He is Risen! (And here’s why it matters)

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Don Merritt

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:1-4

With these words, Paul launches his argument that sin is not irrelevant because of grace. No, we don’t keep on sinning so that we might receive even more grace, how can we do such a thing?

What exactly and precisely, does it mean for us to be “born again”?

The answer is in these verses: We are baptized into Jesus’ death; this is where the “old me” died with Him. When Jesus was placed into the tomb, He was most assuredly dead, but then a curious thing happened: He rose from the dead. When I was baptized, they put me under the water and then a curious thing happened to me also: I came up out of the water a new man: I was born again. I was a new creation because I went under without the Holy Spirit, and I rose up with the Holy Spirit within me; “sin” remained behind. (see also Acts 2:38) You see, when I was baptized, not only was my sin stricken from my “permanent record” I became a new person. As a new person, why would I want to run back to the old way? That would be stupid!

Paul continues with the idea of having died with Christ as he moves from the picture of baptism to that of having been crucified with Christ. In this imagery, he reasons that since our old selves were crucified with Christ, our old selves died, and thus we are set free from the sin that ruled over us, so that now, united with Christ in His resurrection, we are free to live for God.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

Romans 6:8-10

These verses reflect the key point that Paul is making here: just as Christ died when His mortal human body was put to death, so also was our old self put to death when we decided to believe Him. Just as Christ rose from the grave, so also we rose again from baptism to be born again with an entirely new kind of life within us in the Person of the Holy Spirit. He continues…

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:11-14

Let’s consider the following phrases from 11-14:

… count yourselves dead to sin … do not let sin reign… Do not offer any part of yourself to sin … offer yourselves to God… offer every part of yourself to him…

Does anyone see a pattern here?

These little bits of text have something in common: They are commands that leave us with a choice to make. The choice is whether or not we will follow the command.

Jesus has entirely set us free from the oppression of sin; let it go so you can live a new life: This is Paul’s teaching on the subject of sin.

Before you say I’m crazy, consider one other point: Did you notice the way Paul is referring to “sin”? He isn’t speaking of it in the sense of rules and violations here; no, he is almost personifying it as a person or force of some kind. In that sense, it has no power over you anymore, unless you allow it. (“Do not offer any part of yourself to sin”…”offer yourself to God”)

How can this be? How can I just be done with sin?

(Hint: you have a whole new life within you)

You see, in Christ, you are not under law, but under grace; offer yourself to God− He’s waiting for you.

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The Kingdom Comes

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Don Merritt

Mark 16:1-8

Parallel Texts: Matthew  28:1-8; Luke 24:1-8, 12; John 20:1-10

When Jesus was born in that manger in Bethlehem nobody would have noticed, but God sent choruses of angels out to the fields, and they were seen by the shepherds… and later there was this star in the sky. When Jesus rose from the grave, there were no choirs to be seen, no great star lighting the sky, just chirping crickets and the sounds of the night.

Thus came the Kingdom.

John the Baptist prepared the way teaching the people that the Kingdom was at hand. Jesus preached the Kingdom far and wide and demonstrated its power as He went along, but when all the work was finally completed, nobody knew about it at first. Shortly after sunrise on that fateful day at the very precipice of human history, a group f very faithful women arrive at the tomb to finish the dressing of the body, only to discover that there was no body for them to dress; He had risen!

I can’t help but recall these two verses:

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!”

Mark 15:29-30

Guess what boys? The temple was destroyed and He has risen it up again, just like He said, for as we know He was referring to the temple of His body.  As for the physical temple building, now obsolete and useless? Well, the clock is ticking on its demise…

God wasn’t quite ready for the big announcement just yet, or more to the point, Peter and the others who would be the ones announcing the arrival of the Kingdom weren’t quite ready, but in 5 weeks, they would make a splash in Jerusalem.

Despite the lack of fanfare, the day that Jesus rose from the grave was a glorious day, the most glorious of all days, but God’s glory is not like Man’s glory. There were no bands playing, no trumpets sounding, no parades or banners, no wall-to-wall coverage, no newspaper headlines and no ceremonies. Just an empty tomb and a messenger to tell the women that Jesus had risen: Low-key and reserved. John recalls that Mary saw Him and thought He was the gardener. Obviously, the artists have the scene wrong, no brightly shining white robes; a gardener to all appearances was He.

