This weekend we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While Easter is going to look quite a bit different this year as we are staying home to lower the incidence of COVID-19, we still rejoice! We rejoice because nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. “Neither death nor life, angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love” (Rom. 8:38). And God’s love is seen most clearly, most spectacularly, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
This week, instead of giving you some of my own thoughts about Easter and resurrection, I thought we would let Scripture speak to us about this amazing reality. I encourage you to read these verses slowly and meditatively. Allow the truth to wash over you, and see how it inspires worship and thanksgiving to rise up in your heart.
Isaiah 25.8: "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces."
Isaiah 53.5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; on him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his stripes we are healed."
John 11.25-26: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
1 Corinthians 15.21-22: "For as by a man came death, by a man has come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."
1 Peter 1.3: "According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
Romans 6.4: "...just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."
1 Corinthians 6.14: "God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power."
Friends, Jesus is alive! And because he lives, we too are raised up by his power. We walk in newness of life. We have a living hope. We know that, in the midst of the chaos of this world and this pandemic, God is in control and he has done something about it. Though we will all die, all who call on the name of Jesus as Lord will be made alive!