers representing nearly 3,000 companies also took notice.

Realizing what they were now dealing with, the media giant finally owned up to the matter and tried to address it. But it may have been a case of too little too late. Perhaps remembering the lessons of the dot-com bubble, investors had already grown scared. A $50 billion loss in the value of their stock has now ensued. Ouch!

All of this was bad enough. But then came the events of Easter week and Good Friday in particular. A Catholic university in Ohio had a Good Friday ad for its master’s degree program in theology, catechetics, and evangelization rejected. When they inquired as to why, they were told it was because the ad had purportedly contained “shocking and excessively violent” content.
And just what was that “shocking and excessively violent” content? You guessed it - the ad contained was a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross.

At first, the social media site claimed it was simply an algorithm that rejected the ad. However, it was quickly revealed that nine other such ads had not been rejected. Accepting the obvious, that a low level staffer with an ax to grind against Christianity may well have dissed the ad, an apology eventually was issued.

Nonetheless, the last thing the tech giant needed at this moment in time was to be perceived as denigrating the faith of 1.1 billion people on the planet, and thereby alienating many of them, most especially during the holiest week of Christianity.

Now, many might see the tech giant’s woes as "poetic justice" for just such shenanigans. (Or, in this case, should we say "social justice"?) However, to his credit, Tom Crowe, the web communications director for the Franciscan University of Steubenville, the school in question, chose to use this as a teachable moment.

He pointed out that having a picture of Jesus on the cross rejected on the very day set aside to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus was, in reality, merely a picture of what Good Friday is all about in the first place.

For on that most significant of days, when Jesus Christ bore the sins of men and women on that old rugged cross, he was actually suffering the ultimate rejection of men and women.

Eight centuries before the events of that day, the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, foresaw this day, and wrote the following (chapter 53, verses 1-13):

1Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

And yet, the amazing thing is that Jesus, knowing He had been rejected by men and women everywhere, still chose to die on the cross on their behalf. Isaiah affirms this as he continues his oracle in verses 4-12:

4Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

And there you have it – the One Who could have called twelve legions of angels (72,000) to His aide in a split second still chose to go to the cross. And even as He once hung there, nailed to that cross and enduring mankind’s ridicule, He still prayed “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing!” And because of this, the penalty for sin was finally paid! God’s justice was satisfied!

SOURCE MATERIAL:

Thomas Barrabi, “Delete Facebook: Celebrities, Companies Severing Ties Over Privacy Concerns”, Fox Business News, March 29, 2018. https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/delete-facebook-celebrities-companies-severing-ties-over-privacy-concerns.

Caleb Parke, “Facebook Apologizes for Blocking Catholic University’s Ad of Jesus on the Cross”, Fox News, April 4, 2018. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/04/facebook-apologizes-for-blocking-catholic-university-s-ad-jesus-on-cross.amp.html.

BIBLICAL SOURCES:
http://biblehub.com/niv/isaiah/53.htm.
ttp://biblehub.com/matthew/26-53.htm.
http://biblehub.com/luke/23-34.htm.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

4/2/2018

The REUTERS News Service headline this past week (March 27, 2018) blared the following: “Once Overlooked, 2,500-year Old Coffin May Offer Clues into Ancient Egypt”.

The story underneath had to do with a surprise discovery made inside a 2,500-year old Egyptian coffin at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia. First uncovered in Egypt and then acquired by the University of Sydney some 150 years ago, the coffin was long thought to be empty.

In truth, it had simply been erroneously classified. As a result, late last year, when it was reopened, experts were stunned to find the remains of a mummy when they opened the coffin’s lid.

A bevy of scientific test later, including the harnessing of scanning technology, the remains inside have now been identified. According to the article…

“The coffin of an ancient Egyptian priestess called Mer-Neith-it-es, which had most recently sat in our education room, underwent a series of scientific and visual analysis,” the University of Sydney’s Nicholson Museum explained, in a Facebook post. “The coffin and the mummified remains were scanned and the damaged remains of the body excavated.”

It appears that at some point in its history, the coffin had been targeted by tomb raiders. Nonetheless, a CT scan and thorough investigation, performed last week, have together revealed bones, bandages, fragments of resin, and over 7,000 beads from a funeral shawl.

As Easter week unfolded, I could not help but think of another surprise having to do with a burial. Only this time, people were not surprised to find someone in a grave, but rather to find no one in a grave!

This episode occurred some two thousand years ago in a tomb outside Jerusalem. At that time, people had thought that this tomb contained the remains of a man from Nazareth, who had been buried on Friday. But when people began gathering at this tomb early on Sunday morning, they were amazed to discover that the tomb was in fact empty!

For the One Who had been buried there, Jesus Christ, was no ordinary man. He was, instead, the very Son-of-God. He had earlier prophesied on several occasions that He would rise from the dead (Mark 10: 32-34; John 2:18-21); and His resurrection proved that He was indeed exactly Who He said He was!

This is what the Christian world has been celebrating for the past twenty-four hours. This is what Easter is all about! And this is why the testimony of those who follow Jesus Christ has been put so beautifully captured by the hymn writer Alfred H. Ackley...

I serve a risen Savior; He's in the world today.
I know that He is living, whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him He's always near.

He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.

In all the world around me I see His loving care,
And though my heart grows weary I never will despair.
I know that He is leading, thro' all the stormy blast;
The day of His appearing will come at last.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian! Lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ, the King!
The Hope of all who seek Him, the Help of all who find,
None other is so loving, so good and kind.

So, my friend, please do not be mistaken, about the empty tomb of Jesus Christ! The Bible tells us that all those who accept the fact of His resurrection and embrace Him as God’s Son will also experience resurrection to life everlasting. But those who do not will have no part in the resurrection to life, and are doomed to everlasting death.

I have personally been to that empty tomb (at least the place commemorated as such in Jerusalem). But long before, and far more importantly, I accepted the fact of that empty tomb in my heart. I hope you have also accepted that same fact in your heart.

If not, then I invite you to ponder the significance of that empty tomb this very day! You might just be pleasantly surprised at what you discover! And even more at the significance this discovery will have for your life!

SOURCE: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-mummy/once-overlook
ed-2500-year-old-coffin-may-offer-clues-into-ancient-egypt-idUSKBN1H30NU.

HYMN LYRICS SOURCE: http://www.greatchristianhymns.com/he-lives.html.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/niv/john/2.htm and
http://biblehub.com/niv/mark/10.htm.