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“Where Bones Cannot Speak—But Christ Does”

On Second Thought

There is something unsettling about walking beneath a city and finding yourself surrounded by the bones of its past. The Catacombs of Paris are a somber reminder of human mortality—an underground labyrinth where six million Parisians rest in carefully arranged anonymity. Tourists step down a narrow spiral staircase and into dimly lit corridors lined with femurs and skulls, stacked with symmetry that feels both artistic and tragic. Here, death is not hidden. It is curated, preserved, and displayed.

The tunnels themselves once served a practical purpose—stone quarries that fed the growing city above. But as Parisian cemeteries overflowed in the 18th century, workers exhumed bones and stored them underground. One hundred ninety miles of tunnels twist beneath the capital—twice the length of the metro system. Only one mile is open to the public. Even then, the catacombs have claimed lives. A hospital worker who wandered them alone during the French Revolution vanished into the darkness; his skeleton was found eleven years later.

Many visitors feel unsettled, imagining spirits of the dead haunting the tunnels. Others grow numb to the sights. Nestor Valence, who spent eight years rearranging bones in the catacombs, said, “Touching bones doesn’t bother me anymore. When you start, it’s a bit weird, but it becomes part of the routine.”

Death—even in its most haunting displays—can become ordinary.

But that is where the Christian story breaks sharply from the tunnels beneath Paris. Death may silence the bones of millions, but it could not silence Jesus Christ. And on the morning Mary Magdalene reached the tomb, she found something that no catacomb, no ossuary, no grave in history has ever offered: an empty resting place.

A Tomb Without Bones

John 20 tells the story with breathtaking simplicity. Mary arrives at the tomb expecting to tend to a corpse. Instead, she finds the stone rolled away. Her first instinct, understandably, is confusion. She runs to Peter and John and cries, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him!” (John 20:2).

Mary feared the worst—that His body had been stolen. She was not expecting resurrection. As John later admits, “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” (John 20:9)

This moment stands in total contrast to the catacombs. If Mary had found Jesus’ bones—lifeless, arranged or rearranged, preserved or crumbling—Christianity would have remained a memory of a good teacher, not the living faith we hold today. The early disciples would have stood before a dead Messiah. Their hope would have ended at the same point as every other religious leader or philosopher: a grave.

Instead, Mary found absence. Loss. Mystery. And then—Jesus Himself.

He speaks her name.
He calls her to trust.
He reveals that death has been defeated—decisively and eternally.

The Hope We Keep Forgetting

The catacombs remind us how easily bones settle into routine. Death becomes “normal” to those who work in its shadows. But the resurrection is God’s bold declaration that death will never become normal again. Not for His children. Not for His Church.

We forget this far too often. We treat spiritual life with routine familiarity. We acknowledge Jesus’ resurrection the way tourists observe stacked bones—more with curiosity than with conviction. But the resurrection is not a museum exhibit to contemplate. It is an earthquake that split history. A declaration that not even the darkest tomb holds authority over God’s purposes.

Mary learned that morning what every believer must learn again and again:
Your Savior is not resting.
Your Redeemer is not silent.
Your Hope is not buried.

Jesus’ tomb is empty because Jesus Himself is alive—gloriously, eternally, sovereignly alive.

Bones That Never Needed Rearranging

Think again of Nestor Valence, spending eight years rearranging bones that had “fallen out of place.” Death demands maintenance. Bodies decay. Graves sink. Bones crumble. Time erases.

But not so with Christ.
No rearranging was needed.
No maintenance of memory.
No preservation of remains.

His body was not misplaced—He was risen.
His bones were not resting—He was reigning.
His life was not over—He had just begun His victory.

This is why the message of Easter reverberates through every season of the year, not only Resurrection Sunday. We live in the light of an everlasting truth: Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of our salvation. If His body had remained in the grave, Paul writes, “your faith is futile” (1 Corinthians 15:17). But because the tomb is empty, our faith is anchored in a living Redeemer, not a dead hero.

Let the Resurrection Reframe Your Faith

Sometimes, our spiritual lives feel like catacombs—dark, winding, silent, filled with old memories or guilt or fear. Perhaps you feel spiritually lost, much like the hospital worker who wandered those tunnels alone, only to be discovered years later.

But the risen Christ does not leave His followers lost. He comes to them—calling them by name, breaking through their confusion, dispelling their fear, lifting them from darkness into light.

When Mary realized her Lord stood before her alive, everything changed. Her fear turned to joy. Her confusion turned to worship. Her sorrow turned to proclamation.

That is the resurrection’s power.
It lifts the human soul from resignation to renewal.
It replaces routine religion with living hope.
It turns spiritual wandering into resurrection clarity.

And it all begins with an empty tomb—a quiet, unassuming, astonishing truth:
“He is not here, for He is risen.”

On Second Thought…

Maybe today is a day to rethink how you see your faith.
To pause and ask:
Have I grown too familiar with the idea of resurrection?
Has Christ’s victory become routine to me?
Do I walk through life as though my Savior is still buried—or as though He walks beside me?

On second thought, perhaps the empty tomb invites us to renew our sense of wonder.
To remember that our faith is anchored in a Savior who shattered the silence of death.
To live with courage, because He lives with authority.
To hope with confidence, because His promises stand unbroken.
To walk with joy, because the One we follow is alive forevermore.

