On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and the stone had been moved away and the tomb was empty! She saw the gardener and thought he had taken Jesus’ body. "Tell me where you put Him so I can take him away." Then she realized she was speaking to Jesus. He told her to quick clinging to Him that He needed to ascend to His Father and Hers.

Easter, it represents the empty tomb and the risen Messiah. Have you ever considered your body to be a tomb? Isn’t a tomb a container for dead people? Romans 7:24 says, “who will set me free from the body of this death?” Paul is bemoaning the fact that his holy and righteous being is confined in the tomb of his body.

But before Paul could declare the victory of this dilemma, the stone had to be taken away. The prophet Ezekiel spoke the words of God prophesying the reality that the stone would be rolled away. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “Moreover I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Paul suggests that we were all tombs before Jesus emptied them out. In Colossians he says. “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

So here is the deal with the empty tomb. You were born dead. Your poor itty bitty baby body was a tomb that encompassed your dead spirit. And while you were dead, JESUS, lived, died, resurrected, ascended and then made Himself available to take up residency in those who know Him.

He rolled away the stone of your old self and gave you a new one; a hope and prosperity not found in the material realm but one found in the spiritual realm that has blessed you with every spiritual blessing.

If Jesus lives in you, your tomb has LIFE in it. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

As you look around this Easter, enjoy Him who gave life to your mortal body and love those in your path that have yet to know and experience the greatest of blessings. HE LIVES!!

Keith

Is it the Behavior or the Seed?What do you believe the fundamental problem all people have in common from birth?
Is it they behave improperly or they are “by nature children of wrath”?

Think about it for a minute. Look around at all the people around you who are behaving like pagans.
Is their behavior the issue?
Or is it simply an indicator of the bigger problem… their seed?

When God cursed Satan in Genesis 3, He pointed out the problem to come: the battle between two seeds. Verse 15 says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."

This prophetic utterance was pointing to the virgin birth of Jesus and the battle of Satan to destroy humanity and God’s plan of redemption. It says Satan would give Jesus a painful blow, but Jesus would triumph with a fatal one.

The picture of the seed is the essence of the struggle of humanity. At the first/natural birth all people are born with the seed of Adam. But at the rebirth, their old nature is eliminated and replaced with the seed of Jesus. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

If someone has the seed of Adam it is only natural their behavior will reflect that reality. And if someone has been born again and has the seed of Jesus, remarkably their behavior will begin to reflect the righteousness of God. Incidentally, it is impossible to have both. A person is either in Jesus or Adam.

Teachable MomentOne way you could show this amazing reality to your children is to grab two different types of seeds; for example, the helicopter thing from a dandelion and an acorn. Show your children the dandelion seed and how it floats about aimlessly. Then ask them the question, “what will happen to this seed given enough time?” The correct answer would be more dandelions. Then compare the dandelion’s natural tendency to grow more dandelions to a person who is in Adam’s natural tendency to sin.

Then with the acorn, ask them “what will happen to this seed given enough time?” The answer should do a nice job explaining the amazing work the Spirit of God does inside each believer. Think about it. The oak can produce more oak trees; it can be used to build cabinets, furniture, wine barrels or even an amazing solid oak floor. In reality, it would be impossible to imagine what the end use would be.

As your children begin to appreciate the importance of a seed, begin to paint in their young minds the amazing possibility of what God is going to do in and through them during their lifetimes. He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all you can think or imagine. Point them towards Jesus and stand amazed at what He can do in their lives. Rusty has enough acorns to give you a handful for your kids for a visual aid.

Keith Tyner