What must I do to be saved?

Today we are finishing our study of this great saying of Jesus from the cross.

The basis of Jesus’ prayer for those who are the cause of Him being on the cross is ignorance… “they know not what they do.” Of course, they knew they were putting Him to death, but they did not come to understand that He was truly the Son of God. Now, Jesus is giving no justification for their sin. They absolutely should have known. After all, no one ever did the things Jesus did. No one ever taught the way Jesus taught. No one ever lived the way Jesus lived. And no one ever fulfilled dozens and dozens and even hundreds of OT prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. They should have believed, but yet Jesus appeals to their ignorance as the basis of His request to the Father. The wonderful love of Jesus!

This prayer of Jesus was answered. It was answered in the form of one of the thieves being forgiven of his sins. This prayer was also answered on the Day of Pentecost some forty days after the ascension of Jesus to heaven. Notice Acts 2:36-41 which says, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus ‘whom you crucified.’ Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

Many of those who had a part in the crucifixion of Jesus came to a knowledge of Jesus being the Christ and they turned away from their sins and were washed in the blood of Jesus! Jesus prayed that they would be forgiven, and they were!

If you are a Christian, in a sense the prayer of Jesus has been answered in your conversion as well! If you are not a Christian, Jesus’ prayer for you has yet to be answered. You have sinned against Him. Your sin separates you from Him (see Is. 59:1-2). But His blood can wash away every stain. That’s what He desires. That’s why He died on the cross. That’s what He prayed for.

May our desire and prayer for others be the same as Jesus’; that they come to understand and obey the truth of our Lord so that they can be saved according to His gracious plan.

Daren Schroeder

THE JEWS DETERMINE TO LIE – 25:11-15:

    The soldiers took the bribe and left, doing as “they were taught.” That same verb is used in verse 20. Here (ver. 15), the soldiers lie as “they were taught.” In verse 20, the disciples are to teach the truth as they were taught.

APPLICATION:

    The lie about the disciples stealing the body of Jesus was still being told by Jews 100 years after the close of the NT, according to the Christian named Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 108.2). But when the disciples completely did not expect the resurrection, how would they have found the courage to sneak through a contingent of Roman soldiers to steal the body of Jesus? Also, when they started preaching the resurrection of Jesus, beginning in Acts 2, why did not the Jewish authorities, with the aid of Roman soldiers whose law the disciples would have thus violated, prosecute the Christians with evidence that they had stolen the body? The accusation is preposterous and unhistorical. When as many as sixteen soldiers allowed Peter to escape their custody in Acts 12:19, all of them were put to death!

SO WHAT? – 28:16-20:

    Some hesitated, one of whom John will identify in his account as “Doubting Thomas” (see Luke 24:10-11; John 20:24-29). Who else it was who hesitated, how long they hesitated, how their hesitation was alleviated we are not told anywhere. 

    We see indicated here in this paragraph Jesus’ understanding that He fulfilled the prediction found in Daniel 7:13-14. The authority of Jehovah God will be picked up here by Jesus Christ. He has “all authority.”

    The way disciples are made, Jesus says is to immerse people into Him (see Rom. 6:1-7) for the forgiveness of sins (see Acts 2:38), by the authority (“in the name”) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

    The grammar of verse 19 is important. “After going” is a participle in the past tense. It carries the force of the main verb (“make disciples”) which is an imperative. In order to “make disciples,” Jesus uses two verbs in the form of a participle: “immersing” and “teaching” (ver. 20). It is clear from Jesus’ words, here, that one is made a disciple by immersing. If one is not immersed (for the “forgiveness of sins,” see Acts 2:38), that person is not a disciple. If one does not continue learning, he or she is not a disciple. 

    Secondly, disciples are made by teaching those immersed all that Jesus had commanded them to know, feel, and do. Discipleship, then, is a life-long process of growth.

APPLICATION:

    To be immersed “in the name of the Lord” means to be immersed by His authority and into a relationship with Him (Rom. 6:3-4); it does not necessarily mean that the words “in the name of Jesus Christ” must be spoken at the time of immersion. 

    A Christian must continue learning all that Jesus commanded and continue to be reminded of all that Jesus commanded so that the Christian can continue living a life of obedience to Jesus’ commands.

