Collinsville-Troy CHURCH OF CHRIST

The Greatest Day in History

Renn Ferguson

May 8, 1945 is known as Victory in Europe (V-E) Day. This day marked the end of WWII in the European countries. For many who lived at that time it was perhaps the greatest day of their lives. Even now, as we reflect on history, we acknowledge the magnitude of that glorious day when the evils of Adolf Hitler and his followers were ended. While this is without question one of the greatest days in the history of the world, it is far from being the greatest.

The greatest day in the history of the world was a Sunday in the spring of the year AD 33. This is the day a man by the name of Jesus walked out of a tomb wherein His dead body had been laid three days earlier. .

The miraculous nature of this event is certainly of great import when reflecting on that day. However, for the Christian there are also a great many spiritual truths realized in the resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17, "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." All the spiritual blessings that we experience in Christ are dependent on the resurrection.

Through this great event Jesus also overcame Satan and death, notice Hebrews 2:14, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil".

The resurrection is also why the Christians assemble on the first day of the week. In fact, John calls it the "Lord's Day" (Revelation 1:10). It is a wonderful opportunity to gather to worship God and commemorate what He did for us through Jesus in the observance of the Lord's Supper.

The greatest day in human history was the day that God secured the salvation and deliverance of His people through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Plato's Allegory

Bob Prichard

Greek philosopher and teacher Plato used his real life teacher Socrates to share his philosophical views. In The Republic, he records a scene of Socrates describing a cave where a group of men are tied down so that all they can see are the shadows reflected on the wall as objects are held up before a fire behind them. They see the shadow of a book, and think they see the real thing. When a man escapes from the cave, he is at first blinded by the bright sunlight, but soon realizes he is seeing the real thing for the first time. When he tries to tell the others, they reject him and hold to their own shadow reality.

Paul encouraged the Colossians against the Judaizing teachers, telling them that as Christ gave his life for us, he was "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, nailing it to his cross" (Colossians 2:14). Since they were no longer under the Law of Moses, Paul said, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ" (Colossians 2:16-17).

The Jews thought that their holy days, new moons and Sabbath days were the real thing -but they were in fact only shadows of the greater reality of the New Covenant and the heavenly kingdom. "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect" (Hebrews 10:1). How privileged we are to live under the new covenant of Christ, and to look forward to being in the heavenly kingdom! We have not the shadow, but the real thing.

- Bob Prichard serves as an elder and evangelist for the Hillview Church of Christ in Birmingham, Alabama, since 2016.
- Article obtained from www.bulletingold.com