Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. Easter is a wonderful day. It is a day of joy and happiness.
Let's just look back on the events of Holy Week. Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. He then went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus asked if possible that this cup might pass from Him. But, then He said the words, "Not my will, but thine be done." After this, Jesus was betrayed, and then He was brought before the Sanhedrin and Pilate.
What Jesus went through on the cross was horrible. What suffering Jesus endured as He bore our sins in His body on the cross. He did it because He loved us, and He wanted to make atonement for our sins.
After the events of Good Friday, just think of the despair that must have filled the hearts of Jesus' followers. For the last three years they had faithfully followed Jesus. Then, the unthinkable happened. Jesus was crucified, dead and in the grave.
Many of Jesus' followers probably wondered what they would do now. They probably wondered how they would put their lives back together now that the one in whom they'd placed all their hopes was gone.
When the women went to the tomb on Easter morning, they weren't expecting Jesus to be alive. They weren't expecting the stone to be rolled away or that an angel would say, " He is not here, He is risen."
They should have been expecting it because Jesus made it clear that although He would die on the cross, He would rise again to new life.
If you remember, I gave a message about the sign of Jonah. Jesus said that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so to would He be in the grave three days and three nights.
Even though His followers weren't expecting the resurrection, their sorrow was soon turned to joy when Jesus made multiple appearances to His disciples. The Apostle Paul said that Jesus appeared to the apostles, James, and to over five hundred other witnesses.
I know that because of Jesus' resurrection I can have joy in my heart even though the world is a very hard place for me right now. It is an ultimate joy. The last several years have been willed with a lot of hardship and sorrow. And things aren't really getting any easier.
I can have joy because Jesus is alive, and because He lives I will be with Him forever. Because Jesus is alive, I will be reunited with my parents again one day. They believed in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Although they are gone, they are alive in Heaven with Jesus. One of these days when I pass away, I will be with Jesus, my parents, and my friend Toby. All of this is possible because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, this life is not all that there is. In the world we live in today, the wicked are rewarded and the righteous are often persecuted. In the world today, it seems as if evil is everywhere and the forces of good are in retreat.
However, because Jesus rose from the grave He will return to earth again in glorious victory. One day, all things will be made right. The righteous will be rewarded, and the Kingdom of God will have no end.
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. May the name of Jesus Christ be praised both now and forevermore. Amen.
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