Death has always been one of humanity’s greatest fears.
And down through the ages, religions have tried to sort it out and explain it.
None of them seem to have arrived at the goal.
And I would say that Christianity is one of the religions that has.
But as you know, Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship.
And Christianity very simply says that Jesus Christ defeated death when he came out of the tomb alive and he alone has solved the issue of death.
Death has been defeated.
And we Christians because we are in Christ, we get to participate in that victory In this world.
As long as we’re on this earth, we will have tribulation, will have problems if we misplace our trust and don’t put our trust in God, we’re going to be disappointed.
God hasn’t forgotten us. He doesn’t take a nap, he doesn’t turn away, he doesn’t slumber or sleep.
So this is in his control. I think it’s genesis 50 said this, don’t worry about it.
You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
That’s how we have to look at what’s going on in the world today.
So it’s really important to make sure you maintain your trust in God and in Him alone and know that if you do that, he will never forsake you, he will never disappoint you.
He never out promises himself real courage is getting up every day living your life for the Lord Jesus Christ, in spite of all that’s going on knowing he’s in control and that your life has a purpose.
Welcome to a very special Easter edition of Turning Point with Dr David Jeremiah biblical and historical records account of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In these words, we read of the stone miraculously rolled away from the soldier patrolled tomb.
The angelic messengers announcement that Christ was risen and the empty sepulcher and abandoned burial linen.
2000 years later, Easter reminds us not of death, but of life everlasting.
Join Dr Jeremiah in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Today.
On turning point, let’s stand to our feet and let’s praise the Lord.
All right. Come on, bye.
No way.
Happy Easter from David Jeremiah.
Coming up on turning point, Jesus Christ overcame death one day.
He’s going to come back here.
There’s gonna be a shout and the trumpet and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
All of those who have died and their bodies have gone in the grave just are going to be resurrected to life just like Jesus was.
How do we know that? Because Jesus did it first?
And he said it’s the down payment on all the rest.
Dr Jeremiah first released understanding the 66 books of the Bible, helping thousands of Bible readers fully comprehend the place and purpose of every book in the Bible.
Now, Dr Jeremiah wants to help you live out the entire breadth and depth of scripture in his new companion volume.
Living the 66 books of the Bible in its pages.
Dr Jeremiah teaches you how to put the word of God into action by identifying each book’s purpose theme, challenge, verse and prayer.
Genesis will give you new perspective and opportunity to trust the Lord Exodus will challenge you to give all your burdens and cares to God.
Judges will help you draw nearer to Him.
Colossians will bring encouragement to your life through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Titus will keep you grounded in God’s word and promises and revelation will compel you to make each moment count for Christ.
You’ll find these and many more relevant and applicable lessons allowing you to to live out the living word request, living the 66 books of the Bible.
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Now, here is Dr Jeremiah with his message, the triumph of the resurrection death has always been one of humanity’s greatest fears.
And down through the ages, religions have tried to sort it out and explain it.
None of them seem to have arrived at the goal.
And I would say that Christianity is one of the religions that has.
But as you know, Christianity isn’t a religion. It’s a relationship.
And Christianity very simply says that Jesus Christ defeated death when he came out of the tomb alive and he alone has solved the issue of death.
Death has been defeated.
And we Christians because we are in Christ, we get to participate in that victory.
Now, before you can deal with the subject of resurrection, you have to reckon with this fact that there was indeed a death, Jesus was dead.
He had died in a very public and horrible manner on a Roman cross.
His death, which took only about six hours was witnessed by thousands of people.
And we know he was dead from the records both in the sacred and secular writings.
He had not swooned and then revived in the cool of the tomb.
As some critics have suggested when they laid Jesus in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, believe me, he was dead.
And the scripture is very careful to document that you see, the Jews were very careful not to have their Saturday Sabbath day defiled by leaving dead bodies hanging on crosses.
The Romans knew better than to leave any Jew hanging alive into the Sabbath.
So they took Jesus down from the cross because he was really dead.
It was the procedure for the Romans to ascertain that death and the way they did it was by taking a hammer and breaking the legs of those who were being crucified.
I must admit I had known that fact for a long time but never quite understood it.
But I do understand it.
Now, you see when a person was crucified, they were able to sustain their life by pushing up with their legs on their body so that it would allow them to breathe.
But when they wanted to shorten the time of their life and get the process over, they would break the legs of the crucified victims so they could no longer push up with their legs and they would suffocate in a very short period of time.
But I want you to listen to what the scripture says about Jesus.
