Jesus Christ Is Risen! … Where, O Death, Is Your Victory?

Then [the resurrected Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

 

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

 

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
—Gospel of John (20:27-29) 

 

*           *           * 

 

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born…. 

Where, O death, is your victory?
      Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

–The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:3-8; 55-57)

 

*          *          *

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

— The Gospel of John 3: 16-21

Today, Easter Sunday 2007, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Christ is risen and alive today, He can change lives, and rescue men and women, old and young, from being slaves to sin. His ultimate sacrifice saves those who believe in Him from the consequences of their sin: eternal separation from God.

True Christianity is more than mere religion; it is a relationship with Almighty God through Christ, the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5).  God reached down to save men, because we are not good enough to save ourselves. Many still deny Christ’s resurrection, divinity and changing power, but many millions of believers worldwide also testify to His awesome and living presence in their lives.

In America, the social debates we wage today still hinge on the question of what people believe about Jesus Christ: those who reject Him often make their accommodation with the world, and rationalize greater and greater “tolerance” for sin, while those who believe in His mighty Name recognize that despite the wretched sinfulness of mankind, there is hope in the Holy One who calls us to a higher Truth, and life beyond this temporal, earthly existence. We give thanks to the “Amazing Grace” of a God who allowed His own Son to suffer and die so that we could live eternally.