We just celebrated Resurrection Sunday. It is the hallmark of Christianity, and the story keeps on giving encouragement and guidance for those who are searching for spiritual fulfillment.
The lesson which must be told is Jesus the Christ crucified and buried in a tomb (Luke 23:33) and Christ risen (Luke 24:5-6). It is the foundation of Christian joy, for we once were lost in sin and now we are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
Genesis 3 tells how man transgressed against God and caused all generations that follow to be out of a right relationship with God. Even in man’s disobedience, God still had a plan for man because we are made in His image. As God pronounced the punishment for man’s transgression and Satan’s web of lies and deceit, He promised a redeemer through the “seed of a woman.” He said that Satan would bruise his heel and we see Christ before he was crucified, bruised, beaten and made fun of. But God said that the “seed of a woman” would bruise Satan’s head. Here we are today celebrating and being thankful that the tomb is empty!
Hebrew 2:14: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The tomb was empty!
Through his resurrection, Jesus Christ, the first fruit, has taught a lesson that still guides us even now as we continue to be mindful that there is a gulf between the seeds of righteousness and the seed of the devil. There is a great animosity between evil and righteousness. We don’t like the devil and he doesn’t like us!
The two Mary’s went to the tomb looking for a dead Christ, and they did not find him. Instead of finding Jesus, they found a representative of the Lord who pointed to an empty “burial slab.” The message was delivered by an agent that could not be denied or doubted. Just as the holy messengers showed up in a field while a group of shepherds were watching their sheep, this messenger could not be doubted.
Sometimes in our vulnerability, we listen to the wrong messenger. The messengers may look like or speak like they are messengers from God, but my Bible tells me that before you go, before you follow, before you lend to the rhetoric are dangerous antics that they suggest, test it. Is that what the Bible really says?
The angel in the Scripture not only looked the part, but he said, “He has risen, just as he said he would.” From the empty tomb, the women were instructed first by the Messenger of God to “go tell.” They then met Jesus along the way and they received a powerful double dose of “go tell.”
We can receive that message to live more fully today. Because Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (Romans 4:25), we are justified before God and are reconciled to God. We can step into a right relationship with God.
When Jesus arose, all power in heaven and earth was given unto him and we can present ourselves and all our issues before God.
