The Joy of the Resurrection

Beautiful job. We certainly appreciate the special music we can have on this special Holy Day that God has given to all of us. I also want to comment on how beautiful the stage decorations are to see the trumpets up here and the beautiful flowers. Certainly, thank you for the thoughtfulness and thank you for the theme of the day about the Feast of Trumpets. I'd like to relate to you a story, a biblical story, that's called by some commentators one of the most touching stories in all the Bible. It's a story about a widow lady in the land of Shunem. I'd like you to turn with me there in 2 Kings 4 and read about Elisha and his encounter with this remarkable lady. 2 Kings 4. Verses 8-10, he had traveled through there several times. Verse 8 says, It fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem, where it was a great woman. I think it's interesting that the Bible calls her a great woman. We'll see why she was so great. She constrained him to eat bread. Now, he wasn't on some low-carb diet where he had to be forced to eat bread, but he was asked to have a meal with her. Sit down and eat with us. She was showing him ultimate hospitality. Sit down, eat with us. And so it was that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. Verse 9, and she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passes by us continually. We have this wonderful prophet of God that comes by us regularly. What should we do for him? Let's make a little chamber. Let's make a little addition to our house. I pray you on the wall, let's expand our place, put an addition, and let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick, and it shall be whenever he comes to us that he shall turn in there. So when he comes by, he has a place to stay. We're going to put an addition on so we can help this prophet have a place to stay when he comes here to make him comfortable. Verse 11, and it fell on that day that he came there and he turned into the chamber and he lay there. So they made him a place. Verse 13, and he said to his servant Gehazi, you know, he said, what does she need? He said to her, Behold, you've been careful with us for all this care. You made this room, you give us food, you feed us. What can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or captain of those? Maybe I could get a letter from the king saying, way to go for keeping our prophet. Maybe I could talk to one of the captains of the host of the army. Maybe he'll give you a good housekeeping seal or a good military seal of approval. And he asked, she answered, I dwell among my own people. I'm here. That's okay. And he said, what then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, verily, she has no child and her husband is old. And he said, call her. And when she came, she stood in the doorway humbly and he said to her, about this season of the time of life, you shall embrace a son. Nine months from now, you're going to be able to have a child. And verse 7, and she said to him, no, my Lord, you man of God, don't lie to your handmaid. Don't promise to be something you can't fulfill. I wanted a child all my life, but it's too late now.

And he said, you're going to have a child. Verse 17, the woman conceived and bore a son in that season that Elisha said. Nine months later, she had a child, according to the time of life. Now, the story doesn't end there. Verse 18. And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. His father was reaping the fields and the boy was old enough to speak, to talk, to go out and to be a part of it.

And he went out with his dad. Most dads would be happy to have their son say, hey, I'd like to work alongside of you. So he ran out to work with his dad. He said to his father, my head, my head. And he said to the lad, to another, to a lad, carry him to his mother. I looked up in the commentaries. Most of them said he probably had sunstroke. He could have had a brain aneurysm, but they said he probably had sunstroke that affected, that can be absolutely deadly in the Middle East.

So he said, told one of the reapers, take him to his mother. And when he had taken him, brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon and then died. So now you have this boy who's a prized little boy dead.

Verse 22. She said, get the man of God. And her husband said, this isn't a feast day. This isn't Sabbath. You can't go to him now. And she said yes. Verse 22. She called her husband and said, send me, I beg you, one of the young men and one of the asses that I may run to the man of God and come again. And he said there, it's not the verse 23, it's not the Sabbath. Verse 24. And then she saddled the ass and said to her servant, who was going to go along with her, go along with me, guess for safety's sake or whatever, go along with it, drive and go forward and don't wait for your, don't slack your riding for me, except I tell you.

Go as fast as you want to go. I'll ride as fast as I can. And if I get tired and need you to slow up, I'll tell you. She's riding on this ass along with him. Verse 28. And then she said to, after she came to the man of God, did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I ask you to give me a child?

You asked me. Did I not say, don't deceive me? Don't tell me I'm going to have a child and then have this child taken away. Then he said to Gehazi, gird up your loins, take my staff in your hand and go your way. If you meet any man, don't even salute him.

Don't wave to him. Don't stop and chat. Just take my staff and go there to this little boy. And if any salutes you, don't answer him. Lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. I don't want Gehazi.

