My screen saver came up with an intriguing headline: “Baptists Vote Pro Disney”

    Now I had heard the news bites and they all had a very different message: the Southern Baptist Convention had voted to boycott Disney because of what they felt was an open endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle. But here was my screen saver, recently updated with the latest news, reporting that the Baptists had apparently voted Pro Disney.

    I double clicked on the headline to clear up the discrepancy. Up popped the article. Guess what, the real headline actually read “Baptist Vote Pro Disney Boycott.” The screen saver had simply cut off the headline to fit the margin. What a difference! The exact opposite meaning with the addition of one simple word at the end of the headline.

…and he arose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.

    Think of the difference if Jesus’ story ends with his crucifixion. That’s just leaving off three days of his 33 year life. Not much difference chronologically, but all the difference in the world for us!

    Paul reminds us (in 1 Corinthians 15) that the Gospel can be boiled down to these facts: “Jesus died according to the Scriptures and was buried”—but that headline is incomplete without the final phrase—“and he arose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.” Wow, what a difference that third day and that third phrase make!

    Because of the third day and the third phrase, Jesus has turned every one of Satan’s periods into a comma. He has opened every door the Devil has tried keep shut barring us from God’s life, love, and grace. He has guaranteed that he will open every one of his disciples’ graves and rob death of its victory. That third day, Paul’s third phrase, changes “what a mess” into “What a Message!”

    So let’s live with confidence because we know the MESSAGE and have left behind Satan’s mess.

    “Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time—this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. … that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as the Scripture tells it; that he was buried; the he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 The Message