To this day, the world cannot handle this reality.

Why didn’t God do something far more dramatic to get people’s attention? He could have done that, since He was raising Jesus from the grave, a little fireworks would have been no big deal, and then He would have proven that Jesus returned from the dead. Just think of the sensation if the risen Christ would have entered Jerusalem now; who would oppose Him? Why, He could have walked into Pilate’s quarters and sent him and all the Romans packing… He could have set up His Kingdom as an earthly one right then and there if that is what He intended, but He didn’t. Don’t forget that Jesus Himself had once remarked that even if someone died and rose again people wouldn’t believe the message. Most people still don’t.

God never wanted His followers to be robots; if He had wanted that, don’t you think He could have made Adam a robot without free will in the first place… and saved Himself a lot of trouble?

He never wanted robots for followers; He wants people who are willing to choose to follow Him, and this tremendous level of restraint is one of the reasons He is worth following.

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Burial and Resurrection

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Don Merritt

Luke 23:50-24:12

It is interesting that we now discover that not all of the Jewish leaders were involved in the plot to kill Jesus; at least one Pharisee dissented, although his opposition isn’t mentioned in the accounts of the trials of Jesus. Joseph, from a town called Arimathea, was the man. He was wealthy as one might expect of such a person and had a tomb that had never been used. Having influence, he approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and Pilate agreed. In haste, he took the body down from the cross and quickly laid it to rest in his tomb, and had the heavy stone rolled into place before the sun set. The women from Galilee took note that they would need to prepare spices to complete the process as soon as the Sabbath was over.

Just after sunup they approached the tomb with their preparations, no doubt wondering how they would move the great stone blocking their way into the tomb, but when they arrived on the scene, the stone had already been removed. Quickly they discovered that the body was missing, and as they wondered what could have happened, they found themselves in the presence of two “men” dressed in robes that shown like lightning. The “men” asked why they were seeking the living among the dead and reminded the women of Jesus’ predictions concerning His death and resurrection…

The women hurried back to the disciples and told their story with great excitement, but the disciples thought it was nonsense. Yet Peter and John ran off to the tomb to see for themselves that it was empty.

Sadly however, they couldn’t comprehend what had happened there, for even after Jesus had told them three times that He would be handed over to evil men and killed, and then would rise from the grave on the third day, and even after the women had told them what the angels of the Lord had said, they simply couldn’t believe it.

Hadn’t Jesus warned them about this sort of thing just a few nights before?

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Jesus Completes His Mission

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Don Merritt

Luke 23:26-49

Any time you read a transcript something is lost, for a transcript reads without emotion or emphasis and a great deal of the communication that took place is lost. Most human communication is nonverbal whereas a transcript is only verbal, thus voice inflection, tonal quality, facial expressions and body language are all gone. As we read Luke’s words, our perception of what is going on tends to be rather stale; we have a conversation recorded between the three who are being crucified and it reads as though they are sitting by a warm fire with nice cups of coffee on the table in front of them, along with fine pastries… and nothing could be further from the truth for they were in the process of being tortured to death slowly, agonizingly…

Luke mentions that the Romans grabbed a guy named Simon on the street and forced him to carry Jesus’ cross through the streets, but he neglects to mention that Jesus was physically unable to carry it because of the beating He had receive by their hands. His back would have been torn open; He would have been a bloody mess; probably His body would be in shock. When He spoke to the “daughters of Jerusalem” (23:28-31) He would have had difficulty speaking and have been in unbelievable pain. Even having seen this scene would probably cause most of us to lose our breakfast in the street.

Yet Jesus is quoting Scripture…

The three condemned men are stripped naked and nailed to their crosses. When they are lifted up, no doubt they were immediately in a state of panic even through their unimaginable pain, for as soon as these crosses were upright, they would be unable to breathe, for they could only take a breath by pushing up on their feet which had a nail driven through them rubbing their bare backs against the rough wood of the cross; try to imagine what that would feel like for Jesus who had His back ripped open.

