Resurrection Sunday: Jesus is Alive

Good evening everyone. It’s a privilege to be with you for another devotion as always. It is especially good to be with you today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The events of that first resurrection Sunday give us incredible hope and joy and ultimately the hope of new life for all who trust in the person and work of Jesus. So join us as we reflect on the events of that first Easter Sunday and the hope we have as followers of Jesus because He is alive!

The resurrection is the second half of the Easter story. On Good Friday, we remember Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. He took on all our sin and shame and bore the punishment we deserved. Our God traded places with us on that day. He, the perfect sinless saviour became sin for us so that, through trusting in Him we can become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus told His disciples numerous times throughout His life that He would suffer and die and that three days later he would rise again. Jesus had to rise again to fulfil what had been prophesied about Him in scripture and, as we will talk about later in today’s devotion to secure our eternities.

Matthew 28:1-15

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

 

Just think for a moment if Jesus hadn’t risen from the grave. You see, early on Sunday morning when the two Mary’s made their way to the tomb, they didn’t expect to find an empty tomb even though Jesus had told them He must rise again. It was God’s plan from the very beginning- Jesus was never to remain dead.

When they arrived, the Angel knew they were looking for Jesus but the women we told He was no longer dead and in the grave but alive.

Have no doubt that Jesus died on that Good Friday- He didn’t become unconscious or fall into a coma. He was dead, then buried and His grave was sealed with a stone.

Jesus was raised back to life on Easter Sunday morning by the power of God. It was an incredible statement that He truly was God who had come to save His people.

For us as humans, the idea of someone being resurrected or raised to life is quite mind blowing. We know that we can’t raise ourselves back to life as mortal beings. But because Jesus was God in the human flesh, it meant He could be resurrected.

If we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and believe that He died for our sins and rose again, we can have the hope of resurrection on the last day when Jesus comes again.

When we die, this life is not the end. If we are following Jesus, we know with certainty there is eternal life with Him to come.

Have a look at what Jesus says in this in the earlier part of John’s Gospel after He learns Lazarus has died.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus says to Martha and to each of us that He is the resurrection and the life. If we believe in who Jesus says He is and what He has done, we will live eternally even though we die at the end of this life.

So, Jesus resurrection on that first Easter Sunday is something to rejoice in. Jesus is alive and He now reigns at the right hand of God in Heaven.

Just as the women were full of joy as they went to tell the disciples that Jesus was now alive, we can also experience that same joy as followers of Jesus. We will also be raised to new and eternal life and will spend eternity with Him and His people if we are trusting in His death and resurrection.

So this Resurrection Sunday, let’s praise God because He has raised Jesus to life and that the same hope of new life now awaits us. He is victorious over sin, death and evil.

You might be thinking well I believe Jesus rose from the dead but why is His resurrection so important?

The events of the resurrection are crucial to what we believe as Christians, so important in fact that Paul talks about this very topic very plainly and in some depth in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. Have a read of what He says.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Jesus’ resurrection is so important that it forms the very foundations of the christian faith. Paul says; “and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile”. Paul speaks very bluntly in this passage but it is important to be clear on just how important the resurrection of Jesus is.

If Jesus is still dead, then frankly we are wasting our time, we are still in our sins and we don’t have any hope. That is a frightening thought. We can thank God that this isn’t the case!

However, we know from the historical account in The Gospels, the eye-witness testimonies, the archaeological evidence and more, that Jesus, without a doubt was resurrected and is alive. It is a fact of history.

It is because Jesus is alive that we are not wasting our time trusting in Jesus. He is the one and only way to be saved. No one can come to The Father but through Jesus.

We have hope for this life and the next because Jesus, our Lord and God lives and offers us the hope of eternal life if we place our trust in Him.

Jesus, who is God incarnate was crucified for the sins of you and I. He was raised to life on the third day and now He lives and is our living hope.

This Resurrection Sunday, I want to leave you once again with Jesus’ words from John 11:25. 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Let’s rejoice in our risen Lord today!

God Bless,

The Faith Filled Friends