And I’m gonna share these scriptures from the different gospels, put them together in some sort of a format that helps us.
And I begin with the gospel of John.
Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross. On the Sabbath.
The Jews ask pilot that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
And the soldiers came and they broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
But one of the soldiers took his spear and thrust it into the side of Jesus.
And had he been alive at that moment, bright arterial blood would have come out of the wound.
But read with me what the scripture tells us really occurred.
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately now watch this blood and water came out and he who has seen has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe I am told that the separation of blood from serum is one of the strongest legal medical proofs of death.
No, Jesus was dead. His body was given to two of his followers for burial and before you can have a resurrection, you have to have a death, Jesus died and his death is certified.
Now, I want you to join me on that first Easter morning as we go to examine what happened to Jesus after he died.
As you know, he was placed in a tomb.
And Easter Sunday, three days later, it was a Sunday that we celebrate today.
Let’s suppose that we are one of the two Marys who came to the tomb on that day.
What would we see? What would we have seen that day that might have caused us ultimately to believe that Jesus Christ had gained victory over death.
The first thing that would have been evident to the two women and would be evident to us.
Had we been in that spot was that the soldiers who had been placed at the tomb were no longer there, Joyce officials, you see panicked when they began to hear that thousands of people were following Jesus.
So here’s what we read about that in Matthew chapter 27, they came and said, Sir, we remembered while Jesus was alive, how that Deceiver said after three days, I will rise.
Therefore come in that the tomb be made secure until the third day.
Lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people that he has risen from the dead.
So that the last deception will be worse than the first.
And pilot said to them, you have a guard go your way, make it as secure as you know how so they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
So in other words, the Romans sent a team, a Roman guard which was made up of 16 men and they went to the Tomb where Jesus had been buried and they guarded the tomb.
And this is how it would have looked.
Four of the guards would have placed themselves directly in front of the place to be guarded.
And the rest of the 16 would gather in a semicircle behind them.
And throughout the day, every four hours, they would switch guards so that those who were in, in the front would move to the side in a new group of four would take their place so that all of them could sleep and be alert to guard the tomb.
But what happened when the Mary’s got to the tomb, the soldiers were gone, listen to me.
They had slept through the resurrection. 16 men slept through the resurrection.
Jesus walked out of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Not one of the soldiers tried to detain him.
And when they realized what had happened, they panicked because a Roman soldier knew that if somebody escapes who’s under your watch, it’s your life.
You pay for that. So the scripture tells us what they did. Matthew chapter 28.
Now, while they were going behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests, all things that had happened.
And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers saying to them, tell them that his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept.
And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.
So they took the money and they did as they were instructed And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Although the idea that the disciples stole the body of Jesus explains the missing corpse.
The idea is more absurd than any of the other theories that have been put forth to explain jesus’ resurrection.
It’s impossible that the soldiers would have all slept through the disciples, moving this huge stone away from the mouth of the tomb and stealing the body of Jesus which was wrapped in embalming clothes.
Here’s the key to the whole deal.
You guys, if all the soldiers were asleep, how did they know who stole the body?
Mm So make a note in your Bibles as I have in mind, the stolen body theory was concocted by the religious chief priests and the elders.
They made it up to explain something. They couldn’t understand anybody tells you the body of Jesus was stolen.
Just tell them how it happened. It was made up by a bunch of religious crazy people.
So they saw the soldiers were gone.
And then as they got nearer to the tomb, they saw that the seal that was supposed to be over the tomb, it was missing.
You see when they put somebody in the tomb and they sealed it, the seal was like a little band like a little rope that was put across the opening, it was fixed on one side and fixed on the other in the wax.
And then the signet ring of the, of the governor would be placed in the wax and all that was, it wasn’t gonna, it wasn’t protecting, but it was just to signify that what was in the tomb when we sealed it is still there and the seal has not been broken.
Well, when the women got to the tomb, there was no seal and you know why?
Because there was no stone, the stone was gone.
In fact, the Bible tells us about that in pretty strange language.
In Matthew 27, we read that when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock and rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and departed.
Now, if you’ve ever been to Israel and you ever get to go to the gardens tomb, you see the tomb?
I have been there several times and I’ve actually walked into the tomb and stood in there where they believe Jesus was placed and the opening into the tomb was only 4.5 ft high.
When you go to this tomb in Israel. That’s true.
When I go there, I have to stoop way over to get inside.
We’re told that when Peter and John ran to the tomb, it actually says in the scripture that John leaned over and looked in because he couldn’t stand up.
It was, it was too short.
