Victory:

            The dust finally lifted, and Kylie looked outside. The sun shone unlike it had ever had in her memory. She wanted to think that this was all just a bad dream, but one look at her clothes proved that was wrong. Joshua was dead, and the light still shone. The days continued. Life continued. But her life would never be the same. She walked out the door of her home and walked to the cave where they had recently placed the body. She wanted to finish the burial, though she wasn’t sure how. The stone required four men to move. She was unfamiliar with the burial ritual, but she thought that the followers would be down soon to help finish. From the silence, she knew that Stan and his followers were drunk and passed out.

            She walked to the cave and noticed that the stone was thrown ten feet away from the opening. She saw two men in white ask her why she was crying, but she ignored them. She wanted to see what had happened to the grave. Would Stan have the energy to do that to a grave? She decided that Stan had more plans for her than for Joshua’s body. As she walked closer to the grave, the men in dazzling white came closer to her, and she remembered the clothing Joshua wore. She bowed with her face to the ground. They asked, “Why do you search for the living among the dead? He is not here, but he is risen!”  ^[1]

            She walked into the grave, and there were the straps of cloth and the ointments. But His body was gone. The tallit that had been so much a part of Joshua lay neatly folded on the shelf. The white Passover linen seemed to have the image of Joshua, but it lacked any contents. Kylie gingerly pushed the linen aside and there was no body.

            She knelt at the ledge that they had recently carved where the body had been placed and tried to think. The two men in white, she didn’t recognize them from Sanctuary. The grave clothes were unmoved, except for her shifting them aside. The blood from his body had leaked onto the cloth. The image looked like Joshua. The tallit was folded neatly by someone who had time to fold it perfectly. She remembered how Joshua had said that his stepfather Joseph had given him the tallit which meant so much to him.

            Nothing made sense. She walked out of the cave and saw a man in white robes. She thought it was one of the men who had said, “Why do you search for the living among the dead? He is not here, but He is risen!”^[2] She walked past the man because she only wanted to wait for the others.

            She heard another voice, “Kylie.” As she reached out, she saw the face— the only face she loved to see. “Joshua!” She reached out to touch him, but he said, “Don’t touch Me until I go to the Father. ^[3] Through my sacrifice for sin, people can have access to Heaven. Go and tell the others, and I will meet you in my house, where we last had Passover.”

            Kylie ran up the thin pathway along the mountain to tell the others. She told them everything that had happened, but they didn’t believe her. ^[4] They all thought it was mourning, in denial, or insane. Then Daniel, Zachariah, and Obadiah said, “We must go and check out what Kylie said. If Joshua is alive, we must see him. It changes everything.” So, the followers walked carefully down the path to the cave. Each person walked in and saw the cave exactly as Kylie had described it. They decided to go to Joshua’s house, as he had directed, but they barricaded the door and pulled the shutters. No light shone, and each of them was terrified that Stan would wake and find them. So, they sat fearful, confused, and curious… yearning, but unable to hope.

            Suddenly, in the middle of the group, a radiant Joshua stood. The old shepherd clothes were replaced by a shining, iridescent, shimmering white robe. His skin glowed, and He was powerful. He was the strong conqueror. Everyone could examine Him, touch Him, and see that He had overpowered death. He was mighty, overwhelming, and awe-inspiring. Instantly, Kylie ran to embrace Him. She still wore the clothes covered with His blood, but she had a new appreciation for how much Joshua loved not only her but also how much He wanted every person to be free. Kylie realized that the other followers wanted to touch Him, so she backed up as others reached out, hugged Joshua, and cried. After everyone hugged Joshua, they sat down as before.

            They all had a thousand questions. But everyone had one question first. “Why did you choose to suffer?” Joshua sat with the followers and announced, “In my lessons, I taught you about the terrible cost of sin. If you had a child who had a deadly disease, what would you do to save the child from death?”

            Boaz said, “I’d die for my son.”

