All across this world, the hymns are ringing out... “Up From the Grave He Arose…” ... “Christ the Lord is Risen Today…” – singing out the Good News of Jesus’ triumph over death. He is Risen Indeed!
But you know, friends, just as Jesus did not begin in a manger in Bethlehem, He did not end in a sepulcher outside of Jerusalem. He is holy, eternal God. As the second person of the trinity, Jesus was there at creation, “Let us create man in our image…” Gen. 1:26 . In fact Scripture tells us He was the agent of creation, “But by Him all things were created.” John 1:3 (see also John 1:10 and Col. 1:16).
And Scripture tells us also that Jesus will be there at the end of this world and beyond. When eternity is fast fading into eternity, Jesus will be there, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev. 22:13)
Christ lives.
The manger stands empty, the cross stands empty, and the tomb stands empty!
A few days after Calvary, Jesus’ disciples were defying the world with a message of victory. They were not the same, and never were again. Jesus, come from the grave with a new body, had promised them His presence, had returned to the Father, and had sent them the Holy Spirit. No other explanation can account for the early Church.
Look at Peter denying Jesus in the wee hours before dawn on the day of Christ’s crucifixion. He is too timid to admit to a maid that he is one of the disciples. Then look at Peter in Acts 2, preaching his first sermon before a crowd of 3,000 with power and conviction, unafraid and bold. That is the work of a man sure of his message, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living for eternity.
Jesus is not simply a distant memory. He lives. He is healing broken bodies through prayer and also through consecrated physicians and nurses. He is ministering through the slums by the Salvation Army. He is teaching the word through faithful pastors in pulpits across the land; and He is loving our neighbors through the lives of millions of ordinary Christians.
We must remember that at the very heart of our faith stands a person. He is living, eternal, and available. The altogether lovely, the real, living Jesus is waiting, wanting to have a relationship with each of us, and to affect this world for God’s kingdom through our hearts and our hands! There is no greater purpose, no greater calling, than that!
The good news? The good news is that Jesus came to die for your sin and mine, and that He triumphed over death. But it doesn’t end there. The good news continues. The good news lives. Praise His holy name – He Lives!
He is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!
Cara & Patti
Classic Christianity
But you know, friends, just as Jesus did not begin in a manger in Bethlehem, He did not end in a sepulcher outside of Jerusalem. He is holy, eternal God. As the second person of the trinity, Jesus was there at creation, “Let us create man in our image…” Gen. 1:26 . In fact Scripture tells us He was the agent of creation, “But by Him all things were created.” John 1:3 (see also John 1:10 and Col. 1:16).
And Scripture tells us also that Jesus will be there at the end of this world and beyond. When eternity is fast fading into eternity, Jesus will be there, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev. 22:13)
Christ lives.
The manger stands empty, the cross stands empty, and the tomb stands empty!
A few days after Calvary, Jesus’ disciples were defying the world with a message of victory. They were not the same, and never were again. Jesus, come from the grave with a new body, had promised them His presence, had returned to the Father, and had sent them the Holy Spirit. No other explanation can account for the early Church.
Look at Peter denying Jesus in the wee hours before dawn on the day of Christ’s crucifixion. He is too timid to admit to a maid that he is one of the disciples. Then look at Peter in Acts 2, preaching his first sermon before a crowd of 3,000 with power and conviction, unafraid and bold. That is the work of a man sure of his message, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living for eternity.
Jesus is not simply a distant memory. He lives. He is healing broken bodies through prayer and also through consecrated physicians and nurses. He is ministering through the slums by the Salvation Army. He is teaching the word through faithful pastors in pulpits across the land; and He is loving our neighbors through the lives of millions of ordinary Christians.
We must remember that at the very heart of our faith stands a person. He is living, eternal, and available. The altogether lovely, the real, living Jesus is waiting, wanting to have a relationship with each of us, and to affect this world for God’s kingdom through our hearts and our hands! There is no greater purpose, no greater calling, than that!
The good news? The good news is that Jesus came to die for your sin and mine, and that He triumphed over death. But it doesn’t end there. The good news continues. The good news lives. Praise His holy name – He Lives!
He is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!
Cara & Patti
Classic Christianity
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