Matt 28:6-7 Come and
See 4/11/04 <~>
#1. The
Empty Grave (Matt 28:5-6. Luke 24:5)
#2. Come
and See Where the Lord Has Lain (Matt 28:8, Luke 7:47, John
20:1-9)
#3. The Message to the Women (Matt 28:7-10, Col 2:14, Matt 4:13-16, Rev 7:9)
Please open your Bibles to the Gospel According to Matthew 28:1
(2X). Today is the feast of Easter. This day is a memorial to the bodily
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave on Sunday, April 5, in AD
33. That is why we are turning to the last chapter of the Gospel of
Matthew. Many things tie together here on the day of Christ's resurrection. First,
let us go to the tomb where the body of Jesus was buried. Come and see
what happened there at the gravesite. Therefore, the title of this sermon is; "Come
and See" (2X). This chapter is full of surprises. The first
surprise is in verse 1.
Mt 28:1 In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first (day) of the week, came
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see
the sepulchre.
It is a
surprise to see that the KJV translators really messed up this translation.
The word "week” does not exist in the Greek NT. The
concept of a 7-day week became known in the Roman Empire in the 1st
century AD only because the Christians worshipped every 1st day of
the week. The word week in the KJV is either derived from the singular
word "Sabbath", or from the plural word "Sabbaths",
but there is no consistency in the translations. We would do better to leave
it alone and just use Sabbath or Sabbaths as they appear in the Greek
texts. Then, to our surprise, Matt 28:1 reads as follows:
Mt 28:1 U But after the Sabbaths (plural), at
the dawning into the first of the Sabbaths (plural), came Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
There is no question that this event occurred on Sunday
morning. And so, what we conclude from these words in verse 1 is this: The
OT Saturday Sabbaths came to an end. because the Ceremonial Law ended
when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, and a new era of Sunday
Sabbaths came in its place. God commanded us here in Matt 28:1 to
make the switch: Instead of honoring Him on the 7th day of the week,
we must honor Him on the 1st day of the week, on Sunday. After His
resurrection, the Lord Jesus never met with His disciples on Saturday.
But on four different occasions, He met with them on Sunday. That is why the NT
church has always worshipped on Sunday; they could read the Greek text.
Therefore, if a church returns to Saturday worship, it means that they are
ignoring what God has commanded here in Matt 28:1. By their actions, they show
that they prefer the Law of Moses rather than the resurrection of
Christ. Let's now move on to the next verse, and there we read about:
Whenever we read in the Bible "the Angel of the Lord",
whom do we think of? Yes! The Angel of the Lord is no one else than the Lord
Jesus Christ. The word "Angel" is really the word "messenger".
Is Christ a "Messenger"? The Bible says that He is "the
Messenger of the Covenant". Now we read in:
Mt 28:2 And. behold, there was a
great earthquake: for the Angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, and came and
rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Mt 28:3 His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow:
When the Lord
Jesus ended His sufferings for our sins on the cross, He cried out
victoriously,
"IT
IS FINISHED". We must believe this! It
meant that the payment for our sins was paid in full. Shortly thereafter He
said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit", then He
died. We must believe this! It meant that His Spirit went to heaven and His
dead body went into the grave, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea. Then they
rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb. Two days later, on
Sunday morning, would Christ send an angel ahead of Him to roll the stone from
the entrance, so that He could crawl into His body again? Would He send an
angel to sit on the stone so that He could occupy Himself with entering into
His body? You can see that this is not a likely scenario. What is the most
likely scenario? Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself descended from
heaven, He rolled back the stone, the body and spirit of Christ were united in
an instant, and He sat on the stone to show the soldiers that He was
victorious. "Death is swallowed up in victory". And to show
that this was indeed Christ, God wrote in verse 3: "His countenance was
like lightning, and his raiment white as snow". Compare this with Matt
17:2. "And (He) was transfigured before them: and his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light". Is this not
proof that the "Angel of the Lord" was none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ? But God made sure we may not think that this simple scenario
is all that there is to the resurrection of Christ. The Bible says that all
three Persons of the Triune Godhead brought about the resurrection of
Christ. God says in Rom 6:4, "Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father". Jesus says in John 10:17. "I
lay down my life, that I might take it again". And God says in Rom
8:11, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you", and so on. And so, there is much more revealed in the
Bible, and not revealed, about the resurrection of Christ. We cannot fully
understand God. But now we read in the next verse:
Mt 28:4 And for fear of him the
keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
Whenever we read
in the Bible that God appeared to men, we read that the men fell to the ground
and were paralyzed with fear. The last one was the Apostle John, who wrote in Rev
1:17, ''And when I saw Him. I fell at His feet as dead". When
Almighty God appears to mortal creatures we truly realize how sinful we are and
how infinitely pure God is. It will be a glorious event when the Lord
Jesus Christ shall come out of heaven and appear to His saints. But when He
appears to the unsaved, they will know that a great calamity has come. "Then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn" (Matt 24:30). Why will
all the tribes of the earth mourn? It is because they did not believe:
#1. The Empty Grave (Matt 28:5-6. Luke 24:5)
There are three
points I want to cover today concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. #1, The empty grave. #2, The place where the Lord had
lain. #3, The message to the women. First let us look at "The
empty grave". We read in Matt 28:5,
Mt 28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the
women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek
Jesus, which was crucified.
