Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ could not be contained even within a grave. He has paid the price for our sins by his death on the cross, and on the third day rose from the dead, that we might have eternal life. What a glorious event! What a marvelous message we have to share with the world! Even hundreds of years before his birth, these things were foretold:
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53 (emphasis on the resurrection in vs 10-11) NIV
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:9-11 NIV
When the disciples saw Jesus die, and he was placed in a grave, they must have been devastated. They had no hope of ever seeing their Lord alive again. But sometimes what appears to be hopeless is really not. We don't have God's perspective. I have a rose bush that was just a dead looking stump in my back yard when we moved here one year ago. I was anticipating digging it up, but much to my surprise, it eventually sprouted some green shoots. And now, there are two gorgeous red roses blooming on it! We must never lose hope in our Lord, that He is in control and has our life all handled, especially our eternal life!
May the Lord give us the courage and the strength to continually share the Good News with others! What more can be said?
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Written by Jan Andersen
No comments:
Post a Comment