Key Scripture: I Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

(For a full account of the events for this day, see Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-53; John 20:1-21:25)

It is time to celebrate and rejoice that Christ has risen! Oh, what joy and gladness should fill our souls as we recount all that our Savior did for us to make way for our salvation. This our hope fulfilled, our life renewed and our future guaranteed.

Wayne Grudem states, “Christ’s resurrection was not a simple coming back from the dead as others had experienced (such as Lazarus in John 11:1-44). Rather, when Jesus rose from the dead, He began a new kind of human life in which He had a perfect body that was no longer subject to weakness, aging, death, or decay. When Jesus rose from the dead, He had a body that would live eternally, for Jesus had “put on the imperishable”; He had “put on immortality” (I Corinthians 15:53).”

As Paul describes in I Corinthians 15:56-57, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The resurrection is where our faith is solidified and victory achieved. Paul goes on to write about this in I Corinthians 15:12-19. In v. 17 he states, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” It is through Christ’s resurrection power that we have the ability as His children to live a victorious life. It gives us power over our sinful flesh and enables us through His indwelling spirit to have confidence to do the work which Christ left us to do. Jesus’ mission for all of His Children is to be His witnesses. Read Acts 1:8. We are to take this message, the good news of Jesus Christ, the Gospel and share it with all the world.