Archives for 2021

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM)—The days leading up to and including Resurrection Sunday were unlike any others in history and any since, with the Gospel accounts detailing the various events that took place on each. Yet, one of the most remarkable facts often overlooked about that first Easter is that others were resurrected with Christ – namely, followers of the Way. Matthew 27 is the only Gospel account to record this detail, documenting in verse 52 that “the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.” Moreover, the next verse informs us that these revived believers “went into the holy city and appeared unto many.” In other words, these grandmothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, and children – who had received salvation because of their faith in Jesus as the Christ – had their decomposed bodies restored and they returned to their homes, still wearing death shrouds with the smell of the grave embedded in the cloth. The significance of this aspect of Easter is enormous in at least two aspects. POWER AT PENTECOST First, the resurrection of the many saints helps give context to the great awakening that took place on Pentecost, … [Read more...]