Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

AH-HA MOMENTS!

Luke 24:39 “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Some things are hard to believe.  People have a hard time believing that a great fish swallowed Jonah.  Some have trouble with the story of Noah and the flood.  Others deny the reality of God being THEIR creator.  But nearly all of us have to admit that the idea of resurrection sort of boggles the mind.

Raising Lazarus
When Lazarus died, his sisters and even the Jews believed that if the Lord had been there, Lazarus would not have died.  They had confidence in the Lord’s ability to keep people from dying, but they did not believe in the Lord’s power to overcome death itself.  In Lazarus’ case, he had been dead four days when the Lord called him forth from the grave.  Apparently, there was no doubt that it was Lazarus.  Seeing him must have been one of those Ah-ha moments in their lives.  Ah! The Lord really is the resurrection and the life!

The Raising of the Lord
If you have trouble really believing in the Lord’s resurrection, you are not alone.  The apostles and those closest to the Lord had trouble believing in the resurrection as well.  They had been told on numerous occasions that the Lord would be crucified and then raised from the dead.  Luke 18:31-32 says, “Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.’”  This was written in the Old Testament and yet they didn’t believe or understand this.  So the Lord took time to convince them after the resurrection that it was He Himself that had been raised from the dead.  They were not seeing a vision or an apparition or a prophet or a wise man or an angel.  They were seeing Him.

Mary Magdalene had her ah-ha moment when she heard his voice, Thomas had to see the nail prints in his hands and the wound in His side.  He told the disciple to handle Him and see because a spirit does not have a body like he had.  He ate with them.  Whether this was the body that the Lord will have in heaven remains to be seen.  In this body, He does not mention blood, only flesh and bones. In this body he could appear in their midst miraculously.  However, his earthly body had not seen corruption. I believe, this was His earthly body and that He used His body to prove to the disciples that the resurrection was real.  Whether this was His earthly body that had been raised from the dead or whether this was the body He will have in heaven is really not important.  What is important is that this body convinced those “hard to believe” disciples that this was the Lord Himself that they were seeing.  He was risen!

Seeing is Believing
These disciples and the women who came to the tomb had to see to believe.  The Lord loved them and made sure that they saw HIM so that they would be blessed with the complete Gospel message. Their sorrow was turned to joy.  The cornerstone truth of the Gospel is that Christ has risen and is coming again.  But knowing the difficulty humans have in believing what is not usual or logical, the Lord says to Thomas in John 20:29, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Thank God, I am one of those who have not seen and yet have believed.  But because I have believed, I DO see or understand.  I remember when I had an AH-HA moment and trusted the Lord.

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the week of April 20, 2014

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