That is where Luke inserts his conversation.

With all of this in mind, take another look at what is said.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:39-43

Can you hear them struggling for breath, their crying out in pain, their emotion and sheer terror?

Sadly, many commentators like to get into the gruesome details of this scene to impart guilt on their readers, for after all, Jesus was bearing my sins and yours too on that cross. As for me, I don’t think that imparting guilt is a very useful strategy for teaching about this scene, for guilt is a negative emotion that impairs our relationship with our Lord, for it tends to defeat the very purpose for which He went willingly to the cross. His purpose was to take our guilt away. What we really have is quite different, for we have a picture of our human condition:

The first criminal is angry. Bystanders are hurling insults at Jesus, and he joins in and uses the occasion to demand that Jesus save him from the situation as though it was Jesus’ fault that he had committed a capital crime. How many people have you known who seek to blame God for their circumstances and turn away from Him?

The second criminal, realizing that he is responsible for his own situation rebukes the first man, instead asking Jesus to “remember” him in the Kingdom. Which of these two men, despite the horrific circumstances in which they met Jesus, was justified before God on that day?

Round about noon, the landscape became dark, perhaps a storm was moving in. The curtain in the temple is torn in two around three in the afternoon, and Jesus commends His spirit to His Father and breathes His last… The curtain that was now broken in two was what symbolically had been the separation between humanity and the presence of God. The commander of the Roman troops on the scene was moved by what he witnessed, the onlookers went on their way… and the Messianic mission of Jesus Messiah was now completed; darkness was upon the land.

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On Trial

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Don Merritt

John 18:28-40

Jesus was arrested while at prayer.  His response to their demand for Him of “I am he” proved to be enlightening to the soldiers and guards who had come to take Him in, but He went along quietly in order to accomplish God’s redemptive purpose.  He was taken before the Jewish leaders, roughed up and convicted of a phony charge in a joke of a trial.  Peter, as Jesus had predicted, denied knowing Jesus three times, and now, early the next morning He is taken before Pilate, the ranking Roman official, because only the Romans could impose capital punishment.

In vv. 28-32, the Jews approach Pilate with the request that he condemn Jesus to death.  Note that Pilate doesn’t seem interested in granting them their wish.  Note also the way they have approached him:  First, they cannot enter the palace because they would be “unclean” and ineligible to participate in the Passover meal, so Pilate must come out to them. 

One might wonder what their ceremonial condition was after the role they played in putting the Son of God to death! 

The upshot of the exchange so far is that they need the Romans to agree to an execution, and oh by the way, Jesus had predicted the manner of his death in 3:14. 

Pilate has Jesus brought to him for a few questions; one can’t help having a little sympathy for old Pilate here.  Jesus, like the Jews outside, isn’t all that respectful of Pilate’s predicament in His answer to Pilate’s first question about whether or not He was a king.  “Is that your own idea…?”  Pilate’s answer to Jesus’ question reveals that he wants nothing to do with any of this; “Am I a Jew?”  The rest of his question in v. 35 is basically ‘what have you done to tick these people off?’  The answer he receives in the next verse is the crucial point of the text:

 “My kingdom is not of this world.”  It is from “another place.”  The Jews were looking for the Messiah to bring a kingdom to the world, a worldly kingdom.  It would throw the Romans out, defeat their enemies and restore the former glory of Israel, and the Jewish leaders would have tremendous power in that earthly kingdom.  Jesus came with an entirely different kind of kingdom; a kingdom of faith and forgiveness.  Forgiveness was the last thing the Jewish leaders were concerned about.

