Posted on 03/23/2008 4:11:28 PM PDT by Kurt Evans
The story of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection has deep meaning to Christians for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it is the defining moment of the Christian faith. But for the resurrection, Christianity would be nothing more than a legend, not unlike the stories from Greek or Roman mythology. As the Apostle Paul notes in I Corinthians 15:17-18, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Indeed, our very hope of eternal life depends upon the resurrection of Christ!
Beyond this, however, the resurrection is the supreme reminder that the biggest victories can come from the greatest defeats.
When Jesus walked the land of Palestine, the Jews held fast to God's promise of deliverance. Oppressed by the Romans, the children of Israel eagerly awaited the coming of the Messiah—the Savior who would overthrow their tormenters and restore the Throne of David. Many of the Jews who followed Jesus believed that He would do just that. However, when He died by the most humiliating way—death on a Roman cross—their hopes were dashed. Even as Jesus' blood poured down the tall, wooden cross into the parched ground below, their hope of salvation slipped away—or so it seemed.
We know the rest of the story. Jesus rose again. He overcame the grips of Death and Hades. Caesar did his worst, but it was not enough to keep Jesus down. As a result, salvation from sin and reconciliation with God became available to all who choose to come to Christ in faith. What was meant for evil, God turned to good. Jesus' humiliating defeat became the vehicle for the greatest victory in all of human history.
Today, our nation is going through a difficult time. The ever burgeoning number of home foreclosures have created an economic crisis not unlike the Great Depression itself. And with gas prices at record highs, the dollars in our pockets have been stretched to their limits. If this weren't bad enough, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—although necessary to preserve our national security—have taxed the patience of our people to their limits. To borrow from Thomas Paine, "these are the times that try men's souls."
As difficult as these times may be, though, we may look to the story of Easter for hope. Just as God used the greatest evil (the death of Jesus on the cross) to birth the greatest good (salvation for mankind), so will God use the problems we now face as a springboard for our greatest victories.
You may be going through a difficult time right now. Maybe you have lost your home, or perhaps your loved one is serving our country proudly in a war zone. You may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If so, just remember that God knows right where you are. If you will only trust Him, He will lead you through this time of testing and deliver you from evil. Like a woman in childbirth, the heartache and pain you experience today will precede the greatest happiness you will ever know. Just believe.
“The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs the affairs of man [Romans 8:28]. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice [Matthew 10:29], is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it [Psalms 127:1]. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel [Genesis 11:1-9].”
—Benjamin Franklin, arguing the need for prayer at the Constitutional Convention
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
—John Jay, a Founding Father and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
—Patrick Henry
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
—The Holy Bible (Second Corinthians 3:17)
Amen. Mike Huckabee for Baptist Minister, but not President
Amen to that - and a sight better a message to send in a time of turbulence than the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Freepers and other conservatives missed a great opportunity here
Today, our nation is going through a difficult time. The ever burgeoning number of home foreclosures have created an economic crisis not unlike the Great Depression itself. And with gas prices at record highs, the dollars in our pockets have been stretched to their limits. If this weren't bad enough, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—although necessary to preserve our national security—have taxed the patience of our people to their limits. To borrow from Thomas Paine, "these are the times that try men's souls."
That's quite a transition between the paragraphs.
Great message, Mike...
Happy Easter to you and your family...
:)
Get him back in the pulpit where he belongs and out of the political arena.......
The Huckabee political legacy is a website?
Amen.. Exactly... We are electing a commander in chief, not a pastor in chief..
And another Amen.
The housing foreclosures of today cannot be likened to the Great Depression. How about preaching about personal responsibility? People bought beyond their means and are paying the piper. You are where you are today because of the decisions you made yesterday.
Seek wisdom first...
IT'S NOT F#$KING PALESTINE, IT'S "ISRAEL" OR "JUDEA" YOU PHONY LEFTIST MORON.
Thank GOD we didn't nominate this IMBECILE.
Agree. The pastorial role suits him much better. Huckabee is spot-on most of the time (until he patronizes blacks and holds them to lower standards.)
As per this Fox News article, the theme of today's Easter sermon at the Trinity United Church of Christ was “How to Handle a Public Lynching,” the victim in question being the Rev. Wright. The controversial pastor's successor, the Rev. Otis Moss III, lit into the national media, ...
You would be hard pressed to open any current Bible with maps that did not use the word Palestine and Israel interchangeably.
You are the one behaving like a moron reacting in such a hyperbolic manner.
The political arrangements were rather more complex, but for the time of Jesus' birth the central part was the client Kingdom of Judaea. This was abolished in 4 BC and Herod's successor, Archelaus, was eventually given about half the territory as "ethnarch". A couple of years later, Archelaus was deposed and the territory governed from Syria. However, since he had been born in Bethlehem, Jesus was not a subject of Judaea or Syria, but of the tetrarchy of Galilee, ruled by Herod Antipas.
Philistia, from which we get Palestine, referred to the relatively much wealthier Pentapolis coastall district south and west of the Judaean hill country.
This was always true until the crushing of the Bar Kochba rebellion, when the entire district was renamed in an effort to condemn the Jews to oblivion. For tax purposes, there was no possibility of confusing the two areas.
Jesus was a subject of the Tetrarch of Galilee because he was raised in Galilee, not because he was born in Bethlehem in Judaea.
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