Jesus "was exposed to all the temptations that every human being has to contend with—except, however, those temptations that come from within as a result of the inward original taint or of the influence of former sins. Owing to His intrinsic
spotlessness, temptations in His case could only come from the outside. Plummer rightly observes in his connection that “the fact that the solicitations came wholly from without, and were not born from within, does not prevent that which was offered to Him being regarded as desirable. The force of the temptation depends, not upon the sin involved in what is proposed, but upon the advantage connected with it.” "217 Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, 156–57. (255)

“For we do not have a great High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin,” (Heb. 4:15...). This verse teaches us that the temptations of Christ were “without
sin” in their SOURCE and NATURE as well as in their RESULT....Christ was tempted without sin, or sinlessly, in all points like as we are. (256)

'...the sinlessness of Jesus augments His capacity for sympathy; for in every
case, He felt the full force of temptation.… And Westcott remarks at Hebrews ii:18: “Sympathy with the sinner in his trial does not depend on the experience of sin, but on the experience of the strength of the temptation to sin, which only the sinless can know in its full intensity..." ' 219. Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, 157. (256-257)

But the question is: could Jesus have given in to temptation and really sinned? Was it possible for Him to sin? (257)

First, THE EXPLANATION OF CHRIST’S IMPECCABILITY.
"The Last Adam differs from the first Adam, by reason of His impeccability.… He was not only able to overcome temptation, but He was unable to be overcome by it. An impeccable will is one that is so mighty in its self-determination to do good that it cannot be conquered by any temptation to evil, however great.…
"The angels who fell could have repelled temptation with that degree of power given them by creation, and so might Adam. But in neither case was it infallibly certain that they would repel it. Though they were holy, they were not impeccable. Their will could be overcome, because it was not omnipotent, and their perseverance was left to themselves and not made sure by extraordinary grace. The case of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, was different, in that he was not only able to resist temptation, but it was infallibly certain that he would resist it." 
221. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 2:330–31. (257-258)

Second, THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR CHRIST’S IMPECCABILITY.
The Biblical proof for Christ’s impeccability includes the following points. (1) The unchangeableness of Christ, taught in Hebrews 13:8, pertains to all the characteristics (and perfections) of His person. His holiness is one of those characteristics; therefore, Christ’s holiness is unchangeable—it cannot and will not become unholiness. (2) A changeable holiness is incompatible with the other divine perfections of the God-man. The possibility of being overcome by temptation is inconsistent with Christ’s omnipotence. Furthermore, the success of the temptation depends, in part, upon deceiving the person tempted (1 Tim. 2:14). A finite intelligence may be deceived, but not an infinite omniscience possessed by the God-man, thus making His apostasy impossible. (3) A holiness capable of change is irreconcilable with the fact that the God-man is the author of holiness (Heb. 12:2; 1 Cor. 15:45). (258)

Third, THE THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR CHRIST’S IMPECCABILITY. ...
"Christ’s person is constituted of two natures: one divine and the other human. The divine nature is both intemptable and impeccable....The human nature, on the contrary, is both temptable and peccable, [i.e., capable, not only of being tempted, but also of yielding to temptation]. When these two natures are UNITED in one theanthropic [i.e., divine-human] person, as they are in the incarnation, the divine determines and controls the human, not the human the divine.… Consequently, what might be done by the human nature if ALONE, and by itself, cannot be done by it in this UNION with omnipotent holiness....Consequently, Christ, while having a peccable human NATURE in his constitution, was an impeccable PERSON. Impeccability characterizes the God-man as a totality, while peccability is a property of his humanity."222 

"It is the divine nature, and not the human, which is the base of Christ’s person...."[a.] If the human nature and not the divine had been the root and base of Christ’s person, he would have been a man-God and not a God-man...
"[b.] That the personality of the God-man depends primarily upon the divine nature, and not upon the human, is also evinced by the fact that this complex theanthropic personality was not destroyed by the death of Christ. At the crucifixion, the union between the human soul and the human body was dissolved temporarily, but the union between the Logos, [the living Word of God, John 1:1], and the human soul and body was not.… Between Christ’s death and resurrection,
both the human soul and the human body were still united with the Logos....
"The God-man existed between the crucifixion and the resurrection, notwithstanding the separation between the human soul and body, as truly as he did before, as he does this instant. And this, because it was the immutable divinity and not the mutable humanity, which constitutes the foundation of his personality....
"[c.] That the divinity and not the humanity is dominant and controlling in Christ’s person, is proved by the fact that his acts of power were regulated by it...When the divine nature withdrew its support from the human, the latter was as helpless as it is in an ordinary human creature. And when the divine nature imparted its power, the human nature became “mighty in word and deed.”...
"[d.] [T]he knowledge of the God-man depended upon the divinenature for its amount, and this proves that the divinity is dominant in His person." 224
222. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 2:332–33; 224. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 2:269–73.
(258-262)

