He Has Risen!

(Mark 16:6) “Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.”

Easter, a day we celebrate our risen Lord, who by His abounding love for mankind died for us.  God saw that the sin of mankind was just too great for us to pay, so He paid the price for us.

He endured the darkness, the ridicule, the unbelief, and the sin of mankind—He wore it on the cross and He paid for it and rose to life!

  (Isaiah 59:16-17) “He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so, His own arm worked salvation for Him, and His own righteousness sustained Him.  He put on righteousness as His breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.”

  To look around at the world, the beauty of the mountains, trees, and waters in the oceans, seas, and lakes, you cannot deny that God exists.  Look at life; trees and flowers die and come back to life in the spring; the birth of human life in babies is a true miracle in itself.  How can you deny God’s existence?

 (Isaiah 40:21-26) “Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood since the earth was founded?  He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.  He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.  He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.   No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.   “To whom will you compare me?  Or who is My equal?” says the Holy One.   Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.  Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”

     So with that settled, you must also believe in heaven and hell.  Where will you spend your eternity?  Only God knows the hour and time of your death.

 (Job 14:5) ” Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”  

 The time of your death could be today, tomorrow, a year from now, or 50, but only God knows the exact day and time.  Are you living according to your flesh and the passions and lusts of the world?  Do you really want to take a chance on an eternity in heaven or hell for a few fleeting moments of the lust of your flesh? 

(Mark 8:36) “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

 God says do not love the world or anything in it because it passes away, but your soul lives forever, and where you will spend it is your choice.

 (I John 2:15-17) “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

 On this special day of remembrance, when Jesus gave His life in the painful way that He did for all of us, why not commemorate it with giving your life to Him?  He took our pain and was beaten beyond human recognition.

  (Isaiah 52:13-15) “See, my servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.   Just as there were many who were appalled at Him—His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness—so will He sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him.  For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.”

 Have you given your life to Him in only words, but your heart did not mean it?  Have you been calling everything that has to do with Jesus pure rubbish, only because you still want to party?  Remember, you do not control the hour of your death.  Do you really want to take a chance with where you will spend eternity?  In life, you will go through many hardships, but as a child of the King, He will always be there to back you up, help you up, and bring you through to victory.  Who else on earth can make you that promise?  No one!  Only God loves you just because of who you are, and He loved you first.  He loves you now and will love you no matter what you have done or will do.  He may not always like your actions, but you do not have to do anything to earn His love.  He did it for you.

 (Romans 5:8)  “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

 Only in Christ will you get a do-over!  Who else promises that?

 (II Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  

 Decide today to make it the first and best day of the rest of your life and pray the prayer of salvation above.  You will not regret it!