"Leading The Way"

"When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at Thy presence." (Psalms 9:3) "HE IS RISEN!" While we are still on the subject of being glad and rejoicing, let us not forget the mighty power demonstrated by Jesus Christ rising up from that grave! I can only imagine the applause in heaven, as the host of heaven rejoiced; I can also imagine the horrified demons, as they saw Him roll away that stone, and step out of the tomb; they realized right then and there that their days were numbered! Jesus had told His disciples in a variety of ways that He was going to rise again on the third day; telling them so plainly, that even His enemies understood what He was saying; but for some reason, His followers, just did not get it. Matthew 27:62-66, shows how much those that were against Jesus understood what He had said, as they came to Pilate saying, "Sir, we remember that the deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worst than the first". There was no doubt in the mind of the Pharisees that Jesus had said He would rise again; they surely did not believe Him, but they believed that His disciples would try to show that He did; which was so far from the truth, because His disciples had forgotten that He even said that He would!!! In John chapter Twenty, we see this account, and we can see how little they understood what Jesus had told them; but in verse nine, John writes, speaking of Peter and himself, "For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead". It was not that they did not believe Him, but rather that they did not understand the power of His words, or the context of His words, that He had spoken to them. The word "knew" is a word that means to perceive with the eyes, or senses; it speaks about observing something, and paying attention with understanding; clearly something that they did not do, because they lacked experience in such matters. Really, if you think about this, we all have the same problem when it comes to justification; for that is something we really do not have experience in! We have hope in that which we have been told, and we have faith in that which Jesus Christ has done for us; but seeing ourselves justified before God is something that we shall not fully understand until that day when we shall stand face to face with Jesus Christ. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 13:12, as he says, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known". What this is speaking about is how God sees us now in Christ; washed by His blood, we are made clean as the driven snow; which means that we are pure white; as a virgin has never been defiled, so too are we undefiled by sin in God's eye! When David is speaking about "mine enemies are turned back", he is speaking of repentance; it is as though there is something which is dissolved when he says, "they shall fall and perish at Thy presence". That is what our sin has become in the sight of the Father: dissolved by the blood of Jesus Christ!!!