I want you. I don't want your staff. I want you. I'm not going to leave. And he arose and followed her. Gehazi passed on before them, laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore, he went again to meet him and he told Elisha, the child is not awakened. Elisha was come to the house.

Behold, the child was dead and laid upon his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door upon them two times, and he prayed to the Lord. And he went up and he laid upon the child, put his mouth on his mouth. It's not people's mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Sorry. The kid is dead. The kid is dead. It's just what he did, whether to whether to feel the warmth of that child or to feel what's happening with him. But he went up and he did that. He put his eyes upon his eyes, his hands upon his hands.

He stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up, stretched himself upon him, and the child sneezed seven times. And the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi and said, call the Shunammite lady. So he called her, and when she was come up to them, to him, he said, here's your son. Take him. She went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, took up her son, and went out. A very touching story. How must this Shunammite widow have felt to see her child resurrected from the dead?

I want to read you what New Living Translation, how it puts verses 36 and 37. Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. He said, after life came back into him, call the child's mother, he said. And when she came in, Elisha said, here, take your son. She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. She took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.

On this day, it's not called the Feast of Trumpet, so it's certainly not just the last Trump, but part of the meaning of this day is the resurrection of the dead to life. And I'm here to tell you, that's going to be a joyous occasion, an occasion that will absolutely astonish you and me, an occasion that will be so grateful and so joyful because of all the people that we're going to see come to life. Think about it for a moment. How many brethren have you known who've died in the faith, who are lying in their graves, or other places that are waiting for that Trumpet call, that alarm clock, to awaken them not just to physical life, and this is a great act and an awesome story, but to eternal life. When those people are going to live again, when they are changed, not just to physical life, but to spirit life. Mark chapter 5, Jesus Christ had an incident. Mark chapter 5, the ruler of the synagogue, whose name was Jairus, his daughter.

Mark chapter 5 and verse 23, Jairus, by name, one of the rulers of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus Christ's feet, and he besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lies at the point of death. I beg you, come and lay your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall live. And Jesus went with him, and many people followed him, and thronged him. They wanted to see, is this man going to be able to do something special? Verse 25, of course, he was interrupted. This woman came. She had the issue of blood. She touched him as he was going through the crowd, and she was healed, and Jesus had to deal with that. Skipping down to verse 35, while he yet spoke to this woman who had touched him, and he didn't know it was, he looked around, said to his disciples, Who touched me? They said, Lord, lots of people are touching you. How can we tell? He said, I feel power has gone out from me, and that woman must have looked shame-faced, because when she touched his garment, she was healed, and she knew it, and Jesus Christ knew it. The power had gone out from him. But verse 35, while he yet spoke, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house a certain person which said, Your daughter is dead. Why do you trouble the master any further? No need to come. She's dead. Too late. With God, it's never too late. With God, it's never too late.

I've done a number of funerals. I keep wondering someday, when I'm doing that funeral, if somebody's going to start knocking on the inside of that box, say, let me out. Let me out.

The Apostle Paul said in his own defense about the resurrection, Why should it seem incredible to you that God could raise the dead? After all, God made the world out of nothing we can see. After all, God can do anything. Why should it seem incredible to you that God should raise the dead? Now, we're talking here still about a physical resurrection. I'll come to the spiritual resurrection in a moment, but I want you to see the reaction at the resurrection, the joy of the resurrection, the joy of seeing people come back to life again. People who were encumbered all their lives with sickness or disease or ailments or afflictions or cancer, who had to battle them mightily and battle them valiantly, only to lose that battle but not the war.

So when Jesus heard the word that was spoken, she's already dead, he said to the ruler of the synagogue, Don't be afraid, just believe. Don't be afraid, only believe. He permitted no man to follow him except Peter, James, and John. He only took that smaller group with him. He comes to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and he sees the tumult and then wept and greatly crying all this adieu, all this commotion going on there with people moaning and groaning and sadness and weeping and he put them all out. And when he came, he said, Don't worry, why do you make this adieu? And wept. She's not dead, she just sleeps. Because when he can bring anybody back from death, it's asleep. Some sleep longer than others, you know, like sometimes you might need a longer night's sleep. Some sleep longer than others. But there's nobody that God can't bring back.

