| Resurrection: From the Cross to the Throne |
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| I know have thought about what it really means to celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Christ but do we really understand what took place between the Cross and the Throne? Do we understand the battles that Jesus fought on our behalf so that we might spend eternity with Him in heaven? Have you ever asked yourself, "Where was Jesus for the three days He was dead?" The bible tells us in Ephesians 4:7-10 that Jesus descended to the lower parts of the earth before He ascended. Where did He go? In Luke 16:19-31 we see that Jesus tells the of a rich man and a man named Lazarus. They both died and the rich man looked up from hell and he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. I would put before you that there were two chambers in hell...one for the unrepentent dead and the upper chamber for the righteous dead. This place for the righteous dead was also called "paradise." Until the resurrection of Jesus, no one ascended to heaven to be with the Father because the sacrifice had not been paid. In the Old Testament, when the high priest offered up a blood sacrifice, it was not enough just to kill a lamb...but the blood had to be applied...it had to be poured upon the mercy seat for the forgiveness of sin. The same thing happened when Jesus died on the cross. Before we could be fully forgiven...He not only had to die, but He had to ascend into heaven and apply His blood upon the mercy seat of God. If you remember in Eph 4 it says that Jesus took captive those in captivity. In 1 Pet 3:19 it says that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison. 1 Pet 4:5-6 says the gospel was preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged. Notice it did not say saved but judged. Jesus proclaimed to the unrighteous dead, during His three days in the tomb, He proclaimed to them that He was Who He said He was and because of their rejection, they would spend eternity in hell. Jesus, after the three days in Abraham's bosom, took with him those that had died when He ascended into heaven. John 20 tells of the account when Mary first sees Jesus outside the tomb and He tells her not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father. In other words, He was now going to the Father to apply His blood to the mercy seat. Once that was done, that first Easter morning, He returned that night and appeared to the disciples and told them to touch Him. What happened between that morning and that evening? Jesus had his purified resurrected body when Mary saw Him and she could not touch Him because He was getting ready to pay the final price for our sin. After He had done that, He returned and now the disciples could touch Him because the blood had been applied and He now had is resurrected fleshly body. I know for some of you this is new and requires some research and thought processing. If you would like the full message that I preached on this, please visit my webpage at www.pastordude.com/sermons and look for the message entitled "From the Cross to the Throne." I would love to hear from you. God Bless You all as you celebrate the Resurrected Lord! |
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