The
best way you know
Today is a very special day for all us; today it is a
very special day for all those that are part of the
church of Christ. It is a very special day because
today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Today we celebrate the victory
that He came to give to us; today we celebrate His
victory on the cross over death. This one event is the
foundation of our faith, and is the one that guarantees
that all faithful believers will someday reach and
remain in God’s presence. This one event is one that
everyone in this world knows; from oldest to youngest,
with no exception. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is
the event that surpasses all religions or sects; it is
the event that surpasses all doubt or skepticism, as in
the case of the atheists and agnostics. The truth of it
all is that all people in the world do not celebrate
this one date as we do; however, this date cannot be
ignored by any. I say this because this date not only
served to give us the promise of the eternal life; this
date also served to permanently divide history. This is
something that we can declare with confidence because
the truth is that everyone in this world measures
history in the same fashion; the history of this world
is divided in two, B.C. (before Christ) and A.D.
(derived from the Latin words “Anno Domini” which mean
“In the year of our Lord”; in other words after
Christ). However, I am sure that all of us here have
read about this event in our Bible and all of us here
know about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ,
as our faith is founded on the life and sacrifice of our
Lord. Therefore, today we are going to concentrate our
attention in the powerful message that we find in the
event of His burial. Let us now turn to the Word of
God.
Matthew 27:62-65
- The next day, the day after Preparation Day, the
leading priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
63They said, "Sir, we remember that while that
liar was still alive he said, 'After three days I will
rise from the dead.' 64So give the order for
the tomb to be guarded closely till the third day.
Otherwise, his followers might come and steal the body
and tell people that he has risen from the dead. That
lie would be even worse than the first one." 65Pilate
said, "Take some soldiers and go guard the tomb the best
way you know." (New Century Version)
Our adversary, the devil, will spare no expense to
discredit the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. During the
time that Jesus was physically here on the Earth, our
enemy attempted to destroy our Lord’s labor through the
supposedly men of God; in other words, the scribes, the
Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law.
This is something that has not stopped. Satan
continues his attack, attempting to destroy our Lord’s
labor, and trying to defeat God’s people. How does he
try to achieve his objective? The truth of it all is
that he has many tactics at his disposal, but the ones
most commonly used are traditions, philosophies and
false teachings. In fact, none of this should take us
by surprise, since all of us have been warned ahead of
time, as we find in 2 Timothy
4:3-4 when we read, “For the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according
to their own desires, because they have itching ears,
they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4and
they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be
turned aside to fables.”(NKJV)
I do not want to expand too much in the subject of the
traditions and fables, but it is necessary that I
mention a very popular tradition that is practiced in
this country, on this date, that only serves to
undermine the true meaning of this date. The popular
tradition that I am speaking about is one that appears
to be innocent, and without malicious meaning, and this
is why some within the people of God also participate in
it. But the great reality is that this one tradition
that pretends to be so innocent is in fact extremely
malicious. What tradition am I talking about? I am
speaking about the Easter egg hunt. According to the
tradition, the Easter rabbit was said to lay the eggs as
well as decorate and hide them[1]. But, allow
me to ask two questions, what does a rabbit have to do
with the resurrection of Christ? And secondly, what
does an egg have to do with the resurrection of Christ?
I can answer quite confidently both questions by saying
that neither has anything to do with the resurrection of
Christ. There is nothing in the Word of God that
identifies or links our Lord’s death and resurrection
with a rabbit; nevertheless, there are many that readily
accept these two things as symbols of Easter and freely
participate in this practice. It would seem that many
have forgotten, or just simply ignore, what God tells us
in Deuteronomy 18:9 when
we read, “When you come into the land which the LORD
your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow
the abominations of those nations.” I know that
many will probably say and think that this was a mandate
for the people of that time, because they were taking
possession of new land, but this mandate continues for
us today as well. I say this because of two reasons.
The first reason is because the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ has allowed us entrance into a new land;
we have gone from living under the dominion of darkness
to living in the Kingdom of God. This is something that
is very clear for all to see in
Colossians 1:11-13 when we read, “being
strengthened with all power according to his glorious
might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the
saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has
rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us
into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” The second
reason why I say that this mandate continues for us
today is because the practice of this tradition is an
abomination to God. As I said, we cannot find anything
in the Word of God that establishes a link between the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with these two
symbols; however, many continue to see this as a simple
innocent fantasy for children; many continue to see this
tradition as a simple diversion, but the truth is that
this tradition and practice is much more than a simple
fantasy or diversion, this practice is an abomination to
God. It is an abomination to God because this tradition
is of pagan origin, from pagan festivals, of fertility
ritual to pagan gods. Knowing these things, the
question we must then ask ourselves is, can a faithful
believer be a partaker of this activity? The answer is
NO! In John 8:32 we
find that we are told, “And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.” The truth is
that the acceptance and participation of this practice
does not draw us nearer to God. The truth is that this
tradition only serves to undermine the true meaning of
this date, and to steal the glory away from He who is
worthy of all glory. This tradition only serves to
attempt to discredit our Lord’s labor. Today is not the
day of the rabbit, today is not the day of the egg hunt;
today we celebrate the day when our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ was resurrected. Today we celebrate the
victory of our Lord and Savior on the cross at Calvary,
and we cannot allow anything or anyone to detract from
this.
