Happy Easter!

I love Easter, for it is the greatest day in the Christian Calendar, the day we remember and reflect upon the supernatural event that has transformed history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

I was awoke this morning by a text from a good friend, simple yet profound: “He is Risen”! The traditional call and response believers have been reciting for 2,000 years. I grabbed my phone and promptly texted back, “He is risen indeed!”

I hope your day started similar and that you received text, calls or zoom calls wishing you a happy Easter. As I began my morning in the book of Mark and spent some time in Romans, I wanted to craft a text that could summarize my thoughts on this wonderful day, that is clouded by the fact that we are not gathering in our faith communities as we honor the “Stay At Home” orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I began to pray about it, first on behalf of my youth group, their parents, my family and my friends, what do they need to hear on this day. This is what I sent:

Happy Easter! Jesus is RISEN! He is not dead, He’s ALIVE and seated in Heaven! Today He REPRESENTS you to the Father! He is FOR you! His blood REDEEMED you, He has your back! You are LOVED by Him, be blessed today!

Read Hebrews 4:14-16

After sending it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. There is so much good stuff in there from the Word of God, truths that God has been working out in my heart for decades and I still struggle to grasp the fullness, richness, depth and beauty of them. Yet each day, month and year I reflect on them, God graciously continues to teach me and draw me closer to Him by reminding me of who He is and what He is doing.

I hope you know these truths, I hope you know Jesus Christ as the Risen LORD and your personal Savior. If you do, these statements are promises God issues on your behalf. If you haven’t decided to follow Jesus, know that these promises await you if you choose to follow Him, may these words beckon you home.

I began to consider writing a blog post about this text when my mom asked if I would be willing to share a few thoughts on our family Easter Zoom call. (Let me just say I am thankful for Zoom and other technologies that allows us to stay connected in these times). I hadn’t fully formulated my thoughts, but I was excited to share with my family this text and try to unpack what I was thinking briefly. And now I sit down to try to summarize this before Easter is over.

Jesus is Risen!

There is an empty tomb! It’s a historical fact, through many proofs and records. This is the cornerstone belief to the Christian faith. Paul wrote about its importance in 1 Corinthians 15, which I would encourage you to spend time in.

One evidence for the resurrection that continues to amaze me is the transformation of the disciples. Friday they fled, hid, cowered and cried. Saturday they mourned and stayed hidden. Sunday they ran to an empty tomb and marveled. A few short days after seeing the resurrected Lord, they were preaching boldly to thousands and willing to die for their Lord.

Even today, the testimony of changed lives continues to proclaim the truth of the resurrected Lord!

The resurrection means that Jesus ‘death, burial and resurrection accomplished freedom and forgiveness for us. It provided the means for us to be justified (made right with God) and adopted by God. It secures us Kingdom life now and a secure promise for eternity.

But Easter doesn’t just remind us of what Jesus did, it reminds us of what He is doing! Have you ever thought, “What is Jesus doing today? What is He doing for me now?”

That’s what drew my attention to Hebrews 4:14-16:

 [14] Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When Jesus entered into our world as a baby, He took on the fullness of being human and experienced the everyday normal life of the human existence. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that He can sympathize with us because He is familiar with our weakness, He was tempted, He was tired, He knows what it means to be human, yet he never sinned.

His sinless life was lived on our behalf. Romans 5 tells us how He became our representative in righteousness, and in Him we have life. What this means is that when you find that you are unfaithful to God, you broke His commandments, remember that Jesus was faithful and obeyed on your behalf! He paid your way and offers you His righteous standing before the Father.

He is our High Priest and our Advocate before the Father. Why do I need a High Priest and an Advocate? Because there is an enemy of your soul who is accusing you before God, pointing out all your faults, weaknesses and sins.

We have an Accuser, an Adversary

Revelation 12:9–11

[9] And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. [11] And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Satan, the devil, is an accuser of the faithful. He wants to tear you down. He wants to distract you from the truth of who God is and what God is doing. As we consider this time of uncertainty, where gatherings have been canceled, normal life has been altered, and the fear of sickness is all around us, the enemy wants to get you to doubt God’s love for you. He wants you to doubt that God is in control. He wants to consume you with the fears of this world.

But we have an advocate who is seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is in Heaven declaring the victory that He has won on your behalf! That He paid your debt in full, that He obeyed for you, that He has sealed your spot on His team. He represents you!

He is not dead, He’s ALIVE and seated in Heaven! Today He REPRESENTS you to the Father!

Romans 8:33–34

[33] Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Jesus is praying for you and defending you today! When Satan brings the accusations against you, when he brings the lies of worthlessness, of meaninglessness, of unforgiveness to you, Jesus is standing in your place. Jesus is saying you are so valuable (Ephesians 2:10, Psalm 139:13-16), you have a purpose (1 Peter 2:9-10) and you have been forgiven in Christ (1 John 1:9).

He is FOR you! His blood REDEEMED you, He has your back!

It is so important for you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, to know that God is for you, that He has your back! There are many misconceptions out there about what coming to faith means. Some teach that if you truly believed you would have no more problems and that life would get easier. But that is a lie from the enemy.

Jesus promised that there would be trouble in this world. The Bible is full of stories of how believers encountered hard times, of natural disasters, of diseases, of captivity and oppression. Consider Psalm 124:1:

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—

If God was not for us we would have been consumed. If God was not on our side, our enemies would have wiped us out. If God was not for us, floods would have swallowed us. If God was not for us, disease would destroy us.

Implicit in these statements is the fact that God is for them, was with them and preserved them. You can have hope that God is for you and He is with you and He will keep you!

Psalm 124:8

Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Nothing is too big for God. He is the Creator of all things. He is the sustainer of all things. He is the author and perfector of our faith! Easter is a message of hope in the midst of darkness. Do not be defeated or dismayed, Jesus has overcome the darkness of death and offers you the fullness of life in harmony with Him (John 10:10).

Easter means we can be confident that God is working in our lives today.

Philippians 1:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

May prayer for you is that you can know these truths, and grow in them. That you would have your eyes fixed on the Risen Lord knowing He loves you so much, He is for you and you can trust Him every day of your life!

Happy Easter! Jesus is RISEN! He is not dead, He’s ALIVE and seated in Heaven! Today He REPRESENTS you to the Father! He is FOR you! His blood REDEEMED you, He has your back! You are LOVED by Him, be blessed today!

Read Hebrews 4:14-16