The below is a quote by D.A. Carson from his book; Scandalous – The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus.
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They came alone: some women who remembered him,
Bowed down with spices to anoint his corpse.
Through darkened streets, they wept their way to honor him –
The one whose death had shattered all their hopes.
Why do you look for life among these tombs of stone?
He is not here. He’s risen, as he said.
Remember how he spoke to you in Galilee:
“The Son of Man must die – and must rise up from the dead.”
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The two walked home, a portrait of defeat and loss,
Explaining to a stranger why the gloom –
How Jesus seemed to be the King before the cross;
Now all their hopes lay buried in his tomb.
“How slow you are to see. Didn’t this have to be?
Don’t you believe the words the prophets said?
Christ had to suffer first, then enter glory.”
Then he unveiled their eyes in the breaking of bread.
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He heard their words, but not for him that easy faith
That trades the truth for sentimental sigh.
Unless he saw the nail marks in his hands himself,
And touched his side, he’d not believe the lie.
Then Jesus came to them, although the doors were locked:
“Castaway doubt and reach into my side.
trace out the wounds the nails left in my broken hands,
And understand I am the resurrection and the life.”
~
Long years have passed, and still we fear the face of death;
It steals our loved ones, leaving us undone.
It mocks our dreams and calls to us with icy breath,
The final terror when life’s course is run.
But this I know: my Lord traveled this way before,
His body clothed with immortality.
The sepulcher’s sting is drawn, the power of sin destroyed.
Death has been swallowed up in his might victory.
D.A. Carson
Powerful!