I watched a resurrection last Tuesday night. One of our viewers is a Pentecostal pastor with whom I’ve had the privilege of studying the Bible the last few months. It was my turn to visit his church this week, and no sooner had we sat down in his small sanctuary than he picked up a video and played it, “You need to see this.”
It was an amazing “documentary-like” report from Africa about a pastor who didn’t survive a car accident. In a series of interviews with the pastor’s wife, the attending physician, and the mortician the story emerges of a wife who refused to quit praying, claiming the scriptural line, “Women received their dead raised to life again” (Hebrews 11:35). In fact three to four days after his death (with the embalming process already begun), this woman drove to the mortuary, convinced the mortician to release her husband’s body to her, coffin and all, so that she might take it to a visiting well-known European evangelist for prayer (truth in advertising—the video was produced by the evangelist). There at the large Christian center, crowded for the noon services, the widow approached two church workers with her plea.
On camera these two men describe what took place that afternoon, as the corpse of the deceased pastor was placed inside one of the church class rooms. The wife was praying, the men were wondering what to do next, when suddenly the dead pastor began to breathe. At this point in the video, clips from either a video or cell phone camera are inserted, and you actually witness the deceased “returning” to life, as it were. Soon word spills out and a crowd gathers around the doors of the class room. With photographs spliced into the continuing interviews, the story climaxes with the full resuscitation of the deceased, who at the end of the video gives his testimony.
Skeptical western biases aside, I’ll confess it a fascinating testimonial. Because irrespective of the veracity of this resurrection, we all readily admit that to witness a human return from the dead (after three or four days and embalming) would be the most spectacular experience we can imagine, television lights or not!
Imagine then the utter shock of the eleven disciples of Christ when the Deceased suddenly appeared in their midst! The four gospel accounts ignore human incredulity with the simple narrative of Jesus’ resurrection, as a matter of fact and history. And over two billion Christians this Easter weekend joyfully assent to those four testimonials, “He is risen!”
And because he is, we cling to the resilient hope and promise of a resurrection yet future. With our lists growing of those we love who sleep in death, may the Christ of the empty tomb revive our faith, ignite our hope, compel our love, and infill our lives. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Amen.
What is there about a rumor that gives it a life of its own? In this hyper season of politics and elections the talking heads of television thrive on rumors, innuendos and unsubstantiated stories. Why? Because rumors are the staple of our very human curiosity, the stuff of our fascination. And we often cling to them as hopeful corroboration for our personal convictions or strongly held opinions. “That’s what I believe—don’t confuse me with the facts!” The world loves a rumor.
There is an old Swahili proverb: “Travel with open eyes and you will become a scholar.” Our recent journey to the Horn of Africa was certainly an eye-opening experience for me. For two weeks we were able to slip behind the headlines of conflict and violence (of which we encountered none), and quietly observe the fingerprints of God upon two very diverse spiritual movements.
Ever wonder what God’s “State of the Union” would be? The President addressed both houses of Congress and the nation Monday evening, delivering his seventh and final State of the Union address. Fifty-three minutes of speech interrupted seventy times by applause—both partisan and bipartisan. There were no spectacular pronouncements or announcements, just the last review, pundits suggested, of a presidency and administration laying out its final agenda before becoming eclipsed by the election of a successor. So what if God took the podium of earth and gave an address? No doubt there would be plenty of partisan applause- or amen-bursts for him, too. And no doubt it would garner global attention. But how would his review of the past read, and how would his agenda for the future play? And would he need fifty-three minutes? The Apocalypse, amazingly enough, actually captures God’s final address-appeal to earth. While it doesn’t describe him at the podium of a government house, it portrays his global address as three angel beings streaking across the earth heavens, each with a passionate pronouncement and appeal. Combined they are clearly the divine State of the Union for earth’s populace in its final generation. “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’” (Revelation 14:6, 7 NKJV). And behind the first angel appears a second pronouncing the fall of “ Babylon the Great.” And on his heels flies a third angel with the urgent warning for earth inhabitants to resist the “mark of the beast.” And the summation of their combined messages is a description of God’s partisan loyalists at the end: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12 NRSV). 
