Is He Risen?
He is risen! Jesus is alive now and forever. Death has no power over him, the grave couldn’t hold him, Satan couldn’t defeat him, or anyone who truly believes what he says or what he has done for us.
If we believe with our hearts and confess with our lips that this is true, then we will be saved (Romans 10:9) and we will be raised in a glorious new body in likeness with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, where will will be with him and reigning with him forever!
Do we believe this? Do we believe that Jesus rose again on the third day?
People are going to say “Oh absolutely, Yes He is Risen!” But do they live it out?
When Jesus says (John 3:16) everybody believes it, the disciples were all about that. They all knew Jesus loved everyone, I mean he proved it by his actions, they didn’t really know what it meant, but they had no problems with this.
But when Jesus said, ‘I am the only way to heaven” or “I am the living bread that came from heaven” most of his disciples deserted him, and the few that remain still did not actually believe it.
When Jesus told the remaining disciples that he was going to be killed, and then raised from the dead on the third day, the disciples had no clue what he was talking about, even though he mentioned this to them several times, if not constantly for the last little while, they still did not understand or believe this. I mean Peter even rebuked Jesus for saying such foolish things.
If this is not enough, when Jesus was actually arrested just like he told them he would be, most all of them scattered, one left so fast he didn’t even care he was running away naked, some of them watched Jesus be tortured, spit on, mocked and killed, exactly the way Jesus said it was going to happen, not only did Jesus say this, but Old Testament prophets prophesied about this and Jesus even explained that to them, yet they still did not believe this.
Read your whole bible, but this is some references: (Isaiah 52, 53, 59, 60 - Ps 22, 31, 34, 41, 69 - Zech 11, 13.)
If that is still not enough for you, Jesus actually rises from the dead on the third day exactly the way he said it would happen, He actually talks to Mary and tells her to go tell the disciples about it and tell them to meet him, just like he had already told them before he died. (Matthew 20:17-19)
But yet the disciples still did not believe him, and they didn’t believe Mary and the other women either. Only Peter and John were the only ones that considered this to be worth checking out, even though they still did not believe it actually happened, they just thought it was wired Jesus went missing. They get to the tomb, where Jesus was, and they saw his wrapping’s laying in there where Jesus body was, it says they believed, at least John did, but they still didn’t understand the meaning.
The two disciples walking to Emmaus did not believe, and everyone was telling them what they saw, and what had happened, but they talked about Jesus in the past tense, they did believe in him until he died, because they thought he was going to be their king, (they wanted and were looking for an earthly ruler, sound familiar?) but after he died, all their hopes and dreams and beliefs were shattered.
None of them truly believe that Jesus was raised from the dead until they seen him, but even tho they seen Jesus and was walking with him they still didn’t believe, even tho he was walking them through the scriptures that prophesied this very thing, and they didn’t even recognize him because just like Isaiah said “His face was so disfigured he seamed hardly human” (Isaiah 52:14)
But even after they seen the wholes in his hands when he broke bread with them and they finally realized he was Jesus, they still didn’t believe what actually was taken place.
But even after Jesus saw all the disciples, except for Thomas, Thomas still did not believe all the witnesses that actually had seen Jesus, it wasn’t until Thomas seen the wound in Jesus side and the holes in his hands from the nails from hanging on the cross that Thomas finally believed, but Jesus almost had to force him to believe what he was actually seeing.
Even after all this, the disciples still didn’t truly believe, for one, they were still scared and were hiding behind locked doors, I mean Jesus had to miraculously appear just to be with them, and then they thought he was a ghost, but even after all this and Jesus proves to all of them its truly him and everything was exactly like it was foretold long ago in the scriptures. But the disciples still didn’t fully get it or believe, I mean they just go back out fishing, they went back to what they were doing before they met Jesus Even though Jesus revealed himself to them in more ways than you can count. But they didn’t understand and they didn’t know what to do without Jesus telling them step by step. I mean the disciples are standing there, gazing up in the sky, waiting for Jesus to magically, reappeared, and set up his kingdom because they still didn't understand or believe what Jesus said!
