Saturday
Carpenter Diem (Because Jesus Was a Carpenter and Is Now Preparing a Home for His People)
The resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ, is crucial to the Christian faith. In Luke 24:13-35, we read of the resurrected Savior walking the road to Emmaus. This specific geographical reference reminds us of the absolute accuracy of God’s Word in all areas. In verse 27, Jesus begins to teach from the Old Testament; He not only walked the talk but also talked the walk! This passage does not reveal the exact Scriptures Jesus employed to teach these journeying believers, but we do know that He fulfilled the entire Old Testament (Matthew 5:17,18). Fulfilled prophecy is one of the major reasons that we can be certain that our faith in Jesus is not misplaced. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The ancient book of Job points us directly to Jesus Christ. Job was perplexed about many things, but he was certain about the essential nature of God. In Job 19:25-26, we read that God is a Redeemer and a Resurrector. “Redeemer” is the same word that we studied in the book of Ruth: God is our Kinsman-Redeemer. God the Son in human flesh fulfilled this prophesied role, as we considered a few days ago. God is also our Resurrector; Job’s powerful and passionate insistence on this fact is remarkable, especially since Job lived many hundreds of years before the resurrection of Jesus. Job’s logic is impeccable. God is a God of life; Job believed in God; Job would one day die. How could Job then “see God” after His death? The only reasonable answer is that this God of life would renew life after death. The centerpiece of the Christian faith is that our crucified Savior rose from the dead. I Corinthians 15:20 states, “But now is Christ Jesus risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept [died].” Jesus fully fulfilled Job’s expectation of a Redeemer and a Resurrector. May we have the same exceptional expectations for our Lord and Savior.