When Christ died, the curtain that separated the people from God was ripped from top to bottom.  The holy of holies was opened.  Why was that?  What did God do when he ripped the curtain?  Remember that the high priest went in behind this curtain only once a year to put the blood of a perfect lamb on the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people.  They needed mercy.  They tied a rope to the priest so if he touched anything and died--as God had told them would happen--they could pull him out. Let's connect that with Christ's death as the Lamb of God.

The first people at the tomb were women. Mary Magdalene, and Joanna,  and Mary the mother of James and other women that were with them.  We are told that they went back and told the disciples that Jesus was risen.  (Luke 24: 1-10) (The first evangelists were women!!! Imagine that.)

We are told that Mary Magdalene went back to the tomb and was weeping.  Christ appeared to her,  (John 21: 11-17) and  said, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and to your God.

But much later, he appeared to Thomas and said, " (Vs. 27) "…reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side…"

My opinion is this:  Between those two events with Mary and Thomas, Jesus took the perfect sacrifice, his own blood, the blood of the perfect Lamb, and laid it on heaven's mercy seat of God to atone for our sins.  The holy of holies was opened for you and I to have access to the Father, "…my Father, and your Father…" Having done that he returned to the disciples and commissioned them to tell the world that it truly was "finished."  We do not have to make sacrifices or go through a priest ever again.
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He said "Don't touch me…" to  Mary.   And then he said to Thomas, "Touch me."  If you study the Old Testament, you will find that the sacrifice for the mercy seat had to be perfect.  Unblemished.  In the case of Mary touching him, Jesus needed to be pure, untouched, perfect when he went to God with the sacrificial blood from his own body.  But later when he appeared to Thomas, that had already been done.

So that's my opinion concerning what happened immediately after  he rose.

In reading the Bible, I find that sometimes I come to my own personal conclusions about what it is saying.  I am going to give you an opinion about something that happened after Christ died and rose again.  (It is going to take two or three days to do this--so bear with me.)  You need to check out people's opinions for yourself.  Mine included.  Sometimes I change a word to make it more understandable when I am writing from two or three translations.

You remember when I was writing about the holy of holies, I told you that the high priest took the blood of lambs 'inside' to the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people once a year.  Well, God saved them the same way he saves us.  By faith.  They had faith in Him that their sins were covered.

But God sent a perfect sacrifice.  He sent his son to die for our sins.  It is His blood that atones and now covers us.  We don't have to sacrifice anything for our sins anymore.  Christ did that for us once and for all.  Paul says, "This Good News…makes us right in God's sight--when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us.  This is accomplished from start to finish by faith." Romans 1: 17a

If Christ hadn't been adequate to cover us once and for all, then every time we sin, he would have to be sacrificed again.  Over and over.  Which is exactly the system that the Jews had.  What then would be the point of Christ's death.  It wouldn't have accomplished anything different or new.

Romans 3: 21-22 "But now God has shown us his new way to heaven--not by "being good enough" and trying to keep his laws, though not new, really, Scriptures told about it long ago.  Now God says he will accept and acquit us--declare us not guilty--if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins."

Okay.  I'm getting there.   So when Christ died on the cross and shed his blood, it needed to be placed in the holy of holies on the mercy seat for our atonement. (I know, this is rather deep and detailed.) However the earthly holy of holies in the temple was only a prototype of the altar in heaven.  That was the altar where Christ's blood had to go.    Hold that thought……my opinion is coming tomorrow…….. This is all hard to read, but don't give up.  Jesus is going to do something that is really neat.

The Old Testament was written (most probably) over 2500 years ago for a culture that is completely different than the culture you and I live in.  Men owned everything.  Women didn't inherit property and were totally dependent on men.  If you were a widow, your life was especially difficult.  This is all still true some places in the middle east.  Women are not valued.  Many do not have a voice.

Paul said:  "For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus….There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond (slave) nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Jesus Christ."  Galations 3: 26, 28  He frees us from stereotypes.

