Monday, April 4, 2016
Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
ERE YET THE DAWN
With every passing year time seems to go faster. Even without turning our clocks ahead, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, yes, and Easter seem to arrive more quickly every year. But no Easter came more unexpectedly than the first one. The faithful women were not expecting it. Mary Magdalene was not. His closest disciples were not expecting it. Peter was not.
The soldiers of Rome were not expecting it. Some of Rome's finest had made sure that Jesus was dead on Friday by piercing Him through with a spear. They could testify to that. On Saturday soldiers had also been dispatched to make sure that no one could steal the body. It was not such a bad assignment, at that. All they had to do was stretch a cord across the rock that covered the entrance of the tomb, and put seal each end of the cord with wax. The prefect's seal impressed in the wax would discourage most trouble-makers, since the punishment for breaking the seal was death. Besides, who would make trouble at the tomb of a condemned man, anyway? The place for trouble to start was in the city, jammed as it was with living people.
But before the night was out, before the morning sun had dried up the early dew, there was someone else at the tomb, and there was trouble. No, it was not a vicious mob throwing bricks and bottles, and it was not in the congested city, but out in the lonely garden and caused by one lone angel.
Ere yet the dawn has filled the skies,
Behold my Savior Christ arise,
He chases from us sin and night,
And brings us joy and life and light.
