You need indeed

Easter - The Resurrection!

There is a commercial for an employment company where one person says: “I need indeed.” Another responds: “Indeed you do.”

When I say: He is risen!  You say: He is risen indeed!

I say you need indeed. Easter needs to be more than just a celebration of something we cannot fully comprehend, we need to fully believe in the resurrection. We need to believe that He is risen indeed. Romans 10:9-10 says: If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Believing in the resurrection is vital to our faith in part because it is the one thing that separates the Christian faith from every other religion. Jesus is alive and the rest are not. It is more than that though. Mark 14:22-24 says: While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many.”  Merriam Webster defines a covenant as: A written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action. People make promises all the time that they either can’t or don’t keep. Jesus covenant is under seal. It will not be broken.

The covenant promise is written in God’s word. It is an agreement of all that He will do for us. When Jesus was on the cross, in John 19:30 He said: “It is finished!”  Isaiah 53:4-6 says:  It was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him.Jesus finished all that He came to do on the cross. He fulfilled the requirements of the new covenant, the agreement between God and us, but it was God who raised Him from the grave. The resurrection is the Father’s seal on the covenant promises that Jesus accomplished on the cross. The resurrection is proof from the Father that all that Jesus said and did, all that is promised is true.

Matthew 28:1-7 says: Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook from fear of him and became like dead men.  And the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

In John 20: 24-29 it says:Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him,“My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!