He Is Risen!
Happy Easter friends! He is risen! He is risen indeed! And today that is precisely what I want to talk about - that statement - that He is risen. We find this phrase in Matthew 28:6. The full verse says, “He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen. Come, see where His body was lying.” This is from the NLT translation, which I particularly like to reference for this specific verse. Usually, I am a devout NIV translation user, but there are some times that I prefer to use other translations - and it always comes down to the smallest of details. Today, it all comes down to one word. You see, the NIV translation of Matthew 28:6 says something slightly different than the NLT. The NIV says, “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.” There is one major difference in the first three words of this verse that makes me inclined to prefer the NLT over the NIV this time. And it’s all about the word “is”. The NLT says that Jesus IS risen, while the NIV says that Jesus HAS risen. Here’s the deal: It’s not like the NIV is incorrect or has the facts wrong - of course not! Christ has most definitely risen from the dead. It was a past tense event and action that occured in a moment of time on one beautiful Sunday morning in history. However, it was not merely just an action of the past. I prefer the NLT version of this verse because it shows that Christ’s resurrection was not just a moment in time, but a state of being that has the power to carry over into the present lives of everyone on this earth. Well what does that mean? Saying that Jesus IS risen means that He was not just at one moment raised from the dead, but He is CURRENTLY risen from the dead. Resurrection is not just a one time deal, but it is something that Christ continued to live into, and not just untli His acsension into Heaven, but even now! There is a reason that we call Christ the risen Lord. Not just because of what happened to Him thousands of years ago, but because He never died again. He is still presently living the resurrected life.
What does that mean for us? It’s pretty simple, actually! It means that we, too, have the chance to be risen along with Christ. When you choose to give your life over to Jesus and surrender your plans to His plans, yes, that is a moment in time that you declare Jesus is the Lord over your life, but it is so much more than that. In that moment, Jesus is inviting you into the resurrected life - the life that lives as though it will never cease to be. Because it won’t. That is the beautiful finish line of it all. Those who are in Christ will recieve the crown of eternal life (James 1:12) that we get to spend with the One who has gone before us. Christ still being the risen Lord, still living this resurrected life, is what enables us to choose it too. It enables us to die to our sin and die with Christ on that Friday, and then rise with Him on Sunday. Rise with Him and continue to live the resurrected life. He is risen, He is risen indeed! And by the grace of God, so are we.
Father God, thank you for this beautiful Easter Sunday. Thank you for your Son. Thank you that Friday was dark, Saturday was silent, and Sunday was triumphant. Thank you for the moment that you gave your Son the breath back in His lungs, but even more so, we thank you that He is alive today - seated next to you at yout right hand. Thank you that we, too, have the opportunity to live a resurrected and risen life and sit in your presence one day. Until that day, help us to run the race with perseverance, fixing our eyes on you, the Author and Perfector of our faith. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
