Easter 2021

The stone was rolled away to let the world see that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. Jesus in His resurrected state did not need the stone to be rolled away for Him to escape the tomb. He had already escaped the grips of death, a big rock wasn’t going to prevent Him from going anywhere. Remember that the Bible recounts of plenty of appearances by Christ to His disciples and at times they were in locked rooms for fear of the Jews. Jesus didn’t need anyone to open any doors for Him, He could simply walk through the walls.

We need to also point out that the fact that this event takes place the way it does with the women seeing the empty tomb and seeing the risen Lord first! It is very out of the ordinary for a whole religious group to hold such a deeply held belief (the resurrection) from the testimony of women. In fact it makes the whole event even more important because of the fact that women had such a low standing culturally in those days. To think that a whole movement called the church of Jesus Christ or Christianity would get its world wide start with the testimony of women is phenomenal! It shows that women have an equal place of importance to God and His plan of salvation for humanity.

It was Jesus resurrection that proved everything Jesus said and did to be true. It proved that He was the Savior, it proved that He was the very Son of God and in fact God who came in the flesh for our benefit. This is what we have all placed our faith in regarding our forgiveness and our salvation. If the resurrection is false we are all toast, but if (and I firmly believe it is) it is true, we have the promise of salvation, eternal life, and more than that our own resurrection in Christ.

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With everything going on in the world, now is the time for people to seek after God.

Isaiah 55:6–7 ESV

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

But really it is Jesus who came to seek us!

Luke 19:10 ESV

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

It is time to get right with God, and that is a simple thing!

Romans 10:9–13 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Matthew 10:32–33 ESV

32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

You see the rejection of Jesus Christ is foolishness according to God...

Psalm 14:1–2 ESV

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

Isaiah 59:1–4 ESV

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. 4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

Those are the words that can and should only describe our past not our present.

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God who was crucified to pay the penalty of our sin anyone who will believe upon Him now has the ability to say...

Romans 5:6–11 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.