I have attached the latest blog. It is on the Resurrection which is fitting with the season. This is a very important time to God and Jesus and we should search our heart to see if we are appreciating the work of God.

Like the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, these verses are important to me. At 80 my time is drawing near and I am comforted in the promises from God on the Resurrection story. I remember 60 years ago a bible teacher said that He knows more people on the other side of the river, than over here, In my youth, I didn’t appreciate his thinking. This is very true of myself today.

As my IBM-SS teacher use to say at the beginning of each class, “He is Risen”. Thank you God.

Read and celebrate.

Gayle and Connie

When asking any confessing Christian, “What do we celebrate on Easter?” The answer usually is forgiveness or salvation. While that response is true, I want to remind you that a major celebration during this time is the resurrection of Jesus and what it means and promises to us.

Let me stitch together some of God’s activities that are reviewed in the Bible. This is my theological imagination but cut me some slack and we will focus on the conclusion.

The Bible starts with the creation of the universe and then earth.

Gen 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Yet the earth was not habitable.

Gen 1:2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Sometime between these events, I think there also occurred the fall of the angels.

Isa 14:12 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”

Isa 14:13 “For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north’”

Isa 14:14 “‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.’”

Isa 14:15 “Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the pit.”

I think God dispatched them to the Earth. A living Hell. After this fall, how long did the fallen angels wander around on earth until God refocused on their issue? We do not know. But we do know he laid out the plan of man to be carried out on Earth and defeat Satan.

Let me note some truths on this separation:

1. Satan wanted to be God.
2. There was a Hell from the start.
3. We see in Job that Satan taunts God with the accusation that no one follows you from love but what only what they can get out of you.
   Job 1:6 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
   Job 1:7 “And the LORD said unto Satan, ‘Whence comest thou?’ Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, ‘from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.’”
   Job 1:8 “And the LORD said unto Satan, ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and turns away from evil?’”
   Job 1:9 “Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, ‘Doth Job fear God for naught?’”
   Job 1:10 “Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.’”
4. Satan had the run on earth but didn’t seem to show up anywhere else in the universe.
   Job 1:7 “And Jehovah said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ Then Satan answered Jehovah and said, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it”.
5. Some demons or Satan could somehow have created women for Seth’s progeny. Gen 5:6 “And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begat Enos.”
   Question? Who did Seth and the others “begat” with?
6. Also, The Nephilim people rarely talked about, but revealed in Genesis 6 were a physically active part of activities on earth. This led to God calling Noah to build the ark, sending the Flood and resetting of the human race. (RD)

Now back to the creation story. God decided to place man on the very planet that he had exiled Satan to. It was one big, dark swamp; but God decided to turn the lights on and through this conflict he placed man in Satan’s backyard.

Gen 1:3 “And God said, ‘Let there be light’: and there was light.”

Gen 1:4 “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Joh 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.

Life started for humans on earth when God created the Garden of Eden. Satan intruded and brought death to the human race. Note: in our case the only thing that dies is the body, i.e., the soul and the spirit lives on. This was true from the start with Adam and Eve. So, we could say Satan stole the body. But God has had, and always had, a plan to get back His bodies, and that plan was His son. He wants His bodies back. The plan was His Son’s death on the cross and then the resurrection.

Lance Gowen says that God brought us into the world as a unit, i.e., body, soul, spirit, and He will take us out as a unit.

1 Cor 15:54 “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”
1 Cor 15:55 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Again, I may be theologically questionable on the story, but on the issue of the body, I am not. God wants us restored to Him in our bodies He has planned for us. Jesus is and always has been the plan. The whole Bible points in that direction. As we approach Easter, we must take time to grasp this truth. Just think on:

Why would God set up programs that he knew would not work?

1. The Garden
2. After the flood
3. The Jewish Law
4. The Priesthood
5. Etc.

Answer: To set up the requirement for the ministry and work of Jesus; to fulfill His plan to defeat Satan once and for all.

Luke_10:18 And He said to them, I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning.

Luke 24:25 “And He said to them, ‘O fools and slow of heart to believe all things that the prophets spoke!’”

Luke 24:26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”

Luke 24:27 “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

Application:

1. Focus on the resurrection a little bit every day.
2. Take a walk through a cemetery monthly.
   Ecc 7:2 “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.”
   Ecc 7:3 “Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made better.”
   Ecc 7:4 “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of laughter.”
3. Thank God daily for Jesus and God’s plan for your resurrection.

PS: Traits of Jesus in the resurrected body:

1. Most everyone recognized who He was. Therefore, we may know each other in Heaven.
2. He ate some fish. I don’t think he needed it but enjoyed the eating experience.
3. He could walk through walls.
4. He could cloud men’s mind so they would not recognize him.
5. It was a solid body that Thomas could touch and feel the wounds.
6. He knew where the fish were (John 21:1-11).
7. He was forgiving and used a failed human in His works: Peter.
8. He gave the ultimate ministry command: Matt 28:19-20.