Some have interpreted the text as saying that between Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, Christ went to hell to evangelize the lost souls there. (267)

Others have understood the text as teaching that Christ preached through the preaching of Noah to the disobedient people of his day, and who, because they persisted in their disobedience are now “spirits in prison” in hell. According to this view they were not in hell when Christ preached to them through Noah, but they are in hell now. (268)

According to Brown, in His resurrection, Christ was infinitely endowed by the Holy Spirit with an immeasurable superabundance of life so as to enable Him to give
eternal life to those dead in their sins (John 12:24, 32; 3:34). (268) [I'm not completely clear on this last one.]

The resurrected Christ, during His ascension to God’s right hand, proclaimed His victory over sin, Satan and death to the fallen spirit-world, (Satan and demons), who are chained in darkness until their eternal damnation on the final day of judgment, when they are cast into the bottomless pit of hell. ...

Amazing! The resurrected, glorified, exalted Christ, ascending to the highest place of honor and power in the universe—God’s right hand, enters the world of Satan and demons, forcibly calls them to gather, and declares His victory over sin, Satan, and death to them, who a few hours earlier were rejoicing that they had destroyed
God’s Son in death and the grave. Now they are informed authoritatively that, while they “bruised His heel,” He had, in fact, crushed their heads (Gen. 3:15f). What a sermon that must have been! What a congregation, forced to listen to every word! It was a congregation comprised only of Satan and his fiendish, totally evil,
murderous, lying, envious, enraged, monstrous demons. The risen Christ takes the pulpit, calls the service to order, looks at His congregation and triumphantly shouts: YOU ARE FINISHED! I HAVE DEFEATED YOU FOREVER! I AM COMING BACK AT THE END OF HISTORY TO CAST YOU INTO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT OF
HELL! UNTIL THEN, I AM KEEPING YOU CHAINED IN DARKNESS, AWAITING THAT GREAT DAY OF JUDGMENT, WHEN I WILL SAY TO YOU—GO TO HELL! (269)

The Apostles’ Creed refers to Christ’s burial as His descent into hell— He descended into hell...His human spirit remained under the power of death, still being humiliated and tormented for our sin, experiencing the full penalty for sin and the full punishment of hell in our behalf, until His resurrection, for His exaltation and rest from His redemptive work did not begin until His resurrection from the grave (Heb. 4:10)...From Friday until Sunday morning, Jesus suffered the torments of hell for us. (271)

"By the descent of Christ into hell, all those who believe in Him are secured from descending thither; He went into those regions of darkness that our souls might never come into those torments which are there. By His descent He freed us from our fears, as by His ascension He secured us of our hopes." 226. http://www.lectionarycentral.com/saturd/Pearson.html (271)

Some have interpreted the phrase in the Creed—He descended into hell—metaphorically. They say that it is simply a non-literal way of saying that in Christ’s suffering, death and burial, He suffered the full punishment of our sin in our behalf. (272)

Others would say that the view defended in this essay seems to contradict Jesus clear and decisive statement on the cross: “It is finished” (19:30), i.e., “salvation has been fully accomplished and secured by My death on the cross” (Heb. 9:12)...When He spoke those words, He obviously had not died yet, although He soon would die. He was anticipating the completion of the suffering and humiliation that was necessary to secure eternal salvation for all for whom He died, i.e., death and burial, during which His human spirit descended into hell. (273)

Some would object to our view saying that it flies in the face of Jesus’ words to the believing thief on the cross: “Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43)...the loving presence of God the Son did fill Paradise, in fact, the whole universe cannot contain Him, even while His human body was in the grave and His human spirit was in hell. So then, the believing thief on the cross, entering Paradise immediately upon death, was in the presence of the Son of God enjoying fellowship with Him. (273)

Finally, others would object by pointing out that in dying on the cross, Jesus said to God the Father, “Into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46)...He is saying to His Father, whom He loved with all His heart, what He said in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He sweat drops of blood, “Because I trust You and love You, Father, and be cause I want to finish the work You gave Me to do to save sinners, I
submit Myself to You to completely. Not My will, but Yours be done, even if it means that I must descend into hell.” (273-274)

      Racheal

     Racheal

Foot removal--we keep the feet and cook them down for the broth.

