Easter Brings New Life

NEW LIFE

Easter brings new life, not only to the plants, birds and animals but to us too. Here in Cyprus the main religious festival is Easter, although the dates of the English and Cypriot Easter do not always coincide, the Greek Orthodox Easter being one week later than the English this year. But at whatever date we celebrate the event, it really is the most important date in the Christian calendar, because this is when we thank Jesus for what He did on the cross for us on Good Friday, and on Easter Sunday we celebrate the new life He gave us when He rose from the dead.

On Good Friday Jesus gave His life as the final sacrifice to set us free from sin. Jesus suffered the most ignoble and painful of deaths – crucifixion on a cross. He died for us, the unjust, so that we might be reconciled to God.

As Philip Yancey says in his book ‘The Jesus I Never Knew’, ‘I wish someone with the talents of Milton or Dante would render the scene that must have transpired in hell on the day that Jesus died. No doubt an infernal celebration broke out. The snake of Genesis had struck at the heel of God; the dragon of Revelation had devoured the child at last. God’s Son, sent to earth on a rescue mission, had ended up dangling from a cross like some ragged scarecrow. Oh, what a diabolical victory!

Oh, what a short lived victory. In the most ironic twist of all history, what Satan meant for evil, God meant for good. Jesus’ death on the cross bridged the gap between a perfect God and a fatally flawed humanity. On the day we call Good Friday, God defeated sin, routed death, triumphed over Satan, and got His family back. In that act of transformation, God took the worst deed of history and turned it into the greatest victory’.

Jesus had foretold to His disciples that He would have to ’go to Jerusalem and submit to an ordeal of suffering at the hands of the religious leaders, be killed, and then on the third day be raised up alive’. (Matthew 16 v 21-22 Message)

The disciples found this hard to believe, because after all, no-one had done this before. But God’s Son hadn’t come to the Earth before! Christianity is the only faith that can proclaim a living Saviour – because Jesus conquered death!

The resurrection is the most amazing news the world has ever heard. It means there is a God after all. It means that Jesus really is God’s Son. It means that Christ is alive – today – and we can know Him and be touched by His life and power. It means that we need not fear death the way we once did; we are not destined to oblivion but to spend eternity with God.

He Is Risen - Wishing you a blessed Easter!