Mt 28:6 He is not here: for he is
risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Is this the Lord
Jesus talking to the women? That is indeed true. He struck fear in the
hearts of the unsaved soldiers, but to these women who were already saved He
said, "Fear not". To the Apostle John the Lord Jesus said in
Rev 1:17, "Fear not". You see, if we are not saved we
must fear God, for He can throw us into Hell. If we have sins that have to be
paid, we must fear Him, for our God is a consuming fire and a righteous Judge
who demands that every sin be paid. But if we have been saved, we have
become an adopted child of God, and He is our Heavenly Father. We do not
fear our Father like the unsaved do. We give Him reverence and honor and
praise, and that is an entirely different fear than that of the soldiers. If we
say that we fear God, we mean that we have a reverence and a love for our
Heavenly Father. That is why the Lord Jesus said to the women, "Fear
not". They did not recognize Him, just like the two disciples walking to
Emmaus did not recognize Him. The Lord Jesus said to the women, "He is
not here: for he is risen, as he said". Don't you remember, He said
that He would rise the 3rd day. "Why seek ye the living
among the dead?" (Luke 24:5). Have you ever mourned for someone who
has died? Have you ever brought flowers to a grave? If this was a saved person,
then ask yourself these questions, "Why am I here? He is not here.
He has gone ahead of us into heaven. Why seek ye the living among the dead?"
I cannot forbid you to bring flowers to the grave, but ask yourself these
simple questions, and do not let your mind be ruled over by your emotions.
Moreover, we know that one day all these dead people will arise with new
immortal bodies and they will be joined again to their souls. Then all the
saved ones shall rejoice and be with Christ forever. God says, "Comfort
one another with these words". Let us rejoice with them. And let all
the unsaved mourn and wail when they will be cast into Hell forever. But here,
at the gravesite of the Lord Jesus, the women had brought spices to slow down
the decay of the body of Jesus. They were willing to become unclean by
touching a dead body, just to have a dead Jesus be with them a few days longer.
Can you see the dedication and the love of these women for Jesus? They did not
know what we know now. Nobody expected the Lord Jesus to have risen from
the grave. Nobody expected an empty grave at this point in time. But now we
know that there would have been dire consequences.
Please turn in your Bibles about 255 pages to your right (<-)
to the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians
15:12 (2X). This chapter is entirely dedicated to the resurrection, but
particularly the resurrection of the body. As you know, the resurrection of
the soul takes place at the time we become "Born Again".
When a saint dies, his soul! goes immediately into heaven, and his body goes
into the grave. The resurrection of the soul is not in question here in 1Cor
15. The way to understand this chapter is that all the verses in this chapter
relate to the resurrection of the body. We read in 1Cor 15:12,
1Co 15:12 1T Now if Christ be
preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that
there is no resurrection
of the dead?
For example,
the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection of the body. Therefore they
remained unsaved, because the resurrection of the body is an integral part
of the Gospel. Without it we would not have salvation. Without the soul the
body is an empty shell. But without the body the soul is only half the person. Without
His body the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ is not complete. We
read in:
1Co 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of
the dead, then is Christ not risen:
1Co 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is
our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain (= empty).
1Co 15:15 Yea, and we are found false
witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ:
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
1Co 15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is
not Christ raised:
God so identified Christ with us that if Christ's body
would not have been raised from the grave, we also would not be raised
with a glorified body. Instead we would be raised with a body that is still
under the wrath of God, destined for Hell. If there were no resurrection for
human beings where God gives us glorified bodies, then Christ would not have
been raised from the dead. In fact, Christ would not have come to suffer
and die on the cross, since that would have been a futile attempt on His part.