Look at the size of that bird!

Washing after the dressing out.

I could only fit three or four in a five gallon bucket...

Lunch!

      Racheal

Notice should be given to three points in Acts 1:1–3 regarding the ascension of Jesus: (1) His ascension took place forty days after His resurrection; (2) During the forty day interim, Jesus conversed with His disciples about the kingdom of God; and (3) At the conclusion of the forty days He gave His disciples the Great
Commission to preach the gospel to all nations. (215)

At His ascension, Jesus Christ left earth and went to Heaven, actually and physically: “He was lifted up while they were looking on.” His ascension consisted in a change of place. In His humanity, He was on earth before it. After it, in His humanity, He is in Heaven, at God’s right hand (Heb. 12:2). It also consisted in a change in the humanity of Christ, which was further exalted into “the fulness
of heavenly glory and was perfectly adapted to the life of heaven.” 187 Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 350. (220)

Christ’s ascension was as historical as His crucifixion and resurrection, all of which are wonders of grace. When we examine Luke 24 and Acts 1, we find that the ascension of Christ was of His person; that it was thoroughly visible; that it was an actual transfer of His person (in His humanity) from one place (earth) to another
(Heaven), which is another sphere of the universe and as equally a definite locality as earth, though far more glorious. (220)

Because of Christ’s ascension, the church of Christ is the recipient of many benefits and responsibilities. Included among them are: (1) The Great Commission to make the world’s nations Christ’s disciples (Matt. 28:19); (2) Victory over all enemies (Eph. 4:8); (3) Spiritual gifts to believers (Eph. 4:8f); (4) Exalted aspirations in believers (Col. 3:1); (5) A prepared place for us (John 14:3). (221)

The ascended Christ bestows His Holy Spirit, and with Him all spiritual blessings and gifts upon His church. ...
Since that time, the Spirit, the third Person in the Trinity, is the agent of the 
crucified, exalted Christ by whom Christ continues His prophetic, priestly and kingly ministry in human hearts and human societies. (222)

"The result of the power of the Baptism of the Spirit according to Acts 1:8 is first of all not what men do but what they become. The greatness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not that it is an event beyond the joining of a man to the ascended
Christ but that it is precisely this event itself. To be baptized in the Spirit is to become Christ’s." 189 Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit: The Pentecostal Experience (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., [1970] 1977), 160. (224)

The third phase of Christ’s exaltation is His Session, i.e., His being seated at the right hand of God: “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High” (Heb. 1:3). (225)

“The right hand of God” is the highest position of authority and honor possible. ...
Christ, being seated at God’s right hand, is therefore the infinitely exalted, victorious Lord, crowned by God as the Mediator- King of all creation to advance all the purposes of redemption (Eph. 1:19f). (226)

Sitting at God’s right hand, Jesus is not only an enthroned King, He is also a seated High Priest. Levitical priests of the Old Testament never finished their work. They were always offering sacrifices for God’s people; but Christ, by His once-for-all sacrifice of Himself securing forever our salvation, is now seated, signifying that His redemptive work is finished, complete and perfect. (227)

However, the session of Christ not only presents us with the continuation of His work as king, and His priestly work of intercession, it also presents us with the continuation of His work as prophet. Through His Holy Spirit and the written Word of God, He leads His church into all truth, so that His church becomes the foundation and pillar of revealed Divine truth. (228)

His ascension brought manifold blessings to His people, it always brought infinite
blessings to Himself as the God-man. (1) It brought Him all fulness of joy. ...(2) It brought Him all fulness of glory. (228)

The very end of the world is called The Day of the Lord. That will be the day when Jesus Christ shall return to earth, physically, personally, visibly, publicly, loudly and gloriously...The Revelation of Christ is the end of the world, the day of the Lord, when Jesus comes back in clouds of glory to judge all people. With this ending will be the perfection of the New Heavens and New Earth, which are the home of righteousness (Rev. 21–22), when the whole creation is purified and recreated, when paradise with God is fully restored to His people in Christ. (231-232)

The Bible uses several terms to describe the Return of Christ. It is called the Parousia, which Greek word means “Presence” or “Coming,” denoting the advent and resulting presence of a king or conqueror. (235)

