NOT JUST SALVATION -- RIGHTEOUSNESS
Easter is here !! This is the time of year, when I was a teenager visiting relatives in Washington D.C., that I saw the black and white movie “King of Kings” and felt my heart strangely warmed. It wasn’t long after that, that I went to a church, invited by a drummer friend, and heard a young man play the guitar, sing, and teach from the Bible. He said, “How many here would like to know God better?” There were 6 of us young people that raised our hands that night, followed him to the pastor’s study, and had our lives changed forever. He said, “If you want to know God better, open your heart and invite Jesus in”. I did just that. I saw no lightning bolts, heard no thunder claps, but eternal life was imparted to my spirit. The next day, I noticed that the flowers were prettier and I had this silly grin that I couldn’t get rid of for almost three weeks -- my cheeks hurt. Easter is here :) . . . a very special season...
Before we get into salvation and righteousness, I’d like to offer an opinion (Bible-based, of course :)
Peter & John saw something in the tomb of Jesus that caused them to believe in His resurrection in ONE GLANCE :) WHAT WAS IT ???
John 20:1-9 (KJV)
1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw THE LINEN CLOTHES lying; yet went he not in.
6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and HE SAW, AND BELIEVED.
9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
WHAT did he see ??
John 19:38-42 (KJV)
38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and WOUND IT (Gr. “to bind, tie, fasten”) in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
To the best of my ability to study history and Jewish customs and if you can believe what has been written, Jesus’ every finger would have been wrapped - then His hand - then hands/arms wrapped tightly to the body. HE WOULD BE ENTOMBED SIMILARLY TO AN EGYPTIAN MUMMY. This would go a LONG WAY towards explaining why it only took ONE LOOK for the disciples to believe. Instead of seeing a PILE of linen wrappings, they would have seen a COCOON LIKE SHELL perhaps intact indicating that only GOD could have extracted the body of Jesus supernaturally, leaving the linen wrappings ... well .. WRAPPED UP STILL ! !
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Now, it is on my heart today to explore not just salvation, but let’s go all the way to RIGHTEOUSNESS :)
John 3:14-17 (NIV)
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, SO THE SON OF MAN MUST BE LIFTED UP (on the cross),
15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 "For 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.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(Here is the part of history that Jesus was referring to...)
Num 21:7-9 (KJV)
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
(Now, let’s have another scripture to show that Jesus became sin...)
2 Cor 5:17-21 (NIV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
. . .
21 God (the Father) made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to BE SIN for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
WHY IS IMPORTANT THAT WE KNOW THAT WE ARE RIGHTEOUS?
· Now we know the we are God’s very own sons and daughters :)
I Jn 3:1-2 (KJV)
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that WE SHOULD BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, NOW ARE WE THE SONS OF GOD, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
· Now we know that He hears our prayers :)
1 Pet 3:12 (NIV)
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
· Now we know that as we pray for each other, our prayers will be ANSWERED :)
James 5:16-18 (NIV)
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. THE PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN IS POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE.
17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
· Now we have more incentive to live RIGHT !!!
1 Cor 6:15-20 (NIV)
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the (righteous) members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."
17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.