1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
In these
verses God is confronting us with "facts" and "fiction".
If someone believes, like many in Alcoholics Anonymous do, that we must hang on
to "a god" to give ourselves psychological support
for good moral behavior,
then they have believed in fiction. If someone believes, like many churchgoing
people do, that we need
a spiritual crutch to keep us morally straight in this life, then they have
believed in fiction. In
fact, this is what many, who deny God or the Bible as their Authority, accuse us
of. They say that we
just need a spiritual crutch to lean on. But that is "believing in
fiction". If someone believes that we all need to belong to a church, no matter
which church, and we will not dispute the doctrines of our respective churches
whether they are true or false, then they have believed in fiction.
But believing the
facts is different. If we believe the fact that Christ has been raised from
the grave, because
the Bible says so, and we believe that everyone else who does not believe it is
on the way to Hell,
because the Bible says so, then we believe the facts. If we believe that God has elected a certain
number of people out of
every race, and nation, and tribe, and tongue to inherit eternal life, because
the Bible says so, then
we have believed the facts. If we believe that God will give all His elect a
glorified body at the
second coming of Christ on the Last Day of this earth, because the Bible says
so, then
we have believed the facts. Therefore, "If in this life only we have
hope in a Christ who has not been raised from the dead, we are
of all men most miserable". And so we see that the resurrection
of the
Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is an integral part of His atonement. He
had to suffer for our sins, and He had to die on that cruel cross. And when the
Lord Jesus cried out victoriously, "IT IS
FINISHED", could God have taken Christ
into heaven and consider His work FINISHED? NO! The
payment for our sins was
finished, but the purchase of our resurrected bodies was not finished. This purchase
was completed when the Lord Jesus rose from the grave. It was only then that
Christ became the firstfruits of them that slept, as we so clearly read
in verse 20,
1Co 15:20 U But now is Christ risen
from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Do you remember the OT "Feast of Firstfruits"? That
is the day of Easter. Now the grave is Empty.
#2.
Come and See Where the Lord Has Lain (Matt 28:6, Luke 7:47, John
20:1-9)
Please turn
in your Bibles about 110 pages to your left (→) to the Gospel
according to John 20:1 (2X). In the first 18 verses of this chapter God
retells the story of the resurrection with particular focus on Mary
Magdalene, and Peter and John. Christ said to the women in
Matt 28:6, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay". What did
God mean by that? Did He mean for us to look into the empty cave? We know it is
empty, because the stone has been rolled away. We read in John 20:1,
Joh 20:1 The first day of the
week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and
seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Here we get a little bit insight into the dedication
of Mary Magdalene and the other women who came to the tomb. They were at the
tomb at the crack of dawn, before 6:00 O'clock in the morning, and they brought
the spices to embalm a dead body. They were not busy collecting the spices on
Saturday, because they rested on the 7th day. They had to do all
that on Sunday morning. It means that they had to get up at least 3:00 O'clock
in the morning to pack up ail the spices and get together with the other women
in order to be at the tomb while it was yet dark. They had to get lanterns and
torches to find the way to the cemetery. Keep in mind that this was Passover
week, and so Jerusalem was filled with strangers and many were probably
sleeping outside near the wails of Jerusalem. It was not safe for women to walk
outside in the dark at this time of the year. And they were not even sure if
they could get to the body of Jesus, because they had no strength to roll away
the stone. But love for Jesus drew Mary to the place where the Lord's body lay.
On another occasion the Lord Jesus said in Luke 7:47, "To whom much is
forgiven, the same loveth much". Mary Magdalene had abundant cause to
love the Lord Jesus, because He had cast out of her 7 devils. Her gratitude
knew no bounds. Could this possibly explain the listlessness and the half-heartedness
of many in the church today? When we view our sinfulness and our depravity as
just imperfections, then we have a little sense of indebtedness to Christ. Then
there will be little affection for Him. Driving an hour to church on Sunday is
already asking too much. There is no sense of the amazing grace, which snatched
us as brands from the fires of Hell. Let us pray daily that it may
please God to grant us a deeper realization of our sinfulness, and a deeper
appreciation of the infinite sacrifice of His Son, so that we may serve Him and
glorify Him with increasing zeal and faithfulness. Let us go on with V.2.
Joh 20:2 Then she runneth, and cometh
to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have
taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not
where they have laid him.
Mary Magdalene saw that the stone was roiled away.
