I love it when people make things simple. Just shoot straight and let the chips fall. Tell me what you really want to say. Give me the important stuff.
Straight and simple: “I delivered to you as of first important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and that he appeared . . . .”
Jesus died, was buried, was raised and was seen. And we can add one more thing from this chapter – He is coming again. This is the core message of our faith.
That is our hope. Without Jesus’ death, our sins are not atoned for. Without His resurrection, the sacrifice was not sufficient.
But Jesus has been raised, and He was seen!
What hope does that give us? Two things:
1. Our standing with God is secure. Jesus’ blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Even though, we still struggle and sin daily (and much!), when our Heavenly Father sees us, he sees those sins washed away. They are left in the empty tomb. Their power is dead. And while we still struggle with sin, it is as one wriggling out of a deadly grip. We won’t be entirely loose of that grip until one of two things happen – we die and go to heaven, or Jesus returns – but the grip is broken. Sin cannot hold us.
2. We have more and better to look forward to. This is the longest conversation in the Bible about the resurrection. One of the important things we grab here is that even though we will not all die, we will all be changed in the resurrection. What will we be like? Glorious. Beyond that there are only hints: we’ll be like seeds planted in the ground, what comes up will be different from what went down. What comes went down was dead, there was nothing appealing about it. What comes up with be magnificent and full of life. (Notice also that we will not be angels. We will be people: people as God intended us to be!) If this is the case, what do we have to fear in death? “Death is swallowed up in victory!”
There is a scene in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle where the Narnian King Tirian is speaking with his friend the unicorn Jewel. They are discussing Aslan’s return, and longing for that day. They speak of, “joy that is too great” to express, too “beautiful to believe,” and, “beyond all that I ever hoped for.”
I find that I often get so wrapped in this life that I lose sight of what is to come. But I hope that when we do pause and consider what God is doing, and the victory He has given us in Jesus, that we will be filled with a similar longing for Jesus’ return.
Someday . . . we will no longer struggle. Someday . . . we will no longer be sick. Someday . . . all will be right again. Until then, we live in hope, for Jesus has won the victory, and he has given it to us to share.
Straight and simple: “I delivered to you as of first important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and that he appeared . . . .”
Jesus died, was buried, was raised and was seen. And we can add one more thing from this chapter – He is coming again. This is the core message of our faith.
That is our hope. Without Jesus’ death, our sins are not atoned for. Without His resurrection, the sacrifice was not sufficient.
But Jesus has been raised, and He was seen!
What hope does that give us? Two things:
1. Our standing with God is secure. Jesus’ blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Even though, we still struggle and sin daily (and much!), when our Heavenly Father sees us, he sees those sins washed away. They are left in the empty tomb. Their power is dead. And while we still struggle with sin, it is as one wriggling out of a deadly grip. We won’t be entirely loose of that grip until one of two things happen – we die and go to heaven, or Jesus returns – but the grip is broken. Sin cannot hold us.
2. We have more and better to look forward to. This is the longest conversation in the Bible about the resurrection. One of the important things we grab here is that even though we will not all die, we will all be changed in the resurrection. What will we be like? Glorious. Beyond that there are only hints: we’ll be like seeds planted in the ground, what comes up will be different from what went down. What comes went down was dead, there was nothing appealing about it. What comes up with be magnificent and full of life. (Notice also that we will not be angels. We will be people: people as God intended us to be!) If this is the case, what do we have to fear in death? “Death is swallowed up in victory!”
There is a scene in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle where the Narnian King Tirian is speaking with his friend the unicorn Jewel. They are discussing Aslan’s return, and longing for that day. They speak of, “joy that is too great” to express, too “beautiful to believe,” and, “beyond all that I ever hoped for.”
I find that I often get so wrapped in this life that I lose sight of what is to come. But I hope that when we do pause and consider what God is doing, and the victory He has given us in Jesus, that we will be filled with a similar longing for Jesus’ return.
Someday . . . we will no longer struggle. Someday . . . we will no longer be sick. Someday . . . all will be right again. Until then, we live in hope, for Jesus has won the victory, and he has given it to us to share.
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