Articles

On April 17, 2020, Denver Gratia Church had the Sunday Service.

Today is Easter. It is the biggest celebration day than Christmas, because it celebrates that Jesus conquered the authority of death and was resurrected. If there is the biggest problem human has to solve, what would it be? The problem which So many people have tried to solve and but failed and still tries to solve is ‘how human can overcome the death?’ By the way, Jesus solved it. The core of the gospel is about Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection.

Let’s see John chapter 20, verse 1.

They came early in the morning the day after Sabbath. Why early on the first day of the week? The Jews, on the day of Sabbath, they had this habit of not going anywhere because they kept the Sabbath thoroughly. The Lord suffered on Friday and resurrected in 3 days. This is why they were not allowed to go anywhere on the Sabbath.

So what kind of people were the disciples of Jesus? Thoroughly, Judaism, they are the ones who kept the basics of Judaism thoroughly. So going to the temple and praying, in the beginning of John, if you look at Peter and John, thoroughly, 9am prayer at the temple – they prayed 3 times a day. So this was 3pm that they met the cripple in front of the temple. So like that, so precisely, if you look at the acts of the Apostle, they kept this so thoroughly. So how were they?

A woman named Mary, she was possessed by 7 kinds of demons. The Lord healed this woman. By the great grace of the Lord, she became a new person.  Even though her sins were numerous, the love of the Lord covered that sin and he forgave her sins.

This woman who really loved Jesus came to the tomb to see the Lord. Her love for the lord was really big so that she did not care about all this kind of consideration. Her love for Jesus was beyond the reason. She has ardent love. This love is beyond the fear. Because she wants to be closed to even his corpse , she comes there early in the morning.

Peter and John were so astonished and hurried to the cave.  John wrote that the one who first saw the resurrected Lord was Mary. He wanted to say her love for the lord was bigger than mine. He first said the woman’s great love. But he said, among the disciples he arrive the tomb first. Isn’t it interesting? Though he arrived the tomb first, he did not enter but waited Peter come. And then when peter came, he let peter enter the tomb first.

5-10

He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,

as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.

Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Then the disciples went back to their homes,

When they saw the strips of linen lying there, they should know that Lord resurrected, but they didn’t know. And they returned with doubt. But Mary was crying. In her tears, there was worry about who would take the lord’s body.

11-14

11. but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
12. and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14. At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15, I hope you meditate on things one by one. This is a great chapter of resurrection that Paul wrote.

Let’s look at John chapter 11:22-26

21. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
22. and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

The core teaching of Christianity is about the resurrection and eternal life.

11. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

He can make a dead person alive through his spirit.  Even if you die, he can make you alive again.  It’s a power of resurrection of a people who are in Jesus Christ.

The hope of resurrection is that even if you are dead you will live again.  Those who believe in the one who has life will never die they will have eternal life.  Do you believe in this? Apostle Paul wrote Romans, in him the death failed. I hope you can have this faith this Easter. The Christ, conquered the authority of the death, conquered the death with his death.

And then what is in the Apostle?  Through the unity with Christ, through the unity with Christ, the power of death can be overcome.

I hope we have this faith in us. There are so many people in this world, what do they worry about most? It’s the fear and worry about the death.  How much do believers also fear of death? There is no fear bigger than death. Believers always face it. Spiritual death and flesh death. The biggest fear in our faith is about flesh death as well as spiritual death.

What kind of person is Christian? Christianity, Christian is by the ones who have overcome the physical death and the spiritual death.  These verses says that even if my flesh died, like Jesus rose again from death, he will make you live again. Even if we die, we will live again. He begged us to live with this faith. There is no death in those who have this faith. When we unite with Christ, like Paul who overcame the authority of the death, we can overcome it. The lord will give us eternal life. Today is Easter, I hope you can receive the eternal life from Christ who conquered the authority of the death. uniting with Jesus, join to the lord’s resurrection.