Easter is the greatest celebration of the Christian faith. On Easter, we celebrate the event that sets Christianity apart from all other religions and cultural traditions of the world. It’s the day that our God rose from the dead. And He’s still alive today!
Christianity is a religion of the open tomb. But it is also a religion of the open heart, the open understanding. The Gospel according to I Corinthians 15:1-4 is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Paul said in verse 17 of that chapter, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” Romans 4:25 states, “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Someone said, “The Gospels do not explain the Resurrection; the Resurrection explains the Gospels. Belief in the Resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith.”
A Sunday school teacher’s class of kindergartners was studying the creation story. After several weeks, they were ready to review. “What did God make on the first day?” the teacher asked. “The second day?” They answered both questions correctly. “And what happened on the third day?” the teacher quizzed. One little child, face shining with enthusiasm, exclaimed, “He rose from the dead!” This child knew the Easter story.
Billy Graham wrote, “God proved His love on the cross. When Christ hung and bled and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.'” In John 11:25, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” To know for sure that you will have eternal life and live forever in Heaven is something that God wants you to know and why Jesus came into this world.
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
1 John 5:11-13
HAPPY EASTER! HE IS RISEN AS HE SAID!