Tag: Jesus is life

Beyond the Cross

suzieinglis

Today is Good Friday and it seems unfitting to call a day when Jesus was crucified on a cross after being severely beaten, “Good.” What Jesus experienced that day and what led up to it, epitomizes the concept of suffering, which we rarely, if ever, label as good. However, when we zoom out and see what God does after Jesus’ death on the cross, our perspective changes, doesn’t it?

God RAISED Jesus from the dead!

Romans 4 tells us:

23 “The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Did you notice what verse 25 does? It gives a reason for Jesus’ death AND a different reason for His resurrection. His death was for our sins, however, His resurrection was for our justification.

Romans 5:1 gives us some additional insight, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,…” 

What justifies us? Faith. Faith in what? In the resurrection!

According to the bible

It’s easy to believe that someone died but believing that someone was raised from death to life – that’s hard. Remember “Doubting Thomas?” He didn’t doubt Jesus died, he doubted that He was raised from the dead. See John 20:24-29.

Believing Jesus was raised from the dead requires faith – faith that the One who created the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them, raised Jesus from the dead. This is the faith that was, and still should be, proclaimed.

Paul, in Romans 10, explains the message of faith that he and his companions proclaim:

8 … “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”[d] that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[e] 

Not only does Paul speak of these things but notice what Peter does as he begins to preach the Gospel. Acts 1:21-22 stresses the need for finding someone to replace Judas, the betrayer, to “become a witness” of Jesus’ resurrection. There is no indication in the Bible that every apostle saw Jesus die on the cross, in fact, only John is mentioned by name. However, we do know that all of them saw Jesus after God raised Him from the dead.

21 “Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

Acts 10:39-43 emphasizes what we just read in Acts 1.

39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.”

So as we think about “Good Friday,” let us remember that Jesus was crucified for our sins but He was raised for our justification. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, the apostle Paul writes that we would still be dead in our sins.

1 Cor. 15:17, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

Let us rejoice that our faith is NOT futile, that we are NOT still in our sins, for us who believe, because God raised Jesus from the dead and it is no longer we who live, but Christ in us!

Let us go be radiant, reflecting this truth as we celebrate Easter this Sunday. Wishing you a very joyful Easter!

Breathe Life

suzieinglis
Photo by David Dibert on Pexels.com

If you’ve had a rough day, a tough week or a less than stellar year thus far, would you allow me to gently turn your eyes to a reason we can celebrate? Three words will help us get there. Ready? They are:  He is Risen! Three days after Jesus’ death on the cross, God raised Jesus from the dead! What a reason to rejoice! While it doesn’t change any difficult circumstances in our lives right now, it does give us an encouraging eternal perspective and reminds us of the hope we have in Jesus.

We see this hope in the earliest portions of Genesis in the creation account. The Creation Museum, a place I had the pleasure of experiencing on my recent visit to Kentucky, stays true to its name and has displays, exhibits, short films and more, taking its visitors back in time to the days of the beginning of the world.

Genesis 2:7 tells us, “7 Then the Lord God formed a man[a] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

It was the Lord God who literally breathed life into Adam. Think about that for a minute. Our God is a giver of life, and not just a temporary life on this earth. His desire is for something far greater. He desires for us to have eternal life with Him in heaven. He sent His one and only Son to bring that to fruition.

John 6:33-35 says, “33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Jesus gives life to the world! In a time when our world is in distress, we know that those who believe in Jesus have hope.

John 10:10 reminds us, “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus desires abundant life for us and He tells us how to get it. He says in verse 9, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved…” He reiterates this same idea in John 14:6, “6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We are given, by God, a way to experience eternal life. In the days of Noah, there was one way to be saved. There was one door on the Ark and those who entered it were saved from the destruction of the flood. Today, that door is Jesus.

Just before Jesus was arrested, in John 17:2-3, he looked to heaven and prayed,

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

The only TRUE God, who breathed life into Adam, is the same God who raised Jesus and brought Him back to life after 3 days!

If you, or someone you know has not yet looked to Jesus, be encouraged by what Jesus says in John 6:40: “40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Look to the Son and believe! He will breathe new life, eternal life, into you.

If you have already looked to the Son and believed, may you radiate His glory in your everyday life.

Let us go be radiant as we remember our Risen Savior and the LIFE He has given us. Happy Easter my friends.