The Return of Christ is also referred to as the Epiphaneia, which means the “Appearing,” denoting the coming forth and manifestation of rich blessings out of a hidden background. ...
Another term in the New Testament for the return of Christ is Apokalupsis, meaning the unveiling or the revelation, denoting the removal of that which now obstructs our vision of Christ. ...
These terms, (Parousia, Epiphaneia, Apokalupsis) are all descriptions of one and the same event. Some, however, try to interpret them as describing separate and successive events or comings....First, the Bible does not speak of the returns of Christ at the end. Instead it equates the Parousia, Epiphaneia, Apokalupsis and the Telos, meaning “the end,” all referring to the same event. (236)


The victory commenced at Calvary, is advanced by the Gospel of the Kingdom and is concluded in the climax of the victory at the return of Christ (Heb. 2:14; Rev. 20:10). (237)

This privilege of judging the world is the crowning honor of his exalted lordship rewarded Him by God for His humiliation. It is the capstone of His exaltation. He will judge those who so unjustly judged Him. He shall have the last word of judgment! (238)

What is the purpose of this climactic event called the Second Coming of Christ or Judgment Day? It is for the purpose of glorious revelation....First, God’s holy and righteous character will be fully revealed and vindicated...Second, the majesty of Jesus Christ will be fully revealed: “so that at the name of Jesus ‘every knee will bow,’ of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10f)....Third, the glory of God’s grace in the eternal salvation of His elect will be displayed...Fourth, the glory of God’s justice in the damnation of the wicked will be manifested...Fifth, the true and glorious state of the sons of God will be revealed to all: “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19). Sixth, the utter sinfulness of the wicked will be revealed
to all... (239)

First, THE RELATION OF CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE WORK AND HIS JUDGING WORK. It is one work; and Christians have a joyful interest in both aspects. It is only when Christ comes as Judge that our redemption is completed, justification finally proclaimed, victory consummated, and the last consequences of sin obliterated from the universe....We would be unable to justify ourselves, but when we see our Almighty Friend and Substitute on that judgment seat, we will rejoice, for our sentence of condemnation was passed in Him forever: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). ...

Second, THE IDENTITY OF THOSE WHO WILL STAND BEFORE CHRIST’S TRIBUNAL. ...

The point is that, contrary to the teaching of Dispensationalism, every person who has ever lived and all wicked angels will be summoned before the great Judgment Throne of Christ. All wicked angels will be there, according to Jude 4. All human beings without exception will be there according to Eccl. 12:14; Ps. 50:4; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 2:5f; Rom. 14:10; Matt. 12:36–37; Rev. 20:12; Matt. 8:29; 1 Cor. 6:3; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6. ...

Third, THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED BEFORE CHRIST’S TRIBUNAL ON THAT DAY. Judgment Day will be a day in which all those who stand before Christ will render account of all their thoughts, words and deeds throughout their lives...

Fourth, THE STANDARD BY WHICH CHRIST WILL DISPENSE HIS JUDGMENT ON THAT DAY. The Standard on that Day will be nothing less than the revealed will of God! The people who have never heard the gospel will be judged according to the Law of God written on their hearts and consciences...

Fifth, THE NATURE OF THE JUDGMENT RENDERED BY CHRIST ON THAT DAY. The judgment rendered by Christ on that Day will be according to the works we have done and the kind of life we have lived. (240-244)

Christ’s blessed voice on that Day will bring incomparable joy to all true believers and indescribable horror to all unbelievers! Belief in the certainty of the Day of Judgment in believers should stir up evangelistic zeal (2 Cor. 5:10–11); produce perseverance under mistreatment and persecution (Rom. 12:9); motivate diligence in living holy lives (2 Pet. 3:11–14); excite watchfulness and constancy (Matt. 24:42–44); and produce comfort, hope, optimism, and assurance of victory in Christ (2 Thes. 1:5–9). (247)

Here, in this cross and crown, is your salvation, comfort, hope and dignity, as a Christian person. (249)

It must be carefully noted that Christ suffered before He was exalted. His cross came before His crown. So it is with Christ’s disciples: suffering for Christ precedes exaltation..."The world looks upon humility as that which will make contemptible,
but it is the ready way to honour; the way to rise is to fall; the way to ascend is to descend. Humility exalts us in the esteem of men, and it exalts us to a higher throne in heaven." 210 Watson, Body of Divinity, 144. (250)