    The story of God’s relationship with mankind began with Him walking with Adam and Eve in the “cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). That relationship was interrupted by sin (see Isaiah 59:1-2), but the promise of God’s future presence runs throughout the OT: Gen. 28:15; Exo. 3:12; Joshua 1:5, 9; Isa. 41:10. The angel Gabriel promised that Jesus’ nature would be “God with us” (Immanuel; Matt. 1:23). Jesus now promises that He will be with His disciples until the age of physical existence comes to an end (28:20). 

    We also see, as a culmination point, that Jesus had always intended to take His gospel beyond the Jewish nation and Matthew regularly hinted at that universal mission: 2:1-12; 3:9; 4:15-16; 8:11-12; 10:18; 12:21; 13:38; 21:28-32, 41-43; 22:8-10; 24:14, 31; 26:13. This is in fulfillment of the allusion in 1:1 to the promise God made to Abraham to bless all the nations through Abraham’s seed (Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18), whom we now know to be Jesus of Nazareth. 

    Christ is the center of our lives because He is risen from the dead! That means: We worship Him! We submit to Him! We make disciples of Him by baptizing and teaching. We live in Him until the end of life!

Paul Holland

In Deuteronomy 6.6-9, God through Moses, said the following words. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Now, imagine during our lives here on earth that we would follow God’s plan for the family in these verses and we took our responsibilities to God seriously, and we taught our children according to the things written in this passage. I would expect that our homes might look very differently from the homes that are in our county! However, is that not what God expects us to do in our homes?

Are we not called to be different from those in the world? Paul wrote in Romans 12.2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We are not to be like the world (conformed to it). But we are to be different from the world. Jesus said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Therefore, we see that God required His people in the Old Testament, as well as those in the New Testament, to be different from those of the world. Since we are living under the New Testament of Jesus Christ today we understand that we are to be very different from the people of the world. In fact, our priority of work ought to be to bring the worldly people out of the world and into the Lord’s church!

Think about it!

Kevin Williams

The moment you realize that your past sins have been forgiven and that you are now a child of God, it is a joyous moment. When someone completes the process God set forth for our salvation, that of belief, repentance, and baptism, it is good reason to rejoice. In the New Testament we can find no rejoicing before baptism, but cheerful and energetic actions after baptism.

On Pentecost many were “pierced to the heart” by Peters message. Some 3,000 believers were then baptized. Afterwards, we read that “they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart” (Acts 2:41,46). As believers: “pierced to the heart,” after baptism: “gladness of heart”. When Phillip “preached Jesus” to the Ethiopian, after he “came up out of the water” of baptism, we read, “he went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:38-39).

Baptism is not what saves us, but it is the point of faith and obedience when salvation occurs, hence, the reason for jubilation. Paul “spoke the word of the Lord” to the Roman jailer. “and immediately he was baptized…and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God” (Acts 16:32-34). Have you experienced the joy that comes at baptism?

-Dennis Doughty,

Ask a young person how much time they have and they’ll probably tell you “Not much” or “I’m busy.”  After eight or more hours of school, they head off to athletic practice or extracurricular activities, then come home to scarf down dinner and settle into homework. After they finish and take some time to decompress, it’s often after midnight — only to do it again at 6:00 am the next day. So much for getting the medically recommended nine hours of sleep!

How much time do you have? Probably not much more. Many of us are left exhausted after work, family, worship, and other activities. When we have time, we find ways to fill it with more work around the house or endless entertainment. But what if God was the one asking, “Can I have some of your time?”

Jesus took time out of some of his most stressful and busy moments to be with God in prayer. He gave up sleep after a full day of preaching, teaching, and healing (Mark 1:35). He stayed awake on the night of his arrest to pray while his disciples slept (Mark 14:32–42). Jesus needed to be with the people, but he needed to be with God more.

Although our families, coworkers, employers, and friends all place demands on our time — we must be with God more. Vacations are valuable ways to escape from the busyness of life. But how much of those trips make time for God? Or are they more about personal rest and recreation?

No matter how busy we are, like Jesus, we must make time to pray, study, and meditate on His Word (Ps 1:2). As the shepherds here at Karns often remind the ministers, it is biblical and Christlike to make time to rest (Mark 6:31). We must make an intentional effort to follow the model of Jesus, who took time away to pray. So, can He have some of your time?

Spencer Clark

Our discussion last week heavily revolved around who “they” referred to. We noted that it certainly pertained to those directly responsible for Jesus being on the cross, but in another sense, it may refer to all of us, for all have sinned (Rom. 3:23) and need His forgiveness. Briefly today we will consider the meaning of this short prayer, or what Jesus prayed for.