It wasn’t until Jesus ascended back to heaven, and sent the comforter the Holy Spirit, (again just like he said he would do) to the disciples and once they were born again, then they truly believed, and understood what all Jesus had said.
Why don’t we learn from others?
Alright, so now why do we think it’s any different today?
It’s not! History repeats itself just like Solomon says, there is nothing new ever.
(John 3:16) Is probably the most quoted verse in the Bible, along with (Matthew 7:1) but no one really know what this means, if they did they could explain it to you.
But here’s the deal, We will never truly believe and understand who Jesus is and what he has done for us until we surrender ourselves fully to God, Repenting of our sins, turning 180 degrees in he opposite direction to the one and only savior, trusting him and putting our faith in what he did for us on the cross and especially what he did that first Easter Morning, and we have to give him our heart and soul and let him fill us with his Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us, and to lead us into all truth, just like he told us he would do. (John 14:15-21)
Jesus says “you must be born again” in order to see the kingdom of God, not just to be a part of the kingdom of God, not to be able to get into heaven, but we can’t even “SEE” (or even try to understand) the kingdom of God until we are born again. (John 3:3)
We can believe in Jesus, we can even believe he is the son of God, but it don’t do any good without putting our faith & trust in him and being born again! Just like James says “even the devils believe and tremble”. (James 2:19)
It’s not enough that we believe, we have to put our faith in Jesus, the one and only way, the only truth and the only life and it’s not good enough that we say, we have faith, but we actually have to act out our faith. It’s by our actions we prove that we actually have faith in Jesus. (Luke 17:6-10, Romans 6:15-18, 10:16-17, - Hebrews 11:5-7, - James 1:21-25, 2:18-26)
So I’ll ask this again, do we actually believe what Jesus says? Do we actually believe Jesus is raised to life, and is alive right now? Do we believe he is the King of all kings and Lord of all lords?
If so, why are we not proving it by the way we live? Why is it so many times we just go right back to doing what we did before we knew Jesus?
Are we going to believe in Jesus for a little while, but then when something don’t go our way, or if one of our prayers does not get answered, or a loved one dies when we thought they were going to be healed, whatever it may be, are we going to start thinking of Jesus in the past tense?
Are we going to be like Thomas and wait until Jesus returns so we can actually see the wound in his side and the holes in his hands before we believe what he says?
Jesus is coming again, and every eye will see him, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, everyone will believe what he says one day, but why do we have to wait until he proves it to us physically, when it’s too late, why not instead, let’s put our faith in Jesus, Trusting our whole life to him and let him reveal himself to us a little more every day with our personal relationship with Jesus!
I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll say it again right now, when you’re a follower of Jesus, it is as simple as following Jesus.
I put together the Easter Sunday Account that you can check out here it’s very simple and easy to read.
People do Easter egg, hunts, and Easter, bunnies and all that crap, but Easter is just like Christmas, if Jesus was not born, then Jesus could not have died, and if Jesus did not die, then he could not have rose from the dead, and made a way for us to heaven for eternity. So put away all your ideas of a pagan holiday, all your opinions fussing and conflict that is involved in these holidays, put away all your “religious” beliefs, just read your Bible (from start to finish and then start over) and try to get a better understanding of who Jesus is and what he would like for you to do!
Bottom Line
Again, it doesn’t matter what you say you believe, it doesn’t matter how religious you are, it doesn’t matter what “church” you belong to, it doesn’t matter how long your Easter service is. It doesn’t matter what you eat, doesn’t matter what you wear, all that matters in the end is your personal relationship with your Savior Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords!
Do you believe what he says? And do you put your faith in him?
If so, let’s prove it!
Until next time, and from now on, may, God bless you with his abundant grace, and revealed his son to you more and more every day!
~Joe Lester~