            Joshua began, “I lovingly created all people, put the greatest gifts within each person, but the only way to allow sinful people to enter Heaven was to cure their sin.” Joshua looked at all his friends. “I paid the penalty for everyone who would accept the payment—the charges are all listed as paid- in full to the account of Joshua, the Son of God. As proof that the payment was accepted, I stand before you alive after the worst Stan could offer. God’s power blew the stone away—not so I could get out, but so you, my friends, could go inside and see the truth.

            “Kylie, if a judge made a ruling that a blatantly guilty murderer should be freed because except for that one murder, he was a good person, would that be a just ruling? How should the victim feel about that justice?”

            Kylie said, “That form of justice would make a mockery of the judicial system.” 

            “Deborah, if someone committed a crime against your family member, would you want justice?” 

            Deborah looked confused. “I often had to determine what punishment was just.” 

            Joshua looked at Deborah, “Would you be able to judge someone guilty, if before the person entered your courtroom, a rich relative paid the fine and served the punishment?” 

            She responded, “If the debt and penalty were paid, I couldn’t charge the person.” 

            Joshua said, “Everyone who applies the salvation I bought with my life can’t be charged with a crime, because a rich relative paid the debt in full. The price of sin is paid in full.”

            Joshua looked at Kylie, “In your culture, can someone who kills 16 people die 16 times?”

            Kylie said, “No, the penalties would be served concurrently or at the same time. It doesn’t decrease the punishment, but they pay each day for every one of the crimes.” 

            Joshua said, “I concurrently paid for all the people who would choose to apply my paid-in-full sacrifice to their debt. If they live most of their life and refuse to apply the debt but, at their last breath, accept my payment for their sins, they will enter Heaven. The problem is nobody knows how long they will live. Every person who dies from an accident thinks there is more time, and that daily choice leads to the only place for those who reject God’s payment for their sin. Their debt is still in arrears and overdue. God never sentences them to Hell; they sentence themselves by their choice.

            “The pain you saw Me endure was the pain meant for you as the price for your sins. I freely absorbed that pain, so you will not ever have to. As My followers, you will never experience that pain and sorrow. God’s justice was satisfied by My obedient suffering.

            “Now, gather all the items, carry them, and flee to the mountain’s safety. If you have the faith and courage, meet me at the well tomorrow morning; just follow Kylie. You will find the reward for all your suffering.” Then Joshua disappeared.

            After Joshua left, they heard a small knock on the door, and they were afraid to open it. They heard a familiar voice, “Is anyone there, we have some food and supplies for you. There is nobody with us. They’re all passed out, drunk.” The friends looked at Kylie for wisdom. Kylie nodded, and they carefully unblocked and opened the door for Michal and Peninnah. They walked in carrying huge bundles of food and jars of water. “We just wanted to tell you what they are planning. We thought what happened was wrong, but we were too scared to help. There was nothing we could do anyway.”

            They walked to Kylie who was standing where Joshua just stood and proclaimed, “Stan has special plans for you to make you the town harlot. He will humiliate you beyond words. Even if you run to the mountains, he will pursue you. We’re sorry.” They looked at their friends, “How can you look so joyful after what happened? Stan is going to make a mockery of Joshua’s death.”

            The friends couldn’t help but say, “Joshua isn’t dead. He IS alive. He was standing here in front of us!”

            Michal and Peninnah said, “We understand you are mourning, but we have to warn you, Stan’s on the warpath!”

            Kylie said, “I was the first to go to the cave. You know that stone was too heavy for anyone to move, much less one person alone. We were all in there when we buried him and put the ointments on him in the cave, but when I went to the cave this morning, the huge stone was blown off, and the wrappings were there without his body. When we buried him, the linen had no image of him. It was pure white, but when I moved the linen covering this morning, there was a clear image on the sheet with no body. His tallit, which we carefully placed around his head, was folded neatly in the corner of the shelf where we placed his body. He’s not dead, He’s really alive.”

            Michal and Peninnah looked at these people who seemed senseless. “Please don’t say we didn’t warn you. We’ll try to keep them from you today, but we can’t keep them drunk forever.”