Conqueror

He is Risen!! The debt for our broken sinfulness is paid in full. New life is ours through our risen Savior.  He has conquered death!

Our church has a prayer time before the services start on Sunday. Today my throat was choked, tears threatened to spill. I am undone every Easter. It cuts me to the core. As a result, I even wrote an additional post "Scattered" on Good Friday to help me process.  Holy week walks us through all that Jesus endured when he paid the price for us. It is gruelling.

I saw many posts on my FB feed on Good Friday saying Sunday is coming. I was struck with the hurry we are in to move from the struggle to the hope. It is unbearable to face the cost of our sin and the fact that Jesus willingly paid it.  The price so profoundly huge, we do not want to stay in it. Immersing ourselves is too much. We want to quickly shake it off and move on to the hope.

I find that if I have not spent time during Lent and Holy Week preparing my heart and engaging in the path Jesus walked, the celebration on Easter Sunday is not as focused for me.  Joy is greater in contrast to struggle and despair.  Hope shines brighter when I take the time to reflect on it's cost.

We left Friday with Jesus entombed. A guard was placed because the Religious rulers did not want Jesus' body to be stolen. They knew the teachings, and they wanted to make sure no one took the body giving them the ability to claim a false resurrection.

Have you ever wondered what Jesus endured in between Friday and Sunday? What more did he go through that is absent from the recordings?  Is it too much to reveal to humanity? Would it crush us to know? 

The women gathered across from the grave and the disciples were scattered.  Judas, the betrayer of Christ, overcome with his sin returns the money and in despair ends his life. 

Friday ends with Jesus in the tomb and the Disciples scattered.

Nothing is recorded until Sunday morning. The women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, go to the tomb.

There is another earthquake. 

An Angel appearing like lightning rolls the stone away revealing an empty grave. The guards shake with fear and faint; they could lose their lives for this.

Some of the women run back to tell the Disciples who have gathered together.

In spite of the Religious leaders every effort, they could not keep Jesus in the grave. He rose victorious over death. Over the next while he appears to approximately 5oo witnesses. Documented appearances. No other book meets as many requirements for accurate literature as Scripture. This information is reliable. 

 

After he has met with the Disciples and others, Jesus is taken up to Heaven. His work on earth complete. 

The truth of the lengths God went to save me is overpowering.  I have been on the verge of tears all week.  God sent his Son as a baby, knowing we would beat him, mock him, kill him.  Jesus gave up his place with his Father, all the powers of his deity to become a man. He lived among us.  He fully identifies with us.  He gave himself up for us. God sent his only Son to hell and back for us. Jesus chose to go to hell and back for us.  What do we do with this? What is the proper response?

He did this out of great love for us.  He is alive. Jesus has risen. He offers us life eternal. People struggle with why Jesus is the only way to God.  He is the only way because he is the only one who made a way for us to be reconciled to God. He alone accomplished it. 

Jesus alone is the Victorious Conqueror.