FROM DEATH TO VICTORIOUS LIFE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered His words.

Luke 24:1-8          

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The man who had been hailed as the coming King of Israel just a week earlier (John 12:13) was dying a criminal’s death on the cross under derision by those gathered (Matthew 27:39-44). The Jewish authorities, longing to rid themselves of someone they saw as a threat to their positions of religious prominence had gotten their wish after convincing the Romans to do the execution dirty work for them. They thought it all would end by killing Jesus but it was far from over. The crucifixion was just the beginning.

This should have come as no surprise to anyone for Jesus said it would happen as He foretold His fate during His ministry:

When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.” Matthew 17:22-23

On the third day, He will be raised to life.

Today, Easter is that third day and we pause to celebrate our risen Savior Jesus. For just as He promised, He would be resurrected from the grave into victorious life and in doing so, He created the pathway to God the Father for anyone who would place their faith, hope, and trust in Him, following His way, His truth, and His life (John 14:6).

In other words, Jesus’ rising from death to victorious life brought the same to all who would believe in Him, all as a result of God’s love for His people (John 3:16). Several scripture passages validate this truth. Look first at these words of John, the one who Jesus loved:

Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:4-5

And then the words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the church in Corinth:

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Indeed, when we, the perishable and mortal, place our belief in Jesus as Savior, then we become clothed with Him and receive the promise of imperishability and immortality. Death no longer becomes the end for us but only the glorious beginning of life with God the Father and Jesus His Son. Jesus took away the sting of death and disempowered sin by bearing it on Calvary’s cross, swallowing up demise in victory. He overcame the world and so will we one day because as Christians, we are victorious already. That’s the good news of Easter, that Jesus has risen to victory over the grave and given us the opportunity to do likewise.

This makes our response to Easter easy. For we, like Paul, can and should proclaim, “Thanks be to God! For gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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