I mention resurrection at the beginning of 2024 because it marks the beginning of a journey we’ve never taken before. I’m reminded of a scripture I have preached often at the beginning of a new year, found in Joshua 3:4. The children of Israel are about to finally enter the Promised Land. For forty long years, they had wandered in the wilderness. As they were preparing to cross over Jordan, Joshua said, “you have not passed this way before.”
When the clock struck midnight as December 2023 came to a close, it signaled the beginning of a journey we’ve never taken before. What will 2024 have in store for us? When the clock of our life on earth strikes midnight, it will also signal the beginning of an eternal journey. A journey that our wildest dreams cannot fathom. The days of wilderness wanderings will be behind us as we cross over Jordan into the eternal Promised Land. With each passing day, we stand on the brink of resurrection ground.
Skeptics deny the resurrection. They say it cannot possibly be true. They refute the testimony of those who saw Jesus after He was raised from the dead. They violate their own standard of reliable verification. In most instances, two eyewitnesses to an event are sufficient proof a thing happened. If you have three, the verification is usually not questioned. When Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March; March 15, 44 A.D., there were somewhere between sixty to eighty people who either participated in the murder, or who watched it. History doesn’t deny this event because so many people saw it. And yet, the resurrection has nearly ten times more eyewitnesses. According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, more than five hundred saw Him at the same time, not to mention all the others who saw Him. The verification of this event would be unquestioned in any other situation.
The Prophet Ezekiel spoke of a day when dry bones would live again. (Ezekiel 37) When the truth of the resurrection finds fertile soil in the depth of our soul, then we will understand more fully 1 Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (NASB) A grand and glorious resurrection day awaits every child of God. One way or the other, I hope to meet you in the air.
I pray that God will bless you with a wonderful and glorious 2024.
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