He Told You

He Told You

And they remembered his words. -Luke 24:8

Have you ever experienced the exhilaration of everything becoming clear and connected?

The disciples did not need new information to understand the resurrection; they needed the illumination that comes when God suddenly turns on the lights in our personal experience of His grace. They needed to reflect upon what they had seen, heard, and experienced in the light of all Jesus has said. In short, they needed to remember in the afterglow of the empty tomb.

Before the resurrection, all that Jesus had said and done had consisted of delightful and sometimes confusing fragments in their minds. Now, everything was cohesive and clear.

Easter PowerPoint with Music and Readings:

Download April 17 2022

 

Now He Is Risen

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” – I Corinthians 15:20

Now is Christ risen.

“Death in vain forbids Him rise.”

Now He lives, awakened from the dead, leading the procession of those who have slept.

“Christ hath opened Paradise.”

Now is Christ risen and those who have died in Him are alive in Him.

It is the holy now, the sacred moment, the dynamic present where Christ Jesus is alive and where we live also in Him. It is the glorious culmination of His purpose, the verification of His assurances, and the proclamation of His power.

Coming out of the grave, He is the first. He is the firstfruits from among sleepers, not as the God He was and is, but as man, “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (I Corinthians 5:21-22

He is representative humanity, inseparable from His divinity, and incorruptible as our link to eternity.

As William Gaither penned, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.”

More than that, because He lives, death is utterly frustrated and thoroughly devastated in its ability to render us helpless and hopeless. Only life bears any relevance to those who trust in Him. Eternal life is now.

Now is Christ risen!