Easter Sunday! What a day of great celebration.
We celebrate the grandest event in all of human history: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
For many, there is yet a cultural religious reflex to celebrate Easter. Those who truly know Christ worship each Sunday to honor the risen Christ, even as they do in arising each day with the purpose to “live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
To think that the immortal Son of God became human without denying His deity, all so He could pay for our sin. What love!
How important it is to remember that Christ really died—His body entombed lifeless, the preincarnate Son now God in flesh, mortal. Jesus did not merely faint or suffer unconsciousness; He really died.
He died, however, not His own death, for He died our death. He bore the punishment we deserve. He was just but was numbered as a transgressor. The sinless Son of God became sin for us.
Jesus rose again!
Jesus rose again by the power of God the Father.
His gravestone was moved not to let Him out but to let us in to see that “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said” (Matthew 28:6).
Jesus Christ was vindicated in His resurrection. First Timothy 3:16 says, “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”
God the Son was manifested, made known. He came clearly communicating by His incarnation. The eternal Son of God, existing as pure spirit, was made visible, made manifest in His incarnation. We, in John the apostle’s words, now could touch Him, see Him, hear Him, know Him as God, full of grace and truth.
Jesus was vindicated!
Jesus came with the announcement from John the Baptist, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Jesus Christ’s profound declarations—that He “has come to seek and to save that which was lost” and that He would redeem sinners by His death—are vindicated by the Spirit. Every miracle performed by Jesus Christ, and certainly His resurrection from the dead, demonstrates His deity. He exhibited to all that what He came to do He accomplished. He came to save sinners by taking our punishment, fully satisfying the hot, holy wrath of the Heavenly Father. Jesus’ resurrection is the nonverbal communication from the Father Himself: “My Son accomplished what He came to do. I will forgive believing sinners. Those alienated I will now reconcile.”
“Vindicated” is a word often translated as “justified.” A meaning of “justified” is “exhibited, displayed, proven.” Jesus was “justified”—not that He was declared righteous, but that He was seen or exhibited to be righteous. He fully accomplished all He set out to do. He came to save, and He did. He rescued sinners by His death at Calvary.
Thus do His last words from Calvary echo in our minds. Raising Himself on the cross of Calvary one last time, Jesus drew in a final breath and exclaimed, “It is finished!”
“The debt of sinners is paid!”
“I have completed the work that has been mine from eternity.”
“I will rise again in victory over sin, death, and Hell.”
“It is finished!”
Exult in this glorious, risen Savior.
Exalt Him by faith, love, and growing obedience.
Worship Jesus Christ, our risen Savior!
David E. Strope, D.D., is interim national representative of the GARBC.
