RESURRECTION
Him, God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
Acts 2:24
Yes it is impossible for grave to hold Christ Jesus. Death came with sin and Jesus is sinless, but He became sin when He bore the sin of the entire world on Him. The wrath of God is so severe on sin and Jesus bore it and freed us from eternal punishment. He conquered sin and it’s sting and freed us from eternal punishment; us means all who believe in His crucifixion and resurrection.
The crucifixion of Jesus and His resurrection from death is the pivotal point of Christian faith. His physical suffering was so horrible and His Spiritual agony was more unbearable as He cried out, “O God, why have you forsaken me” Being God Himself He was torn apart from that Oneness for a time and the pangs of death was unbearable. He was buried as His death was confirmed at the cross and His resurrection was witnessed by many. His death, burial and resurrection, every event was according to the Scripture, and nothing happened at random. All these events are marked in history.
Paul writes in 1cor 15:3-4
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
I Corinthians 15:3-4
and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
I Corinthians 15:5-6
As Christ is risen we also will be raised from the dead. That’s the Christian hope. If we do not have this hope of resurrection our Christian life is futile. We can’t eat drink and live as we wish, for tomorrow we will have to face the Lord and stand before His judgment. And for those who are in Christ there is no condemnation. Jesus has risen as the first fruit from the dead and all of us who believe in Him will follow Him.
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
I Corinthians 15:13-14
For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also 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.
I Corinthians 15:16-19
It’s our blessed hope that we are saved by faith, that too by grace alone.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:4-6
Apostle Paul proclaims that he has considered everything of this world and all human achievements as waste when he realised the value of resurrection.”if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Philippians 3:11
We are placed with our Lord and Master in the heavenly places through faith in Him and with Apostle Paul we too should strive hard to lead a good Christian life by keeping ourselves away from sin to reach that position the Lord has kept for us through eternity.
Prayer
Loving heavenly Father, thank you for giving your Son for saving us from eternal punishment. Thank you for raising Him up from the grave through the eternal Spirit. Thank you for the unending love. Keep us in your love and union and help us to live worthy of you.. Wash us in the precious blood of Jesus. Praise God. Amen
Sol. Salomi Kurian