CELEBRATE THE VICTORY OVER DEATH AND HELL: THANK YESHUAL HA- MASHIACH

[Prof. Bank-Ola, Steve]

 

 HE IS NOT ON THE CROSS, OR THE TOMB.

   HE IS RISEN AND REIGNS ON THE THRONE.

     HE CAME, HE SAW AND CONQUERED FOR ME.

The Message of Easter Day to men is the promise of a new and nobler life. Men may die out of a meaner self here and now, into a nobler self, if so they will. And this is the pledge that the offer of Christ to humanity shall find, yet higher fulfilment in still diviner forms of being yet to be. So history runs, proclaiming not so much the descent as the ascent of man, step by step into the Kingdom of the Highest and Divinest of all. 

May the New Century, by new aspirations and new sacrifices, and new Spirit of a new spirit of brotherhood hasten the coming of that Kingdom. Is not this, now, the especial emphasis of what we call our Easter-fact? That fact finds fittest utterance in our Easter legend “now is Christ risen.” Our Easter joy is not the outgrowth of a speculation. Our anthem peals are not the purled prettiness of empty sentiment. Today we stand upon a fact, a fact against which unbelief has hurled its hostile waves in vain.

The Lord is risen indeed. If that be not a fact; if every soundest rule of evidence does not authenticate it to us as a fact, then there is nothing under heaven susceptible of proof. If anything in all the past is true, then this is true--that out of that tomb into which Christ was day before yesterday borne a corpse, He went forth on that first Easter day a living man. On that fact we rest--take it away, and I own, freely, that the super-incumbent structure crumbles to nothingness. On this ground the Apostle plants himself without equivocation. If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

 

But now is Christ risen from the dead. That fact is our sheet anchor. But in what, I ask, resides its chiefest emphasis? What is it that Christ’s rising certifies to us? How is it that His victory intimates a victory for us? What is the law of which it is the high and bright disclosure?  As we celebrate Easter this year, one way to remember the Saviour is to read and study about the Living Christ. I hope that it stands as a testimony of the Lord whose servants we are. He is our Master, He is our King, He is the Lord, He is the head of the Church, and we are on His errand.

Nothing could be more fitting in commemoration of His birth than to have His people upon the earth acknowledge Him as the Lord of His earth. The testimonies  stress the most sacred thing that we can contribute, mainly our testimony that the living Christ is the literal Son of God. We must  leave something that would get into the hearts of people and endure, even beyond the life of those testifiers.

In addition to the Testimony of the Apostles, we that are called as special witnesses of Christ must continue to regularly teach about the Saviour. once we find the beginnings of our faith in Jesus, our Heavenly Father allows for our faith to be strengthened. This occurs in many ways, including through the experience of adversity. Our faith is acquired through prayer, with a sincere desire to draw close to God and trust in Him to bear our burdens and give us answers to life’s unexplained mysteries of the purpose of life: Where did we come from? Why are we here on earth - in mortality? And where are we going after our mortal sojourn on earth?

When the challenges of mortality come, and they come for all of us, it may seem hard to keep believing. At these times, only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement can bring us peace, hope, and understanding. Only faith that He suffered for our sakes will give us the strength to endure to the end. When we gain this faith, we experience a mighty change of heart, and we become stronger and begin to feel a desire for the welfare of our brothers and sisters. We pray for them, that they too will be strengthened through faith on the Atonement of our Saviour.  

To all those whose souls are hungering for faith, we need to relentlessly invite them to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written. Let their witness that the Saviour gave His life for you sink deep into your heart. Seek a witness of this truth through the Holy Ghost in prayer, and then see your faith strengthened as you joyfully meet the challenges of this mortal life and prepare for life eternal. Jesus Christ did come. He did live. And He will come again. That is a wonderful truth to carry in our hearts at Easter and all year long.

The Master not only foresees perfectly the growing power of the opposing forces but also knows what it is like to be mortal. He knows what it is like to have the cares of life press upon us. He knows that we are to eat bread by the sweat of our brows and of the cares, concerns, and even sorrows that come from the command to bring children to the earth. And He knows that the trials we face and our human powers to deal with them ebb and flow.

He knows the mistakes we can so easily make: to underestimate the forces working for us and to rely too much on our human powers. And so He offers us the covenant to ‘always remember Him’ and the warning to ‘pray always’  so that we will place our reliance on Him, our only safety. It is not hard to know what to do. The very difficulty of remembering always and praying always is a needed spur to try harder. The danger lies in delay or drift.

This is a plea, a warning, and a promise. I plead with you to do the simple things that will move you forward spiritually. Start with remembering Him. You will remember what you know and what you love. The Saviour gave us the scriptures, paid for by prophets at a price we cannot measure, so that we could know Him. Lose yourself in them. Decide now to read more, and more effectively than you have ever done before. With all our heart and the fervency of our soul, we must lift up our voices in testimony as  special witnesses and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the first fruits of the Resurrection. Because He died, all that believe shall live again. I know that my Redeemer lives.

May the whole world know it and live by that knowledge. We testify that He will someday return to earth. ‘And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together’ (Isaiah 40:5). He will rule as King of Kings and reign as Lord of Lords, and every knee shall bend and every tongue shall speak in worship before Him. Each of us will stand to be judged of Him according to our works and the desires of our hearts.  We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son-  Yeshua Ha-Mashiach

May the blessings of Easter be practical experiences in our lives from now till Jesus Christ comes. Amen

Shalom!

Professor Bank-Ola, Steve