Key Scriptures: Matthew 27:45-54, Revelation 1:12-18
Matthew 27:45-51, From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He is calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and brought a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. But the others said, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice he gave up His spirit. At that moment the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split, and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Revelation 1:12-18, I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
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Theme: We serve a God who splits things and invites us to walk through what he has spit for us.
Week 3—Jesus split the gates of death and hell and leads us out to everlasting life.
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Lesson One: Spiritual Implication
• When Christ died, death was defeated, and our sin debt was canceled
Matthew 1:21, She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
Hebrews 10:19-22, Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
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Lesson Two: Physical Implication
• In Christ, our bodies will be raised in the last days
John 11:25-26, 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?”
Revelation 1:17-18, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
1 Corinthians 15:51-57, 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. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!