Sunday Music Time in Celebration of Easter

 With this being Easter Weekend I am publishing this post early. Please take time to read the entire message in this post as you listen to the song by the Gaither's called The King Is Coming. This could be the most important message that you have read. Certainly with the truth proclaimed from Isaiah telling of His birth, death and resurrection some four hundred years before it occurred and then the promise of His return as recorded through the New Testament can there be any doubt that His Word is true?  In deed The King is Coming!  

The King is Coming is in my opinion an appropriate song for this season even though it is not one used in the traditional churches.    If He is not returning,  then there is no hope but I submit to you that there is not only hope but indeed a promise that He will come again just as He arose.  Rejoice for He is Risen and Rejoice for He is Coming Again.

Four hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the Prophet Isaiah foretold of his coming. This of course was just the beginning as we know. He came to earth, born of a virgin, grew into manhood just as foretold.

Isaiah 9

⁶ For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;

  And the government will be upon His shoulder.

      And His name will be called

      Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

      Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

       ⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace

      There will be no end,

      Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

      To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

      From that time forward, even forever.

      The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The second part of the story was foretold by this same prophet in Isaiah 53 which reads as follows.

Isaiah 53

 ¹ Who has believed our report?

      And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

       ² For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,

      And as a root out of dry ground.

      He has no form or comeliness;

      And when we see Him,

      There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

       ³ He is despised and rejected by men,

      A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

      And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

      He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

       ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs

      And carried our sorrows;

      Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

      Smitten by God, and afflicted.

       ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,

      He was bruised for our iniquities;

      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

      And by His stripes we are healed.

       ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;

      We have turned, every one, to his own way;

      And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

       ⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

      Yet He opened not His mouth;

      He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

      And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

      So He opened not His mouth.

       ⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment,

      And who will declare His generation?

      For He was cut off from the land of the living;

      For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

       ⁹ And they made His grave with the wicked—

      But with the rich at His death,

      Because He had done no violence,

      Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

       ¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;

      He has put Him to grief.

      When You make His soul an offering for sin,

      He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,

      And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

       ¹¹ He shall see the labor of His soul,and be satisfied.

      By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,

      For He shall bear their iniquities.

       ¹² Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

      And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

      Because He poured out His soul unto death,

      And He was numbered with the transgressors,

      And He bore the sin of many,

      And made intercession for the transgressors.

As you can read, each and every thing foretold by Isaiah came to pass and we can find evidence of this in Matthew 27:



  

¹¹ Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” ¹² And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.

¹³ Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” ¹⁴But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

  

²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. ²⁸ And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. ²⁹ When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰ Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. ³¹ And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

³⁵ Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:



 “ They divided My garments among them,
      And for My clothing they cast lots


⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. ⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
⁴⁷ Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” ⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.
⁴⁹ The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
⁵¹ Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, ⁵² and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
⁵⁴ So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

⁵⁷ Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. ⁵⁹ When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.

The next segment is why we join in celebration of this day we call Easter:

¹ Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. ³ His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
⁵ But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for He is risen,

This is not the end of the story but only the beginning for Jesus himself foretold of his return and on that day the Rejoicing will be even greater than that of that first Easter. 



The King is Coming is an appropriate song for this season even though it is not one used in the traditional churches.  For indeed, if He is not returning,  then there is no hope. But we certainly have that promise

Matthew 27 ²⁶ And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

²⁷ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ For this is My blood of the new^[ covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ²⁹ But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

Again in John 14 Jesus states:

¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

So indeed He is Coming again. The question is, Is he coming for you?