Aren’t you glad God isn’t like the stock market? What a ride this week is turning out to be for investors the world over! The unraveling mortgage crisis here in the U.S. and the ensuing credit crunch, coupled with volatility in the global oil markets and the threat of recession prompted the President last week to announce a $150 billion tax cut bailout for American taxpayers. But the world markets apparently were not impressed on Monday, as one by one from Japan to Hong Kong to India to Europe markets plunged over investor jitters. And had the Federal Reserve not stepped in with its ¾ point interest rate reduction early Tuesday morning, who knows if the sky would’ve fallen on Wall Street! And where does all of this leave us? On the precarious edge of economic recession, perhaps. But nevertheless, secure in the care and keeping of the God whose compassionate commitment to his earth children is unwavering. “For I am the LORD, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). No volatility, no gyrating, no roller coaster plunges with the Lord of the universe. “Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22, 23). Did you catch that? Unfailing, unchanging—that is the God who stands beside us at every dawn and offers again to walk the new day and night through with us. When the immensity of that assurance sinks into our consciousness, surely it can birth an unshakeable confidence in him, can’t it? What a God to call our Friend! As for the future of our national and global economy, who can say? There is a thought I keep tucked away in the back of my mind. “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them” (I Thessalonians 5:3). I.e., neither predictions of economic security nor pronouncements of financial doom are going to determine earth’s outcome. If the story of Noah teaches us anything, it is surely that when the sun is shining in all its glory and life seems most secure and promising, earth’s history can radically reverse itself, all prognostications to the contrary. Which being interpreted must mean that our deepest security will always lie in the nail-scarred hands of the Savior of this world. After all the sun may be shining and the markets rising on the day Christ returns to earth. “As the days of Noah were,” he once intoned, “so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37). Which is reason enough for you and me to place our lives, our 401Ks, and all our plans, dreams and ambitions for the future in trust with the one God who will not change though the heavens fall. Because when the sky does fall, I want to be rising with him, don’t you?
Details, details—they really do make a difference, don’t they? As soon as the polls closed in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula this Tuesday night, the state Republican party sent a news release to media outlets announcing the winner of the statewide GOP presidential primary: “In a close-fought victory, Senator John McCain succeeded again (in) the Michigan Republican primary, winning over a traditionally unpredictable voter base in Michigan.” The only problem with the release was that it wasn’t true. Five minutes later the party sent out a second release: “In a close-fought victory, native-son Governor Mitt Romney won an important contest here tonight.” A GOP spokesman later explained: “Heading into tonight, this race was too close to call, so we prepared a release for either scenario. We simply pushed the wrong button.” (SBTribune 1-16-08) Details, details. Click “send” on the wrong message, and we’re all in trouble. Which may help explain why there is such noisy confusion over the origin of earth these days. According to the ancient Scriptures, this planet was created by God in six days, and “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). But subsequently somebody hit “send” to the wrong message, and a critical detail of the divine creation has been omitted! Namely, that the Creator didn’t conclude with six days, but in fact intentionally included the seventh day upon which he “ended his work” and “rested” (Genesis 2:2). But unfortunately the message somebody is sending to this generation omits any mention of that divine gift day. Consequently a billion Christian believers are attempting to prove to a skeptical world the existence of a Creator, all the while abandoning the compelling reminder of the Creator, his seventh day gift day called the Sabbath. And that is why this blog and this community of faith are devoted to “resending” the correct message as far and wide as possible. Because the details really do matter. For Christendom to laudably champion the divine Creator but all the while reject (or at best neglect to remember) the divine Sabbath not only compromises its biblical witness, but confuses its message and cripples its effort to win this skeptical generation. Details, details—because they really do make a difference, don’t they? Which is why it’s time for us all to revisit God’s gift day. For in the gift of the seventh day, God has actually given himself. And that’s a message worth hitting “send” for any day! (Please download the entire “The Sabbath” series