August 1
The Continual Burnt Offering" T hus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
Christ in His humiliation confined His ministry almost entirely to the people of Israel. Now in resurrection, all national restrictions are clone away with and His gospel is to go forth among all nations, for God desires to have all men come to repentance and to the acknowledgment of the truth, that they might be saved. Everywhere the gospel of the risen Savior is to be proclaimed. To stop at the cross is to preach but a half gospel. It is the truth of the resurrection that completes it. “If Christ is not risen,ø5you are still in your sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:17). The resurrection is the proof that His work has been accepted, and so God can now offer a full and complete salvation to ail who trust in Him. To profess Christianity while denying the physical resurrection of the founder is to be self-deceived. There can be no salvation apart from the raising up of the Son of God from the dead.
They knew that their Redeemer lived,
His friends of long ago.
They saw Him die and mourned for Him
In hopelessness and woe;
And then they saw Him, touched His hand,
Heard His familiar voice;
And they in wonder and in awe,
Believing, did rejoice.
We know that our Redeemer lives,
Though hidden from our view;
For in His life we have found life,
Life full and rich and new;
Our hearts have felt His touch, our ears
Have heard His blessed voice;
We have the witness in our hearts;
Believing, we rejoice.
—M. B. Smith