Without looking into the tomb she jumped to conclusions. She ran to the house
of Simon Peter who seemed to be the leader of the Apostles. John was there
also. What was John doing there? These two apostles seem to have been
more involved towards the crucifixion and death of the Lord Jesus. Both of them
were among the highly favored three whom Jesus took with Him further into the
Garden of Gethsemane. Peter and John followed Jesus when they brought Him in
the high priest's residence. And John alone, of all the apostles, had witnessed
Peter's denial of the Lord Jesus and he had witnessed Peter's bitter weeping
afterwards. It stands to reason that from Friday night to Sunday morning
John lovingly was consoling his fellow apostle, binding up the broken heart of
his brother in Christ and telling him of our Lord's last words. The love and
tender nature of John's character is shown to us here in his affection
for Peter, even after his denial of Christ. Then Mary Magdalene brought them
the bad news: "The stone is rolled away, the sepulchre is empty. They
have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have
laid Him". Then Peter and John ran to the sepulchre. We read in verses
3-5,
Joh 20:3-4 Peter therefore went forth, and that other
disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and
came first to the sepulchre.
Joh 20:5 And he stooping down, and
looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
We can say that John won the love race to the sepulchre.
But John, most likely the youngest of the Apostles, waited for Peter to take
the lead. We can also see here the providence of God: Two must be
present to witness the condition of the grave and to witness of the truth. We
read in verse 6-9
Joh 20:6-7 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and
went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that
was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a
place by itself.
Joh 20:8-9 Then went in also that
other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the
scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
What was so special about the linen clothes? Well,
they were laying in such a way that:
What did John see? What have most of us been led to believe about this
passage of Scripture? What did Christ say to the women? "Come, see the
place where the Lord lay". Did He mean, "Go look in the cave, and
can you see it is empty? Can you see that the linen clothes have been neatly
folded up?" No! The place where the Lord has lain referred to the
linen clothes wherein He laid. If you look across the page at chapter
19:38 you see that Joseph of Arimathaea received permission to take the
body of Jesus. And then we read in John 19:39-40,
Joh 19:39-40 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the
first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen
clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
What was the manner of the Jews to bury? Look at
Lazarus when he came out of the tomb. They wound strips of linen, with the
spices, tightly around his body, and kept on winding until all the spices were
buried under strips of linen. And so the dead body in grave clothes looked more
like a white cocoon. Only the head needed a final treatment with spices, and
then the head was covered with a napkin. What did Peter and John see
that made them believe? What made them believe that Jesus' body had not been
stolen? His grave clothes! What had taken place had been done decently
and in order, not by a thief, and certainly not by a friend. The body was
gone from the sepulchre, the strips of linen were left behind, and the
condition of them indicated that Christ had passed out of them without
their being unwrapped. The cocoon was intact, but it was an empty cocoon.
It had collapsed because there was no body to hold it up. It was as if the body
of Jesus had evaporated. This is what Peter and John saw, and it made
them realize that Jesus had risen from the dead, because until this time "they
knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead". Here
in the sepulchre they saw not Jesus, but they saw the trophies of His
victory over the power of death. Now they understood what Jesus was saying at
least three times when He still walked with them, that He would be
crucified and at the 3rd day would rise from the death. Now we
understand what Jesus said to the women in Matt 28:6, "Come, see
the place where the Lord lay". Come and see the empty cocoon where the
Lord has lain. Is it not amazing that His enemies remembered that He said,
"After three days I will rise again" (Matt 27:63), but His
friends had forgotten what He said? Did Christ rebuke the women when He said in
Matt 28:6, "He is risen, as he said". But what about the
napkin that was on Christ's head. Why was it rolled up in a place by
itself? It indicates the difference between the head and the body. Christ is
the Head of the church, and we are His Body. He is the Bridegroom and we are
the Bride. Therefore, when we read in 1John 3:2, "we shall be
like Him, for we shall see him as he is", it does not mean
that we will be equal to God. Christ always remains as God. He is the Head,
and we jointly will be the Body, and we will perform the service, which the
Head commands.
Joh 20:8-9 Then went in also that
other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the
scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
So they finally believed. Is that faith? We have to
understand that faith is not the pure and simple acceptance of facts
based on reasonable grounds, but faith is the heart's welcoming of God's
testimony in His Word. For example, the facts of creation demonstrate
that there was a Creator, but the outward proofs of His hand do not move the
heart of man. The facts of creation do not bring man's soul in communion
with God: only the written Word, applied by the Holy Spirit,
does that.
Joh 20:10 Then the disciples went
away again unto their own home.
