On Sunday April 4, 2010, Christians around the world celebrated Easter. This holiday is the hallmark of the Christian faith, and culminates Holy Week and what is often called the Passion Week. This past Friday we reflected upon Good Friday, and on Sunday we celebrated Jesus’ bodily resurrection. I pray that this blog will lead you into a deeper sense of the significance of Good Friday and the first Easter.
Good Friday!
While many would argue that there was nothing good about this day; and while the world believes it is another ordinary day, for the Christian this day is central to our faith. My friends join me as I meditate on Christ’s horrible crucifixion and let us rejoice together because He bore our sins and iniquities. It is His death on the cross that purchased our redemption. Jesus Christ died in our place when He was crucified on the cross. I Peter 2:24 says, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” The Jews rejected Him, The Romans arrested and tried Him, the world condemned Him as a criminal, and He died for my sins and yours.
What is Jesus to you?
We deserved to be the ones placed on that cross to die, because we are the ones who live sinful lives. But Christ took the punishment on Himself in our place—He substituted Himself for us and took what we rightly deserved. He died and received the just punishment for our sins. Jesus Christ can change and redeem your past. There is no amount of sin that is too much for Him. You may find yourself in a bad situation, whether it be a bad relationship, a bad marriage, a divorce or even an insurmountable amount of pain from past failures and disappointments. You may be hopeless and depressed. Are you in a dead end situation? Listen and look up, Jesus Christ is alive and He is seated on His throne. Do not look at your dead situation but trust Him for He is still the answer!
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
Easter is the dawn of a new beginning in the life of those who are dead in sin. If Jesus were not resurrected we would be condemned to a sinners’ hell, and we would receive the wrath of a holy God. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ brings the hope of a better life, one that is forgiven and can be lived in the power of the resurrection.
On Good Friday we were able to put our past behind us, but through faith in Christ’s bodily resurrection we can live our lives today with the blessed hope of a brighter future and eternal life. The Apostle Paul writes, "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over 500 brethren at once..." (I Cor. 15:3-6, NKJV).
Where are you living your life?
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; what can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” The Apostle John writes, “the blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7); The Apostle Peter reminds us that you and I “…were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold...but from the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I... Peter 1:19-20). There is Power in the shed blood of Christ. Because of His sacrificial death my sins were nailed on the rugged cross; my past sins and failures were all nailed on that cross. As the Apostle Paul so eloquently puts it, “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen in Christ [those who had died as followers of Christ] have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are the most pitiable” (I Corinthians 15: 16-19). This is the conviction that we have, based on the reality of His sacrificial death and His bodily resurrection. This is the faith that overcomes the world, even our past sins.
So today, let us remember the Lord’s atoning death but most of all let us celebrate His triumphant resurrection. For He is risen! He was buried in the belly of the earth and rose again on the third day. So stop living in your past failures. Jesus Christ did not resurrect with your sins and failures. He eradicated your past completely! Those things behind you are in the past, for He nailed them to the cross. So confess your sins to Jesus the Christ today and ask Him to come live in you and give you eternal life (Romans 10:9-10; I john 1:9). This is the greatest news ever known to mankind! He is risen indeed and with Him I can face tomorrow!!!
