How fitting it is that Easter falls at the pinnacle of the Spring season when the world is transitioning from death to life? The barren ground blooms and flowers bud as we celebrate the day that Jesus defeated death. When we celebrate Easter, we are rejoicing in the very event that defines the Christian faith: the Resurrection of Christ.
So who would we be without a Risen Savior? Paul describes this in these words:
“And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” (1 Corinthians 15:16-19)
Without the reality of the empty tomb, our faith is dead, and our hope is futile.
Who are we without a Savior? Nothing.
Where would we be if Jesus had not risen from the dead? Completely hopeless.
What would Christianity be without the Resurrection? Meaningless.
Without the Resurrection, Christmas has no meaning and blends in with every other religion. Without the Resurrection, our faith is worthless and we are to be the most pitied of people.
Because of the Resurrection, everything changes. The entire course of history changed, and He is changing our hearts, as well. Because of the Resurrection, we are new creations and inheritors of eternal life.
Living in the light of the Resurrection means that we have a purpose and a future to hope towards. The Resurrection is resplendent of the future we have in Christ.
When Jesus rose again, He brought God’s plan into its fruition. The Resurrection is the completion of Jesus’ life on Earth and the forerunner to His Second Coming.
The Resurrection means that what is to come outweighs the here and now. It gives us hope and a future. The Resurrection transforms the unregenerate into the redeemed, the sinner into a saint, and the hopeless into the hopeful.
The best news is that the Resurrection is only the beginning. The Resurrection is only a precursor, a glimpse, a taste of what is to come. It gives our lives purpose and gives our future promise.
The Resurrection makes life worth living.
The empty tomb means that we can have life more abundantly and means that we can be whole.
The empty tomb means that we, too, will rise again.
Because we are living in the light of the Resurrection, let us live as children of the day (1 Thessalonians 5:5). Let us be the city on a hill and the lamp on a stand that He has called us to be (Matthew 5). Let us live as believers in the Resurrected Savior. For that is who we are.
We have such a reason to celebrate for “the LORD is Risen, indeed!” (Luke 24:34).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in Heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).