Why did God
specifically mention their own home? Do you remember that the Lord Jesus
at the cross gave His mother into the custody of the Apostle John? We read in John
19:27 (2X), "from that hour that disciple took her unto his
own home".
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was now residing in the home of John. Therefore John
hastened to go home to tell the mother of Jesus that her Son was alive. What
glorious news this was for her. It is also glorious news for us,
because the resurrection of Christ proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that all
the sins of all the elect have been paid in full. The righteousness of God has
been satisfied on behalf of all our sins, not one has been forgotten. And when
we detect in ourselves that we believe all that God has written in the
Bible, and we can see by our actions that all these facts have not gone
just to our head, but also to our heart, then we know that we have
received a genuine faith from God, which means that we were chosen by
Him from before the foundation of the world. It means that all our sins are
gone! Christ took them away.
First, we have seen the empty grave and we have seen the dire
consequences if that grave would not have been empty. Second, we have
seen where the Lord has lain, which was not referring to the tomb but to the
grave clothes wherein He had lain. Now we have come to the third
subject:
#3. The Message to the Women (Matt 28:7-10, Col 2:14, Matt
4:13-16, Rev 7:9)
Please turn in your Bibles about 145 pages to your left
(->) to the Gospel according to Matthew 8:7 (2X). We are continuing
in this chapter where we left off. We have seen that Christ has risen from the
grave, but He has not resumed his position among the Apostles. He had not
returned to His former state of earthly fellowship. Sometimes He appeared to
them in a human form that was not recognizable as the former Jesus. But, He was
not yet in His glorified body. The nail prints were still in His hands and the
wound from the spear was still in His side. The Lord Jesus said to the women,
Mt 28:7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that
he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have
told you.
Tell His disciples,
and tell them quickly that Christ is going before them into Galilee.
Now, is it not strange that the disciples stayed in Jerusalem? Instead of
obeying immediately Jesus' command to go to Galilee they stayed for another 8
days in Jerusalem. It is understandable that they celebrated the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, which lasted for 7 days after Passover, but two of those
7 days have already gone. In fact, Jesus did not wait to meet them in
Galilee. Jesus met them in Jerusalem. Then:
Mat 28:8-9 And they departed quickly
from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples
word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All
hail (= rejoice). And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
Now Jesus met them and they recognized Him
immediately. They did not have to guess, or to ponder who this might be, like
the disciples did on the road to Emmaus, or the disciples at the Sea of
Galilee. The women recognized Him without any hesitation. And why could they
touch Him? The Lord Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, "Touch me not".
Why did He have an apparent double standard? The
only
explanation I can see is that His words to Mary Magdalene have a spiritual
meaning.
Mt 28:10 Then said Jesus unto them,
Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and
there shall they see me.
This time He said: Tell my brethren. Who were His
brethren? They were James, and Joses, and Juda, and Simon (Mark 6:3). We
saw that in last week's sermon. And tell them also to go into Galilee.
Is that not a strange request? Their home was in Nazareth, of Galilee. Of
course they would go home to Galilee. Why did the Lord Jesus emphasize
Galilee two times? I believe this too has a spiritual meaning.
Historically, they were trying to obey the Law of Moses and the commands of
Christ at the same time, or one after another. But this cannot be done. When
Christ has died for your sins you cannot obey the ceremonial Law handed down
through Moses. Those ceremonial ordinances have been nailed to the cross (Col
2:14). But the spiritual interpretation of Christ mentioning Galilee can be
found in Matt 4:13-16, where we read that Jesus left Nazareth and dwelt in
Capernaum:
Mt 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, he came
and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali:
Mt 4:14-15 That it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphtali, by
the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:
Mt 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great
light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Jesus' ministry
was centered in Galilee of the Gentiles. There is where He is sending His
disciples and there is where He wants them to witness of His resurrection. This
was not a region occupied by Gentiles, but God allowed the Jews give this
region this name because God is now using this name to indicate that the Gospel
must also be brought to the Gentiles. And then all those for whom the Lord
Jesus suffered and died will hear the Gospel. Who are these people? Their names
are written in the Book of Life, the Bible, and they are mentioned in Rev
7:9, where we read:
Re 7:9 After this I beheld, and, b, a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands;
Galilee of the Gentiles. There shall they see Me. There
shall they have fellowship with Me, since I have many sheep there among the
Gentiles whom I must bring into the fold; and they shall hear My voice; and
there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. This is what we are commanded to do
when the Lord Jesus said in,
Mt 28: 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that
he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there
shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
AMEN. Let
us turn to the Lord in prayer.