Paul was making it clear that women have equal status as Christians.  This idea was anathema to the Jews.  And some modern day churches have not gotten the message.  But that's okay.  My gift as a teacher is not dependent on the church.  It is a gift from God.  I answer to him and him alone.  The Bible is very clear on the subject of what God expects of us as individuals.   I love the church.  I love being a part of the family of God.  And I try to tolerate people who have opinions that I do not agree with.  If they haven't read God's word, you can't have a reasonable discussion on any subject.

I agree totally with the Bible on the subject of the different roles in the home.  But that doesn't mean that I have ever given that right of authority over me to other men.  They are just men to me.  As Paul said, "…we are all the same…"

Some of the controversial verses concerning women come in 1 Corinthians, chapter 7.  These verses come after Paul says in verse 12, (Living Letters) "Here I want to add some suggestions of my own…"  King James version puts it this way, "But to the rest I speak, not the Lord…"  So Paul was giving his own opinions concerning men and women, not the opinion of Jesus.   Paul had been a strict Jew.  And he never married.  He was careful to say that his opinions were his and that they weren't from the Lord.

I say all of that to say this.  Be respectful of all people.  Read your Bible for yourself.  Don't take scripture out of context.  Don't argue.  God knows who you are.  We are all the same to him.  That is all that matters.    

When I was seven or eight, the man next door to my grandmother died of a black widow spider bite.  I was young and impressionable and the impression I had was that this kind of spider was deadly.  The next year, a black widow spun her web by our back porch and hatched hundreds of babies.  I remember when I found the web I was very frightened.  I had visions of all those babies growing up and biting people.  I found my father and he took care of it.  I am not afraid of spiders as a whole, but once you have seen a full grown black widow, you won't forget it. They are the blackest of black with a red hourglass on their under side.

It was forty years before I saw another one.  I was in my back yard paving a walk to our shed with bricks when I noticed that the bricks had a multitude of black widows in the holes in their sides.  I was very, very glad I had not been bitten.  I dispatched them all !!   And decided I better figure out where they liked to spin their webs, and more importantly, what their webs looked like.  I learned.  Because I was afraid of them.

They like dark, damp hidden spots.  Their webs have no pattern and are messy, and stringy.  Stretching in an irregular pattern--usually close to the ground.  With the spider hidden from view.  Waiting.

Yesterday, as I was sitting on my back porch, I saw that familiar web, close to my back door.  I would be able to recognize one of their webs even in my sleep.  I sprayed the web with a bug killer, and this morning the spider had crawled out into the open, out from under a rock.  She was done for.

Sin is like a black widow spider.  It likes to hide in our lives.  I likes dark places.   And its bite is fatal.
James 1: 12a, 13-14 "Blessed is the person that endures temptation….Let no one say, (when he is tempted) I am tempted by God:  for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt anyone.  But every person is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed...which brings forth sin and sin, when it is finished brings forth death." (I have edited these verses--removing old English.)

The point is, when you and I do wrong, it has a name.  Sin.  It's a black widow spider weaving a web in our lives.  You know what is wrong with you.  You might as well talk to God about it.  He knows it anyway.  I have to do that regularly. Thank God for Christ who died for our sins.

Lately I have been worrying about my dog Bo.  He is eleven and has really slowed down this year.  Every time I let him out, he returns to the house and checks every room, looking for Ken.   He hasn't given up.  He always slept in Ken's arms.   He sleeps with me now, but he sleeps on Ken's pillow.

If you love your dogs, I am sure you have wondered about whether dogs go to heaven.  I have.  I have lots of trivial thoughts just like everyone else does!!  Well, I have always wondered why the Bible never addresses that subject.  Little did I know...

I have been reading the book that Paul wrote to the Romans. (Ken always said that if you only got to keep one book from the Bible that Romans should be your choice.)

