Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 159 - He Is Risen Indeed! Received this from a friend? Why not join Eternity Daily Bible Study by sending a blank email to: eternitydbs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Free ebook on Spiritual Warfare: http://www.aibi.ph/ebooks/spirwarfare.htm (Hebrews 7:15-16 NASB) And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, {16} who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, the day that Catholics and Protestants alike celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tomorrow the minister will say "Jesus Christ is risen" and we will reply "He is risen indeed!". To understand the resurrection you have to understand Jesus central message of the available God that freely forgives all who repent without needing ceremonies, temples or priests. Jesus came proclaiming "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand". That meant that God was "at hand", available to all who reach out, just as if we say "he kept the hammer at hand.." meaning he could reach out for it at any time. This was the gospel of the available God. And there was only one condition to this availability - true faithful repentance from sin and trust in God. During the Sermon On The Mount Jesus declared what God's real standards were and they were unrealistic, far too difficult for any to measure up to. Getting God's approval through being a good boy or a good girl was over. Now you could only get to God by being penitent and accepting a graciously given forgiveness. The religious leaders refused to accept John's baptism which would have meant identifying with sinners. They saw themselves as respectable. They were diligent but not penitent, active but not ashamed. Their God was a God who liked respectable, dignified people. Their God liked well-performed ceremonies in lavishly appointed temples, done just-so by those whose proper place it was to do such things. The God of the Saduccees and the Herodians was available to proper people, respectable, orderly folk of good manners. On the other hand the Pharisees wanted Jesus to be a good bible-believing Jew who knew the Scriptures and went along with the synagogue authorities and kept all the rules. It was not class or location or ceremony but the rules that mattered. The God of the Pharisees loved rules. He had 613 rules at least, and all were important. The God of the Pharisees was only available to rule-keepers, not sinners. Then Jesus came along, ignoring the Sabbath, preaching on hillsides, requiring no ceremonies, touching the unclean, casting out demons, raising the dead. Jesus clearly demonstrated that God was available in fishing boats, and in Galilee, and to women and Samaritans and lepers and people with issues of blood and Roman centurions. The unapproachable religious God, who lived in the golden box called the ark of the covenant in a golden building called the Temple and was controlled by priests was doing no miracles. But the available God was healing them by the thousands and no priests were in charge! A major issue was brewing. What sort of God was the real God. Was He the Temple God of the priests and Levites? Was He the Bible God of the Pharisees? Or was He the Available God of Jesus? Was repentance from sin and trust in the available God of Jesus Christ ALL that was needed? Could the unwashed sinners crowd into Heaven while the rich and respectable were left outside? This required resolution. The resolution came in the crisis of the cross and the resurrection. (And later in the demolition of the Temple in 70AD.) By raising Jesus from the dead God demonstrated which was was the true way. This was the indestructible life. Jesus was validated in His priesthood to God "according to the power of an indestructible life. " Because His life could not be destroyed, because His life was clearly eternal, then His priesthood was superior to the priesthood of priests that perished. (See Hebrews chapters 7-10). Thus the resurrection ended the argument. The way to God was not through the Temple or through the Bible but through repentance and faith in the availability of God in Christ. The old priesthood that thought it controlled God was finished and the golden temple building and the golden box were utterly demolished forty years later by the armies of Titus in 70AD. The resurrection conformed the gospel of God as accessible in Christ to penitent sinners regardless of race, nationality, gender or socio-economic status. A God who was available to the poor, and a God who did miracles for lepers. Christ was the access point, the gate, and His life was indestructible, he lives forever to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25) No rule except repentance and faith, no cups needing cleaning, no Sabbath needing keeping, no unclean people, no unclean foods, no-one outside the Kingdom except the proud and no-one inside the Kingdom except penitent sinners. The resurrection of Jesus Christ told the disciples that grace would continue to be available and could not be destroyed. There would never be a day when they would have to go back to observing 613 rules or be controlled by priests or worship in a special building on a special day. God would always be freely available in Jesus. Which may be why the last words in Matthew's gospel are these: "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. He is risen indeed! Blessings in Him, John Edmiston Asian Internet Bible Institute http://www.aibi.ph/ Free Online Bible And Ministry Training Dozens of free Christian ebooks: http://www.aibi.ph/ebooks/ Visit the Eternity home page at: http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ This devotional may be freely forwarded to others and used for non-profit ministry purposes as long as the following copyright notice is included. © Copyright John Edmiston 2003