He is Risen – so you can too
John 20:29-31 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
I read the four gospel accounts of Jesus’ death and burial early Good Friday morning. Early this morning I read the same of his resurrection, appearances, and ascension back home to Heaven. I read of his command to go and preach this gospel to the world. I read of how so many close to him, struggled with understanding, until he opened their eyes to it; many times even in their midst before understanding. The doctrine of election speaks clearly throughout these gospel accounts; the sovereignty of God, and the incomprehensible power of God is evident before us. I wonder how much of the world says they believe in Jesus, but even to this day that he was only a good prophet, but not God, and conquered death by the defeat and power over it, raising HIMSELF from it after being dead three days. I mean, there are numerous accounts in the Bible of people being raised from the dead, but nobody ever raised themselves from the dead except Jesus. Think of the simplicity, in the complexity of that statement; how could you, if you were dead already? Only God can perform a miracle such as that, because God holds the key to life and death, and Jesus’ conquering death for us is what we celebrate today.
Paul expounds clearly what is available, and what is the command of every saint that calls themselves a Christian. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. The depth of that passage deserves much more that a OneMinuteMinistry, but the call to us as Christians is to dedicate our lives to the One who gives us eternal life. If we profess Christ, if we say that we are going to heaven, then His command is to pursue to live as He lived. To try our best, even in a life full of failures, to pursue to be more like Him today, and less like ourselves of yesterday. We will never be perfect, we are not to live a life believing we get to heaven on our good deeds or self-righteousness, but we are to live a life of self-sacrifice, and one that produces good works out of our love for Him who died for us, and then rose for us.
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