Monday, April 7, 2014

Thought For The Day: He Is Not Here; He Has Risen (Luke 24:6)

Women came to the tomb where Jesus was buried and they found the stone rolled away from the entrance and the body of Jesus was not there. He was not there. He had risen from the dead! The term Easter has a pagan background. It was the word used to describe the festival named for the Saxon Goddess Eostre, of Ostara, a European form of Astarte.

We might ask, What do all the hunts for colored hidden eggs and cute little rabbits have to do with the resurrection of Christ? The answer is, They have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the total price for the sins of all mankind. And His resurrection from the grave on the third day after His crucifixion is proof that God accepted that substitution, that payment for our sins. The gospel message includes Christ’s full payment for our sins and it also includes His resurrection from the grave. The apostle Paul put it plainly in Romans 4:25: Christ was “delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” He said the same thing to the Corinthian believers: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4).

As some have suggested, let’s change the name Easter Sunday to Resurrection Sunday in our homes and our churches.