For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . . — 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
It’s one of those dates that I will always remember. I was a nine-year old boy living in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I also sold newspapers on a downtown street corner after school and delivered them on my bicycle on Sundays. That may sound a little risky in our contemporary culture but Ft. Lauderdale was a small town at the time and my corner for selling newspapers was located right below where my mother worked at the local Draft Board. In fact, her second floor office window was right above where I sold my papers. She always knew where I was because in those days a paperboy yelled out the headlines as people passed by, saying something like this: “Get your Ft. Lauderdale Daily Newspaper, right here!” And then you’d blurt out the headline. The better the headline, the more papers you could sell. That’s probably why I ended up being a preacher, I learned early how to yell at people!
The newspapers sold for a nickel. My share was a penny. I could make almost a dollar a day selling thirty-five papers plus those, “keep the change, kid.” In the days of a twenty-five cent weekly allowance, money made from selling newspapers would make for an extra fun Saturday of a double feature movie, popcorn and a cherry coke at the local theater. Then it was down the block to McCrory’s Five and Dime to buy some of those neat dark green molded toy soldiers and perhaps a Black Beauty yo-yo, the kind with the jeweled glass embedded in the sides. Nothing like “walkin’ the dog” and “rockin’ the cradle” with a “Beauty.” The rest of the money I would spend on my girl friend.
Now if mom couldn’t hear my yelling down below, she would do her own out of her open office window, “Donald, where are you?” I had better answer pretty quickly or my newspaper selling days were in peril. I have to admit that sometimes, I would take the chance of getting out of her earshot briefly, so I could run into the local bar halfway down the street to sell papers to the afternoon drinkers. The risk was always good for two or three sales until the bartender would see me and shout, “Hey kid, get out of here!”
On this particular day in question, however, things were a little different. My mom was sick and had stayed home from work. In fact, she was in bed when I left for school. As I went to pick up my papers to sell that afternoon, the place was all abuzz. For one thing, the presses were still running which was unusual. Boys wanting to hawk papers were all over the place. Anyone could sell them in those days. The only rule was you had to stay off someone’s favorite corner, which meant that sometimes I had to defend mine. Perhaps I learned my aggressiveness there, too. The guy giving out the papers was encouraging all of us to take extra copies that day because the headline had some really good news. It was great news:
THE WAR IS OVER!
The date was August 15, 1945. What a headline! I sold fifty papers in no time. Most people gave me a dime or a quarter and didn’t even wait for change. I bet I made five dollars that day. But rather than going back for more papers to sell, I had to get home to tell my mom because I suspected she didn’t know yet.
There were two ways I could get home from downtown, which was about ten blocks from where I lived. I could go the normal way over the street bridge and through the residential streets or the fast way over a railroad bridge. I chose the latter, which meant a shortcut over the river and down the tracks. The only problem with that was sometimes the bridge was up, letting a boat pass. The other problem was dodging the bridge keeper. The usually grumpy old guy didn’t like us kids running across the railroad bridge. We did it anyway.
Well, I was in luck. The bridge was down, and he never saw me. In ten minutes I was bounding through the door of our house and into my mom’s bedroom. “Mom,” I cried out waking her up, “there is some really good news today. We won, mom. The Japanese surrendered. The war is over!”
Tears immediately came streaming down her pale face and her only words were, “Thank you, God, for saving my sons.” As she held me close with a joyful heart, I remembered that my older brother was only a year away from being eligible for the draft into the army.
THE GOOD NEWS
When Jesus began His earthly ministry, the Bible says He first came teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God, and healing every manner of sickness and disease (Matthew 4:23-25). He was rewarded in three short years with crucifixion. He was nailed to a crude cross at the hands of Roman soldiers but many of the people He came to save were shouting their approval. “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing,” were some of His last words on the cross (Luke 23:24). Then the earth became still and dark and He died.
Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried in a rich man’s tomb, fulfilling the rest of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah (v.9). But death, as King David proclaimed in Psalm 16, could not hold Him and God would not abandon Him to the grave (v. 10). Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, a Sunday, and lives today. Now that’s really Good News!
These events, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, became and remain the “Good News” of the church. After the ascension of Jesus into heaven and the Day of Pentecost which launched the coming of the Holy Spirit which began the church, the early believers went out into the whole world, giving up their lives to declare the Gospel everywhere. This same Good News, reflected by this great text from Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, continues to be preached and believed to this day. It is Christianity’s greatest message (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).
JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS
Christ’s death dealt decisively with our sins. He suffered in our place to endure the just wrath of God against us (Romans 6:20-23). Jesus lived and died in accordance with the prophecies about Him in the Old Testament (Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53:8-10, et al).
It’s interesting to read about the different views of death of famous people-both believers and unbelievers.
When Raymond Burr (Perry Mason) was on his deathbed, he sat up in bed for 30 hours, afraid that if he lay down he would die. At last, exhaustion overcame him, and after he collapsed, he was dead within 48 hours. Before he passed away he was quoted as saying, “death is ugly and messy and not one whit romantic.”
Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, had tears streaming down his face on his deathbed, telling actress Ingrid Bergman, who was at his side of his “awful terror of the grim reaper.”
Woody Allen humorously said, “I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
On the other hand, Dwight L. Moody, the famous 19th century evangelist and preacher said, “Folks, someday you will hear the news that Dwight L. Moody is dead. Don’t you believe it, I shall be more alive that I ever was!”
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism said, “One of the proudest accomplishments of my ministry is that my people die well. Do you know why they die well? Because they are prepared to die.”
None, however, match the words of Jesus when he spoke this assurance and comfort to Martha, the sister of Lazarus before He raised him from the dead:
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?'” – John 11:25-26
JESUS WAS BURIED
When people die they are buried. It was no different in the time of Jesus. He was buried in a tomb. My wife and I have been to the reported burial sites of Jesus in Jerusalem twice. Actually, there are two possibilities, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre located within the walls of old Jerusalem and Gordon’s Tomb which is located outside the walls. Each claims that their site is where Jesus body was first laid. But it doesn’t make any difference, because even after two thousand years, I can tell you for sure, and according to Jesus’ own words, the grave was empty (Matthew 16:21; 20:18-19)!
JESUS WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD
The word raised refers to the resurrection. Resurrection is a compound word in the original language, anastasis. Ana means “up” and stasis means “to stand.” Jesus stood up. He was laying down in a tomb dead and God breathed life into Him and stood Him up. God is also going to stand you up after you die, if you believe in His Son Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul gives us the progression and assurance:
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
When Dr. Billy Graham spoke at the funeral of President Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994, he gave this unforgettable illustration regarding the funeral of the afore mentioned, Sir Winston Churchill some thirty years earlier:
“Years ago, Winston Churchill planned his own funeral. And he did so with the hope of the resurrection and eternal life which he firmly believed in. And he instructed after the benediction that a bugler positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral would play Taps, the universal signal that says the day is over. But then came a very dramatic moment as Churchill had instructed. Another bugler was placed on the other side of the massive dome, and he played the notes of Reveille, the universal signal that a new day has dawned and it is time to arise. That was Churchill’s testimony that at the end of history, the last note will not be Taps, it will be Reveille. There is hope beyond the grave because Jesus Christ has opened the door to heaven for us by his death and resurrection.”
So, my friends, we have a choice. Will it be Taps and Reveille when we die, or just Taps and silence? — Maranatha!
“God is good all the time. All the time God is good”!
