Good News - March 2021

MARKED BY THE WORD 32 MARCH 2021 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition Go with me back in time. It is 6:17 in the morning, April 6th, the 17th year of Tiberius Caesar. It is a fewmoments before sunrise. We are in a dark place, somewhere in Judea, a troubled province of the Roman Empire. There is a sudden movement of the earth beneath our feet. We brace ourselves in the darkness. It is an earthquake! Unable to see anything in the darkness, suddenly we hear the low, grinding sound of a heavy stone door being rolled away. Bright light intermittently enters the dark chamber where we find ourselves. The stone comes to rest and the first glimmers of dawn reveal that we are in- side a large tomb. In front of us is a body wrapped in the familiar linen shroud of a He- brew burial. The shroud suddenly begins to heave. We are startled. We shudder. Outside we can see the stone that once had sealed the tomb is now rolled away. An angel clothed in light is sitting on the stone. God has commanded his angels to raise up his Son by moving the stone out of his way, just as Psalm 91:11 had promised. Now we understand why the temptation of the Savior by Satan was so se- ▪ vere. The devil had urged Jesus to leap from the pinnacle of the temple, assuring him that God would send his angels to raise him up lest he dash his foot in death against the stone. But the enemy was misapplying the promise of the psalmist. God had after all just now sent his angels to raise up Jesus lest that stone — the sealing stone — dash the Savior’s foot in death. We look back into the tomb and more light is streaming in from the dawn. The sun has just now crested over Mt Olives. Dawn’s light scatters all lingering dark- ness in the tomb. Jesus is now standing, clothed in light, by the place where he had been laid. His graveclothes are lying where he left them there, undisturbed. As all of us awaken after surgery to inspect the scars left by the surgeon, ▪ so Jesus looks at his hands and his feet. He remembers Psalm 22:16 and the prophecy of these piercings. He gives thanks to his Father, just as Psalm 16:10 taught him, for his Father has healed him on the third day. God has not allowed his Son to know the corruption of death. Jesus looks around the large chambers of the tomb carved out of rock. The ▪ tomb clearly belongs to a wealthy family. The Savior remembers the promise of Isaiah 53:9 that although he was to be numbered with criminals in his suffering, he would be buried with the rich in his death. After his suffering, Jesus knew he would never again be touched by wicked hands. He knew he had been laid in this chamber of so rich a tomb by loving hands. Jesus examines more closely the scars of his hands and his feet. He remem- bers the nails. But then he notices the scar in his side. He traces his finger over the place that was wounded but is now healed. Jesus has no memory of this deep wound. It occurred after he slept the sleep of death. But his finger lingers over this scar. Jesus knows the meaning of the scar. The Savior is a new Adam. Just as Adam came forth from the earth in the beginning, so now this new Adam must complete all things. Like Adam, he too will come forth from the earth when he leaves the tomb. The fragrances of the spring season now fill the tomb. Jesus looks out of the tomb to see the beauty of a garden. Once more he traces the scar in his side. His finger lingers on this scar, for he remembers its promise. God had ▪ wounded Adam in a garden, too. It was when the Lord announced that it was not good for a man to be alone. Jesus remembers how God gave Adam the gift of a bride. God took the first man and brought upon him a deep sleep, a sleep like death. Although Adam was still innocent, God pierced his side and made a bloody wound. Out of that piercing, God gave life to the bride. He healed Adam of his wound and awakened him in a garden to receive his bride in all her purity and beauty. Jesus’ finger traces the scar as his heart begins to swell with overwhelming joy. Who will she be? Who is the one who awaits his appearing outside, in the gar- den? Who is the one his Father has chosen to represent the bridal people he has redeemed from all the earth? He looks outside the tomb. The dawn is now bright and the sun shines radiantly upon an entirely new world. Jesus is eager to go forth, like a bridegroom rejoicing to see his bride — the one his father has chosen. The one chosen just for him. The one who will stir every passion of his holy heart. Jesus remembers the Song that Solomon had sung. “You have ravished ▪ my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes!” (Song 4:9). His heart is bursting with joy and expectation. He remembers what Isaiah said. “As the bridegroom sings over his bride, so the Lord God sings over his people!” (Isaiah 62:5) He is thinking of his bridal people. His inner heart is singing. He is thinking of you Jesus sees the now bright light of dawn streaming into the tomb. Before he goes forth, he takes one last look at the place where they had laid him. He sees the graveclothes. And the headpiece. All undisturbed. Suddenly, from somewhere nearby the garden, a rooster shakes off the nighttime dew, throws back his neck and crows in the new day. Jesus hears the cockcrow. So he remem- bers Peter. He remembers his beloved disciple, and he knows the deep sorrow that cockcrow will bring to his friend. Jesus knows all things. He knows that Peter will come to the tomb later this ▪ morning. He knows Satan has sifted his friend. Like wheat. He knows that Peter has no strength left in him. So he reaches out his hand, tentatively at first, and takes up the facecloth. He folds it in that certain way he always folded a cloth. That unique way that only he folded a cloth napkin. Peter had seen Jesus fold a cloth the same way so many times before. Jesus folded the facecloth, thinking about Peter. He prays for strength for his friend so broken in his sorrow. He knows that Peter has repented. He knows that Peter loves him. He knows that Peter will see the folded facecloth later that morning. He will see and believe. He smiles as he gently lays the facecloth by itself, nearby his shroud. It is a tender sign of an undy- ing and all forgiving love. Left behind for his friend. A token of the love between God and Man. “Behold! I Make All Things New” - Dr. Warren A. Gage - TheAlexandrian ForumPresident (Continued on pg. 34)