He Lives
He is risen! Jesus defeated death and rose from his grave. What must it have been like for those closest to him? They witnessed with their own eyes his very brutal murder. They wept for him and wondered what the future would hold. They were torn between their love for him and fear for their own lives. In those hours between the evening of his death and the morning of his resurrection, they were laid low in their grief and uncertainty. How can we begin to imagine what they felt and experienced when they realized he was alive? Not dead. Not buried. Not gone. Alive and present.
Jesus, the man, their teacher, their friend, had become their Savior and King. Not the king they thought he would be, as they were merely hoping for a restored Israel and a nation no longer oppressed by a Roman government. Now, he was proposing to be the king of their hearts and their inmost secrets and longings.
It would be as the prophet foretold: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:31-33 ESV)
Not only did He save us from sin and death, He saved us to a new life and made a way for us live in the power of His resurrection. What does this mean? We still live in a fallen and corruptible world, but we are now of a different realm, and we bring the beauty, peace and righteousness of that other realm into the world we share. It changes how we live, how we relate, how we mourn and how we celebrate.
Yes, life is messy and relationships are challenging. We stand, however, on God’s promise that we have everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3) The fruit of the Spirit bringing the sweet nourishment of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control….” (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)
Dear one, where in your life today do you need to see His resurrection power? What dry bones need to live again? “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB)
May you know the truth of His redemption and the power of His redeeming love. May the God of all creation make His face to shine upon you and give you peace. May the King of Glory sit on the throne of your heart, to the praise of the Father.
Until next week, beloved, live in the breath-taking knowledge that your Redeemer lives.