The resurrection and redemption, that’s all they knew, and it’s all they needed to know.
For a long time, perhaps right up until Jerusalem was destroyed, the question on many people’s lips was, “Were you there?” Nearly everyone knew what that meant, where were you when the sun was darkened for three hours, where were you when the dead came out of their graves, where were you when they crucified Him? They knew what you meant, it was not a moment in time easily forgotten, but as it is said, time removes itself from the mind of many, and we my friends are far removed from that day.
But Jesus is closer to us then He was to those in His day, we have the Holy Spirit Himself within us, we have in our mind’s eye witnessed the events of that day, we understand in part what they felt and experienced. I believe it’s very important to occasionally get away from everything and envision those nails piercing His flesh, to hear His screams, to watch Him die as much as it is to look into that empty tomb and say to yourself, “He is risen.”
How many people do you suppose looked for Him everywhere for those forty days that followed, who heard “He is there,” dropped everything and ran to be by His side?
We are to seek the face of God, we are to follow wherever He leads, and we should search for Him every moment of every day.
I have much difficulty with the “once-a-week Christian,” especially those who say they have been saved for a very long time that stopped looking for Christ and settled into the routine of “being a Christian.” What greater pleasure is there in this life than to know that the Lord Himself has revealed something new to you, that the verse you have read so many times now comes alive in your heart, and you are shown the truth of it. Where else would we rather be than at the feet of the Master when He speaks? “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)
How many who claim to know Him as their personal Savior know absolutely nothing about Him, who do not contemplate not only His Word, but His person. How much time do you need to spend with someone before you can call them your friend?
If you attend a church and the sermon is approximately thirty minutes long, and you do not miss one day in a year, that means in that year you spent a total of one day with the Lord. Does that sound like someone who has a desire to know Jesus Christ? We could use the same calculation in the reading of His word, and again it would mean in one year you spent one day in the Scriptures. Does that sound like a person who can honestly say “I love Jesus Christ?”
If you had been there that day, and then heard three days later the loud announcement across the land of “He is risen!” What would your response have been? Well, my friends, if the math just offered to you fits your walk with the Lord, you may say one thing, but your actions show the truth. If you spend just 10 minutes a day in that same year reading the Scriptures, you would have spent a total of around 2 ½ days of that year in the word.
What about 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Or Proverbs 3:6, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” I mean no offense in this letter, but if this math is correct, and it is you, you might want to think about calling the Lord Jesus your friend, I don’t know of any friends I only spend two days a year with.