“He is not here. He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.” Matthew 28:6
He is risen.
It’s such a commonly used Christian phrase that it’s almost second nature to faith, but when you really think about it, it has such incredible implications. Declaring that Jesus is risen shouldn’t just roll off your tongue the way “I want ice cream” rolls off mine. Saying and believing that Jesus is risen should be more magnificent and meaningful than anything you’ve ever experienced.
Because the truth is that Jesus rising from the dead is the most wonderful thing that has happened on earth.
It created a way for us to enter into eternal life. It forever changed the way we have relationship with God. It fulfilled prophesy. Jesus rising on that third day did many things for us, but it also poses as a reminder that God is capable of doing the most unimaginable thing in our life out of His abundant love for us.
That means whatever you’re praying for right now, God will one up you and do even better. Right now I’m praying long and praying hard about being able to still live in Kaneohe after my uncle sells this house. And I know that even if I don’t get to live in this house and get to live in this neighborhood where I walk past the sweetest old man on my daily walking route, that God will one up my prayer and give me an even better home and better community to live in.
That means whatever situation you’re in that seems unbearable- like you can’t be in it for another minute- God will guide your steps and take you somewhere you didn’t even know was possible for you to attain. Like how I am sitting in the depths of loneliness and singleness, but I know that God will bring me to a place where I am one day surrounded by and flooded by the love of those around me.
That means that everything and anything in your life can change and change for good. Because God is in the business of restoration and His plans are always a reflection of His goodness. He might walk us through some valleys to stretch us and get us to grow, but He’ll never leave us there. And so even in our confusion, we can know that God will bring goodness out of every circumstance.
Out of is abundant love for us, God gave us His son. And unlike anyone else walking on earth then or now or in the future, His son lived a perfect life free of sin. How unimaginable that one could live without fault. And then out of his abundant love for us, He called His son to the cross where He would have to sacrifice His life as a ransom for our lives. How unimaginable that one would give their life for those he doesn’t even know. And finally, out of His abundant love for us He gives us the chance at Heaven.
And I truly believe that Heaven will be glorious- no sin, no pain, no hurt, no moths, no pickles, no credit card debt. But until then we have the opportunity to experience heaven on earth. We might not get the full effects of Heaven while living on earth, but we have the chance to get a glimpse of it while living on earth when we choose to live the way Jesus lived, when we choose to follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings in our lives, and when we choose to believe in God.
How unimaginable to have a piece of Heaven on earth when our world is so fallen and so broken. But how totally possibly when we know and believe that our God is good and what He has done for us is out of His abundant love for us.
He is risen, He is risen indeed.
And because He has, we can live striving for the unimaginable and attaining just a piece of it until we rest eternally with Him.