Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Topic: The empty tomb 62
Reading: Matthew 27:57-66, 28:1-15
Scripture: He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee. (Luke 24:6)
Note: Death by crucifixion on a cross was considered gross; the basest form of punishment. It was the worst kind of death reserved for murderers, armed robbers, people inciting insurrection against the political rulers of the day, and other offensive conducts such as rape. Occasionally, Governors administered such punishment to presumed offenders merely to please the people and to gain political capital, as happened to Jesus Christ.
To the Jew, the cross was a curse. The cross represented failure. All pretenders to the title of Messiah were judged by how their lives ended. Before the advent of Jesus, several Messianic pretenders led insurrection against Roman rule but failed and were executed by crucifixion on a cross. The death of Jesus was thus, not any different from his failed predecessors. They were all considered to have failed.
The only difference between Jesus Christ and his failed predecessors was the fact that he defied death, overcame the grave, resurrected and ascended into glory. His tomb is empty till today. He is not there. He is risen.
The gospel and the message of the cross could not be accommodated by philosophy, science or any so-called wisdom of man. The preaching of the Lordship of the crucified but resurrected Jesus from the premises of what was considered a curse and a failure, is what the scripture refers to as the foolishness of the cross.
Food for thought: The empty tomb is the greatest evidence attesting to the Lordship of the crucified but resurrected Christ.
Declaration: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1Cor.1:18)
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
