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BACKGROUND
(Specially for more Serious Students)
GARDENS
GARDEN
PARADISE
PARADISE
EDEN
EDEN, GARDEN OF
GETHSEMANE
GETHSEMANE
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
RESURRECTION
RIVER OF GOD
The
full background to this teaching is available online at this link
THE 3 GARDENS OF GOD
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Online links to scriptures (New International Version [NIV] unless otherwise stated) are shown in blue
| THE GARDEN OF THE TOMB
A GARDEN OF VICTORY |
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 RESURRECTION. The most startling characteristic of the first Christian preaching is its emphasis on the resurrection. The first preachers were sure that Christ had risen, and sure, in consequence, that believers would in due
course rise also. This set them off from all the other teachers of the ancient world. There are resurrections elsewhere, but none of them is like that of Christ. They are mostly mythological tales connected with the change of the season and the annual miracle of spring. The Gospels tell of an
individual who truly died but overcame death by rising again. And if it is true that Christ’s resurrection bears no resemblance to anything in
paganism it is also true that the attitude of believers to their own resurrection, the corollary of their Lord’s, is radically different from
anything in the heathen world. Nothing is more characteristic of even the best thought of the day than its hopelessness in the face of death. Clearly the resurrection is of the very first importance for the Christian faith. The Christian idea of resurrection is to be distinguished from both Greek and Jewish ideas. The Greeks thought of the body as a hindrance to true life and they looked for the time when the soul would be free from its shackles. They conceived of life after death in terms of the immortality of the soul, but they firmly rejected all ideas of resurrection (cf. the mockery of Paul’s preaching in Acts 17:32). The Jews were firmly persuaded of the
values of the body, and thought these would not be lost. They thus looked for the body to be raised. But they thought it would be exactly the same
body (Apocalypse of Baruch 1:2). The Christians thought of the body as being raised, but also transformed so as to be a suitable vehicle for the very different life of the age to come (1 Cor. 15:42ff.). The Christian idea is thus distinctive. 1
1. The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
John 19:41-42
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 Can you imagine the situation? Jesus was dead. And buried! It was all over. After 3 1/2 years of so much promise, when it appeared as if the long
awaited 'Savior' of the Jewish people had come to rescue them from their Roman oppressors, all that remained was a lifeless body in a borrowed grave! Nothing to do other than to grieve a lost friend, then go home and get on with life. So much promise had ended in abject disappointment and
disillusionment.
Until the first day of the week, that is! When Mary Magdalene went to the garden to visit the tomb.
John 20:1
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 What did she think? That Jesus had been raised from the dead as He had predicted He would be?
Matthew 16:31
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 No! Nor would we! She automatically thought that grave robbers had been responsible for His disappearance. What to do? She ran off to find Peter and John to tell them, for they might have an idea.
John 20:2
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 Peter and John raced to the tomb, with John (likely considerably younger) getting there first.
John 20:3-4
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Going into a dead man's tomb, other than to prepare the body, was not the done thing, then or now. However the irrepressible Peter's curiosity quickly got the better of Him and he went in, followed, more circumspectly, by John. They quickly saw that the body had gone, but must surely have wondered how and why the linen wrappings had been left behind.
John 20:5-9
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 With typical male logic they concluded that as all was now over, they should go home. Mary, on the other hand, remained close by, saddened by this final heartbreak of the missing body of her Jesus.
John 20:10-11a
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 Plucking up the courage to look into the tomb, she saw two angels, who spoke to her.
John 20:11b-13
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 As if this was not enough of a surprise, she turned around and saw a man she thought was the gardener. Maybe he would know who had taken the body of Jesus.
John 20 :14-15
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 Just imagine what would have gone through her mind! How could it be! Jesus had died on the cross! How could He be there! In a state of shock…
John 20:16b
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Jesus quickly explained the situation and sent her off to tell the others.
John 20:17
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 Mary did as she was told, and the news of the victory Jesus had won over death spread.
John 20:18
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 This GOOD NEWS would have brought not only rejoicing and celebration, but to the Old Testament students which the disciples were, an understanding of the verse in Genesis where satan was informed of his final fate.
Genesis 3:15
Mankind's intimate relationship with the Father, lost in the Garden of Eden, was now restored in the Garden of the Tomb by the self-sacrifice of Jesus, through His commitment to do the Father's will, made in the Garden of Gethsemene and activated upon the cross.
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| IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY |
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 The resurrection of Jesus and, in turn, the dead, is at the very heart of our faith. Without it, we are merely deluded people, greatly to be pitied!
1 Corinthians 15:12-19
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 The hope of the resurrection is our motivation to living for Jesus today.
Romans 6:1-7
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 Yes, the hope of the resurrection of the dead motivates us to live for Jesus now.
1 Peter 1:3-5
But that is not all!
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| <i>NEXT WEEK: </i>THE GARDEN OF ETERNAL LIFE: A GARDEN OF REST |
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 Moving from the hope of the resurrection to the reality of eternal life.
Let's have a look.
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| A NOTE FROM DAVID |
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 We talk (or should do!) a lot about the cross of sacrifice and forgiveness, but this should also be accompanied by the hope of the resurrection, for the the resurrection is the physical fulfillment of Jesus' victory on the cross. May we never forget the hope we have.
TRAVELLING BETWEEN CITY WALLS
Illustration of how people travelled between city walls.
Source: http://www.bible-history.com
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So until next week.......
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD!
His servant and yours
Learn more about us at...
www.wwj.org.nz/about.php
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A DAVID'S DOODLING
1284. The resurrection proves the power of the cross.
David Tait
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Check
out the WWJ website for….
More David's Doodlings: www.wwj.org.nz/dd.php
Laughing at Ourselves: http://www.wwj.org.nz/laugh.php
A look at some of lifes curious questions: http://www.wwj.org.nz/why.php
Everything you ever wanted to know about....: http://www.wwj.org.nz/exex.php
Life's a Laugh: http://www.wwj.org.nz/lifelaugh.php
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