Nobody. And they laughed him the scorn. So what did he do? He doesn't want any unbelief there. And when he had put them all out, you know, go outside and have a good laugh, close the door, I want to go in here. He takes the father and the mother of the damsel and them that were with him, Peter, James and John, and he entered where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and he said to her, Talitha Kumi, which is being interpreted, damsel or young lady, I say to you, arise. And straightway the damsel arose and walked.

For she was of age twelve years old, too young to lose a little girl. And they were astonished with great astonishment. They were absolutely amazed. Let me read you a couple other translations. The NIV says, immediately the girl stood up and walked around. She was twelve years old. At this they were completely astonished. New King James Version says, they were overcome with great amazement. The Amplified Version says this, they were utterly astonished and overcome with amazement. And the living Bible says this, taking her by the hand, he said to her, get up little girl. She was twelve years old, and she jumped up and walked around. And her parents just couldn't get over it. They couldn't get over that Jesus Christ could raise the dead. Brethren, today is not just about physical resurrections. It's about the resurrection to life. It's about the resurrection to eternal life. As was read by Mr. Myers. Let me just go back and reiterate 1 Corinthians 15.

It's a day about changing. It's a day about an awesome day. And while I'm reading these scriptures, I hope you're thinking about people you've known in the church. People that you have known through the Bible. That are godly folk and Christians. Who are no longer with us.

That you will long to see. That when you see them, there will be a joy inexpressible. That you truly will be astonished with astonishment at seeing them in the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15, 51, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment. The twinkling of an eye. At the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this mortal has put a corruptible, has put on incorruption, this mortal has put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. No more death! No more death.

O death, where's your sting? O grave, where's your victory? Sting of death is sin. That's what causes death. People will die for that. And the strength of sin is the law. Law is what tells you what's right and wrong. You do wrong, you die. But verse 57, Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Today's a great day because it pictures the joy of the resurrection. Luke chapter 7 verse 11. Want to read you one more account. This is Jesus Christ dealing with, and I'll just refer to a couple of others, Jesus Christ dealing with the widow's son.

In this case, he didn't ask for it. He just saw the child and he intervened. Luke chapter 7. The point of these physical resurrections is I want us to see that the joy of seeing individuals come back to life. Now, we're not just going to see people come back to physical life. We're going to see people come back to life eternal. To come to life eternal after living in the flesh. Luke 7 and verse 11. And it came to pass the day after he went into the city called Nain. And many of his disciples went with him and much people. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, while he's coming there, who does he see? There was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother. And she was a widow and much people of the city were with her. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and he said to her, don't cry. Stop weeping. And he came and he touched the beer, the stretcher on which the body was being carried. And they that bore him stood still and he said, young man, I say to you, arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. In verse 16, and there came a fear on all, I would imagine, when dead people stand up. I imagine there's a lot of fear. But they glorified God saying that a great prophet has risen up among us and that God has visited his people. I'm going to read to you a couple of other translations. NIV says they were all filled with awe and praised God. That's verse 16. Amplified version puts it this way. Profound and reverent fear seized them all and they began to recognize God and praise and give thanks the joy of the resurrection. And the Living Bible puts it this way, a great fear swept the crowd after the resurrection. And they exclaimed with praises to God. Now there are a couple of other instances I'll just refer to. Tabitha, a lady in the church, that had made people lots of different things. Shalls and booties for their kids and sweaters and whatever else she made. Maybe tablecloths, I don't know. And all these people were there weeping and mourning and showing what she made. Look at she made for me attending her funeral. By the way, the only one I know of in the scripture that you know who had attended your funeral. Because all these people were gathered together and then Peter came down. And God, the power of God working through Peter. Tabitha was raised from the dead. Peter was involved with Tabitha. And the scriptures in Acts 9 verses 36 to 42, if you want to read it. Peter was involved with it. And again, the world, they would know, she would know, who had attended her funeral. He presented her alive after she was dead.

