04/16/2023
Easter morning has come and gone, and the tomb of Jesus stands empty; the sorrow of Good Friday, and the solemn silence of the sealed tomb is behind us... Jesus Has Risen! We are standing at the pinnacle of our faith. Can we carry it forth with us always; even into the valleys of life?
“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.”
John 12:36 ESV
So often we find ourselves on a spiritual mountaintop where all is good and we feel the close communion with the Lord, only to return to our past lives and their mundane hopes when we descend, but on Easter day Jesus rose and we have been offered a place as the sons of light! Once accepted, how can we ever be less again?
This morning I read the following words of Oswald Chambers and they thrilled me. He is speaking of our decision to follow Jesus and how the hour of his resurrection is our "high hour" in Him.
"Don't cave in because you have been baffled once, get at it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by your own act. Never revise your decisions, but see that you make your decisions in the light of the high hour." - Oswald Chambers
Paul writes of this "high hour" in his letter to the Ephesians. As we read his words, we must ask ourselves... how can we possibly believe that Jesus is risen and ever return to the mundane life we lived before we accepted that knowledge as truth?
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV
We read in the Holy Word about the miracles and deeds of Jesus, and if for no other reason we come to believe in Him than by our faith in the fact that these things are true... then that would be enough, but on Easter morning the stone was rolled away, and we found that He had risen. On that morning His life’s actions and suffering were found to have been transformed by the grace of God, and we see that He has not only given Himself as the Lamb of God to redeem us, but by His own resurrection, to resurrect us.
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”
John 14:11 ESV
So why is it that we can leave unfinished those things that we have been asked to do? How can we justify our living for anything other than Him? If His life is truth, and his redemption is fact, then our dedication to Him should be unshakeable... and yet we wander. Our human shortcomings need to be overcome and in the face of weakness we need to turn once again toward the cross; we need to gaze into the empty tomb, and place our fingers into His wounds. In this, our faith will be invigorated and our lax dedication to Him shored up.
Jesus Christ has risen and we are saved, washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, and by grace we are not only redeemed, but will be resurrected just as He was. Blooming forth from God’s love for us we find that a sacrifice was made, and a promise was kept. Are we prepared to accept this as fact, and hold fast to it for all eternity?
Prayer:
Father, on this day of grace, and victory, I thank you. I praise you and lift up the name of Jesus; my savior; your Son. Without blemish He offered Himself for me, and on Easter Day those years ago, He arose from death to seal victory over the sins of the world. I have wept for His suffering, but today I shout His name towards the east and feel the joy of the Spirit welling up in me. His love for me is unmatched, and yet I try to love Him in kind. All I have to offer Him falls short, but my greatest possession is my love, and standing here before the empty tomb, I lay it at His feet. Holy is the name of Jesus, and praised always are you who are full of grace and mercy. This day, Easter Day, will be remembered forever as my "high hour" of faith, and in it I resolve myself to serve you forevermore. Christ's words have now been realized, your will has been done in Him, and eternal life stands before me as a delivered promise, and a New Covenant. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, and I pray unto you “Come quickly Lord Jesus.”
Rich Forbes
“"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 ESV