He Is Risen!
Our Life here on earth is tenuous… we’re all hanging on by a thread. This earthly life is but a vapor… a nanosecond in eternity. We who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God have something the world does not have…. The hope of heaven… of eternal life in Christ.
Jesus knew that the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, the Pharisees and the Scribes wanted to kill him. He had said to them, you are like white washed sepulchers, You’re a graveyard…. With clean manicured pristine lawns and elaborate tombstones on the outside, but inside you’re nothing but dead men’s bones. You are of your father the devil. He was a liar from the beginning and the father of lies. You speak your father’s native language.
Jesus had said to his disciples, you will be hated and betrayed because of my name. They will deliver you to the worldly authorities to be condemned by their unjust laws in their unjust courts. In Matthew 24, Jesus warned them about the end times. If we think the world is in darkness now, the end times will be like nothing they had ever experienced. Jesus said, when you see these signs of the end times, look up, for my return is near.
Jesus had said to his disciples prior to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, go to the village and you’ll find a colt tied up. Say to the keeper, My master has need of him.” He will give you the colt, which has been reserved for the Lord’s purpose.
In the upper room, Jesus said to his disciples, remember what I’ve done for you after I’m gone, and this will keep you going. When you keep your eyes upon me, you will be able to endure until the end. He took the bread and the cup and said, when you eat this bread and drink of this cup, you will remember the significance of my death as the sacrificial Passover lamb… You will remember my innocent blood that was shed for your redemption.
This cup is the new covenant of my blood which is shed for you… for the remission of sin.
After the Lord’s supper, Jesus took his disciples to the edge of the Garden of Gethsemane. Then he went into the garden with Peter, James, and John to pray. He said to them, watch and pray that you don’t enter into temptation. Jesus prayed and in anguish cried out three times, “If there be any other way, please take this cup (of sin, death, condemnation, and separation) from me.” Then he finished his prayer, “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”
When the authorities came to arrest Jesus, Judas identified him by kissing him on the cheek betraying his Lord.
At his trial, they said to him, if you are the Christ tell us. They asked him, Are you the son of God? He answered, yes I am. They rose up with indignation against him because he claimed that he was the son of God and therefore he claimed that he was equal with his Father, God. They said, what other reason do we have to put him to death?
When Jesus appeared before Herod, he would not even answer his questions as prophesied as a sheep dumb before his shearer.
Then the Jewish leaders took him to the Roman authorities to appear before Pilate the Roman governor of Judea. When Pilate said to the crowd, what shall I do to punish this innocent man? They cried out, crucify him, crucify him.
Pilate asked Jesus, are you the son of God. Jesus answered, “Thou hast said it.”
Pilate said, this innocent man has done nothing to deserve death. But the people shouted, his blood be upon us. Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd to show that he did not approve of Jesus’ crucifixion. But then he handed Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.
Then they came to the place of the skull, Golgotha on Calvary’s mount where they crucified him. Even the soldiers mocked him, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself…. One thief who was crucified with him said to the other thief crucified with him, we deserve our punishment, but this innocent man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, thou shalt be with me in paradise.
When Jesus gave up his last breath, the veil of the temple to the Holy of Holies was torn. The veil had separated God and man. When Jesus paid the price laying down his life, the veil that separated man from God was ripped in two. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
The lyrics of the Hymn, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross remind us of the love Jesus Christ had for us and the precious price he paid for our redemption:
When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the king of glory died,
My richest gain, I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my price.
See from his head, his hands, his feet… sorrow and love pour mingled down. Did ere such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Philippians 2 says, even though Jesus Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God, he took upon himself the form of a bond-servant and became obedient even unto the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above all names. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God.
Jesus had said to his disciples, he who shall be chief among you shall be servant of all. Jesus Christ himself led by example. He was the greatest servant…. He who for the joy that was set before him (of your salvation and mine) endured the cross and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God.
For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.
Salvation is in confessing that Jesus is Lord and in believing that God has raised him from the dead… The power of God is in the gift of his Holy Spirit, Christ in you the hope of glory given by his grace when we were born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. For by grace are ye saved through faith (by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone) and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Salvation is in dying to self in order to live for Him…. For as in Adam’s disobedience all died, all who have been saved are made alive through Jesus Christ’s obedience even unto his death upon the cross…..
According to Romans 5:17-21, For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the reason for his resurrection…. Your salvation and mine!
For He is risen indeed,
That we may live according to the praise of the glory of His grace,
Your brother in Christ,
MichaelHe had said,