All attempts of man to exalt himself without Christ lead to his humiliation, for, as the Bible says, pride always comes before destruction, and arrogance and self-trust before a fall. Man’s exaltation is only in Christ, who was humiliated to save us from that humiliation and all the other consequences of our sin. Only a society built on the truth of the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, and of believers in Him, can stand....A humanistic culture is a humiliated and humiliating culture. A Christian culture is an highly exalted and advanced civilization. A culture cannot advance without Christ; and a apostate culture can only lead to decline. (251)

If you are resting in a humiliated Christ and submitting to an exalted Christ for salvation, then live completely for Christ, as Christ lived, died and arose entirely for you. Greater things are expected from you than from other people. (252)

      Racheal

      Racheal

      Racheal

A state is one’s position or status in life. It is one’s legal standing before God’s law. (172)

Jesus Himself has stood in two distinct states before God’s Law on our behalf in order to save us from our sins. The first state (of humiliation) began with His incarnation, when He assumed the state and condition of guilty sinners in order to save them. The second state (of exaltation) began with His resurrection, after He had perfectly satisfied the justice of God by His obedience and death. (173)

If Jesus Christ was to be our Mediator and Savior, it was necessary that He, the Lord of heaven and earth, the supreme Lawgiver, place Himself under His own Law, and become legally responsible for our sins and liable to the curse of God’s Law broken by human beings. He suffered humiliation for our sakes....According to Philippians 2:5–8, Christ’s humiliation consisted of two elements: (1) He condescended to where we are by laying aside the glory of His majesty as the
Ruler of the universe; and (2) By taking upon Himself the form of a human servant, subject to Biblical Law and becoming obedient to the death of the cross. (173)

His humiliation consisted in His incarnation, His human life under God’s Law, His suffering under the wrath of God, His death, and His burial.... 143. Webb, Christian Salvation: Its Doctrine and Experience, 242. (179)

When the Son of God became incarnate, He brought Himself under God’s Law as its subject and servant, which Law “He perfectly fulfilled” for us (Matt. 3:15; 5:17), thereby meriting by His life as well as by His death our eternal salvation. What humiliation! He who is the Lord, above the Law, now in His humiliation, is subject
to it, liable to all its censures and curses as the representative of sinners....Placing Himself under the Law of God as our representative, He subjected Himself to the curse of that Law due us for our sin: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “As he obeyed what the Law enjoined,
so he suffered what it threatened as a punishment due to us for sin.” 145. Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:581. (181)

Jesus began shedding His blood for our salvation, first, at His circumcision in infancy, then again in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33–34). He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood in deep anguish of soul. In Gethsemane, His blood was forced out of Him by internal agony of soul, when He offered His soul as a sacrifice for sin. On Calvary, His blood was forced out of Him by external physical affliction, when He offered His body as our sacrifice. Gethsemane and Calvary taken together "show us that Christ’s blood is being demanded by the whole system of the universe. Heaven draws it out, hell drives it out, and the earth forces it out. From every side Christ’s blood, which is the bearer of life, is demanded of Him.… One would need to have been in hell for some time in order to understand what it is that is tearing Jesus apart in the Garden." 150. Klaas Schilder, Christ in His Suffering, trans. by Henry Zylstra (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, [1938] 1979), 370. (186)

Here is the offense of the cross—a naked God, a naked Messiah, 
hanging on a cross. Here is where our faith is to rest and find salvation—in a naked Savior. (187; Dr. Morecraft's emphasis)

Because His death was the infliction of the wrath of God and the punishment for sin God’s justice required, for this impeccable Jesus, it was a “shameful, painful and cursed” death on a cross. His pains in dying this death were incomparably severe and excruciating in body and soul. His death was shameful: “He despised its shame” (Heb. 12:2), not only because He was stripped naked on the cross, but because crucifixion was inflicted upon none but the lowest and most wicked criminals. And His death was a cursed death because on the cross, as the substitutionary sacrifice of God’s chosen people, Christ “was made a curse for us, as it is written, ‘Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13). (188)

His humiliation is not over with His crucifixion. He must be buried and remain under the power of death in the grave, as a subject of the kingdom of Satan (John 19:38–42)....The humiliation of the grave was a part of the shame of death. (189)

His work of satisfaction would not be completed until He was raised from the grave, when He was declared to be the Son of God with power. Not until His resurrection did He fully conquer death and hell. (190)

The Apostles’ Creed refers to this aspect of His humiliation as His descent into hell—He descended into hell....From Friday until Sunday morning, Jesus suffered the torments of hell for us. (190)

