Jerusalem Day 8: Hallelujah! He Is Risen!
I couldn’t sleep, and curiosity has gotten the best of me. The man they called Yeshua, Jesus, said He would rise again after He was brutally killed on Friday.
This I have got to see.
Walking toward His tomb, which I knew would be heavily guarded, I saw the woman Mary Magdalene, a good friend of Yeshua, walking toward the tomb as well. It was still dark, but what did my unbelieving eyes see but the stone that had sealed Yeshua’s tomb? It had been rolled away.
Immediately, Mary went running to her friends, and I followed behind her. She said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him” (John 20:2)b.
Yeshua’s friends ran to the tomb and went in, but they did not find the body, only the cloth He had been wrapped in after burial.
But then two men suddenly appeared. Afraid, the women bowed to the ground. One of the men spoke, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” he asked. “He is not here, but has risen! Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again'” (Luke 24:4-8).
Yes, I do remember Him saying that, I do! I don’t think I believed it at the time, and I don’t think many others did, either, even his friends.
But with the tomb so heavily guarded, I don’t think there is any other explanation. After all, He did raise Lazarus from the dead, so why couldn’t He Himself do the same?
Following his friends and Mary back to a place where they had been hiding from authorities, I heard them talking among themselves what had happened. But then something happened that sealed my faith in Yeshua and what He had said.
He, Himself, Yeshua, suddenly appeared in our midst. And He said, “Peace be unto you.”
We thought we were seeing a ghost, but he said, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My Hands and My feet, that is I myself. Feel Me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:36-39).
Indeed, it was true. It was Yeshua in the flesh. He told them He would have to suffer these things for the forgiveness of sins. He told them He was sending them out as witnesses to speak of what had happened.
Wow. This is something that can’t be denied, and my unbelief has been healed. I will join them, and I will boldly speak of the name of Jesus and of His death and Resurrection so that others may believe.
Indeed, He is risen.
Hallelujah!
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Editor’s Note: The preceding is an account of what one person could possibly have witnessed in Jerusalem on Saturday during Holy Week. It is the seventh day of what happened, according to the Bible. Some of the text is editorial license.
