Three Days Later

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:5-6 (NIV)

Could you imagine showing up at the tomb where Jesus had been laid three short days before and the stone being rolled away? His body was not inside, but you were greeted by angels who told you that Jesus was not there but was risen from the dead. When you went to tell everyone they didn't believe you, but they traveled to the tomb themselves to see the burial clothes laying on the stone. How frightening, curious, and eventually amazing it would be for these faithful followers of Christ. He appeared to the disciples saying "why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." (Luke 24:38-39) Jesus defied death and sin and was raised from the dead that we might be saved; that we might live eternally with Him in the presence of the Lord. His resurrected body was the first of its kind, a prototype if you will. "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." (1 Cor. 15:20-22) We will receive the same type of new body when we are resurrected at Christ's return. Let us have the hope of eternal life through the faith that Jesus brought to us through His teachings and the fulfillment of the scriptures. For Jesus said "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29) He's talking about the rest of us! Blessed are we who believe, even though we have not seen Christ raised from the dead...yet. May your Easter morning be filled with gratitude to the Father who sent his only Son to live and die for us that we may be saved and become heirs with Christ in the kingdom of God forever and ever.