And the way they did this, they had a little groove that they would dig in front of the tomb, kind of a little slot like something.
You would roll something and the stone that was put in front of the tomb was round and they put that stone in the groove in front of the whole where the entrance was.
And while they were waiting for the tomb to be occupied, they would roll the stone up the up the slant put a shim under it.
And then after the burial, they would let the stone come back down the group in front of the whole, put the seal across it and the burial was finished.
But when the Mary’s got to the Sepulcher that day, the stone was gone.
The Bible says it in very strange words, it says on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone now watch this not had been moved, the stone had been taken away.
Now, this stone, we figured this out by doing some calculations, a stone big enough to cover that big of an opening would have weighed between 1.5 and two tons.
So on that Sunday morning, the first thing that impressed Mary Magdalene was that when she got to the tomb.
Now notice the stone wasn’t rolled back up the slot, the stone was taken away.
Those words, describe something that has been moved from one place to a distinctly different place.
When they Got to the tomb, the stone wasn’t just rolled a little bit open.
The stone was in a different place where there was no explanation of it being there who picks up a 1.5 to 2 ton stone and moves it?
I mean, who can even some of the scholars have said it would take 20 men to even move that stone.
You probably wonder how that happened.
I know Matthew 28 says, behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.
How about that? So here are these women on their way to honor their Lord and they get there and the soldiers are gone and the seals not on the tomb because the stone on which the seal was placed is gone and now they’re face to face with the Sepulcher, the tomb itself.
And when they get to the Sepulcher, they find there’s an angel there waiting for them.
And the angel answered and said to the women do not be afraid for.
I know that you come to seek Jesus who was crucified, but he’s not here.
He’s risen as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay.
There is no explanation for the empty tomb except one almighty God raised his son Jesus Christ out of that tomb alive and victorious over death.
Jesus Christ is the overcome, er, he overcame death. Oh.
And it keeps getting better when they looked into the tomb. Guess what? They found?
It was almost empty but not quite the clothes that Jesus had worn when he was buried.
There were still in the tomb.
It says in John 20 Peter went out and the other disciple and they were going to the tomb so they both ran together and the other disciple out ran Peter and came to the tomb first.
And he stooping down and looking in, saw the linen closet lying there, but he did not go in.
Well, not Peter Peter came following him, went into the tomb and he saw the linen closet lying there and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen claws and folded together in a place by itself.
And the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also and he saw and he believed the first thing that stuck in the minds of disciples was not the empty tomb, but rather the empty clothes undisturbed in their form and position.
And later on, you see these disciples gradually gaining confidence in the truth of the resurrection.
And a few days after the resurrection, we read about a meeting that took place in the upper room.
John chapter 20 and after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them.
And Jesus came the doors being shut and he stood in the midst and said, peace be to you.
And he said to Thomas Thomas reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it in my side.
Do not be unbelieving but believing.
And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God, remember Thomas had said, unless I put my hands in his side and touch the wounds in his hands, I will not believe how often does the Lord do this?
The Lord Jesus accommodated the doubt and unbelief of Thomas and showed himself alive to his disciple.
Now we move past the first day and into the second week and we come at last and we know that Jesus is risen, but there’s one more evidence to be cited.
And that’s the sightings of Jesus after he came out of the grave.
Do you know that there’s a passage in first Corinthians that says that Jesus was seen by over 500 people at one time after he had come out of the grave victorious over death.
So this is not some fleeting observance of a shadowy figure by one or 2 people.
There were multiple appearances to numerous people.
Many people saw Jesus alive and documented what they saw and it’s recorded for us in the scripture.
So there you have it. He overcame death, life, overcame death.
But here are the two words that every pastor should fear that every preacher should never forget here.
They are. So what, so what, so what if he rose from the dead?
I mean, that’s great. Thanks for the history lesson. How does it affect me?
How does the resurrection mean anything to me?
I came here today to get something to take home that will help me in my life.
So, hang on for just a moment.
I’m gonna tell you three things real quickly because he has risen.
Your failures are not final. One of things that plagues people is the guilt.
Psychologists say if you get rid of guilt, you’d shut down. Most of the counseling centers in America.
Guilt is a plague that troubles everybody. But here’s what the scripture says.
The scripture says that when Jesus died on the cross, he shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins.
And the Bible teaches that the wages of sin or death that means sin when it is conceived and when it gives birth ultimately ends up in death.
So the penalty of death had to be paid.
Guess what, Jesus Christ, the infinite Son of God came to this earth, went to the cross as the living Son of God and hung there between two thieves and paid the penalty for your sin and for mine so that we could be forgiven.