Pilate jumps on the king aspect: “You are a king then?”  If Jesus were an aspiring king without the endorsement of the Roman government, then it could be asserted that He was plotting treason against Caesar.  Even now, however, Pilate is troubled by this whole thing; he isn’t buying the idea that Jesus is a threat to the government.  In His answer, Jesus admits to being a king, but again demonstrates that He is not an earthly king, for His reason for being born is to testify to the truth.  In all likelihood, Pilate would have a hard time putting truth and kings together as treason.  In fact, as we also know, kings, governments and truth are strange bedfellows.  Pilate’s response to Jesus’ truth assertion shows us all we need to know about him: “What is truth?” It reveals a high level of frustration as it is one of the great unanswered questions of worldly life.  Little did Pilate know, Jesus had answered this question earlier: “I am the way, the truth and the life” The answer to the great question about truth is that Jesus is the very embodiment of Truth.

Pilate goes back outside and tries again to end the standoff with the Jewish leaders, announcing that he finds no basis for any charge against Jesus.  In doing this, he of course speaks in terms of Roman law.  He reminds the people that the Romans offer an annual pardon to a Jewish prisoner at the Passover, sort of a goodwill gesture.  The Jews want Jesus dead and silent; they demand a man who deserves to die for the safety of the public.  Their hatred of Jesus and the truth that He has brought to them from God Himself; the truth that they should be rejoicing for, is so great that they will do anything to be rid of Him and by extension God.  It is really a shocking and reprehensible thing they are doing, one that they will pay dearly for in the future.  It is also an indication of how many will react to the truth of simple Christianity for centuries to come… as Jesus warned his disciples in the upper room.

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Judas Goes Rogue

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Don Merritt

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,  and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.  They were delighted and agreed to give him money.  He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

Luke 22:1-6

With these words, the greatest betrayal of all is set into motion; things will begin to happen rather quickly. The Jewish leaders found themselves in a precarious position at that moment; they simply had to find a way to get at Jesus in a secluded setting. As had been the case for quite some time now, they feared their own people who seemed to like Him. He had been right there in the Temple more than once in recent days, but despite their best attempts to turn the people against Him, Jesus always seemed to make them look foolish. Needless to say, this made their predicament more and more precarious; what if He would incite the people to directly act against them?

So they plotted in secret…

…and then the greatest of gifts fell right into their laps.

Let’s stop and think for a moment: If you are the religious elite, the best and the brightest, the most righteous and pious of God’s servants on earth and you find yourself in a quandary like this, what is the best thing that could possibly happen?

Treachery, of course.

Luke tells us that at this precise moment, Satan entered into Judas, and Judas went to the Leadership with a proposition.

If you are Satan, you must know that the time has come to destroy the Son of God, for if you do not take your chance now, He might well redeem all of Israel, and then where would you be? No, this was a moment for decisive action, and he took decisive action.

Naturally the Jewish Leaders are thrilled for such salvation for their plans, and they quickly strike a deal with Judas, who will betray Jesus for money at the earliest possible moment.

The die is cast, the stage is set and the pivotal climax of human history is about to unfold just as Satan has desired it to. Will Jesus pull the iron out of the fire one more time− or will they finally be rid of Him?

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Our Relationship with God

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Don Merritt

We now move into a new section that runs from 20:20-21:4 that deals with important relationships, the first of which is the relationship between Humanity and God (20:20-25).

20If someone curses their father or mother,
    their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.

Other verses about cursing and belittling one’s parents: Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9; Matthew 15:4. Other passages on one’s lamp being put out: Proverbs 24:20; Job 1816,6. They always kept a small light burning in their houses at night, for utter darkness was one of the things they feared the most. The “lamp” of one’s life, one‘s household, one’s future lineage, would be cut off if they cursed their parents.

21 An inheritance claimed too soon
    will not be blessed at the end.

Sometimes an inheritance immediately places into a person’s hands more money than they have ever had at any one time. They didn’t work for it; they didn’t save it; but now all at once it is there. If the person is wise, it can be a great blessing as they thankfully receive it, as they carefully invest or use it, and as they realize the value of it. But “come easy, go easy” is so often the rule, and a short time of luxurious living while it lasts; can make it a curse as the person finds themself in a standard of living that cannot be sustained. The result is both desperate and hopeless.

22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!”
    Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.

