My thoughts on Easter

I cannot fathom where to begin on my thoughts on Easter. When I think of Easter, I cannot separate it with Good Friday, they are nearly synonymous to me. This, and Christmas as well. Think about it, Christ was born in a strangers cave and buried in a strangers grave, experienced human birth and human death...both were foreign to Him prior to this, kind of like what Peter Larson stated, "Virgin's womb & empty tomb: Jesus entered our world thru a door marked, “No Entrance” & left thru a door marked “No Exit.” but yet He did this so that it were possible that He could be the perfect substitution for us and as Hebrews 2:17 says it, "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." He became like us so that He could take on the wrath of God that we deserve, almost like He tricked God that He was a real human because He was...but there is no tricking God. It was the Father who knew about this, and sent Jesus so that He may make propitiation for us, meaning that He takes everything that we deserve upon Himself. I think it comes down to one verse, one that I have dwelt on a lot lately. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." And as Christ bore the sin and shame that we deserved, summed up in Isaiah 53:4-5a "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;" and when I think of this, my heart can't help but feel the intense emotion that it felt at the day of my salvation. My prayer to seek the joy of my salvation returns always when I think of what Easter is, my heart flutters and my mind simply ponders on the thoughts of what could have been running through the minds of the early disciples.

My final thought is this, I think Keith and Kristyn Getty sum it up well in their song, "In Christ Alone", the lyrics go like this, "
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt of life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand."
I want you to take notice of the part that says, "There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ"
This is the Easter message, that Christ who bore the sin of man, who did not sin Himself, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross," (Hebrews 12:2) but though He caused death and sin to be crushed to death, but He overcame sin and death rather than being succumb by sin and death, and as He stands in victory, Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me just as 1 Corinthians 15:17 states, "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." If Christ was not raised, then it was Sin that won...not Christ, but because Christ was raised, then it is Sin that lost and Christ who is eternal life that won.

"Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57