Resurrection

J. Michael Shannon

Why didn’t they just lock up Jesus? That would have stopped Him from preaching, teaching and gathering followers. It worked with John the Baptist. The answer is they knew no prison could hold Him. They knew about His miracles of healing and His miracles over nature. They knew no prison could hold Him. What they did not know was that no tomb could hold Him. What they did not know was that death could not hold Him. The apostle Peter, quoting Jesus, said it was not possible for death to hold Him (Acts 2:24).

Some find it impossible to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Christians find it impossible not to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. If the world’s best Man
did not survive death, if the world’s one perfect Man did not survive the grave, what hope is that for us? “We are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

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Resurrection

J. Michael Shannon

The
first law of Thermodynamics says that no mass or energy is ever destroyed, that
it merely changes form. When a piece of wood is burned, it is not gone.
Some of it becomes heat; some deteriorates into the ashes. But it is not
destroyed – it just changes. When a lake dries up, the water is gone.
It has evaporated into the air, only to fall to earth again someday. If
we can see this all around us in the physical world, is it so hard to conceive
of it in the spiritual world? Harry Emerson Fosdick said, “Can it
be that God is the most unscrupulous waster in the universe making great personalities,
only to throw them utterly away.” If we can see it in nature, can
we see it in the sphere of faith? We, too, can have the same confidence
that the apostle Paul had when he said, “We shall all be changed.”

_______________

J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.

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Resurrection

J. Michael Shannon

Blandon Churchyard,
where Winston Churchill is buried, is like many similar village churchyards.
There is a lichgate at the entrance. Here the bearers could wait with the casket
until the minister came out to escort them into the church. If the weather was
inclement, they had some shelter beneath the roof of the lichgate.

Over the lichgate at Blandon are these words, “I know that my Redeemer
liveth.” One sees them, not upon entering, but upon leaving! How comforting
to a family who has just left the body of a loved one in the churchyard! How
comforting it is to us all to remember we have a deathless Redeemer!

____________________

Michael Shannon,
Preaching March/April 2002

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Resurrection

J. Michael Shannon

Blandon Churchyard, where Winston Churchill is buried, is like many similar
village churchyards. There is a lich-gate at the entrance. Here the bearers
could wait with the casket until the minister came out to escort them into the
church. If the weather was inclement, they had some shelter beneath the roof of
the lich-gate.

Over the lich-gate at Blandon are these words, “I know that my Redeemer
liveth.” One sees them, not upon entering, but upon leaving! How
comforting to a family who has just left the body of a loved one in the
churchyard! How comforting it is to us all to remember we have a deathless
Redeemer!

___________________________

Illustration by J. Michael Shannon, Professor of Preaching, Cincinnati Bible
College & Seminary, Cincinnati, OH.

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Resurrection

Robert C. Shannon

The great heart of the Australian continent is a desert, hot and dry. It seldom
rains at all. But when it does rain lakes form and small fish suddenly appear.
It seems miraculous. Pelicans come in great numbers to feed on the vast schools
of fish. Then the lakes dry up, and the pelicans leave. The fish die and
nothing is left but salt and sand for six or seven years. Then suddenly it
rains, and the whole cycle begins all over again. If nature can do that, who
can doubt that Jesus could feed the five thousand, or that we, like Him, can be
raised from the dead.

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Resurrection

Robert C. Shannon

In November of 1995 newspapers reported the story of lotus seeds found in a dry
lake bed in China. They were 1,288 years old! Seven of them were obtained by
the University of California at Los Angeles. The seeds were germinated,
sprouted, and a plant grew from them. They are thought to be the oldest seeds
ever germinated.

If a seed can hold life for 1,288 years, who can doubt the possibility of a
bodily resurrection? How apt is the illustration the apostle Paul chose of
planting, germination, and growth to describe the resurrection of the dead.

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