God can raise the dead. In this case, a physical resurrection. One other instance that I'll refer to is the man who fell out of the booth. Here's a guy who gets famous for falling asleep during a sermon. If you fall out of your chair, there's no chance that you're going to die, necessarily. But if you fall out of your chair while I'm preaching, I don't necessarily promise to bring you back to life. I'll say, good for you! You deserve it! You weren't listening! No, I'm just teasing. But here is Eudicus. Eudicus falls off. He was sitting there, probably by the window. And Paul was speaking long, I will say, and even spoke long after he resurrected him. Maybe he was seeing if he really had any endurance after he died and was resurrected. He keeps on preaching. But he wanted to see if he had endurance. So he raises him, and the guy falls down dead! And Paul goes and raises him up. Sorry for this interruption of my sermon. I'm just going to go raise somebody from the dead, and then I'll get back to the sermon. You can read that account in Acts 20 and verse 12. But it's interesting the way it's put, amplified, puts it this way. They took up the youth. This is verse 12 of Acts 20. Took up the youth, took the youth home alive, and were not a little comforted. I imagine you'd be a lot comforted. And they cheered, and they refreshed, and they were encouraged. The resurrection of the dead is going to be awesome. The resurrection itself is something that David knew. David said, I'll be happy when I awake with your likeness. Psalm 1750. The apostle Paul said all that he wanted, if I could only make it to the resurrection of the dead, if I could just attain to it. Job said, I'll be happy without my flesh. Though this flesh gets pummeled without it, I will see God. That's a hope of the resurrection. Jeremiah said, David's going to be raised up to be king over Israel. Just an assumption. David's going to be raised up. Do you remember Lazarus's sister when Jesus Christ was late getting there, and he died? He said, don't worry. Lazarus is going to be okay. He'll be resurrected. And she said, I know, Lord, you'll be resurrected in the last day, if you had just only been here. She was confident in the resurrection. We can have hope in the resurrection. We can have strong hope in the resurrection. And brethren, the resurrection is a time of joy. It's a time of hope. It's a time of comfort. And it's something that tells us you never have to fear death. Jesus Christ said, don't fear man who can kill the body, but he can't kill your life. He can take only the body, the life that comes with the body, that he can never take your eternal life away. Fear God, who can take away both in Gehenna. But we don't have to fear. You see, the disciples were afraid. Jesus Christ was apprehended. The man they thought was going to lead them out was going to form this rebellion. This man who performed all kinds of miracles could get rid of the Romans, couldn't he? He called on fire from heaven if he needed to. The sons of thunder wanted that.

Bring down fire, God. Take care of that. Zap that person, or that tree, or this circumstance. He said, no, no, don't do that now.

Jesus Christ did not come the first time to redeem them, but they wanted him to. They wanted him to come to redeem them, but he didn't.

But Jesus Christ is coming back again, and he's going to raise the dead.

He's going to bring them back. His disciples finally realized that, because you see, they saw his lifeless body in that tomb. Some of them did.

They saw his lifeless body hanging on the Staker Cross, and they saw him alive.

They never had to fear death again, and when they were persecuted the next time, though they turned to him and ran the first time, when they saw him the next time, you know what they said? Go ahead and beat me. Go ahead. It's okay to hit me a little bit, you know, for the sake of Christ. That's what you need to do, but we're not stopping preaching about the gospel of the kingdom and not stopping preaching about Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

We have seen somebody resurrected from the dead. We've touched him. They never had the fear death, because they believed in the resurrection. Who do you want to see in the resurrection? What did Abraham look like? How about Joseph, this man that Potiphar's wife threw herself at? This man of enormous character and great intellect and great compassion. What about David, this little guy that they overlooked in trying to select the king? How would he look? How does he look? Are you going to be looking around in the resurrection? Who's that over there? That's David. Who's that? That's Abraham? Oh, who's that? Well, that's Paul. Who's that little guy? I mean, that little spiritual guy, or the little spirit being of... That's Paul. Paul was that little? I didn't thought Paul was a giant guy. No, that's Paul. Isn't it going to be a joyful time to look around and see the people? Like Peter and John and Ruth. Ruth the Moabiteus, this wonderful lady who's listed in the lineage of Jesus Christ. I think of people in Toronto that I knew, a man named Jack Story, who drove about 150 miles two times a week, three times a week, to come to Spokesman's Club Bible study and Sabbath services. 150 miles one way. Back again in the evening, go to work the next day, come back the next day for Bible study, go back again Tuesday night Bible study, and then come in on Sabbath. He was an usher, he was a faithful deacon, and he was a wonderful man. He's deceased. One day he's going to be in that resurrection. He was faithful to the end. A young lady that I met who had cancer of the knee. She wasn't yet baptized, but her family was. She was a sweet young lady who had life ahead of her. I drove about 300 miles with a deacon to visit her and her family and anoint her and pray for her. And we prayed for her a lot, and they brought her in. The whole church prayed for her, and she never made it. I'd love to see her again without that tumor on her knee. She'll be resurrected when God chooses probably the second resurrection. I think of two ladies who were best friends, both of whom are deceased now, but were faithful women in the church. Neither who had a husband who came to church, but they both did faithfully. I think of Margaret Cunningham, faithful deaconess, who wrote people all over the world. As soon as she'd find out somebody was sick, she'd take their name, address, and write to them all over the world. She was known when they were sick. This lady battled cancer for a long time. This lady and her husband were so kind, her husband wasn't in the church, that after she died, they didn't want to inform me because it was during the feast. They didn't want to ruin my feast, but I had heard from someone else, and I called him, and he told me about it. This lady, who in spite of her sickness, I persuaded to go to the feast in Ottawa, Canada.