Therefore, since the disciple is not above his master, and is, in fact, to imitate His master, you and I must seek to be as committed to saving sinners, through the exposition of the gospel of Christ in the power of the Spirit, as Jesus was through His humiliation and death. We must be like Paul, who was willing to be all things to all men, that he might thereby save some (1 Cor. 9:22). (191)

The exaltation of Jesus is God the Father’s “Amen!” to Jesus’ “It is finished!” When God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, He exalted Him in a transcendently glorious manner by giving Him again that of which He emptied
Himself: glorious honor, praise, majesty at God’s right hand, treated and praised as One who is equal to God, with the Divine Name, “Lord,” whom all will publicly recognize and confess. (192)

God began the exaltation of the humanity of Jesus from His humiliation by raising Him from the dead on the first day of the week... Christ’s resurrection is as historical as any other event in His life(Mark 16:1–8; 1 Cor. 15:12–58). He arose in the very same body in which He suffered, with the essential properties thereof, (but without mortality, and other common infirmities belonging to this life), really
united to His soul. The point of the Larger Catechism in these words is that Christ’s resurrection was a physical one. (194)

The Christian’s life, therefore, is always to be viewed as resurrection life. Baptism signifies and seals the transition in the life of the Christian from being apart from Christ and dead to being joined to Christ in His death and resurrection and alive....That is what happens to us in the new birth. ...
Therefore, we must keep these three truths and realities together in our mind and in our faith: (1) The historical resurrection of Jesus from the tomb; (2) The internal resurrection of Christians, which is called the new birth; and (3) The external resurrection of Christians, i.e., the resurrection of the body at the return of Christ. (203)

Now we come to another issue: Why did Jesus arise from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion? Why did divine providence ordain that a space of three days would pass between Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection? (1) It apparently pleased God, in His wisdom, to ordain such a three-day space of time between Christ’s
crucifixion and resurrection, to give sufficient evidence that Christ was really dead, since our eternal salvation depends on that fact. (2) It apparently pleased God, in His goodness, not to allow Christ to continue too long in the state of the dead.... He raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, while His death was still fresh in people’s memories. (204) 

The Larger Catechism Q. 52 makes three points that need some explanation. First, it says that after Christ’s physical death, “His body did not see corruption,” i.e., His physical body did not putrify and begin returning to dust....Second, we are told that it was “not possible for Him to be held” in death....Why was it impossible for death to “keep its prey”? (a) Christ is the Creator incarnate, the Lord and Giver of Life;
(b) Christ is the sovereign God incarnate, who predestined His resurrection as well as His death. Jesus Himself said earlier in His ministry: “Destroy this temple [referring to His body], and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Third, Christ “rose again by His own power,” i.e., He raised Himself from the dead by His own power. (206-207)

Saving faith believes in God the Father in terms of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It believes that God has said something special and specific to the believer by raising Jesus from the dead.

First, by raising Jesus from the dead, God is telling us that Jesus is the Lord of our lives and of our world: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:32). ...

Second, by raising Jesus, God is attesting the claims of Christ to be God incarnate. He is saying to us: “This is My Son, hear Him!” ...

Third, by raising Jesus, God is telling us that He is fully and completely satisfied with the redemptive work of His Son on the cross. ...

Fourth, by raising Jesus, God is telling us the good news that all the covenant promises of God are realized in Christ and are poured out on us. ...

Fifth, by raising Jesus, God is declaring that a New Era has dawned for the world. A New Heavens and New Earth are in the making. A New Day of Salvation in the Kingdom of God has broken into human history, and its light is gradually swallowing up the darkness of this world. ...

Sixth, by raising Jesus, God is assuring us that He has made Christ the firstfruits of them that sleep (1 Cor. 15:20f), not only guaranteeing our physical resurrection from the grave, but also our spiritual resurrection from sin in the new birth. ...

Seventh, by raising Jesus from the dead, God is proclaiming His triumph over all His enemies, and ours—sin, Satan and death. (210-212)

     Racheal

(Now, is that practically auburn or not? :D Katherine thinks I'm a nut for trying my utmost to convince myself that my hair is almost red!)

      Racheal

(Bottom left hand corner...)

With the collar on.

You'll notice that the back of the skirt is gathered, whereas the front is pleated. I did that because I cut the skirt bigger than I needed (un-beknownst to me--and obviously, I did not think about it over much either) and I couldn't get big pleats all the way around...so I just pleated the front and gathered the back!

Practical panties...no frills. (I am going to figure out how to put lace on a pair of these eventually...)

Sans collar. I like it both ways...

     Racheal

      Racheal