Of course, the text indicates that Jesus prayed for their forgiveness. What is forgiveness? What Jesus intended by forgiveness here is not in doubt. The plea of Jesus was that the Father not hold against them (and us) the sins they (and we) have committed. This is significant because Paul says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” The death here is a separation from God (see Is. 59:1-2) that will lead to eternal death when life is over. Jesus died so that we can be forgiven and not be lost eternally.

But let’s consider what Jesus was not praying for here. Jesus was not praying for His Father to unconditionally grant them forgiveness. How do we know that? 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Surely what Jesus said on the cross involved coming to repentance. His desire for them on the cross was that they would come to repentance so that they could be saved.

In fact, He said in Luke 13:3, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus did not have a change of heart on the cross. We can conclude that Jesus’ prayer was conditional. It involves them meeting the conditions of the Father so that they can be saved from their sins. This saying of Jesus from the cross does not universally pronounce mankind as being saved. But it certainly reflects the wonderful grace of our Lord that is available and accessible by all. He prayed desiring and making possible their salvation, and ours, while He was on the cross! Oh, what a Savior!

Next week we will complete our study of this prayer of Jesus from the cross.

Daren Schroeder

It is not polite in today’s culture to call anyone ignorant, but the fact of the matter is that we all are ignorant about many matters.  I am ignorant of far many more things than I am of things of which I have some knowledge.  My body of knowledge is infinitesimally small compared to the large body of things of which I am totally ignorant.  I suspect that if most of us were honest, we would all have to say the same thing.  An auto mechanic does not have the knowledge of a medical doctor, but we would not want a doctor to work on our car anymore than we would want a mechanic to treat us for an illness.  A nuclear physicist may have an extremely high IQ and be able to understand things that most people could never grasp, and yet that nuclear physicist may know next to nothing about God and His divine revelation to mankind as set forth in the Bible.  My point is that in reality we all are ignorant, just of different things.

God, through His messengers in scripture, was not hesitant to label people as ignorant.  Sometimes God’s people sinned unintentionally or in ignorance, but they were still guilty, held accountable for their actions, and had to make atonement for their sins of ignorance.  “If a person sins…though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity (footnote: punishment)…So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him.  It is a trespass offering; he has certainly trespassed against the Lord” (Leviticus 5:17-19).  Please note that ignorance did not excuse the sin.  The one who sinned in ignorance was still held accountable, and atonement for his sin still had to be made.  The Levitical priests of the Old Testament were to be men who “can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself (the priest, hf) is also beset by weakness” (Hebrews 5:2).

At various times in Old Testament history God’s people experienced His wrath and discipline because of their ignorance of Him and His law.  Through the prophet Hosea God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children” (Hosea 4:6).  A failure to know God and His will for us today will likewise destroy us.  The tragic reality is that many Christians and many congregations have departed from the Lord because of a lack of knowledge, and in many instances they are not even aware that they are no longer among His approved people. Knowledge is one of the graces that all Christians are to add to their faith (II Peter 1:5).  We are to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).  Paul commended the church at Corinth because the members abounded in knowledge (among a number of other admirable traits) (II Corinthians 8:7).

When the Son of God came into the world the world was ignorant of who He really was.  “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10).  Paul wrote that “the world by [its] wisdom did not know God” (I Corinthians 1:21).  He indicted the entire heathen world (the Gentiles) by saying that “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,” as a result of which “God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1:28). Paul told the idolatrous citizens of ancient Athens, “And these times of ignorance God [once] overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).   How all people everywhere today need to realize that Ignorance of God and His will for mankind has fatal and eternal consequences!

Peter indicted the Jews of rejecting and crucifying Jesus by saying, “And now, brethren, I know that you did it through ignorance, as did also your rulers” (Acts 3:17).  Their ignorance did not lessen the severity of their sin nor did it mitigate their guilt. Of himself Paul said, “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an indolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (I Timothy 4:13).  How Paul obtained this mercy is related in Acts 9, 22, and 26.  Paul later wrote of the Jews: “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God”—the righteousness which comes only “through faith in Christ” (Romans 10:2-3; Philippians 3:9).