Continuing with our study we read, “The next day, the
day after Preparation Day, the leading priests and the
Pharisees went to Pilate. 63They said, "Sir,
we remember that while that liar was still alive he
said, 'After three days I will rise from the dead."
As we can appreciate here, they were very worried and
fearful that the disciples would go to the grave and
steal the cadaver to later lie about it. But the truth
of it all is that they were in fact fighting against
God’s Word; they were in fact attempting to stop the
prophecy, as we find in Isaiah
53:4-6 when we read, “Surely He has borne our
griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him
stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace
was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6All
we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every
one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.” They were trying to undermine
the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior on the cross, and
were fighting against God. They were fighting against
what we find in Psalms 16:10
when we read, “For You will not leave my soul in
Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see
corruption.” The leading priests and Pharisees
wanted to stop God’s Word, but God’s Word cannot be
stopped. This is something that is extremely clear in
Numbers 23:19 when we
read, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a
son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will
He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it
good?” But because God’s Word will always be
fulfilled, everything that they did was in vain. Tell
the person sitting next to you, Christ arose! The plan
that they developed to undermine our Lord’s labor only
served to produce witnesses. This is something that is
very well illustrated in
Matthew 28:11-13 when we read, “Now while they
were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city
and reported to the chief priests all the things that
had happened. 12When they had assembled with
the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum
of money to the soldiers, 13saying, “Tell
them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away
while we slept.” They bribed the guards so that
they would lie about what they had seen. They bribed
the guards so that they would not confirm that God’s
Word had been fulfilled. This leads us to the main
point of today’s message.
In the last verse of the scriptures that we are using
today we find the main message. Here we find that we
are told, “Pilate said, "Take some soldiers and go
guard the tomb the best way you know." Here we see
that Pilate gave the order so that they could secure the
tomb; he gave the order so that the soldiers would guard
the cadaver, and he said “guard the tomb the best way
you know.” But I tell you that we must do the
same. We have to guard God’s truth the best way that we
know. We must guard the truth that Christ is not dead,
He is alive and within the reach of anyone that seeks
Him. Jesus said it best in
Matthew 7:7-8 when we read, “Ask, and it will
be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks
receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks
it will be opened.” We have to guard God’s truth
and let the world know that only in Christ will they
find the peace that everyone so earnestly seeks. We
must teach God’s truth, as we find in
Philippians 4:7 when we
read, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.” We have to guard God’s truth to the
world and the religious that religion does not save.
Only Christ can save, as we find in
Acts 4:11-12 when we
read, “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you
builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’
12Nor is there salvation in any other, for there
is no other name under heaven given among men by which
we must be saved.”
We have to guard God’s truth the best way we know how;
we know that Jesus arose from the dead. The
resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a myth or a fable as
many say. The fulfillment of God’s Words was witnessed
by not one or two, but by numerous people. Look at how
this is clearly stated in 1
Corinthians 15:3-6 when we read, “For I
delivered to you first of all that which I also
received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, 4and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
5and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the
twelve. 6After that He was seen by over five
hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part
remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.”
We have to guard God’s truth and let the world know that
He strengthens the weakened. It is as we find in
Isaiah 40:29-31 when we
read, “He gives power to the weak, And to those who
have no might He increases strength. 30Even
the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men
shall utterly fall, 31But those who wait on
the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up
with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.” We have to guard
God’s truth and let the world know that the resurrection
of our Lord and Savior is the only thing that guarantees
us that we will have a much more superior life. We have
to let the world know what we know, as we find in
John 14:2-4 when we
read, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again and receive you to
Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4And
where I go you know, and the way you know.” We have
to guard God’s truth in this world full of evil, and let
them know that there is hope, and that His name is Jesus
Christ.
In conclusion;
our enemy attempted to stop God’s Word, but God’s Word
cannot be stopped. Pilate said, “go guard the tomb
the best way you know”, these words were said with a
negative significance, but I tell you today, guard God’s
truth the best way you know. Don’t fight against God’s
Word, but rather fight using God’s Word. God’s people
need to stand and declare His truth, even when this may
not be the most popular thing to do. God’s people must
stand and guard God’s truth with what we know. Let us
be brave and stand not allowing the influences of this
world to stop us from serving our God correctly. The
world is seeking answers, things are getting worse
everyday, and this is why I say, guard God’s truth the
best way you know. Introduce to the world the God that
they do not know; introduce to the world the God that is
full of mercy, love and grace. Let us always guard
God’s truth and always declare that the same Jesus that
arose from the grave will return for His church.
Religion will not save you or draw you nearer to God;
tradition will not save you or draw you near to God;
only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
will anyone be able to reach God. He has opened the
doors to God’s kingdom. He is the only one that could
open them and the only one that can close them.
Brethren, the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of
the Christian faith. The fact that Jesus was
resurrected provides us the absolute guarantee that He
will fulfill His promises. The corporal death of Jesus
demonstrates that the living Christ is sovereign in
God’s Kingdom. The power that made possible the
resurrection of our Lord is within our reach to
resurrect our spirit, and to liberate all of those that
are still trapped by the lying devil. However; as
Christians we should not celebrate His resurrection only
today, but rather let us celebrate it every day, as we
do serve a living God. Tell the person sitting next to
you, Christ lives! Let us share His message of victory
and hope to all that will hear, and let us always guard
God’s truth the best way we know how.
1. Encyclopedia Britannica Online
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