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As Christians we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After the Lord’s crucifixion, the Holy Spirit entered the tomb where he lay and raised him up. This is why we sing on Easter that Christ rose from the grave, victorious over his foes, and now reigns forever with the saints.

We also believe that by Christ’s power we will be resurrected. This will happen when Jesus comes again. Scripture says all of us will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. The Holy Spirit will raise us up from this earth with incorruptible bodies and place us in the Lord’s very presence.

What is ahead for the church of Jesus Christ? This is a question of great concern to believers worldwide. As cataclysmic events take place all over the globe, many are wondering, "Is the Holy Spirit going to revive the church before Jesus returns? Will Christ’s body leave this world with a whimper or with a shout?"

In a secret ceremony designed by the Lord, the prophet Samuel anointed David to be king of Israel. Samuel told this godly young man, “You are now appointed by God to be ruler over his people.” Yet it would be a long trip to the throne for David. Before the promise of his anointing was fulfilled, this devoted servant of the Lord would face many trials and testings.

In Jeremiah 19, God gave his prophet a word to speak to Israel. Then he sent him into the temple court to prophesy. Jeremiah spoke these words: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words” (Jeremiah 19:15).

The apostle Paul instructs us, "Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Corinthians 12:27). Then he says more specifically, "As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members...being many, are one body: so also is Christ" (12:12).

Paul is telling us, in essence, "Take a look at your own body. You have hands, feet, eyes, ears. You're not just an isolated brain, unattached to the other members. Well, it's the same way with Christ. He's not just a head. He has a body, and we comprise its members."

"Then Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil" (Matthew 4:1). What an incredible verse. Matthew boldly states that God's Spirit led Christ into a desert experience, where he would have to undergo severe temptations."

As we read the words of David in Psalm 38, we find this godly, righteous man at the end of himself. He was downcast and discouraged, and his struggle had drained him of all strength. Listen to his distraught cry:

Jesus came to earth as a man to redeem humankind from our sins and from every kind of bondage and imprisonment. That fact has been established in the minds and hearts of most Christians. But Christ also came to earth for the purpose of revealing to us the heavenly father.

First he told his disciples, "...The Father hath sent me..." (John 5:36).

Then he said, "I can of mine own self do nothing... I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" (verse 30).

And finally he stated, "...I go unto my Father" (14:12).

DAVID boldly declared, "...God ...is the health of my countenance ..." (Psalm 42:11). And he repeats the same statement in another psalm: "...God...is the health of my countenance..." (43:5). In the original Hebrew, the proper rendering of both these verses is, "God is the salvation of my face!"

Imagine this scenario from Luke 17: Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem as the time for His crucifixion drew near. As He passed between Samaria and Galilee, He approached an unnamed village. And outside that village, ten lepers were encamped in terrible squalor and shame.

Evidently, nine of these lepers were Jews, and one was a Samaritan. Now, the Jews of that day did not even touch Samaritans, let alone live with them. But apparently the common distress of these ten had brought them together in a shared misery.