Monday, April 12, 2004

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
(1 Peter 1.3 NRSV)

---

No event in history is more irrefutably real than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That event dramatically changed the lives of those first dispirited followers. They even changed their celebration of their Lord's day from Saturday to Sunday to commemorate it. It became the focal point of their celebration of the Eucharist--the Lord's Supper. He died. On the third day he rose from the grave. He lives forever at the right hand of the Father. The resurrection is an historical event.

In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, is a grave on which were placed huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. It belongs to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. However, she directed in her will that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection, it could not reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: "This burial place must never be opened." In time, however, a seed, covered over by the gravestones, began to grow. Slowly it pushed its way through the stones and out from beneath them. As the trunk enlarged, the great slabs of granite and marble were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. A tiny seed had become a tree that had pushed aside the stones.

That tiny seed gave witness that life has indeed conquered death. The resurrection of Jesus gives us life and hope.

---

Dear Jesus, thank you for the hope you gave me in your resurrection. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

---

Help Promote Devotions.Net | Past Devotions

---

| Home | Bible | Devotions | Humor | Visitors | Links |