RESURRECTION:

THE DAWN OF VICTORY

John 20:1-9

Rev. Dr. Samuel P. FernandezPREACHER

“Life is a state of embryo, a preparation for life. A man is not completely

born until he has passed

through death.”

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the

entrance.” (v. 1, NIV)

Notice that Mary Magdalene went first to the tomb. Panic ensued.

First, Mary Magdalene had a big problem. How can she enter the tomb? Now that the stone “was taken away” she had another problem. Where is the body of Christ?

“they have taken the Lord out of

the tomb, and we don’t know

where they have put him.” (v.2, NIV)

“So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.

Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter

and reached the tomb first.” (v.3-4, NIV)

“Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went

into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been Jesus’ head. The

cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.”

(v. 6-7, NIV)

under the Jewish law as heinous as the Roman law. But Pontius Pilate

exacted the Roman punishment on Christ, a non-Roman citizen. His cruel and sadistic mind

brought Christ to the Cross, thus fulfilling the

Old Testament prophecy.

there was no

“God foreordained for His own glory and display of His attributes of

a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, another part, in just

punishment of their sins, to eternal damnation.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion)

It is the story

of an

empty tomb

Easter is the story

of victory.

• triumph of life over death.

Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;

Death is strong but Life is stronger;

Stronger than the dark, the light;Stronger than the wrong, the right.Faith and Hope triumphant sayChrist will rise on Easter Day.

Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;Death is strong

but Life is stronger;

Stronger than the dark, the light;

Stronger than the wrong, the right.Faith and Hope triumphant say

Christ will rise on Easter Day.

Easter was originally a pagan festival honoring

Eostre, a Teutonic (German)

goddess of light and spring.The word Easter is not

found in the Holy Scripture except in the mistranslation

of pascha, Greek word

for “Passover.”

Christian world,

commemorating

the

Resurrection

of Jesus.

Today, Easter is a spring feast

It is a movable feast.

The day of resurrection! Earth,

tell it out abroad:The Passover of

gladness, the Passover of God.

From death to life eternal, from this

world to the sky.Our Christ hath brought

us over, with hymns of victory.

(St. John of Damascus: The Day of Resurrection)

And, whosoever liveth and

believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou

this?