December 20th
Daily Reading
Psalm 16:10
For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.
Psalm 49:15
But as for me, God will redeem my life.
He will snatch me from the power of the grave.
Matthew 28:2-7
Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
Acts 2:22-32
“People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. King David said this about him:
‘I see that the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
No wonder my heart is glad,
and my tongue shouts his praises!
My body rests in hope.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
You have shown me the way of life,
and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’
“Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne. David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.
“God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this.”
(Readings taken from Bible Gateway, https://www.biblegateway.com/ New Living Translation)
The good news of Christmas
Perhaps you have read each of these prophecies and can today acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth was certainly a historically intriguing character.
Perhaps you recognize and can accept that His life and death are well documented, amongst believers and unbelievers alike.
However, believing Jesus was an interesting prophet, with socially radical ideas, who lived and died, cannot be where this story ends. If Jesus was simply a man, what changes for us? If he was simply a man, what do we do with His claims that He is the Son of God? Was he a moral agitator or a mad man?
It is the reason why the resurrection is pivotal in our understanding of Jesus as Divine. If Jesus stayed dead – ‘rot in the grave’, he would be fragile and feeble and finite.
It is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus which prove He is the fulfillment of the long-prophesied Messiah. The One heaven and Earth waited expectantly for.
The Saviour.
King Jesus.
Because if Jesus rose from the grave, if he is who he says he is, then it follows that everything he said is true.
Divine Jesus can heal us, forgive us, and reconcile us.
Divine Jesus can transform us, renew us, and redeem us.
Divine Jesus can wash us clean, press the re-set button on all our failures and invite us in as followers.
His Divinity is the good news of Christmas.
“Hail, the heav'n-born Prince of peace
Hail! the Son of Righteousness
Light and life to all he brings
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.”
