牧者心聲  Pastor's Message

03/07/2010


      Soon Easter, or as I call it “Resurrection Day” will be here. This is the time of the year we celebrate Christ rising from the grave, or resurrecting. Christ rising from the grave is so important to our Christian faith, and yet it is difficult to understand as well. We have many scriptures in the Bible to help us understand resurrection and I would like to take a look at one of those this week. The verse is found in John 11:24-26. It reads, “Martha answered, ‘I know he (her brother Lazarus) will rise again in the resurrection at the last day’. Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’"


      In this verse there are two terms that stand out: “rise again” and “resurrection”. These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably and that is because they both come from the same root words. Resurrection in Greek is "anastasis” meaning to “rise from the dead. This word “to rise” in the Greek is “anistemi”. Anistemi is made up of two words: “ana” meaning “in the midst”, and the second word is “histemi” meaning “to stand”. So wow, I’m sure I lost you, so let me simplify it: Resurrection came from “to rise”, which came from the two words “to stand” and “in the midst”. So resurrection means to rise and stand in the midst. This is what Jesus did when He defeated death. This is what we will do if we believe in Jesus: rise and stand in the midst of our Living God!


      Be blessed this week as we continue to walk with Jesus in faith, hope and love!



      Brother John J.