All tagged resurrection
As a writer I love words, but sometimes the silence between them reveals more of their truth and emotion than I can ever express, and I feel them more perfectly as I silently breathe in and out amidst their absence. Easter has always been like that for me. I find the heartfelt completeness of my relationship with God and Jesus Christ between each word of scripture as I breathe and the tears well up. Today is Easter, Resurrection Sunday, and my own words will be few.
On April ninth we concluded that we can, and should, find ourselves crucified with Jesus, so this morning we will ask ourselves another question... are we resurrected with Him as well, and what does that mean in our lives.
Baptism, it is a death and resurrection in our spiritual lives, but as I read my morning devotional (Oswald Chambers) regarding it, I began to think about how baptism is much more than a symbol... it is actual death.
Death is not a topic that we as people like to dwell on, but it is one of the central themes to us as Christians. It goes hand in hand with resurrection. We symbolically recognize this in our baptism by being immersed, or dying to our old selves, and it concludes with our being raised up out of the baptismal water, resurrected, to live as new creations. Without Jesus suffering, bleeding, and carrying our sin into death, then rising again righteous and glorified from the grave, what hope would we have of salvation and eternity? How would our sin have been absolved? The Angels sang in celebration at His birth, and all of heaven and earth stood still at the moment of His death, but we are not privy to what transpired in heaven at the moment of His resurrection; it remains a mystery to us now, just as it did then, and all we hear on this subject is divine silence. We do know that our sin died, and we weren’t made one with Him.
In communion we consume the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, and as often as we do so, we are told to remember Him, but what are our remembrances? Do we recall His miraculous birth, the Sermon on the Mount, a particular miracle, his passion, death, resurrection, the moment we first embraced Him, or are our thoughts drawn to His return, and how we will become one with Him just as in marriage we become one flesh with our earthly spouse? Do we recall the thought of this ethereal spiritual reunion, and how He has brought peace to a relationship that was once marred by hostility, and by our rampant pursuit of sin?
Easter is approaching and we will remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as we walk into this season, but we don’t do so by rending our clothing, and mourning His death alone; we also celebrate His rebirth, the resurrection! Remaining in grief and sorrow is to deny the will of God, and to negate Christ’s great obedience and love that was manifest in His death. The blood, and body of Jesus means little to us without the power that His resurrection brings. It is the difference between hope, and lost hope, eternal sorrow, and eternal joy. Do we choose then to remain on Calvary, or at the grave? I pray we don’t, because our Lord has risen, and He has claimed victory for us against all sin and death! Our faith is not based on mourning His death, but celebrating His life. How do we approach Calvary, and the death of those we love?
We fell from grace in the Garden of Eden, and yet God didn’t give up on us. He was merciful towards us, and continued to lead us, and teach us of the way to righteousness, and Himself; He showed us His love. Then, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us, and to defeat the sin that had found its home in us. Through Jesus, God returned to us the fruit of the tree of life which we lost long ago when driven from Eden. This tree is Jesus; It’s fruit is His body and the blood which we consume, and they restore to us the eternal life we once lost… we are given life through our faith, His grace, and the love of God.
During the life of Jesus leading up to the crucifixion He taught us many things, but in the forty days after His resurrection Jesus remained with His disciples and taught them, and us, about the kingdom of God. What a lesson it was. Today we look to the sky, and long for the second coming, we look forward to our resurrected bodies, meeting the likes of Moses and Elijah, walking through walls, our tears being dried, and so much more, but before this all occurs we have a few things to do. Are we ready?
The old and unrighteous in us dies, and the new sanctified person rises up. From the living waters of baptism springs forth the people of a new covenant, like babies they have been washed, and are lifted joyously for all to see. They have become an image of the Risen Christ, with the Words of the Father ringing in their ears, and a new song bursting forth from their hearts… “Glory to God on the highest, and come quickly Lord Jesus!” These are now the heirs of the Prince of Peace! These are the children of God! On them rests the Holy Spirit, and in them their Father is pleased.
To be with God, and Jesus Christ, we must be changed. Laying aside, for a moment, the spiritual transformation we have been undergoing throughout our lives of faith, we are meant to be changed physically as well. This bodily change will not be a lifelong process, but occur in an instant, in a moment, and take place when Jesus returns to claim us. Are we prepared for that instant of indestructible foreverness?