“We live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3 NLT
“The resurrection shouts truth with clarity and certainty over every question, doubt, and fear.”
My thoughts today are about “life and death, hope and despair.”
You probably try not to think much about death, until something happens along the way that does not allow that luxury to continue. Most don’t like to talk about death, or even think about it. It is more pleasant to ignore that undesired eventuality as much and as long as you can. But you are mortal; no matter how you suppress and disguise that fact. No one lives forever. And death is that unavoidable reality; you just don’t know how or when. “No one can live forever; all will die. No one can escape the power of the grave.” Psalm 89:48 NLT.
Now that sounds grim, doesn’t it? Death is grim, and unpleasant, and unnatural to us. “That by His death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-16 NIV. You were created to be eternal, as your Creator is. Sin introduced death, not God. (See Romans 5:12-19 NIV). The dread of death causes despair because sin causes death. That was true at man’s origin, and it is true now. (See Genesis 2:15-17 NLT).
But then came Easter morning! Day’s earlier, harsh realities replaced dreams and hopes the followers of Jesus held, challenging everything they believed about faith and the future. Despair shoved hope aside. They stumbled ” back home,” back to life as it had been; to pick up what little seemed left – broken, bewildered, and discouraged.
Things they thought possible before felt impossible now. Things sure to them days before now posed troubling questions. You will face times when life is hard and you feel like turning around. You will ask yourself, “What’s the use?” Something will seem to have erased your future, but little do you know what God is up to.
That’s why Easter is such a hope-filled time. Christ’s resurrection validates His power over death – that Jesus is the Lord of life, the conqueror of death. “But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was not possible for death to keep its hold on Him.” Acts 2:24 NIV. Resurrection is the demonstration of God’s power, conquering your worst and last enemy; everything else you may ever face is minor for God to do. In Christ you can “live with a wonderful expectation” (1 Peter 1:3 NLT), filled with hope not despair, enjoying life not fearing death. It is yours to choose.
Easter is more than a fact of history; Easter is the truth of a current event, more relevant to your well-being than today’s headlines. Easter makes sense of everything that has not made any sense at all. The empty Garden tomb made sense of the agony of Gethsemane and the cruelty of Calvary. The Resurrection introduced possibilities beyond anything His followers had previously imagined when standing in the darkening shadow of the cross that day. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection made every impossibility before become a glorious possibility now.
His Resurrection shouted truth with clarity and certainty over every question, doubt, and fear. And Easter can do the same for you today. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees yours. Death will not be the last word. Life is the final word spoken over you – life now and life everlasting. Meanwhile, God gives you a “living hope” in which to live.
My prayer for you is: live with excitement and expectancy rooted in God’s goodness.