“And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.'” – Luke 24:5-6a
What a moment! To go to the tomb of Jesus, where you’d seen Him buried with your own eyes, and to hear from angels that He was no longer dead but had risen to life. Try to imagine that moment for yourself. You would have heard Jesus predict this was going to happen, but you never understand or took Him seriously. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, you saw Him die on a cross painfully with your own eyes. Your grief, loss, and despair had been overwhelming for days. But in that moment, everything changed! Everything Jesus had said was completely true! Jesus was dead. Jesus is alive.
This is the heart of everything we believe as followers of Jesus. The reality of the Resurrection of Jesus means everything to us. It means that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice and it was sufficient to pay the penalty for all our sins. It means that there is life after death for all who are in Christ. It means that everything Jesus taught and prophesied is trustworthy and true. It means that Jesus truly is the Son of God, fully God and fully human. It means that Satan has already lost and that God is truly sovereign and supreme. It means that God’s grace is truly greater than our sin.
It’s good for Christians to not only superficially celebrate the Resurrection but to really think about it carefully from time to time. Jesus laid down His life for us. Then He took it up again just as He promised. Jesus conquered what we fear more than anything: death. He defeated death which is the terrible price of sin. By His glorious resurrection, Jesus has broken the power of sin and death over our lives. We’ve been set free to live a life pleasing to God in Christ’s power. When we trust in Jesus, His reality becomes our future, as we will also rise from death. What a moment!!!