If Christ is risen, then there is no tunnel too dark, no fear too deep, no burden too heavy, and no sin too binding that He cannot break through.

And He will call your name—just as He called Mary’s.

May the risen Christ draw you closer to Himself today, fill your heart with renewed hope, and refresh your spirit with the reminder that death is defeated, and life in Him is eternal.

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When Power Meets Powerlessness

On Second Thought

There is something strangely humbling about watching the downfall of a giant. History is full of towering figures who believed themselves invincible—only to discover that greatness, when built on human strength alone, eventually collapses under its own weight. Napoleon, the master strategist, learned this at Waterloo. His brilliance, his ambition, and his carefully calculated maneuvers could not conquer the rain-soaked fields, the soft soil, the misread terrain, or the unexpected failures in timing. The greatest general of his age was defeated not simply by an opposing army, but by factors utterly beyond his control.

When I revisit that moment in history, I’m reminded that humanity—even at its most powerful—remains small before forces it cannot tame. On second thought, perhaps what appears to be the collapse of a hero is really the unveiling of a truth we tend to forget: no human strength, no matter how celebrated, can stand against the sovereign power of God.

This reality rises even more clearly in the Scriptures, perhaps nowhere as dramatically as in Revelation 20:7–10, where Satan gathers the largest army imaginable. John describes it as a host “whose number is as the sand of the sea.” The picture is designed to overwhelm the imagination. This is a global uprising led by the most deceptive force in the universe, backed by the collective fury of every rebellious heart.

And yet, with chilling clarity, Scripture reminds us that even the most intimidating mass of human and demonic power is no match for the God who speaks worlds into being.

When the Darkness Makes Its Final Push

The imagery in Revelation can feel heavy, especially when we read of Satan positioning this vast army around “the camp of the saints and the beloved city.” It is a moment that looks, from the outside, very much like Waterloo—a seemingly unstoppable force surrounding what appears vulnerable and outmatched.

But the difference between Napoleon’s defeat and Satan’s final downfall is not merely in scale—it’s in sovereignty.

Napoleon fell because he met conditions he couldn’t control. Satan falls because he meets a God who controls everything.

Even the most brilliant military minds—those who might stand at Satan’s side—cannot alter what God has ordained. Satan’s ambition has always been the same. Isaiah tells us that he desired to “ascend,” to take God’s throne, to exalt himself. But Scripture records the truth with unmistakable finality:

“You are brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” (Isaiah 14:15)

It doesn’t matter how many armies he gathers. It doesn’t matter how many rebel hearts he recruits. It doesn’t matter how strategic or overwhelming his forces appear.

He still loses.

That is the comfort Revelation offers believers: evil’s final stand is not a battle of equals. It is a brief unveiling of evil’s pride—and God’s victory.

The Moment Every Heart Must Face

Before the fire falls, John describes a moment of stunning spiritual significance. The wicked—those who have rejected Christ, resisted grace, and refused to repent—are suddenly face-to-face with the Son of Man. They can no longer escape His presence, deny His authority, or pretend they were sovereign over their own lives.

For the first time since Eden, every rebellious impulse is stripped away, and every heart must confront the truth: Jesus Christ is Lord.

Paul echoes this in Romans 14:11:
“Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

This is not forced worship. This is undeniable reality. In that moment, acknowledgment becomes unavoidable.

I’m struck by this: even at the end of history, God provides a moment of reflection. He gives every unrepentant heart a final awareness that what they rejected was love—not domination. Grace—not condemnation. A Savior—not an enemy.

On second thought, this might be the saddest moment in Scripture—not because of what God does, but because of what the lost refused to receive.

Justice Falls, But Grace Always Came First

Fire then comes down from heaven—not a fire that burns eternally but one whose consequences are eternal. The text says simply, “It devoured them.” Final judgment is swift. This is not a God losing His patience; this is a God fulfilling His promise.

He has pleaded.
He has warned.
He has invited.
He has forgiven.
He has offered Himself again and again.

God takes no delight in the demise of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). His heart always leans toward mercy. But mercy rejected becomes judgment received.

And this is why the Gospel must be preached. Because before the end comes, God desires that every man and woman be given the opportunity to choose life.

What This Means for You Today

On second thought, perhaps the most pressing question is not what happens to the armies of evil—but what happens in your heart. Revelation’s purpose is not to terrify the believer but to strengthen them. It reminds us that God wins. Righteousness wins. Love wins.

And if God wins in the end, God can also win in you today.

You may feel surrounded.
You may feel like the terrain is not in your favor.
You may feel like the weather is against you.
You may feel like every misstep is catching up with you.

But you are not Napoleon at Waterloo.
You are a child of God in the care of a risen Savior.
Your victory does not depend on your strength but His.

And no enemy—spiritual or earthly—can overcome His power.

A Prayer for Today

Mighty God,
Thank You for giving every soul a chance to turn, to repent, and to receive Your love. Thank You that You are never defeated, never surprised, and never overpowered. I receive You into my heart today. Shape my faith. Strengthen my hope. And remind me that no matter the battles I face, I belong to the God who will one day bring all evil to an end. Amen.

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