Imagine this – you are a follower of Christ; you have left everything to follow Him. You have seen Him perform miracles and have personally felt His love. Your only desire is to sit at his feet as Mary (Martha’s sister did) and listen to Him teach. Your only desire is to follow Him ALL the days of your life, but three days ago you witnessed Him being beaten and crucified in the most horrific manner and you are reeling because the images of His death plays over and over again in your head and yet at the same time you can hear His words as in John 16:16-23:
“A little while, and you no longer are going to see Me; and again, a little while, and you will see Me.” So, some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this that He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you are not going to see Me; and again, a little while, and you will see Me’; and ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you are not going to see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy! Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one is going to take your joy away from you.”
And even though you are grieving, there is a kernel of hope in the middle of your grief, because Jesus never spoke words He didn’t mean and while you still are trying to wrap your brain around ALL that you have witnessed, you STILL believe His words… They have taken root in your heart, for you know that He IS the Messiah and Jesus only ever spoke words of truth. Fear and sadness and despair have tried to take over you, but every time they try to engulf you, all of Jesus’ words come soaring into your heart. Mark 8:31 says:
“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”
For some reason you have not yet understood, you wait in joyful expectation, in the midst of your painful sorrow. And then – He appears! Right before your very eyes! There is your beloved Jesus! There is the LORD! There is the Savior of the World! And as with ALL the miracles you have witnessed Jesus perform, THIS is the GREATEST! And it all makes sense now, the One you love above all others stands before you, in glory. THIS Sin-less One who LOVED you enough to take death upon Himself, so that you could enter into a restored, renewed relationship with the Father. HE DIED FOR YOU! He defeated death on the cross and stands before you, the resurrected Christ! John 20:17:
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
And your heart is FILLED with the MOST AMAZING Joy! Jesus has risen! Jesus has risen indeed! And you CANNOT wait to shout it out to world! Who will believe you? Who will listen?! JESUS HAS RISEN! JESUS HAS RISEN INDEED!
You who are reading these words – WILL YOU LISTEN??? Do you hear the One Who is the Risen Savior calling your name as He called out to Lazarus?
“__________________” (ADD YOUR NAME THERE) Come out! Come out from a dead life to find true life in ME! COME OUT! I was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for forgiveness of YOUR sins! And I have rose again, defeating death so that YOU could live!”
The Bible says in Revelations 3:20:
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Ol’ slewfoot has tried to deviate people’s attention from the true meaning of the resurrection by having the day of celebration be about “a bunny, colored, eggs, baskets and candy” but the gift that God has for you is the MOST important gift you can ever choose to accept – eternal life. John 3:16 says:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Others have gotten weighed down with debating WHEN the resurrection occurred – legalistic. LISTEN it doesn’t MATTER when the resurrection occurred, if you are a follower of Christ (part of God’s Remnant) , the point is that it occurred and more to the matter – is whether you choose to accept Jesus’ gift of eternal life by making Him Lord over your life EVERY day – not just one “yearly designated holiday” – EVERY DAY. Don’t get caught up in the legalistic religious disputes – that are side-tracking you and truly are irrelevant. God IS calling YOU. Will you respond??? We are not promised tomorrow – so how about thanking Him by accepting Him into your heart TODAY and allowing His resurrection to become PERSONAL in the way it was meant to be while there is still time. If this is you, please pray this prayer:
“Father God, I thank You so much for sending your Son, Jesus the Christ to die on the cross for forgiveness of my sins… I believe He was born of the virgin Mary, that He lived a sin-less life and died a horrific death on the cross for forgiveness of my sins, rose again and is even now seated at Your right-hand interceding on my behalf. THIS Easter I accept the gift of salvation. I believe! Jesus, I accept and acknowledge You as my Savior and I accept Your invitation to come into my heart and be my Lord – for every day, not just for this day, Easter. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. Reign in my heart, I give You my life so that at the end of it, I too will be resurrected into eternal life forever with You. Thank You, in Jesus’ precious name I pray – Amen.”
If you have prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, you are now part of God’s Remnant. He has called you by name and you have responded. You have received the GIFT of Easter that is better than ANY basket you could ever open, You have received God’s gift, His Son, and the gift of eternal life. Praise His Holy name! \0/ \0/ \0/
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