He Arose!

Sunday, April 12, 2020, is when Easter is recognized across the world. While some may not celebrate Easter, it is still important to recognize that this is when many people celebrate the resurrection of Christ. As Christians, we know that this is a cornerstone of our faith. Paul even said in 1 Corinthians 15:16-19 that if Christ had not been raised then we are still in our sins, the people who have died in Christ have perished, and we are of all people most to be pitied. In the Church we do recognize and celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus every week by partaking of the Lord’s Supper, but when was the last time you truly reflected on the resurrection of Christ and what it means for you?
There are a lot of things that we can think of when it comes to the resurrection of Christ and our lives, but I feel that the first should be that we now have a new life, not in the flesh, but in the spirit with God. This is an important aspect of what we achieve through the resurrection of Christ. Reading Romans 8 will show us that there is no condemnation for those in Christ and that we now have a future home with everlasting glory. Because of these things, Paul says in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Another thing that comes from the resurrection of Christ is that we have forgiveness of our sins because of the blood that Jesus shed. When we look at the Old Testament we see that the people of Israel were to offer blood sacrifices in order to have the forgiveness of their sins, but in the New Testament, we see that Christ offered a perfect sacrifice once for all of mankind. Hebrews 10 shows us that Jesus offered that perfect sacrifice because nothing else could atone for the sins of the people. Had it not been for Jesus being that sacrifice that rose again, we would still be lost in our sins and have nowhere to go for forgiveness.
One last thing that I want to bring up is that the resurrection of Jesus gives us a family of faith that is stronger and bigger than we could imagine. Hebrews 12:1-2 says “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The writer of this book wants us to realize that all the people he talked about in the previous chapter are there encouraging us to press on and to live by our faith.
When we live our lives, we are to obey the commands of Jesus and to follow Him no matter what our opinion is on the matter. Whatever we do must be to the glory of God and show others the faith that we have in the resurrection of his son.