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Let the Power Flow
Getting Closer to Jesus: It was the evening of the first Easter Sunday, and the disciples were abuzz with the resurrection. A few of them had encountered the living Lord but others of them had only heard rumors that he had risen from the grave. They were about to get the surprise of their lives—and this would be a game-changer.
No man had ever risen from the dead, and if this were indeed true, it would prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Jesus was who he said he was—God come in the flesh. And if he was who he claimed to be—the living Lord of life and Savior of the word—he therefore had it within his authority and power to do what he said he would do: forgive sin, heal the sick, set those in bondage free, provide his subjects with a real experience of the Kingdom life and in fact, grant them eternal life.
This was truly the Good News!
Yet for all their anticipation of a resurrected Jesus—and all that it implied—these disciples were still huddled in fear behind closed doors. They were still intimidated by the religious leaders who ruled the day with an iron fist and the religious system that had sent their Lord to the cross in the first place. There was still a major disconnect between what they intellectually accepted and their emotional reality. Fear and concern dominated their better judgment.
Now, before we get too far down the road on this, perhaps we ought to admit that fear and concern often dominate our emotions, our behavior, and our thinking as well. We accept that Jesus is risen, that he is Lord over all, yet we easily get intimidated by circumstances, get set back on our heels by the system, whatever that might be for us, and give in to fear in our emotions. We are really no different than the disciples—their story is our story.
But thank God for Jesus! While he suddenly appeared among those first disciples—one of the benefits of having a resurrected body—he no longer needs to do that with us. Why? He doesn’t have to; he is already among us. In fact, his promise is that he will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) Moreover, he shows himself to us, not necessarily by opening his wounded hands, but by holding our hands all along the way. (Isaiah 46:3) It’s true that as we look back over the course of our journey with Jesus, our testimony will have to be, “the Lord has led us all along the way.” (Deuteronomy 8:2) Then to neutralize our concerns and fears, he grants us his peace—the peace of Christ that rules our hearts and minds. (Colossians 3:15, Philippians 4:7) And he makes all this not only possible, but sustainable by placing the Father’s gift within us—the precious Holy Spirit, who infuses us with both the authority and power of God Almighty to do his will and work. (John 19:23)
So rather than living our lives huddled in fear and paralyzed by worry, like the disciples, as we act in faith upon what Jesus has done, we can live in inner confidence and spiritual power—we, too, like those first disciples, can change the world. At the very least, our corner of the world can—and should—look radically different now that the resurrection has rocked our world.
This truly is and always will be the Good News—the resurrection has rocked your world, and by the power of the resurrection working through you, it will rock your world!
Take the Next Step: Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to remind you of the full power and real authority that is now within you to live in the reality of Christ’s resurrection.
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Letting Go Of Immature Views Of Jesus
Getting Closer to Jesus: Imagine Mary’s surprise—and joy—at hearing that familiar voice tenderly whisper her name as she stood before the tomb of her Lord: “Mary!” (John 20:16) She turned to see what she had never expected to find when she left early that morning to care for the Lord’s crucified body. Jesus was alive! And Mary was so overcome with a thousand different emotions all at once that she grasped onto Jesus as if she would never let go again. She had lost him once, but she was not about to let that happen twice!
If you are a parent and have ever lost your child in a department store, you will understand that scene: After minutes that seem like hours of panicked searching, you find that child, and while you feel like giving them the mother of all spankings, instead you hug them so tightly they almost suffocate.
That is exactly what Mary did, but in grasping onto Jesus, she becomes a timeless picture of our tendency to cling to yesterday in order to feel good about today. We do that in a variety of ways:
We fiercely cling to a “spiritual high” from yesterday, wanting it replicated today.
We fiercely cling to wounds from disappointment, failure, and hurt, and as a result, fear, guilt, and unforgiveness now control, if not define, our lives.
We fiercely cling to the attention we get by being needy.
We fiercely cling to immature views developed in our spiritual adolescence of a God who winks at sin and really doesn’t punish our wrongs, or who must not care about us because he let bad things happen, or who is nothing more than a celestial “sugar daddy” who gives everything we want.
Mary was a spiritual clinger; she was guilty of all those incomplete and immature views. Jesus, however, refused to let her stay in that frame of mind, so he said to her, “Don’t hold onto me!” (John 20:17) The word “hold” is hapto in the Greek text, and it means, “to cling, to desperately grasp onto!”
Grammatically, in the negative, it means to stop doing what you always do—and are now doing again. Jesus is really saying, “Quit hanging on to your warm, fuzzy memories of past experience of me. That limits your view of who I really am. Raise your expectations!” Then in the rest of verse 17, he says to Mary, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God!”
