Passage
[Acts 1:11]
“They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'”
Today is Easter.
I believe many of you shed tears watching the Easter Performance yesterday.
You burst into tears when you heard the sound of scourging and the sound of hammering the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet, and when you saw Jesus covered with blood all over His body.
But after the performance, I believe you went back home feeling light-hearted and with smiles on your face.
What is the reason?
It’s because the performance had a happy ending with the resurrection of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, and viewing audiences, the resurrection of the Lord is a historical fact, which actually took place.
After His resurrection, the Lord appeared before the disciples for some time and then ascended into Heaven.
Acts chapter 1 depicts the scene in which the resurrected Lord ascended into Heaven.
It describes what happened in detail, saying a cloud received Him out of people’s sight as He was ascending.
The disciples were still gazing intently into the sky even after the Lord was out of their sight.
Then, two men in white clothing, namely angels, spoke to them.
Today’s reading passage, Acts 1:11 says, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
As prophesied, the Lord will come back to take us in the cloud of glory.
Let us give all thanks and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us the hope of resurrection by resurrecting and ascending into Heaven.
In this message, I will talk about the significance of the Lord’s resurrection in two aspects.
I hope you will gain great spiritual understanding.
I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who resurrected that your hope of resurrection will be overflowing.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ and viewing audiences, the resurrection of the Lord, first of all, signifies that our mortal body that will die and perish has gained an eternal life.
Every person dies.
Hebrews 9:27 first part says, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once…”
You have probably felt this verse is really true if you have witnessed the death of a family member or friends.
Nobody can avoid death.
Of course, such persons as Enoch and Elijah who were caught up alive are exceptions.
The latter part of Genesis 3:19 says, “…Till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
As said, men’s body is made of the dust of the ground.
As the time goes, the organs become old and weak, and their functions begin to deteriorate. Eventually, they stop functioning completely.
This is the moment when the spirit leaves the body.
Now the body becomes a corpse, and it goes back to a handful of dust.
Many people die in their youth or in childhood due to incurable diseases or unexpected occurrences such as traffic accidents, fire, or natural disasters.
In such cases the bodies might be severely damaged.
In some cases, the bodies begin to rot by germs, viruses, or cancers even before the actual death. Or the whole body might be completely broken after being hit by a car.
If the bodies are recovered many days after drowning or from a fire, their faces are so damaged that they cannot be identified.
These things are not something easy to talk about on the altar, but there is a reason I am saying these things.
It is because, for us to have proper faith, we have to admit the fact that death can visit us any time.
The terrible things I mentioned are actually taking place all around the world even at this moment as we speak.
Our body is so fragile; it will soon be damaged and disappear to leave no form behind.
Before we met the Lord, we were all supposed to die; our spirit would go to Hell, and our body would become a handful of dust.
The resurrection of the Lord was an event that opened wide the way for us to revive after we die, or to live forever without experiencing death.
How amazing an event this is! How thankful we should be!
Then, when will the resurrection, which is prophesied in the Bible, actually take place?
It takes place when the Lord comes back in the air.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 explains the process.
It says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
When the Lord comes back in the air, the bodies of the believers who are buried on this earth will resurrect fist.
Their spirits will come down in the air with the Lord and combine with their respective resurrected bodies.
This body is not the same physical body as in the past; it is the imperishable, resurrected body.
Following that, the bodies of the believers who see the Lord alive will be transformed into spiritual bodies and go up into the air.
This is called the ‘Rapture’.
At this moment, those who had disabilities on this earth will have perfect and beautiful bodies.
This resurrection takes place in an instant.
The bodies of the saved believers will be transformed in a moment, and they will be clothed with shining white linen.
Then, they will participate in the wedding banquet in the air.
This is not some fiction created by men.
The almighty God has shown with His great power that men’s resurrection is more than possible.
He showed it to us through the reviving of Lazarus and the resurrection of our Lord.
The Bible testifies that Lazarus was completely dead.
He had been dead for four days and there was a foul smell.
While Lazarus’ corpse was decaying in the tomb, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
Then, Lazarus was revived and he walked out of the tomb.
He came forth, bound hand and foot with burial wrappings, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.
Of course, Lazarus’ resurrection was not the perfect resurrection.
He was revived from death once, but he eventually died again of old age.
In a spiritual sense, he ‘went to sleep’.
But this Lazarus will also participate in the perfect resurrection when the Lord comes back in the air.
Unlike Lazarus’ revival, the resurrection of the Lord is truly a perfect resurrection.
Jesus is God Himself in His origin.
This Jesus was born in this world having a human body.
When He reached the mature age of thirty years, His body underwent such wretched sufferings.
His body was skinny for His ministry was exhausting, and this body was torn by countless lashes in scourging.
His hands and feet had holes for they were nailed through with big nails.
From His head that had the thorns to His feet, His whole body was covered with blood.
After Jesus eventually died, a Roman soldier pierced His side with a spear, and all the remaining water and blood gushed out.
His precious body was covered with wounds.
Jesus’ dead body was put in a new tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
And Jesus resurrected on the third day.
The resurrected Jesus first showed Himself to Mary Magdalene, and later, He appeared before the disciples and more than 500 believers.
Jesus, who then had the resurrected body, looked completely different than when He had the ordinary physical body.
For that reason both Mary Magdalene and the disciples could not recognize Him at first.
Jesus also appeared in a house of which all the doors were locked.
This tells us that a resurrected body is visible to the men in physical body, but unlike the physical body, it is a spiritual body that belongs to the spiritual dimension.
Jesus also ate food.
What does this tell us? It tells us that our life during the 7-year wedding banquet and the Millennium Kingdom will be very real.
The life in the kingdom of heaven, where we will have the heavenly bodies, is also very real.
The heavenly kingdom is not an imaginary world; it is tangible in that we can actually touch and feel with our hands.
And yet, we will never have to see death forever, and how amazing this is!
Furthermore, it is not a dream but an actuality, which will take place in the very near future.
Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father and the Lord who has given us this grace.
