Taft Mitchell's Blog

He Is Risen! - Easter Sunday - April 4

This is the day! He is risen, and so are we! This is not good news, this is incredible news! We will live with him in heaven forever! Some of you are ill and your bodies are betraying you. Some of you have lost loved ones this year. Some of you have had a hard year of temptation and struggle. Today I tell you, it doesn’t matter! We are going to be raised from the dead to live with him forever! Our loved ones have gone before us! This life is prologue and the real thing is aching to receive the children of God!

Come to worship and roar your delight! Do not be late!

PS…this is the last of the Easter devotionals. Thanks for tuning in! If these have been helpful and you would like some kind of continuation, please leave a note with your desires and ideas. I’ll think them through and see what develops. Taft

Saturday - In the Tomb - April 3

“And I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and unroll it?’ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it.

Then I wept because no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll and read it. But one of the twenty four elders said to me, ‘Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has conquered. He is worthy to open the scroll and break its seven seals.’

I looked and I saw a Lamb that had been killed but was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that are sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And as he took the scroll the four living beings and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense—the prayers of God’s people!

And they sang a new song with these words:
 “You are worthy to take the scroll
  and break its seals and open it.
 For you were killed, and your blood has ransomed people for God
  from every tribe and language and people and nation.
 And you have caused them to become God’s kingdom and his
  priests.
 And they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked again, and I heard the singing of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus:
 “The Lamb is worthy—the Lamb who was killed.
 He is worthy to receive power and riches
 and wisdom and strength
 and honor and glory and blessing.”

And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They also sang:
 “Blessing and honor and glory and power
  belongs to the one sitting on the throne
  and to the Lamb forever and ever.”

And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty four elders fell down and worshiped God and the Lamb.”
 Revelation 5

It’s Saturday. We stand between the agony of Friday’s cross and the brilliance of Sunday’s resurrection. But we have already been made the people of eternity. We will sing in that incredible heavenly choir, not by our merit, but by his. Rejoice!

“Dear Lamb of God, We will gather tomorrow to celebrate your resurrection from the dead with Billions of Christians around the world! You are the Lamb of God, come to save the world. You are victorious, the great Lion of Judah and the Mighty Arm of God. Hallelujah! And Amen!”

Good Friday - April 2

“Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’S plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of what he has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.” Isaiah 53:10b-12

Friday…the day of the cross, the day of his death and burial. Good Friday, celebrated by centuries of Christians with ceremonies of darkness, solemn and silent. I refuse to celebrate in that fashion, for I know the end of the story. Sunday is coming!

It’s Friday, and Satan dances with a hateful glee, knowing in his black, lying heart that he has won. But Sunday is coming!

It’s Friday, and the grief of God produces earthquakes, darkness, and a storm to quail rebellious Jerusalem and Judea. But Sunday is coming!

It’s Friday, more than two millennia after the crucifixion, and Christendom encircles the earth and embraces more than 3 billion followers of Jesus in this day…Sunday came!

It is Friday, and huge numbers of people around the globe will gather tonight to celebrate…sometimes solemn, sometimes joyous…and always glad. For Sunday is Coming!

“Great Father in Heaven, I would comfort you in this Friday, so that you might know that your sacrifice was not in vain, but you see history as a whole and you regard the billions on this world alone that Jesus will bring into heaven. You are great, and you are awesome! You are our Father and we are your people. Praise your name! I praise you for your mighty acts in Jesus to redeem. I praise you for your irrevocable love and your determination to fill our gatherings this night with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ magnificent name…Amen.”

Journey to the Resurrection - April 1

“Yet it was the LORD’S good plan to crush him and fill him with grief.” Isaiah 53:10a

It was on Thursday that Jesus had his final meal, a complete Passover meal, celebrating the way God saved the people of Israel from death, even while delivering a plague of death on the people of Egypt. By the blood of an innocent lamb were they saved…and there Jesus sat/reclined, the innocent lamb by whose blood the people of the world would be saved from death. In that evening he would be crushed and filled with our grief.

Those who knew and followed Jesus, and the ever growing early church would remember his words of command during that meal every time they gathered together: “Bread…wine…do this in remembrance of me.”

Isaiah said “it was the LORD’S good plan to crush him and fill him with grief.” When we look at the cross we se the justice, love, wisdom, and power of God. It is not easy to decide which is the most luminously revealed; the justice of God in judging sin, the love of God in bearing the judgment in our place, the wisdom of God in perfectly combining the two, or the power of God in saving those who believe. For the cross is equally an act, and therefore a demonstration, of God’s justice, love, wisdom, and power. The cross assures us that this God is the reality within, behind, and beyond the universe.

“Dear Lamb of God, I remember. I remember that you took to yourself humanity and a human body, and that your body was crushed to atone for my sin. Dear Lamb of God, I remember that you gave your lifeblood for me, and that you were filled with my grief…and with the grief of all those who have lived or will live. Dear Lamb of God, wash me clean so completely that I will never again cause you grief. I ask this in your holy name…Amen.”