It has been said that Easter is the most significant holiday. I agree. It is, after all, one of the two occasions during the year when more people than ever walk through the doors of a church, then leave and don’t return again until Christmas. But why?
For the born again Christ-follower, Easter means a joy that can’t be contained; a victory that can’t be taken away or overturned.
Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, is the basis for our hope. It is the power of God and the Gospel to save us with undeniable power. It shatters our despair. It is a blast of sunshine (or Sonshine, depending on how cheesy, VBS-y you feel) that overpowers any shadows, forever.
For the purpose of this post, I will assume that you know the basic Gospel message:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8
Easter changes everything.
The fact “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3b-4) is astonishing.
Jesus, God incarnate (Colossians 2:9) lived a life as a man on the earth, to show us how to live. He willingly died, wrongfully accused, the only sinless person to ever walk the earth, to pay the price for our sins. Then, to destroy our sins and subsequent death FOREVER, He was raised from the dead, asserting undeniable victory over sin and death.
Because of what He did, we have secured a place in God’s kingdom if we believe in Him. There are no words to describe how amazing that is.
This incredible truth could be denied or ignored, except for the pesky little fact that He was seen by many after He rose from the dead. Many that watched Him die, saw Him after He came back to life.
“He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” – 1 Corinthians 15:5-7
Those same people that saw the resurrected Christ, went on to write the New Testament, sharing what Christ had taught them, and how His life, death, and resurrection fit in perfectly with what was prophesied in the Old Testament.
“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” – 1 Peter 1:16
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” – 1 Peter 1: 20-21
For the Christian, Easter brings unbridled joy and hope fulfilled.
For the non-Christian, Easter should rightly bring a deep introspection into one’s own heart and soul and a terrifying realization that we cannot live as we choose, God is real and what He says in the Holy Bible are His words, and they are true.
On the other hand, those realizations are also the best news imaginable. It means that God made a way to restore our relationship with Him, through the work of Jesus Christ.
Happy Resurrection Sunday! He is risen!
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