He Has Risen From The Dead!

Easter means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To those who actively follow Jesus it means that He has risen from the dead! Even though the story is a couple thousand years old I’m always a bit surprised at how little people know about what really happened.

Mention Easter and thoughts of fuzzy bunnies and brightly colored eggs pop right into our minds, don’t they? Egg hunts, little kids dining on chocolate bunnies and Peeps. Is that all there is? Surely there must be more to Easter than gorging on chocolate and marshmallow chicks? Why did Jesus come to this planet? Why did He come and have to die? These are important – and life altering – questions, and they deserve answers!

Each one of us has, because of Adam’s rebellion, been passed down his nature of sin. He rebelled against God by choosing to follow someone other than God, and so corruption entered into his heart. He became a sinner by nature, and so (as his progeny) are we. Our very nature, the core of who we are and why we act the way we do, has been tainted by sin;

Isa 64:6
But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

“I’m a good person; I don’t steal, lie, cheat or physically harm anyone! How could God think I’m a sinner?” People say things like this all the time, don’t they? We think that going to church, or temple, or adapting some form of religion is all it takes to show God how good we are. We obey the laws of the land (more or less). We want to feel better about ourselves. We help others in need. We provide for our families. We do these kind of things because we want to be good people. The reality though, is that these actions just cover up the root of the problem, which is the nature of sin.

Good works won’t erase the mark of sin in our lives because they don’t have any effect upon the spirit. We may feel compassion for someone else and show them generosity, but even those acts of kindness are contaminated by sin because they ultimately come from a self-serving motivation. Even giving yourself to a lifetime of service is motivated by a self-centered heart attitude, which is the essence of sin. We try to do things which make us feel better about ourselves, but the inward corruption is still there.

If you are ‘trying to do the right thing’ on your own, then it’s simply an act of your will. The problem is that acts of human will are some of the most destructive forms of religion. They give the impression of success without supplying real success with God. What could we possibly do that would impress God? What could we possible give to Him that He has not already given to us in the first place? The very One Who makes us knows us inside and out. When nobody else knows what’s in our heart, He does. As Isaiah points out, any good we could possibly do to impress God is like putrefied bandages in His sight. Sin orients everything we do around self. We are spiritually dead, and need God’s life to revive us.

Because of this sin nature, God needed to provide for the nature of sin to be eliminated once and for all. The only way for that to happen was for Him offer us a new nature to take its place! In giving us a new nature, God imparts His spiritual life to us in place of our spiritual death. That is why Jesus came;

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Most people know about the Crucifixion. If they see “the cross” they understand that it portrays what Christ did at Calgary. But the cross was only part of the story, and (unfortunately) it’s also where so many people fall far short when considering all Jesus has done for us. The cross was not the end but the BEGINNING for those who place their trust in Him. He has risen from the dead! We cease from trying to do things our own way and start following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Because He has risen from the dead, so have we; from His death on the cross (and our subsequent death to the nature of sin through faith in His finished work), to His sharing the same life of God that energized Him in resurrection power. We believe what the Scriptures state, we heed the call of the Spirit of God, and we start following what God says. In doing this we receive the New Birth;

John 3:5-8

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Once we receive the New Birth (by hearing the call of God’s Spirit) and place our faith in what Christ has done for us, we receive the same nature Christ has. We become Born Again because we receive the very nature of God Himself, and with it all the fellowship and power resident within the Godhead – Just as Jesus has. Instead of a nature of sin, we now have His life and God’s nature. Because He has risen from the dead, we can also claim to be risen with Him! We are no longer powerless.

We are not on our own. We are not powerless against the onslaught of sin or to willful, selfish desires and rebellion against the One Who purchased us! By exchanging His life for ours, He not only paid the price for our offenses but He now willingly shares His fellowship with our new Father. We have the right, honor, privilege and responsibility to live His life once we make Him our Lord. It’s not enough to simply acknowledge what He did, we need to follow Him.

By dying on the cross Jesus paid our sin-debt, but by rising from the dead He offers each of us a new life and nature;

Rom 4:24-25

It [righteousness] shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Since Jesus’ life was given as payment of the obligation of sin, then the justice and judgement of God is satisfied and we are freed from guilt. Because of this principle Jesus can stand in our place when we are judged by the Father. What’s the catch? We need to believe the Word of God to the point of obedience to God’s Word, and become a disciple of Jesus.

By following the leading of the Holy Spirit, and through submission to His Word, we allow Him to continue to influence us. In doing so we not only become more and more like Christ, but we influence others around us. We operate in a new life – the one provided by Christ Himself!

He has risen from the dead – and so have we. He is alive forevermore, and so are we.

This is the true meaning of Easter!

Image retrieved from: https://baptistcourier.com/2014/04/christian-worldview-apologetics-evidence-resurrection/