“He is risen.”
So often I forget how bold this beautiful phrase is. It truly contradicts the only certain reality we know in this world: death. You do not have to be a medical professional to know that death is final. It is permanent.
How would you feel if you pronounced time of death on a patient, informed the family, sent the patient to the morgue, and then 3 days later someone called you to say the person was alive?! Truly you would decline to believe something so crazy. We have science, high-tech monitors, and years of medical education on our side. This would be impossible.
Now think of the torture that Christ went through prior to his death. He was flogged, nailed to a tree, and hung there for many hours trying to support himself so he could breathe. If this was a case study on your boards, you’d be concerned this patient is hypovolemic from excessive blood loss and probably in severe rhabdo from trying to hold himself up on the cross, which would lead to kidney failure. These conditions, if left untreated, and continuing to subject the patient to the causes, are fatal.
However, after intense torture and death, Christ rose from the dead 3 days later. He breathed. His heart began to beat again. His muscles moved, and his flesh was pink. The reality of this is too much for our small minds to grasp, making the miracle that much more beautiful.
There is no man who can overcome death. It is the destination for every person on the planet – past, present, and future. “For the wages of sin is death…” We must pay for the evil we have done. But one man came to earth, and he died. His death brought atonement for the sins of this world. He paid the wages we owe.
However, death could not retain him. His resurrection is the hope that we have. That while his death paid for our sins, his resurrection gives us “the gift of God (which) is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6.23) It shows his power over everything we cling to for truth. For death is the final power in this world, but Christ reigns over death. “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.” (Romans 6.9)
Join me tomorrow in praising the Lord and remembering the true value of Easter. Do not let the idea of the holiday cloud your ability to stand in awe at the act of resurrection. He is alive. He has conquered death. For He is risen, indeed.
Faith, Fashion, & Forceps 