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Jesus' Resurrection From the Dead
GWEA Monthly Message, April 2020
REVEREND GORDON WILLIAMS
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"Happy Easter” is a yearly reminder that Jesus Christ came to save us. He died on the Cross of Calvary, was raised from the dead three days later, and then walked out of a borrowed tomb (Jn. 19:41). Two thousand and twenty years later, Jesus still lives and is God in the Flesh (Jn. 1:14). Jesus, who was raised physically from the dead, startled and frightened His disciples who mistakenly thought that He was a spirit or a ghost. He explained that "a spirit (pneuma) has not flesh and bones as you see that I have" and invited them to touch Him. He took a piece of broiled fish and ate it (Lk. 24:39-42). It’s one thing for Jesus to talk about being raised from the dead but it was another thing for Him to actually do so.
He appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Jn. 2:11-18); then to Cephas (Peter); then to the twelve disciples; then to more than 500 brethren at one time; then to James; then to all the apostles, and then finally to Paul (1 Cor. 15:1-9). History has marked Jesus appearing physically from the dead that He could call upon people to follow Him.
Ernest Gordon, who became a Christian in a Japanese prisoner of war camp and later Chaplain at Princeton University, described in his book (The Fact of Miracle), the people that Jesus had visited in the flesh, and those who had served Him. Peter Marshall, the former Chaplain to the USA Senate, met Jesus one night on the moors of Scotland and He called him into ministry. Every Easter I am reminded of that crucial night in my life when Jesus visited me in my bedroom and to said to me, "I want you to come and work for me. I want you to become a fisher of men. And if you will come and work for me, I will supply all your needs according to my riches in glory."
For those who have not met Him physically, He wants us to have the proof of His Resurrection (and of ours to come) by baptizing us all with the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3:5) with the "signs following” (Mk. 16:17-20) as He did with the first 120 people in the Upper Room. As Paul writes, "In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:13-14).
We must all receive our "Personal Day of Pentecost” with the same proof as those who received in the Upper Room. Peter tells us that, "God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34; 11:15) so the only people who cannot receive the Holy Spirit (with the evidence of speaking in tongues) are those who do not want to. Paul pointed this out when referring to unbelievers (apistoi) and those who were not full-fledged Christians (idiotai) in 1st Corinthians, Chapter 14 verse 23. They all wanted Salvation without the authentic Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The greatest Easter Gifts are Salvation and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then you can be an authentic full-fledged believer and equipped to do the "works of Jesus” (Jn. 14:12). If you would like to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, I invite you to come to one of our meetings, or contact me so that you will be equipped to do the works of Jesus.
Happy Easter! Copyright © 2020. The Gordon Williams Evangelistic Association. All rights reserved.
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