The Trouble with Resurrection

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Lazarus was a real problem for the religious leaders.  After all, when the evidence of resurrection power is still walking around it’s a little hard to deny something has happened.  Dealing with so-called prophets and false Messiahs was an everyday task for Pharisees and Sadducees, but having Lazarus back from three days in the grave was a bit of a mess to cover up.

And this is the sticky trouble with resurrection; it won’t stay covered up!

And that is where faith and unbelief part company – at opened graves.

In Hanover, Germany, there is a cemetery that has a particularly interesting grave.  It belonged to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.  She directed in her will that the grave be made so secure that, if she is wrong and there is a resurrection, the grave will keep everything else out.  The casket is surrounded by huge, thick slabs of marble and granite, cemented together and fastened further by steel clasps.  It is air tight and cannot be penetrated.  On the marker are these words: 

This burial place must never be opened.

A tiny oak tree seed, buried beneath the grave began to grow.  Over the decades the trunk enlarged and slowly shifted the cement casings.  At one point the stress caused by the pressure of the tree wrenched the steel clasps from their sockets; the grave was opened.

When it comes to controlling what happens beyond the grave there is a 100% certainty that all our words and worldly power have their limitation.  Try as we might to arrange otherwise, we are in God’s hands. 

We are all exactly as the Psalmist declares:

Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
    and the powerful are not what they appear to be.
If you weigh them on the scales,
    together they are lighter than a breath of air.[1]

There will be another grave opening some day; yours! 

God's resurrection power is greater than any seed He created.  Nothing will prevent Him from fulfilling His ultimate plan of uniting all believers with Himself in heaven. 

One day, as Jesus did with Lazarus, all the saints will hear, you who were dead, come forth. 

For You, Today…

Are you ready to live with Him? 

You can be; place your trust in the One who loved you enough to die in your place, and forgive all your sins.  His was the resurrection that put an end to the reign of sin and death and sorrow.

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[1] Psalms 62:9 (NLT)