Jesus is pointing to a whole new order. He is more than just the crucified Savior who can forgive your past. He is more than just a rabbi (John 20:16) who gives you guidance and stability in the present. He is the risen Lord. who by virtue of his own transformation from death back to life, has the authority to transform your life today—and every day from here to eternity. And now he is going to the place of authority from where he will be your constant advocate, constant empower-er, and constant companion—in other words, he is your living Lord. Jesus is more than a resurrected Savior—he is also the Living Lord.
Finally, the light dawned for Mary. She got it! Mary went and found the disciples in John 20:18 and said to them, “I have seen” … not “the teacher” … not “the Savior” … but “I have seen the Lord!”
I hope you will get it too! Stop clinging to your immature and incomplete views of Jesus. He is not only your Savior—the one who forgives you of your sins—he wants also to be your Lord, the one who will rule over your moment-by-moment life.
Take the Next Step: Is there any area of your life that does not belong to Jesus? Your thought life? Language? Use of money? Friendships? Sex life? Attitude? Treatment of others? If he is not Lord over any one of these areas, he is not Lord at all. So hit your knees and surrender to his Lordship—and never turn back. You will not regret it!
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Brassy Boldness
Getting Closer to Jesus: You’ve got to give Peter credit—he was never one to hold back. John outran him to the tomb, but nervously stopped at the entrance to peek in. Not Peter! When he finally arrived, huffing and puffing, Peter, ignoring graveyard protocol and pushed past John right into the place where Jesus was buried.
Of course, the greatest part of this story is that Jesus wasn’t there! He had risen from the dead, the victor over death and sin, and now was alive forevermore. If Peter had found Jesus’ body still sealed behind the stone entrance of that tomb when they arrived, nothing else about this story would matter. But Jesus had risen, indeed, and that is why the other details of this story matter. Even small, seemingly insignificant details become both interesting and instructive—like Peter pressing in past John to witness the reality of the resurrection firsthand.
Peter’s spiritual pushiness is what endeared him to Jesus. His personal deficiencies are well documented, of course; the entire world knows of them thanks to the Gospel writers. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John pulled no punches in their accounts of this braggadocios, foot-in-mouth, leap-before-you-look, think-before-you-speak disciple. Yet it was Peter’s reckless abandon when it came to spiritual expectancy that led Jesus to declare,
“Peter, on your kind of faith, I am going to build this small team of disciples into a worldwide force called ‘the church’ that will take back Planet Earth from Satan and return it to its Rightful Owner.” (Mat 16:18)
Sure, Peter got into trouble more than his fair share, but he was the only disciple to actually get out of the boat to walk on water—albeit a walk that was short-lived and ultimately very wet. He was the first to go into the empty tomb—Ground Zero of the Christian faith. And he was the first one called upon in Acts 2 to give the inaugural sermon of the Christian era—where two thousand people responded to his altar call.
Jesus loved Peter’s brassy boldness. That was the kind of raw material the Lord could work with. It was certainly raw, but it was ready. It didn’t take much to light a fire with Peter; he was a tinderbox waiting for combustion.
I think we could learn something from Peter’s example. Peter didn’t have it all together in his life, but he was always willing to offer all that he had, raw as it was, and press into Jesus with full expectancy of what could happen when raw readiness met with resurrection reality.
Take the Next Step: Be Peter-like today in your journey with Jesus: a bit bold, daring to go so far as to be a little spiritually pushy. Chances are, you will encounter some resurrection power. Word has it that it’s still floating around out there.
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Mission Accomplished!
Getting Closer to Jesus: Mission accomplished!
The purpose for which God became man was complete! Jesus, the perfect God-man, had just offered himself as the only atoning sacrifice to the Heavenly Father for the sin of the world. He then proclaimed for all of heaven—and hell—to hear: It is finished. Having done that, Luke, one of the other Gospel writers, tells us that Jesus cried out in a loud voice then surrendered his spirit to God.
What I find profound about this is that a man in the final throws of death doesn’t cry out in a loud voice, unless he is a courageous soldier—a war hero dying in battle to defend his cause, liberate his people and defeat an enemy. No, a dying man usually whispers hoarsely, or whimpers pitifully, or expulses a cry of pain—or perhaps just gives up and quits breathing.
But Luke carefully chose the Greek phrase, fone megale —mega-phone—to capture Jesus’ final word. This was a shout of triumph, an outburst of victory! As he hung on that cross, Jesus had in his sites sin and death—those evil twins that had thwarted God’s original intent and tormented humanity since the fall of humanity back in the Garden of Eden.
