“A key aspect of the message of Easter is to recognize the “with us” aspect of God in Jesus”
The gospel is all about victory.
We see this in many places throughout scripture. N.T. Wright comments that “Paul assumes this. John assumes this. And if we’d asked them what that victory was or how it was achieved, they would certainly have spoken of Jesus’ death on the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT) says, “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” In another translation verse 15 says, “It looked as if the powers of the world were triumphing over Jesus, but actually, it was the other way around.”
Wow! Did you know that it is possible to live knowing that the powers of death, despair, and hopelessness do not rule the day? In fact, it is possible to live knowing they are completely and totally defeated. That is excellent news, news we all need to hear especially in the difficulty of this past year.
A key aspect of the message of Easter is to recognize the “with us” aspect of God in Jesus. Most Western forms of Christianity have made their main emphasis, or the ultimate aim of being a Christian, to go to heaven when you die. While being in eternity with God is certainly one of the incredible realities of faith in Jesus, we should not lose sight of the fact that Jesus’ defeat of death makes a huge difference here, now, today.
When you give your heart to Jesus, you will likely experience a significant inward difference. Often it’s described as a weight lifting off ones shoulders as you realize the power of forgiveness. There’s also an inward experience of deep love as God welcomes you as a daughter or son into the family — fully adopted and given a full inheritance right away; it can be beautifully overwhelming! From that moment on you have something new to live for — Jesus.
Often filled with gratitude at receiving these incredible inward gifts, gifts you might feel you don’t deserve, you begin to see the world differently. You begin to see the people around you differently. It’s almost like your capacity for love expands beyond what you thought possible — like what happens when you have kids of your own. All of a sudden, there are new ways forward through the most difficult things in life, and Jesus is walking right beside you the whole time.
Christ made all of this possible by defeating everything that kept us from this kind of relationship with him — and his invitation to us, to join him, is a gift. In fact, this invitation, the opportunity for you to experience this incredible freedom, life, and purpose is before you right this moment. It’s an invitation to join a new type of life here and now — what the bible calls the Kingdom of God.
Today is about recognizing that God came onto our broken planet and into our broken way of life to remake things, to remake you and me, and offer us renewed life here and now. Because of Jesus’ actions that day you and I can live filled with hope for the future, purpose for today, all while experiencing a deep sense of inward love.
This is a journey. We can do it together. Following Jesus isn’t always easy, and we are not perfect at it, but we commit to walk together, encouraging each other with God’s help today, tomorrow, the next day, etc. Will you join us?
Happy Easter! Christ is risen. He is victorious. Everything is made new.