Matthew 28:6 (NIV) He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Resurrection Sunday is right around the corner and that day in history stands out as the most significant thing that happened that gives everyone an opportunity for a restart in life that leads to life forevermore. No longer do I need to fret about all the mistakes and bad judgements that I have made in my life. No longer do I have to walk around feeling guilt and shame for the things that I did when Jesus was not in control of my life. How did Resurrection Sunday change all of that? The fact that Jesus rose from the dead proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is who He said that He is and that the words that He spoke were true. He is the Messiah, the Son of God, God incarnate, our Savior and our Lord.

Jesus came down from heaven to our lowly world specifically to seek and to save those who were lost (Luke 19:10). The truth is that all of humanity was lost and in dire straits. But because of God’s great mercy and because of His miraculous plan to save us, those of us that have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior stand forgiven and adopted into the family of God with eternal life as a reward. Jesus said and promised a lot of things, but it wouldn’t have mattered what He said if He had not risen from the dead. He told us that He would and sure enough, He absolutely did. The fact that even that great and powerful adversary, death, couldn’t hold Him proves Him to be Lord over all. Nothing can come against Him, nothing can stop Him from doing what He has set out to do and nothing will ever be able to defeat Him. That God, that great Lord and Savior is our God and our Abba. He is my God and your God. He desires intimacy with you and me and when we open up our hearts to Him, we experience a joy and a peace that we can’t even put into words. It becomes life as it should be, for we were created for that specific purpose.

That’s why Resurrection Sunday is such a huge deal. Every word and every promise that Jesus made to us was validated and confirmed when He walked out of that tomb. And because He walked out of that tomb, the tomb has no hold on us either. Because Jesus rose, we too will rise! We will rise to live with Jesus, joining in with the throng of the redeemed to worship and give glory to the Lamb of God who took away our sins and brought us back to life! Oh what a day to celebrate and remember! He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Pastor Joey Vazquez