As a little girl I loved wearing a fancy Easter dress, a hat with ribbons, and white shoes that made the “high heel” sound when I walked. I was more excited about those fancy clothes and Easter chocolates then I was about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. I believed that Jesus rose from the dead, but the real importance eluded me.
Even now as an adult, it is hard to feel deep excitement and amazement during the Easter season. Maybe you feel the same. Many of us are so familiar with the Easter story that it doesn’t move us anymore. Familiarity might not have bred contempt in us, but it may have bred boredom.
We need to repent of the disinterest we have let creep into our hearts and ask the Lord to rekindle our awe for His work of salvation, especially, an amazement at His resurrection.
Death Came Through One Man
When Adam sinned sin entered the world. As Adam was the first human, we all inherit a sinful nature through our humanity. Sin comes naturally to us. We don’t need to be taught how to be selfish. Righteousness, on the other hand, needs to be taught and learned. We cry out with Paul’s words in Romans, “For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate” (Rom 7:15).
I can relate to his frustration, can’t you? So many times I know the right course of action but don’t take it. Maybe I am supposed to be patient, speak kindly, or act unselfishly but then I go and do the very thing I know I shouldn’t do. This is the result of sin, and the consequence of sin is death (Rom 6:23).
One Man Overcame Death
On the cross Jesus was took the punishment for our sins, but it is through His resurrection that He overcame the curse of death. His resurrection is a promise to those who are united to Him through faith. It is a promise that we will also rise from the dead:
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death has been removed for the Christian because of Christ’s resurrection. Will we experience a bodily death? Probably, unless the Lord comes back before then, but, we have been promised that death can’t hold us. We will be given a new body and live forever with our God and Savior. This is only possible because Jesus overcame the power of death through His resurrection.
The good news of the resurrection of Jesus is that it benefits us not only in the future, but today as well. We can overcome sin because we have such a powerful God on our side, working on our behalf. Jesus is more powerful than death and surely He is able to help us overcome anything in this life and in the one to come. Praise God that the tomb is empty.