Proverbs 24:29 also forbids one saying he will take vengeance. I Thessalonians 5:15 and I Peter 3:9 also forbid our vengeance-taking and teach us to render good for their evil. Deuteronomy 32:35-36 promises that God will take care of executing vengeance on the wrongdoer, saving us the trouble, keeping us from making mistakes, and being sure the wrongdoer will get just what he should receive. Paul reminds us of this in Romans 12:19-20, promising that by our doing good to them, some of them will be turned from enmity to friendship (v. 21) cf. I Samuel 25:9-34; 26:7-10; 16:5-12

23 The Lord detests differing weights,
    and dishonest scales do not please him.

Similar to v. 10, God’s great displeasure with crooked dishonest dealings with one’s fellowmen is again expressed

24 A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.
    How then can anyone understand their own way?

That God leads in our lives, see Proverbs 16:9 and Psalm 37:23. Since we cannot successfully direct our own ways (Jer. 10:23), we should ask God to do it for us (Proverbs 3:6; Psalm 37:4-5). At the time we may not see the hand of the Lord at work as we will see it later (consider Genesis 50:20). Paul and Silas must have had this faith, for in answering the Macedonian call of Acts 16:9, they were soon in jail in Macedonia, but we see no complaining in them but praying and singing praises to God (Acts 16:25), and great good came out of their actual imprisonment (Acts 16:26-34).

25 It is a trap to dedicate something rashly
    and only later to consider one’s vows.

We should always think before acting, and when vowing before God this verse shows that one should be sure he is going to carry through before promising. (Ecclesiastes 5:4,5) We should work to get people to make sacred decisions, but we do not want to pressure them into saying something that they will not have the faith, reverence, and determination to carry out.

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Photo of the Week: April 1, 2026

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Don Merritt
041914 023
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Hosanna!

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Don Merritt

Just try to picture what it would have been like to witness Jesus entering Jerusalem in Triumph; can you?  Just picture it, the great King of Heaven riding into the city, people line His route and they shout:

Hosanna to the Son of David.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!

And there He is riding a donkey!

That is hardly the way a “normal” king would ride into His new capitol…

…but Jesus is no “normal” King!  His Kingdom is not of this world; He was entering the city not to conquer Rome but to conquer sin and death.  The people were excited, the city was alive with anticipation, and the enemies of Jesus were no doubt quaking in their boots.  Even though He was King of a heavenly kingdom, Jesus entered God’s city nevertheless, and the picture is even more important than it would have been if He rode a mighty steed with thousands of troops behind Him, for if that were His mission that day, it might well have been yet another great occasion that history has all but forgotten.

Truthfully, history has often tried to forget Jesus and His arrival in Jerusalem that day, but it just can’t, for the impact of what He would do there that week is with us still, two thousand years later.  Jesus, the Great King was victorious in Jerusalem, even though it looked like He wasn’t.  He was all-powerful, even though it didn’t look that way with Him riding a donkey.  He destroyed His Enemy there, even though it looked at first like the Enemy carried the battle.

In all honesty, Jesus completely confounded His critics and foes, for He was meek and mild, so different from the world of men; He didn’t play their game. He had a different agenda, and by that agenda you and I have hope all these centuries later.  My hope is that we all will take time this week to pause in awe of all that Jesus did for us in Jerusalem so long ago…

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Wisdom Day to Day

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Don Merritt

Proverbs 20:13-19

In this grouping of parables, we see several qualities important in the workplace. Of course, it is important for us to keep in mind that the workplace of Solomon’s time has little or no resemblance to the one we might be used to. Even so, both eras would place a value on things like industry, honesty and integrity, all of which are on display here. As you read through this short list of parables, try to picture its significance at your workplace. I’ll do the first one…

Do not love sleep or you will grow poor;
    stay awake and you will have food to spare.

Proverbs 20:13

It goes without saying that if you have a job to do, you need to show up, yet there are those mornings when it isn’t as easy as it should be to get there on time. So, what do you do? You get there on time anyway. When at work, you always give a minimum of 100% and cause no problems. As I always tell my kids, if you want to be successful at work, you need to be the one they can’t live without. A big thanks to my Dad for impressing that on me: It works!

OK, you’ve got the rest of them, let me know how you do!

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