Now, Jesus had defeated sin. He had offered himself as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:10,12,14), he had forgiven the repentant thief, he had extended forgiveness to the ignorant who had sent him to the cross. Jesus had won! It was finished and Jesus knew it. Not his life; not his future; but his work was finished—complete, mission accomplished.
Yet there was one more thing he needed to do; one more enemy to defeat—Death. As Jesus’ life quickly ebbed toward death, the spirit of death appeared out of the invisible realm, ready to claim yet another victim—this time, to crush the life of the One who claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life. But just as the death demon reached out to take hold of Jesus, the Lord of Life laid hold of death instead.
Death was grasped and dragged until it was absorbed into the bosom of the Eternal One…and so, in that moment, all things were crucified —every last thing! Sin, sickness, and suffering, along with hell, the grave, and yes, death, were crucified—all things!
But wait, there was one more thing to be crucified: you and me. You see, we were crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless, in dying with him, we live in him now and forevermore!
That was the loud voice—the fone megale—the shout of triumph. Our victory had been forever won! And having won the greatest of all victories—our eternal salvation, he bowed his head and surrendered his spirit. And the very next thing he heard on the other side, I imagine, was “well done, good and faithful Servant!”
Take the Next Step: Find a hymnal—you might have to look long and hard these days—and sing the him, “Christ Arose” as a prayer of gratitude to God for Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
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This is God At His Best
Getting Closer to Jesus: From our perspective as Christians, nearly two thousand years after the event, the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus have become a thing of redemptive beauty. This was God at his best—his love, grace, mercy, redemption, and sovereignty on display as Jesus was beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross for the sins of the world.
Yet on that exact day Jesus was forced to endure this suffering, it got ugly—beyond description. So brutal was his treatment that we would have averted our eyes in horror were we to witness it first-hand. So disgusting was Pilate’s cowardly desire to placate the rabid hatred of the Jewish leaders that we would have shaken our heads had we witnessed it for ourselves. So unhinged was the hatred of the Jewish leaders for their Messiah we would have dropped our jaws in disbelief had we witnessed it with our own eyes.
The prophet Isaiah described the physical horror that Jesus endured as so graphic that we would have had to turn away, unable and unwilling to grasp what Jesus actually experienced:
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:3).
John 19:1-3 tells us,
Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. ‘Hail! King of the Jews!’ they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.
Thirty-nine times the whip, crafted for maximum damage to a human body, was brought down upon Jesus’ back, ripping open the flesh, tearing at the nerves, muscles, and sinew, laying him open to the bone.
Amazingly, Jesus survived a trauma no human should ever—perhaps could ever—have to endure, but only to have a crown of long, sharp Judean thorns forced upon his brow, penetrating down to the skull. Then the soldiers who had mockingly crowned him began to beat the defenseless Jesus, punching him time and again with full force in the face.
It got ugly the day God died—so bad was the physical violence that the prophet Isaiah said,
Many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness. (Isaiah 52:14)
Then Jesus was brought before Pilate, the Roman governor, who was to hear his case. After the Jews brought their trumped-up accusations against the Lord, and after Pilate had interviewed him, he tried to release Jesus: “I find him not guilty.” Pilate said. “Take him yourselves and crucify him. (John 19:6) Not guilty—that usually secures freedom for an innocent man, yet Pilate was more afraid of man’s opinion than dispensing deserved fairness. And in that moment, Pilate secured his dark place in history as the one who could have freed an innocent man yet sent him as a lamb—the Lamb—to the slaughter.
It got ugly the day God died—the innocent dying for the guilty:
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. (Isaiah 53:7-8)
But what of the Jewish priests and officials! Here we find misguided religion at its worst. The long-awaited Messiah was finally among them—his life of love on display in every action, every miracle, every word—yet they are so blinded by hatred they stop their ears and cry all the louder, “crucify him” as Pilate weakly pleads for Jesus’ release.
It got ugly when God died—those who were his own people willingly, knowingly, viciously sent their Eternal King to his death by claiming loyalty to a temporal king.
Yet for all the human ugliness inflicted upon Jesus, Isaiah tells us that it was “the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…to make his life an offering for sin.” While man’s darkness was being exposed, God’s sovereignty was powerfully moving events toward a glorious end, the redemption of sinful man.
Yes, it got ugly the day Jesus died, but Jesus had to take the ugliest of human darkness and sin into himself so that he could crush to death what would crush him to death. It got ugly for Jesus, but it became a thing of beauty for you and me.
Take the Next Step: Read through Isaiah 53, taking time to pause after each thought to offer gratitude to God that in Jesus’ death, sin met its match and you found your freedom.
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