Easter, Yet Again

SUN., MAR. 30, 1997, 6:00 AM
FARM, STUDY

The sun will “rise” on this morning, but it shall not be visible behind the cloud cover. It is early in the morning, on the first day of the week, but there shall be no spectacular sunrise here. In some places it shall be so, but not here, this year.

Easter is a day for rejoicing for you in the Christian faith. It is resurrection day, a day of symbolic significance. As Jesus, I died on the cross. I was taken down from that symbolic “tree”, and there was no life in My physical body. My body was prepared for burial, and this had to be done quickly, before the sundown which would begin the Sabbath. Of course there was no embalming or restoration. There was no planned “viewing” or visitation (though I would create such in a fairly dramatic way).

Though I had brought Lazarus back from death, after 4 days in a tomb, there was little expectation that I could do this for Myself, even as I had told the disciples, in several ways, that, for Me, death would not prevail. Certainly there was no expectation that I would do this kind of “work” on the Sabbath. This was a “day of rest” for us all. ( 6:18 / 6:19 )

Yet early in the morning on this first day of the week, a week “without Me” women came to the tomb, and I made Myself known to them. My Body was not in the tomb. Even in body I was alive and again in the world. Your creed used to say that I “descended into hell”; now it proclaims that I “descended to the dead”. Your Mormon brethren proclaim that I was “working” on that Sabbath day, testifying to those, in hell, who were alive, giving them another chance to have eternal life with Me, rather than apart from Me. Your Scriptures don’t tell you this… but only that I arose from that tomb and was again functioning, in My Body, on this Sunday called Easter.

Your doctrine is that I gave up My life in order that all of you, who believe in Me, shall have eternal, everlasting life. You don’t get to come back, as I did, in a recognizable body that talks and even eats, but this Day symbolizes the Truth that death is only a physical happening. It is a time for evaluation of behaviors, motivations, and actions, with some judgment on “how well you did”, as a human in the earth. Then what?

Your Christian is not very helpful in answering such a question. If you have loved and served Me well you are in some multitude somewhat close to Me. You are outside of time and the material world. It is hard to imagine what “peace and joy for eternity” actually means… but it does seem preferable to fire, brimstone (whatever that is) and separation.

I tell you that as long as your spirit, your immortal soul, is apart from Me, as it was created to be, it has the opportunity to grow… back toward Me. This growth comes in many and diverse ways. One challenging way, one you now are experiencing, is bodily life as a human in the earth, a planet that I created to originate and sustain life, in enormous variety.

My time here in the earth, as Jesus, preaching and teaching, was for a purpose, one that should be attractive to those of you who “want to get a job done fast”. My death “bought” for you … grace. Believe in Me, with the fullness of your spirit, and serve Me in various ways in this earth life, and you are accepted back as a part of Me, the Holy Spirit… all requirement fulfilled. You don’t have to work for it. I did it for you.