And as I was reading, I found some verses that make me believe that Bo will get to join Ken soon.
Romans 8: 19  "All creation is waiting patiently and hopeful for that future day when God will resurrect his children."   Could it mean that 'all creation' might include dogs?   I realize that God's plan is for human resurrection, that we are the ones in need of salvation, but as I read on, I found this verse:

Romans 8: 22 "For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event."  (That future day of resurrection.)  So if animals await this great event, they probably are going to share in it!!  I love the Bible.  It sets my heart at ease.

My daughter Pat has raised horses most of her life, and she said that horses are going to heaven for sure.  Because in the fifth chapter of Revelations, as John watched a vision unfold before him a Mighty Angel said  "Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and to unroll it?"  Which was answered in chapter six: "As I watched, the Lamb (Jesus) broke the first seal and began to unroll the scroll.  Then…I looked, and in front of me was a white horse.  Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed upon his head…"  The chapter continues with mention of other horses who will be there at the end times.

Like I said, I am having trivial thoughts.  But I really want my dogs to be in heaven with me and Ken.  However, it is much more important that you are there.  Dogs can't repent.  People can.

In the book of Romans, Romans 14: 1,3b,4 "Give a warm welcome to any brother (sister) who wants to join you, even though his faith is weak.  Don't criticize him for having different ideas from yours about what is right and wrong.  …For God has accepted them to be his children.  They are God's servants, not yours.  They are responsible to him, not to you.  Let him (God) tell them whether they are right or wrong…God is able to make them do as they should."

Why in the world have we become so critical of our Christian brothers and sisters?!!  Sometimes I believe that we kill the spirit of the wounded.  Paul was very clear in the letter to the Romans that we are to welcome people in whatever condition they are in and love them.

I don't know about you, but I love to be loved.  It is a tonic for the soul.  And I love the people who love me.  Don't you?  How can a person resist love.  And when I get a compliment, I glow.  

Scott tells me that some of you in Bartlesville are enjoying this.  Thank you for your encouragement.

My mom taught us to listen carefully and when someone says something nice about someone you know, pass it on to them.   I have tried to put her teaching into practice and when I pass a complement on, it feels really good to see someone's face light up.

And when you hear something nice about yourself, if you are like me, you find yourself wanting to live up to their opinion of you.  I find myself trying to do better.

As Christians, we are to bind up the hurt.  Lift up the weary.  Encourage the weak.  And above all, love each other.  Jesus himself told us:

St. John 13: 34-35  "A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you that you also love one another:  By his shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another."

Ken's father was a Baptist minister.  Everyone called him 'Preacher'.  When a tornado hit Pryor in April of 1942, the Baptist Church was one of many buildings that was totally wiped out.  The twister came right down main street and killed over fifty people in a town that was very small.  When I started first grade a couple of years later, many of the children in my class had lost a parent in that storm.

Preacher had been a brick mason before he went to the seminary.  He organized the men in the church into a building crew and they rebuilt the church.  One of the things that he did that made a lasting impression on my life was to install huge stained glass windows.  Four or five down each side and one large one on the front of the church that was a picture of Jesus shepherding a flock of lambs.

I was only five when they built the church, and through the years I remember looking at the windows when I probably should have been listening.  They were beautiful.  I was baptized in that church.  I was married in that church.  I called it "My Church" even though it belonged to God.

Years later when the building was too small and needed to be replaced, most of the windows were stored and  stayed in storage until after I was grown,  and my children were gone.

One of the things I promised myself I would do when I  retired from teaching was to clean off the old paint,  and see them used when we built our new auditorium.  I did that.  Two or three people helped me and we scraped paint for days and days.  It felt good.

Now when you drive down main street in Pryor you can see some of those stained glass windows.  It is not nearly as beautiful as it was in the forties, but the glass pulls at my heart.  Memories.  There are very few people left now that remember what it looked like back then.

Psalms 122:1, 7a  "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord…Peace be within your walls…"

I wish I could go back there one more time.  I can, but only if I close my eyes.