Hallelujah. Yeah.
And the Bible teaches that when he rose from the dead, that was the receipt on the debt that was paid So you don’t have to walk around all of your life.
Feeling guilty, your sin has been forgiven.
If you put your trust in Jesus Christ, he will set you free from the guilt and remorse that fills your heart with agony and despair.
And he will forgive all of your sins, past present and future.
I’d like to remind people that when Jesus died on the cross, all of your sins were future.
So he’s forgiven them all. If you put your trust in him, why is the resurrection important?
Because it proves that what Jesus did on the cross was indeed what he said.
It would be when he came out of that grave. He punched the ticket for your salvation.
And for mine number two, because he has risen not only are my failure is not fatal, but my life is not futile.
Do you know what the Bible says?
The Bible says that when Jesus came out of the grave, the same power that brought him back to life is the power that is available to us today.
If we put our trust in Jesus Christ, how many of, you know, we have a lot of problems in our world today.
We have a lot of issues that we’re trying to figure out and we have issues in our own lives and the power that brought Jesus back to life is about the kind of power we need.
I humbly confess that life is too big. For me.
I can’t deal with life in my own strength every week.
There’s something to remind me that I am not sufficient for these things.
But I have a God who has invested his son in my life and given me the power to do what I cannot do in my own strength.
And that same power is available to anyone who will put their trust in Jesus Christ because he has risen, your life is not futile finally, because he has risen.
My death is not final. We started out talking about death and I didn’t want to be sad on this day and talk about death.
But I’ve done a little study. I should tell you the result of it Here in southern California.
The statistics on death are 100%.
So we all have to deal with it whether they like it or not.
But if you’re a Christian, your death is not final.
The Bible says because Jesus Christ overcame death one day, he’s going to come back here and there’s gonna be a shout and the trumpet and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
All of those who have died and their bodies have gone in the grave just are going to be resurrected to life just like Jesus was.
How do we know that? Because Jesus did it first and he said it’s the down payment on all the rest of his life.
His death is the first fruits, the scripture says of those who sleep or those who are dead.
So I know that when I die, that is not the end.
That’s why when you go to a Christian memorial service, it is filled with sadness, but it’s not filled with despair.
As a pastor, I’ve had the awkwardness of doing the funeral for my own family members did the funeral for my mother, for my dad and my sister.
When I conducted the funeral of my mother, whom I love dearly and love to this day I cried, but I didn’t get hysterical and I didn’t despair.
You know why I know where she is. I know who she’s with.
And I know for a fact that one day by the grace of God, I’m gonna be with her again.
That’s the hope in the midst of all the hurt.
So I came here today just to tell you that if you’re looking for a way to live a meaningful life that ends up in the right place with the right people, you need to put your faith in Jesus Christ.
You say Pastor Jeremiah, how do I do that? You make a decision to do it. Yes.
You have to know something. You have to believe what I’ve said today that Jesus Christ died, that he was resurrected.
But you have to come to the place personally where you gonna say I need Jesus Christ in my life.
I need this power that he’s promised to face the issues of my life.
I want to know for sure that when I die, I’m gonna go to heaven. I’ve got parents in heaven.
I want to see them again someday. Most of all I want to spend eternity with Jesus.
How do you do that? You pray? And he asked Jesus Christ to come into your life.
That’s all you do mean it in your heart.
And the Bible says when you do that, everything starts to change all things go away.
All things become new. You become the person that you always wanted to be because you become the person you were made to be God wants you to experience that more than I can explain to you in my ability as a communicator and my horse voice today, I say to you put your faith in Jesus Christ, let him come into your life and change you to be the person you really want to be.
Thank you for watching. Turning point.
Dr Jeremiah would like to offer you living the 66 books of the Bible to help you put the entire breadth and depth of scripture into action and live out every book in God’s word, yours, an appreciation of your gift of any amount in support of this program and for a gift of $60 or more, Dr J Jeremiah will also send you his first companion volume, understanding the 66 books of the Bible, beloved by many readers to help you journey through God’s word and comprehend the place and purpose of each book.
Plus the genesis through revelation. In 66 scenes DVD.
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Next time on turning point, you just have to say yes to him.
You have to quit putting him off marginalizing and trivializing him and say, well, God, I want your blessing in my life and no matter what it takes, no matter what you asked me to do.
I’m here. I’m in the game. I’m ready to go join Dr Jeremiah.
Next time as he begins his series, someone like you, The Life of Elijah here on Turning point.