TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19 ESV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Happy Resurrection Sunday! He is risen!!! Jesus defeated death and we can say, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
Let’s go back to the beginning. In Genesis 2:16-17, God told Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” We know the story. Romans 5:12 sums it up, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” Sin is the virus that has been spreading ever since Eve took the first bite of forbidden fruit.
But Jesus came as the cure, and therefore, death doesn’t have the final say. Jesus willingly became the sacrificial lamb to atone for our sins. If we go back to 1 Corinthians 15:56-57, it says, “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.”
Before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples, “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).
I wish I could have seen the expressions on the disciples’ faces as they heard Jesus speak. They walked with Jesus—a revolutionary in any time period! But His words didn’t always make sense to them… at least, in the moment. This whole passage of John 14 was unprecedented—Jesus talked about being the Way, the Truth, and the Life… He promised to send the Holy Spirit… After the crucifixion, I wonder if the disciples talked about this conversation as they sequestered themselves in fear and mourning. Then, after they saw our resurrected Lord and Savior… I wonder if they came back to these words again and thought, “Now I get it!”
Jesus’ words are significant for us too. We haven’t seen Him face to face as the disciples did. But we trust in Him. Why? Because though we haven’t seen Him, we know the recorded history of those witnesses who walked with Him and through faith, we can still experience Jesus! And because His words proved to be true time and again, we can trust Jesus when he declared that because He lives, we live!
Death could not hold Him and we share in the victory over death when we surrender our lives to Jesus! We may face physical death, but by the grace of God, we can enjoy everlasting life because Jesus rose from the grave!
Today, as you pray, praise Jesus that the tomb is empty! Praise Him for His victory over death! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you live with the bold confidence that because He lives, you live too! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you show others the way to Jesus… to use you to show others that Jesus truly is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
SHARING ••• Please share with others! Visit www.MyGraceFullLife.com to read past blogs. Download a free Bible-In-A-Year Reading Plan when you subscribe! Join an online prayer group at www.facebook.com/groups/onlineandonourkneesprayergroup. ***Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture references are from the ESV translation.
