Friday; January 19

A lot of really odd things surrounded the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. One of them was the presence of an angel at the tomb when some of Jesus’ disciples returned to prepare Him for His proper burial. Matthew states, “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.” (Matthew 28:2-4). Recently, when I reflected on the presence of the angel, I got to thinking about the real function of the angel. It doesn’t seem like he had been involved in the miraculous resurrection of Jesus, but he was there to protect the integrity of the event and speak the truth as to what happened.

Have you ever given much thought to the role of believers in Christianity? We cannot save the lost in-and-of ourselves, but like that angel, we can protect the integrity of what happened and continue to defend the truth of our beliefs. God doesn’t need us to protect Him, but when we defend the message of Jesus’ act of salvation we take a stand for what is good and righteous. Let’s be committed to teaching the truth and willing to let people know just how wonderful the message of salvation is to all mankind.

Think About It!

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