What do you think of Easter? A time of spring flowers and green shoots, of bunnies and lambs, of chocolate eggs and family get-togethers, and this year, the added bonus of a ‘breakout from lockdown’?
For Christians, for those people who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, who know and love Him as their Friend and Saviour, Easter is a most wonderful time in the calendar. We remember that God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus, not only died on the cross in our place, taking the punishment for our sins, so we might be forgiven, but His resurrection followed. That is worthy of loud celebration ~
Jesus is Alive!
The Christian faith strongly stands in unique and joyful isolation, in stark contrast to other world faiths. No other world-wide system of belief can say that their founder is alive. We have graveyards and cemeteries scattered throughout the world and thousands of people spend vast sums of money in pilgrimages to the graves of religious leaders who have died.
But there is no grave of Jesus ~ the tomb is empty ~
for God the Father raised Jesus triumphantly from the grave,
victorious over sin, death, hell and Satan.
Jesus was impaled on the Roman cross, was truly dead, and His lifeless corpse was buried in a rock grave guarded by soldiers to stop the theft of His body, entombed for 3 days and 3 nights.
“But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death,
because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him”
Our Heavenly Father demonstrated His acceptance of the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus gave in offering up His life in our place. The empty grave clearly shows beyond doubt that the Lord God and He alone has the power and authority to deal with our sin, to forgive us, to give us a new life and a fresh, clean start in harmonious relationship with Himself, as He originally designed and created us to be.
You see, the Christian faith is not built on some flimsy philosophy, dreamt up by sinful man; nor on theoretical teachings from supposed ‘angelic beings’; nor on fantastic fables drawn from irrational revelations from unknown sources; nor on non-scientific theories derived from demonic delusions.
The Christian faith is founded on the truth of God Himself and built on the continuing life and teachings of His only Son, the Lord Jesus, Who is not dead, but is alive … forevermore.
Just before the Lord Jesus demonstrated His power and authority over death, by restoring life to Lazarus, He spoke to the dead man’s sister Martha, saying:
‘I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies;
and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’
That is the truth of Easter; the good news of hope and assurance; of life after death for all who believe and put their faith in the Lord Jesus. What is your answer to that question: ‘Do you believe this?’
Remember, there were two convicted criminals crucified alongside Jesus. One of them rejected the Lord, hurling insults upon Him. But the other criminal rebuked the first one, for he recognised that Jesus was a sinless man. He acknowledged his own sin and repented. Just before he died, he heard these wonderful words from the lips of our Lord: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise”
Do you know the Lord Jesus? He is not dead but alive!
I pray that you will know the hope, assurance, security and joy of walking with the Living Jesus, for ever.
Ron Brickman