Pr Michael Koh
21-04-2019
Jesus was the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth. He carried upon Himself all our shame, burdens, sorrows and pains. It was His stripes that healed us.
Only a personal basis, only God could do this. He went down to hell and destroyed all principalities and powers. He was left to the cruelty of man. He suffered on your behalf and my behalf. The devil has nothing on you anymore.
The last power was death.
Who killed Jesus?
Jesus was not destroyed. He took all the darkness of you and me and came under the very weight of your and my sorrow.
And He survived.
Jesus said, "It is finished."
The devil failed.
He took our place for all the oppression that should have come upon us.
When He rose from the dead, we rose with Him as well. It was the most momentous event in the universe. God exchanged our miserable life with His glorious life. We could have the life of Jesus in us.
From that time onwards, God was now us.
Luke 24:1-35 New King James Version (NKJV)
He Is Risen
24 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning,
they, [a]and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the
spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the
tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it
happened, as they were [b]greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men
stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their
faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still
in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”
8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like [c]idle tales, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths [d]lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
The Road to Emmaus
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a
village called Emmaus, which was [e]seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they
talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while
they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you [f]walk and are sad?”
18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
19 And He said to them, “What things?”
So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”
25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [g]expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
The Disciples’ Eyes Opened
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He
[h]indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him,
saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.”
And He went in to stay with them.
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was [i]known to them in the breaking of bread.
That day was the most momentous day in the history of the world. You would never from that time onwards experience the devil's power in the same way ever since the resurrection.
The world had changed. And God had invaded earth in such a way that He would give of Himself for us so much so that the Holy Spirit is now ours.
It changed not just them but us as well. It cannot be the same again after the resurrection.
But for the disciples that day, it was their most miserable day ever. They had seen that Man completely becoming vulnerable. They saw this Man who was supposed to be God and the Mighty Messiah completely stripped and dismantled in front of them. For their reality, it was His demise and death. It was their inglorious day.
For some of us is like this. Jesus is risen from the dead. But some of us feel nothing, life is more depressed than never before. How could we experience the resurrection and we still see life as horrible and seems to be getting worse?
The disciples at that time did not have great prospects. They could not detect, feel, see, experience and know the resurrection. And some of us are experiencing that.
They were seven miles from utter destruction of their world. (v13)
That colossal phenomenon was now walking beside them. And they could not feel it. Their eyes were prevented from recognising Him. (v16) A whole new future was coming upon them right now but they could not feel it.
We have a problem with our eyes since Adam and Eve ate the fruit. There's something about our eyes (and the eyes of our heart) that prevents us from the things of God's glory, from seeing Him coming through for our lives and from seeing that God is active and personal. We have an eye problem that causes us to be prevented from God's presence and we experience nothing.
On resurrection Sunday, we don't feel a thing. We can't see and detect it.
Jesus comes alongside them and He asked them questions. (v19-21)
They had walked with Him. He had fed the five thousand. There was no other pretender to the Messiahship. Surely, He would be the one to redeem Israel from oppression and shame.
There are places in your life where you had expected God to do something. "I was very sure that He was going to heal me." "I was sure that He was going to save my marriage." But nothing is happening.
Some of us experienced that we had hope. Something is preventing us from moving on with God. Every time we get into the presence of God, we feel hurt. We had hope. We carry a bagful of "We had hopes" in our lives.
We feel that repulsion from God. We couldn't engage in prayer in a free hearted way because of disappointments.
"Yeah, resurrection. But so what? Good for Jesus. But what about me?"
Disappointment has a way of humbling and bringing us down.
We can be not happy with God but we can be humble. We have no choice but to give our lives to God.
Disappointments make our hearts more vulnerable and not so proudful and ready to receive help. Give your life to God. And you will feel peace. It is a particle of God's whisper and you will begin to sense something from God. The peace of God will come and your disorderly heart will be settled. It is in this peace that God will give you supernatural information. And you will free up from your own ego. You will experience freedom and revival.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
Delivered from Suffering
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our
[a]trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure,
above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence
of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who
raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and [b]does deliver
us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 11 you also helping
together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on [c]our
behalf for the gift granted to us through many.
The sentence of death was upon them but they made a decision to be ready to die and their life was no longer their own.
There is no resurrection unless there is death.
Resurrection depends upon the fact that we have died.
The kingdom of God has come. We want of Him.
Paul says they were under the sentence of death so that they would not trust on themselves. They trusted in God who would raise them from the dead.
Resurrection is inserted into circumstances after we have been disappointed.
God frees us up and a whole quality of life comes upon us. We are freed up from the bondage of ourselves.
Resurrection is after our life has fallen apart and our whole world had shattered.
We don't have to live under the shadow of death. We can now live the resurrection.
When death has taken place and things don't work out, you are the person looking out for signs of life. Be the person that looks out for God. Watch out for the signs of God. The resurrection is post-disappointment.
Live with respect to our own failings. But we also give hospitality to the still small voice of God. If we give Him space, He will find you.
God will give you an answer somewhere, in His own time.
Just follow Him. He is the resurrection and the life. We will step from one degree of life to another degree of life. It is His responsibility to bring you back to a place where your heart will burn again. Don't let go. It is more precious than gold and silver.
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