Ignorance of God and His word is no less heinous and condemning today than it was in both Old and New Testament times.  God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4).  Christ commissioned His apostles to “go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).  Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), and went on to affirm, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).  We all have a Bible (or should have one).  We all can read it and come to a knowledge of what God would have us do to be saved and to stay saved! There are those informed in the Scriptures who stand ready to assist those who do not understand what they read (see Acts 8:26-40). Paul urged, “Therefore do not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17).  Ignorance is not a virtue, and it will not be accepted on the day of judgment if we stand there condemned!

Paul prayed for Christians to “be filled with the knowledge of His (God’s) will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9).  We must not be ignorant of Satan’s devices (II Corinthians 2:11). Tragically, the world is filled with people who apparently are totally ignorant of the devil and his tactics!  We are not to be ignorant of what happens to us at death and of the life beyond.  Paul wrote: “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep (died, hf), that you not sorrow as others who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13).

Peter urged Christians to be “obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance” (I Peter 1:14).  He said, “For so is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (I Peter 2:15).  We live in a world full of foolish people whose chief mark is astounding ignorance of God and His will for mankind!  As Christians, we need to live in such a way as to put such ignorance to silence, not contribute to it!

It may not be polite in today’s politically correct world to call someone ignorant, but God is quite plain in His word about the danger of such.  It is a sin to remain ignorant of God and His will for our lives, for such ignorance can and will result in the loss of our soul.  To know our biblical ABCs (of which we have written for the past two weeks) is good, but let us not be content with just knowing our ABCs.  Until our dying day, let us continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18), and to manifest that grace and knowledge in the way that we live.

“Look therefore carefully how ye walk (live, hf), not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16, ASV).

Hugh Fulford

    Stephen Covey writes in his books about having highly successful lives and families, is to begin with the end in mind. When it comes to biblical wisdom for modern parenting, that concept is surely valid. The wiseman tells us in  Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” A parent should hold in the forefront of his and her mind a clear vision of the kind of person they want their child to be when the child is thirty years old.

    Today’s parents focus too much on the short-term goals, like good grades or getting to soccer practice. They keep themselves so busy that they have little time to think about what their long-term goals are for their children and whether their current activities help or hinder those long term goals. 

    Do we really want our children to be arrogant and materialistic when they grow up? Surely not. But does our daily activities reflect that idea? Do we act like the world revolves around them? Do we act like the accumulation of material goods is what life is really about? 

    Megan McArdle wrote a book entitled, The Upside of Down: Why Failure is the Key to Success. Too many parents today are scared to death that their child is going to fail and that’s why they turn into “helicopter parents.” We are training our children to depend on our initiative instead of taking their own initiative and either experiencing failure (which leads to growth) or success (which leads to healthy self-image). 

    Proverbs 22:6 has little to do with getting good grades in school. It has little to do with making the T-ball team. It has a whole lot to do with teaching biblical values and Christ-like character. 

    I’ve been studying the book of Exodus in-depth lately and I want to share something with you. Let’s read Exodus 4:22-23. This is God’s message to Moses to take to Pharaoh with God’s people, Israel, being in slavery in Egypt. 

    Notice that God gave Pharaoh: 1) His expectants: “Let My People go.” 2) The reason: “Israel is My firstborn.” Then 3) The consequences: “If you don’t, I will kill your firstborn son.” Then, God stepped back and allowed Pharaoh to exercise his free will, to submit his will to God’s will and do what God expected him to do.

    When Moses first appears before Pharaoh in chapter 5, notice Moses’ message to Pharaoh in 5:1: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go…’” God will repeat Himself to Pharaoh the exact same message in the following passages: 6:11; 7:2, 16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; 10:3. 

    When I was in graduate school at FHU studying education, I was introduced to a method of classroom discipline by Lee Canter called Assertive Discipline. In his “assertive discipline” method, he encourages teachers to give their commands, their instructions, their expectations, and keep repeating themselves every time the student wants to fuss and to argue. Repeat yourself: “I said to do such and such.” Well, before Lee Canter wrote his book on Assertive Discipline, God gave us His behavior as a pattern.

    I have counted nine times that God repeated Himself to Pharaoh: “Let My people go…” Now, God had already told Moses to tell Pharaoh that if he did not obey, the consequences were going to be severe (4:22-23). God did not tell Pharaoh when he would take his first born son’s life. In fact, God did not tell Moses that he would bring nine plagues on Egypt before he took the life of his first born son. Pharaoh had ample opportunity to humble his heart, change his behavior, quit thinking that he was his own master, and submit to the powerful God of heaven. But he refused to obey ten times before God finally brought the law down on him.

