How Do I Get Out Of This Place?

Take Time To Pray?

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

TITLE: How Do I Get Out Of This Place?

SUBTITLE: Take Time To Pray?

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076577/episodes/16998349

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

How Do I Get Out Of This Place?

by Eric Engelmann

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

I’m going to pray:

Father in Heaven, bless our reasonings grant us your thoughts through Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach.

Picture this: Jesus is faced with a choice that I haven't experienced. He's in the tomb after He's risen from the dead, but He hasn't left the tomb yet.

How does He get out of this dark place? Or is it dark? Or is it even something Jesus thinks about?

This is similar to a problem the prophet Jonah faced hundreds of years before.

And it's a problem that Lazarus -- a friend of Jesus' had months before.

I'm going to make some quick comparisons between Jesus, Lazarus and Jonah, all of whom I think had some kind of resurrection. They all came out of a dark container probably made of rock.

Lazarus and Jonah did different things when they rose. Maybe they were a foreshadowing of what Jesus did when He rose.

So picture this: Jesus has just risen from the dead. He hasn't left the tomb yet. What does He do?

Maybe that's a dumb question. Based on some of my inputs from the book of Jonah, it might be a good one.

I don't claim to have enough of a grasp of the Most High, the power of God, or all the Scriptures to give a firm answer -- an answer that convinces me.

Maybe I'm missing some promises in the Old Testament. Some priestly commands. Some lines out of Psalms. I don't know.

In this episode I'm going to list the options I think were facing Jesus when He rose from the tomb and minutes or seconds before He left it. That's assuming He resurrected at the same spot His body was laid -- which seems to be the default for the examples I see in the Scriptures about resurrection.

Put another way, the Book of Jonah faces me with a riddle that I don't know the answer to. Jonah thanked God after he left his stone container. Did Jesus do the same?

CHOICES. OPTION ONE.

Let's start considering Jesus' friend Lazarus. Lazarus received a command from Jesus and came out of the tomb. 

One option for Jesus to come out of the tomb might be to wait for a command from God? The way Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb.

Back when Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth" Lazarus' resurrection was implicit. Jesus didn't say "Live again and come out of the tomb." He just said "Come out of the tomb." Did Lazarus revive when the stone was rolled away from the tomb? Did he revive the instant he heard Jesus say, "Lazarus, come forth?" Either way, Jesus knew that by the time He gave the command to come forth, there would be someone in the tomb ready to hear and obey His command.

Later when Jesus Himself rose from the dead -- if he hadn't already heard the voice of the Most High call him out of the tomb -- maybe He waited for His Father to call.

Before we go on to the Second Option, let me mention there's a big difference between Jesus and Lazarus. One thing Jesus didn't do was walk out of the tomb in front of people. That was what happened with Lazarus.

HERE'S A SECOND OPTION FOR WHAT JESUS MIGHT DO ONCE HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD

Jesus could just walk through the wall of the tomb. He didn't need a door. He didn't need a stone to be rolled away. After the resurrection Jesus showed the tendency to just appear in places. The upper room. Twice.

He disappeard from a house in Emmaus after He broke bread and handed it to two of His disciples.

He appeared on the shore of the Sea of Galilee with some cooked fish.

That might be what Jesus did. Walk through walls and / or appear without knocking on the door.

JESUS THIRD OPTION: PRAY LIKE JONAH DID

Why is this an option?

Jesus said his death was going to be like Jonah's experience in the belly of the sea creature.

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Matthew 12:40

So, when Jonah was about to exit the creature, what did Jonah do? He prayed. Jonah Chapter 2 is mostly Jonah's prayer. Jonah took time in a difficult situation to pray.

Maybe that was a good option for Jesus.

From his prayer, here's the account Jonah gave of going into the pit:

6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains;

The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;

-- Part of Jonah 2:6

HERE's the account of Jonah getting out of the pit.

The rest of Jonah 2:6

Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord, my God.

Jonah even preached during his prayer in the belly of the sea creature:

8 “Those who regard worthless idols

Forsake their own Mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay what I have vowed.

Salvation is of the Lord.”

Before Jonah left the dark belly of the sea creature, Jonah recounted his trip down to some deep places, coming up again and he even preached.

HERE's the account of Jonah getting out of the fish.

Jonah 2:10

10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

So Jesus' third option I see in the tomb might be to give thanks with what air is in the tomb. He wasn't not going to suffocate.

Jesus may not have been in a rush. Jesus probably didn't have to breathe to stay alive. He might not need to breathe to speak, I don't know.

How did Jesus get out? Maybe one or more options from above. Maybe there are other options I didn't list. I can't draw from my personal experience.

WHAT HE DIDN'T DO was wait for the stone to be rolled away AND people to be at the mouth of the tomb so he could walk out in front of a bunch of people.

WHAT HE DID DO may continue to be a mystery. Remember when Jesus spoke to Thomas, He didn't give a detailed chronological checklist. He said, "See. Feel. Put your hand here. Believe." That was good enough for Thomas. And, not seeing but believing, it's good enough for a lot of us.

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC