“Tell of the cross where they nailed Him, writhing in anguish and pain; Tell of the grave where they laid Him, tell how He liveth again. Love in that story so tender, clearer; than ever I see; Stay, let me weep, while you whisper, love paid a ransom for me.” The third verse of Fanny J. Crosby’s hymn: Tell Me the Story of Jesus. It speaks of the very foundation of the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. (1 Cor. 15:1-4). It is the story that needs to be told and believed over and over again.

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I don’t profess to understand it. There are mysteries here that are too deep for my finite mind to comprehend, but I believe the infinite condescension was necessary for God to become a servant, to become a man, to become a little lower than the angels, and finally to die. But I know this. I surely love Him for doing it, and my heart is enlarged in gratitude toward Him for it.

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Before Pilate Jesus stood. Crowned with thorns, blood trickling down His face, covered with a purple robe of mockery, with spit in His face, His back bleeding and with a reed in His hand for a scepter; that pitiful figure of a man; and on that very fact there hangs the eternal hope of salvation for every redeemed soul!

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I could not go the cemetery and somehow comprehend the certainty of the resurrection by a loving God, if I did not realize and believe that Christ Himself was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven, and is now at the right hand of God. Tear stained eyes need clear and simple evidence. Hearts that grieve need more than mere promises, they need a demonstration! Thanks be to God that our blessed Lord has demonstrated the resurrection. This demonstration is confirmed by unmistakable evidence, and many infallible proofs. (1 Cor. 15; Acts 1:3). The empty tomb is a message for us. It says to science and philosophy, EXPLAIN THIS EVENT! It says to history, REPEAT THIS EVENT! It says to time, BLOT OUT THIS EVENT! It says to faith, BELIEVE THIS EVENT!

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If you have not benefitted from His death, burial, and resurrection, by being baptized into Him (Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 15:1-3), you are missing the meaning of “The story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard.” And more important, you fail to appreciate the “love” that “paid a ransom for you.” Think on these things.

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Dennis Abernathy