In Matthew 28:6, scripture captures the account of the risen Christ this way: “But the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”
On the first Sunday after Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and another Mary had come to the tomb where Jesus was laid. An angel met them there and told them He was not there, that He was risen from the grave. That is the essence of what we acknowledge as Easter Sunday, the day that Jesus was raised from the dead. Everyone should be happy that He indeed was raised to live again at the right hand of God and in the middle of our hearts.
Jesus told the disciples many times that He would be crucified and buried and on the third day, He would be raised again. So, the empty tomb was the proof of that. He said it; so now if they didn’t believe it before, they should believe it now. Jesus said it; so the question is do you believe it? But more than acknowledging or celebrating Easter as just a special day, I want to encourage you to be inspired to hear and to be moved by many other things He said, and thus we should believe.
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He said it; do you believe it? To many of us never leaving and never forsaking are Words that we miss the true meaning, so let’s give that some meaning today. Perhaps the Lord is saying to us, “I am risen because I want you to know I will walk with you; I will go with you; I will be at your side always, and you can count on the fact that once I am with you I will never leave you alone nor will I ever forsake you.” To forsake you would be akin to more than just leaving you by yourself but to leave you to yourself. The Lord is saying to us that we can count on Him always walking with us, and that He will never leave us to ourselves. Now that is a benefit of His being risen for which we should overflow with gratefulness. He said it; do you believe it?
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him.” He said it; do you believe it? Many of us do not understand Love the way Jesus describes it. In our carnality we have come to understand love as a compilation of acts towards others. But God is Love. And because He is love He does loving things. Jesus is saying to us here that if we are Love towards Him, we will do the loving thing of keeping His word. And when we are this, God the Father will, in return, be Love to us. Love is what took Christ to the cross. Love is what allowed Him to go to the grave. Love is what raised Him from the dead. And love is what saved us. Easter is then to me the expression of Love that loves. If you can see that then perhaps you should use this as a reason to become Love so that your acts of love come from the love that you are. He said it; do you believe it?
“In my Father’s house there are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told. I go to prepare a place for you.” He said it; do you believe it? I know some of us can’t really understand what Jesus means when He says that He is preparing a place for us. But if you listen intently perhaps you would hear that He is saying that we are living more in the world when we should be living in the Spirit. We are wandering about in our living when He has a permanent home for us. We may be living in a place that keeps us from having an abundant life while He has prepared a home where all our living is abundant and beyond what we can imagine. When we learn to live with Jesus, we are not guaranteed we will be free of trials and some of the messiness of life, but we can be assured that we will be able to live through our trials and come out better than we were. He has a new address for the believer where your mess is turned into your best. The question is will we move. He said it; do you believe it?
So, this Easter lets look at the many things He said that we should believe. Lord, You said it; help us to believe it. Help us to believe the impossible because you have already shown us You do the impossible for us. Help us to believe in Your miracles because You have already shown us the miracle of the Risen Christ. Help us to believe that this mountain can be moved. Help us believe our chains can be broken because we know You move the impossible, and You are a chain breaker. There is Power in Your Name and in our believing for all the things that You have said. This Easter, help us believe not just that you were raised from the dead but in all that You have Said. Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 