Sidney Herald
religion column published December 6, 2015
During World War II, Henry Kaiser, steel magnate and
shipbuilder, conceived the idea of a massive flying transport. He turned to
Howard Hughes to design and build it. It was 6 times larger than any aircraft of
its time. Beyond its size, creating this airplane was challenging because of
government restrictions on war materials like steel and aluminum.

The plane originally was designated the HK-1 for
Hughes-Kaiser, but even Kaiser withdrew from the project. The plane was
re-designated the H-4. But the press insisted on calling it the “Spruce Goose,”
despite its being made almost entirely of birch. It was their way to ridicule an
idea that would not get off the water.
But on November 2, 1947, during a taxi test, Hughes made an
unannounced decision to fly. With a co-pilot, several engineers, crewmen and
journalists on board, the Spruce Goose rose from the water and flew.
Jesus had his own Spruce Goose. It was his flogged,
crucified, and dead body. He said it would rise from the grave, and people
thought he was crazy or demon possessed.
In one of the four trials of Jesus, “Some rose up and bore
false witness against Him, saying, ‘We heard Him say, “I will destroy this
temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without
hands.’’” (Mark 14:58) He had not said, “made with hands.” He had said simply,
“this temple,” about the temple of his body. He meant that after his
crucifixion, death, and burial, on the third day he would rise in his body from
the grave.
Jesus said publicly that He “must suffer many things, and
be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly.” (Mark 8:31)
John tells us the value of this rising of Jesus in his body
from the grave. “When He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that
He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which
Jesus had said.” (John 2:19-22).
Because of the resurrection, they believed what Jesus had
said. His bodily resurrection showed that He knew what He was talking about. As
Hughes knew something about aeronautics, Jesus knows something about
resurrection. Christ’s resurrection assures us that his teaching is true.
The teaching is what Jesus told Martha. “I am the
resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall
live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25) The
Apostles “preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” (Acts 4:1) The
Church still preaches today that by faith in Christ, our sins may be forgiven