Wow. We’ve waited all week for this day! Hallelujah, Christ has risen! I’m glad you are back. Yesterday’s blog was a rough read, but we made it through some tough questions and the gruesome reality of Christ’s death. Today, we get to celebrate our Risen Savior! Read the Good News with me below…
Matthew 28: 1-6
1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Jesus fulfilled every prophecy about Himself in the Old Testament. He came. He saw. He conquered! We now have the privilege of eternal life with Jesus -the Rock who totally rocks!!
Enjoy this day! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, rest in the blessed assurance, the promise, of all of the good things to come in heaven where thieves cannot steal and rust and moths cannot destroy. Both now and forever we will never again experience separation from God. Our sins have been pardoned, and the debt we owed has been paid. We are free to enjoy an abundant life! More than what I could write today, I want to offer Jesus’ own prayer for you. A prayer He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane right before He was arrested. Sit back. Breathe deeply. Breathe in the words of our living, risen Christ. His prayer for you and for me…
John 17: 20-26 – Jesus prayers for all believers
20 “My prayer is not for (the disciples) alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Jesus – our King, Savior, Brother, Friend. He is awesome, mighty and loving. Commune with Him today. Thank Him for His sacrifice. Praise Him for His works. Worship Him for who He is. Remember your roots today. As a believer, our lives are not our own. We have been bought with a price; ransomed from death; saved from our sins. As Paul wrote in Galatians…
Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
As we move about our day today and for all of our days to come, we need to think, speak and behave as those who really are citizens of another Kingdom; not of this world. We should be different from the world, so others look at us and wonder what it is that we have – indeed it is Christ’s salvation that we should share. I recall something Priscilla Shirer once said in a Bible study. She quoted her father’s words, which are so fitting for today. Remember who you are – and Whose you are.
We carry the cross in our hearts and it should remain on our minds. We have also been given the freedom to radically enjoy this life that God has planned for us. Let’s thank our Lord Jesus for all He suffered through and for keeping His promise and rising from the dead. He is the real deal. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Praise Him! Happy Easter! 🙂
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Real. Deep. Stuff. 
Asking questions are in fact good thing if you are not understanding something completely, however this post provides fastidious understanding even.
Thank you, and thank you for writing! It’s a huge encouragement to me.