I persuaded through a sermon, not personally. She said, well, I'm going to the feast. You convince me. If I'm going, I want to serve. What can I do? I said, well, how about being over the information table? You should have seen that information table. That lady and her friend, both of them were older. They lived in these little Spartan room at the hotel, a motel that they got into, $35 a night. They both were there, side by side, and they came every day, faithfully had this set up. She was a wonderful woman whose husband said that the church was the best thing that ever happened to her. He never was in the church. He said it was the best thing that ever happened to my wife because she had a purpose for living. I look forward to seeing Marg Cunningham. I look forward to seeing my wife's father and mother, who were both in the church at the time of their death. I look forward to seeing my wife's grandmother in the second resurrection, who's one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known. I never heard a bad word out of her mouth, never saw her in a bad attitude, ever. I look forward to seeing my dad and my mom in that second resurrection when they come to life. I hope that I can be there to welcome them. I look forward to finding out where my dad's mother was finally buried, because she was given such an ignominious burial by her wretched husband, step-dad, step-granddad, that I never met. I'll probably see him anyway in the second resurrection.

I don't know if that'll be joyous or not. It might be joyous, teaching him the right way, but I look forward to seeing my dad's mother died at 38 years old after having four kids by him, the last of which she died. But we went all over the cemetery in Bridgeville, the Carnegie in Bridgeville, and we could not find her gravestone. There was no marker that she ever lived. We know she was buried there because they had record at the funeral home, but they couldn't tell me where it was, because it was years ago that she was buried. I think of Ed Parrott. Ed Parrott from the Cincinnati congregation, that my grandson prayed for every prayer, I think for the first year or so after his death. Every prayer, lunchtime, breakfast, because Mr. Parrott was so friendly and welcoming when he came to church. I think of the time when he's going to be able to be greeting people in the world tomorrow. I think of Gene Dawson from the Dayton congregation. I've known him, knew him since 1961 when I was a ministerial trainee in Bloomington, Illinois in St. Louis, Missouri. In a hospitable house serving, he and his wife were. How much they cared about people and did for people. And I was honored to do one of the last passovers I think he ever, at least the last passover I did in Dayton, he was there. And he set it up, did all the organizing for it. I did the service on behalf of Mr. McCready. I think he was on in the Cincinnati North. I look forward to seeing him come back to life again. I look forward to seeing Carol Golsan. She just died, and I had the privilege and honor of doing the memorial for her. You know what she said to her husband Lloyd? She said, in the resurrection, when I wake up, I'm going to be looking for you.

I'm going to be looking for you. Who are you going to be looking for? And how will they be? And will there be excitement? Oh, look! There you are! Wow! Look at you! Oh, it's so nice to see you! That's the meaning of the day today. One of the main meanings is that God is going to raise the dead, is going to give eternal life, the joy of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15, my last scripture. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 19 to 23.

1 Corinthians 15, think on these things, brethren, think whom you would like to see. Think of the heroes of faith. Think of all the brethren that you have known who have lived and died, and whom you would like to see again, and the joy of seeing them whole as a spirit being. But even when they appear in the flesh, they won't appear with all their infirmities, but appear well, completely healed of anything and everything. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 19. 1 Corinthians 15, 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. If all Christianity is about us what you can do now, and there are many religions that it's only what we can do now, then you will be miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruit of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruit, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. And then, the last great day of the feast, pictures, the time the rest of the dead. The joy of the resurrection, what a wonderful blessing we have, because we understand one of the great meanings of the Feast of Trumpets.