April 16, 2022 I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
Romans 6:4-6 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”
It is the resurrection of Jesus that changes everything. Jesus being raised from the dead two thousand years ago was not an isolated event. All that Jesus endured-the false trial; being beaten beyond recognition, mocked, nailed to a cross and hung there to die a cruel death-He did ON OUR BEHALF! Today, we celebrate His resurrection for good reason; His resurrection means that we are resurrected! Our death is not a physical death on a cross, but a death to our old self where we are freed from the power of sin-the old us died with Him. (From previous blogs, we see that if we sin, we do so because we choose to do so; the power of sin over us has been broken.) When Jesus walked out of the tomb, it was not only a victory for Him, it was a victory for us. We can rightly say that when Jesus walked out of the tomb, we walked out with Him! And that is not all; even if we die-we live! The resurrection put an end to death for those who believe in Him. The point is not about physical death, for all will die a natural death unless He returns before that time; it is about dying to ourselves and presenting ourselves alive to God; our spirit-the real us- will never die! Yet, His resurrection impacts our natural life-the here and now; because Jesus was raised from the dead, we can “walk in newness of life!” No longer must we live in a mundane way, or in worry, doubt or fear, or in a hopeless way. We all like the idea ‘newness;’ and that is what we have if we know Christ as Savior and we have died to ourselves. It may sound like one of those ‘pipe dreams,’ but yes, we can walk in a sense of newness, a sense of vibrant life, a sense of purpose and excitement, and a sense of what lies a ahead. That is not to say that we will not experience trials, because we will; it does say that we are overcomers in the trials and that we know God is present with us, giving us all we need in difficult times. For these, and other scriptures to be experienced and lived out, we must know in the deepest part of our being, our true identity as sons and daughters of God; we must believe we are who God says we are. May we celebrate this Easter for what it is-resurrection and new life. “Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!”
Matthew 28:6 “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He was lying.”
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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