Second Sunday after Easter – Monday

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. – John 2:19.

This is what Jesus said to the Jews when they desired of Him a sign showing that He was the promised Christ.  He spoke of the temple of His body: “Kill Me, and in three days I shall rise again;” that was the meaning of His words. The resurrection of Jesus, who had been put to death, is the great sign which shows that He is the Christ promised in Scripture, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and that His doctrine is right and true.  If Jesus had not been the Christ, but – the pen refuses to write it — a false prophet, then He surely would not have risen, but would have remained in the grave, like all false prophets.  However, since He has risen, He has proved, beyond all controversy, that He is the Son of God and the Savior promised in the ever truthful Scriptures, the One whose words “shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).  When, therefore, He was risen from the dead, “His disciples remembered that He had said” to them the words that you read above, and they believed; they believed in Him, they believed the Scripture, and the Word which Jesus had said to them (John 2:18-22).

Everything, the truth of all the Scripture, the whole Christian faith, yea, everything depends upon the resurrection of Jesus.  If His resurrection did not take place, then all is “vain” (I Corinthians 15:14 and 17), but since the resurrection of Christ has most certainly taken place “according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:4), you can be altogether certain of Jesus’ resurrection, or you cannot believe in Him as your Savior.   The eye-witnesses testify to it with one accord in the New Testament.  The same is true of the Old Testament prophecies.  The Holy Ghost again and again bears divine and powerful witness that the Scriptures of the prophets and of the apostles and evangelists are the unchanging truth.  Continue to put your confidence and trust in these Scriptures, which again and again assure you of God’s undeserved grace and mercy in Christ Jesus for you and for all sinners in the whole world.

PRAYER – Lord Jesus, my heavenly Sun, Thou hast set before the eyes of the world, including all of Thy disciples, the marvelous truth that the work of perfectly reconciling God with me and all sinners has been completely “finished” (John 19:30) by Thee through Thy flawless obedience to the Law of God for all, as our Substitute before God, and, furthermore, through Thy sinless sacrifice on the cross for all, paying to God the full bill for the sins of all.  Oh my dear Savior, let my eyes of faith always be fixed on Thee, “the Author and Finisher of [my] faith, who for the joy that was set before [Thee] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of  God” (Hebrews 12:2).  Amen.

I am content!  My Jesus is my Light, my radiant Sun of grace.

His cheering rays beam blessings forth for all, sweet comfort, hope, and peace.

This Easter Sun doth bring salvation, and everlasting exultation.

I am content!  I am content!

(Hymn 196, st. 4; TLH)