day no. 16,474: where misery pools, mercy reigns

The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. - Isaiah 53:6

“It is the most grievous sentence of the three, but it overflows with comfort. Strange is it that where misery was concentrated mercy reigned; where sorrow reached her climax weary souls find rest. The Saviour bruised is the healing of bruised hearts. See how the lowliest penitence gives place to assured confidence through simply gazing at Christ on the cross!” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

Where misery pools, mercy reigns

2 Corinthians 5:21

For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Where sin was concentrated, Righteousness was executed.

day no. 13,313: He rose just like He said He would

1 Corinthians 15:4

He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

1 Corinthians 15:14-19

14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile andyou are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

day no. 13,311: He died just like He said He would

1 Corinthians 15:3

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.

day no. 12,963: GOOD MORNING!!!

Matthew 28:9

 

Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him.

 

HE IS RISEN!

 

THE TOMB IS EMPTY!

 

JESUS IS ALIVE!

 

GOOD MORNING!

 

!!!EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

day no. 12,961: Good Friday

1 Corinthians 15:3-6

 

³ For I passed on to you as most important what I also received:

that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures,⁴ that He was buried,
that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures,
⁵ and that He appeared to Cephas,
then to the Twelve.
⁶ Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time;
most of them are still alive,
but some have fallen asleep.

 

The most important thing anyone can pass on is the most important thing anyone can receive: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on their behalf.

 

1 Corinthians 11:26

 

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

 

Today, we specifically set aside to proclaim the Lord's death.  This is that Good Friday where the Man Jesus Christ ended His perfect life by voluntarily submitting Himself to a sacrificial death.  He was the perfect sacrifice.  The willing sacrifice.  He died on purpose and with purpose. 

 

As Christians, we proclaim the Lord's death often.  Particularly when we received communion and particularly today as we remember His specific death on a specific tree at a certain time in a certain place where for certain He finished the good work that is our secure hope of salvation.

day no, 12,901: common era C and E Christianity‏

We had 490 people at Candeo's first Christmas production. That is amazing. We usually average around 300. So that's nearly 200 extra people today.

People come out for the Christmas.

They also will often show up for Easter.

We endearingly refer to these as C and E Christians.

They are good for 2 out of 52 weeks in a given year.

I reflected upon this today and began thinking about these holidays in terms of birthdays and funerals.

Birthdays and funerals are major life-markers (extremely major in the case of funerals since they are about the most life-changing event in any one person's given life).

But how much relationship do you have with someone if you only attend their birthday parties and their funeral?

Is it enough to say you know a person?

I'm glad you're alive.
I'm sorry you're dead.
It was nice to know you.

But did you really know them?

I don' think it's unfair to question the legitimacy and reality of a person's claim to relationship with someone they do not spend much time with. In any other realm, it seems the answer would be obvious.

Don't deceive yourself.

It's no different here.

easter

Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

To many this still seems an idle tale.

Not to me.

Not anymore. 

Thank You Jesus.

good morning

Matthew 28:8-9

⁸ So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news. ⁹ Just then Jesus met them and said, “Good morning!” They came up, took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him

Could there be a better time and day to say, "Good morning!"?

Could there be a better morning?

I love the simple profundity of Jesus greeting those seeking Him on the day He rose from the dead with, "Good morning."

It gives the phrase richness and context.

It makes me excited for Easter morning to rise and say to my wife, "Good morning."

I am excited to tell my kids about this and to start a tradition of anticipation in saying, "Good morning" on Easter Sunday.

Thank you Jesus.

Good morning indeed!

s-a-t-u-r-d-a-y WAIT!

I was thinking today about what it must have been like on Sabbath Saturday after Good Friday.

Yesterday, Jesus was killed.

Have you ever a very dramatic event occur in your life?
Remember the day immediately following?

You wake up, if you slept at all, and initially you are not ready to embrace reality.
You gravitate towards doing that which you normally would do.
And then it hits you.

Everything is different now.

The Sabbath would have been a day of rest.

Have you ever been anxious about something?
What do you do?
Anything, right?

Anything to get your mind off of the one thing you are anxious about.
But in this case, there was nothing permissible to do.
Nothing left to do but stew.
Yesterday won't go away.
Tomorrow seems so far off.

Good Friday is memorable for its horror.
Easter Sunday is memorable for its hope.

But that Saturday in-between is largely forgotten.

It must have been marked with the sinking feeling of life without Jesus. 

This day between seeing Him die and seeing Him alive again must have been mostly focused on the fact that He was not there with them.

Scripture records that Jesus' predictions of death and resurrection were not understood until afterwards when the Holy Spirit enlightened them. 

That means Saturday was a extraordinarily difficult day.

The events that define us are often marked by powerful moments for better or for worse, but each of them is also yoked closely to that feeling of the morning after each when life goes on, but life is changed.

Today is spent reflecting upon the bruised heel.
Tomorrow will reveal the crushed skull.

And in the middle is this rest.
Nothing to do.

He died.
He rose.

It's fitting that in-between you did nothing.
You didn't do anything Friday or Sunday either.

good friday

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

 

¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

*SPECIAL* Easter Edition: Death Could Not Hold Him Down!

1 Corinthians 15:17-19

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Acts 17:30-31

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Today we celebrate the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. The Seed has fulfilled His mission in being laid down into the ground dead so that He may rise to life and produce fruit. Jesus is ALIVE!

God no longer overlooks ignorance. The old has passed away. The new has come. He commands all people everywhere to repent because a day is coming where God will judge the world in His righteousness by the Man He appointed. God has given full assurance of this by raising that Man from the dead.

Rest assured, Jesus is alive and well and is coming back again.

*SPECIAL* Easter Edition: What's so Good about Friday?

3 things to consider
John 10:17-18

17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

John 16:32-33

32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

John 19:28-30

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfil the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished”, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

We could not have killed God without His permission. Think about that. Jesus laid down His life. He is not a tragic figure of history. He came for this very purpose.

In the moment of His deepest despair and fear where brotherhood and encouragement were needed most, Jesus was left on His own and we scattered. Jesus prophesied this to his disciples and told them of their future cowardice and shame.

But Jesus says the most remarkable thing. He tells the disciples that He has told them this very news so that they may have peace. That seems strange to me because it seems like the worst news possible. It's like saying, "I know you are with me now, but when things get difficult you will abandon me and leave me alone." But Jesus said He was not alone. The Father was with Him. If the Father is with you and for you, who can be against you? The world. But who can defeat you? No one.

Jesus has overcome the world! He overcame death, sin, hate, violence, disbelief, abandonment, fear, cowardice, and the betrayal of His own disciples.

On the Cross, Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished!"

I believe Him.