    If you want to learn how to parent biblically, look at God’s method of parenting: God gave Pharaoh: 1) His expectants. 2) The reason / motivation. Then 3) The consequences. That’s how you parent biblically.

    We ought to give our primary consideration in parenting to this long-range vision.

    Parent with the end or long-term goal in mind and don’t get distracted with the immediate hassles in life.

Paul Holland

In Ephesians, chapter 4.25-5.1, the apostle Paul commanded the Ephesians to put away the sins that they were committing. Sins of lying, anger, giving place to the Devil, stealing, corrupt talk, grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking malice and such sins like these. With each sin that he enumerates, he also gives the antidote for it.

Those antidotes include putting away lying, speaking the truth, not sinning in anger, avoiding sinning, “not going to bed angry,” not giving place to the Devil, not stealing, work in doing something good in helping others, watching their language, edifying each other, not grieving the Holy Spirit, not being bitter, not being wrathful, not being angry, not being clamorous, not speaking evil, putting away malice.

Truly all that the Ephesians needed to do was to do the opposite of what they were doing. He then concludes his list with the command to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” As I was considering this list of sins that were so prevalent with the Ephesians, it dawned on me that really all the Ephesians had to do was to read and follow the command in the next verse of chapter 5 (verse one).

That text says, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” If they had only remembered Whom they were to follow, and Whom they were to imitate, then every problem they were experiencing spiritually would have disappeared! It seems to me that what was good for the Ephesians would also be good for us. What is it? Imitation!

That reminds me of a commercial that appeared many years ago on television. A boy follows his father and does whatever the father does. After a few times of imitating his father, the father smokes a Camel cigarette and puts the pack on the ground. The next thing you see is the little boy looking into the pack of cigarettes. That is the epitome of imitation, doing what someone else does. However, when it comes to imitation we need to be very careful whom we imitate. The Ephesians were imitating the people around them and in doing so they were sinning. The same principle applies to us!

Now, consider Ephesians 5.1 again. That passage applies to you and me! The principle is to imitate God because we are His children!

Think about it!

Kevin Williams

One Sunday morning during the Lord’s Supper, I was reading about Jesus’ burial and a thought came to me:  Who removed Jesus’ body from the cross?  We know from the Gospel accounts that the Jewish leaders had stirred up the crowd to condemn Jesus to die and that Pilate, the Roman governor, had given the orders for his crucifixion. We also know that a squad of Roman soldiers carried out the execution and drove the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet. But, who removed the nails?

The Romans typically left the bodies on the cross as a symbol of Roman authority and a deterrent to crime. Therefore, it is unlikely that they removed Jesus’ body from the cross. The Gospel accounts tell us very little except for the brief comment that a man known as Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. John adds that Nicodemus was also with him. Both of these men had evidently been disciples of Jesus, but had not done so openly. They were members of the Jewish council and this act of kindness may have cost them their position on the council and possibly even in the Jewish community.

Luke identified Joseph as the one who asked Pilate for Jesus’ body and then stated very simply: “Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid” (Luke 23:53).

It is unlikely that Joseph and Nicodemus could have done this alone. Artists have depicted the scene with three or four men involved. They may have been assisted by servants, or other unknown followers of Jesus may have helped. Regardless of who was involved, we can only imagine that scene as the lifeless body of Jesus was removed from the cross. The sadness, grief, and disappointment must have been overwhelming as they gently removed his body.

There before them was the body of the one who had been the hope of Israel. This was the one who had reached out to touch and heal the leper and had given sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. It was Jesus, who sat small children in his lap, laughed at the wedding feast in Cana, and dined with Zacchaeus. He had taught his followers to love others. He had treated everyone he met with kindness. And now he was dead.

As the stone was finally pushed into place, it must have seemed so final to that small group of disciples. Yet, we know that the story did not end there. On the morning of the third day when the women went to the tomb they found it empty. He was not there. The nails had briefly held Jesus to the cross, but death could not hold him.

We may eventually learn who removed the nails from the cross of Jesus. By then, however, it will not matter because we will have passed from this life to the next where we will live for eternity with that same Jesus who was one day nailed to a cross.

Phillip Eichman