The Bible, Simplifiedਨਮੂਨਾ

On the morning of the Feast of Firstfruits, when everyone else would have been going to the temple with their share of crops, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb of Jesus in hopes of preparing his body for final burial. They weren’t really sure how they would get in, since the stone had been in place for days. But all of a sudden there was a violent earthquake, and an angel of the Lord appeared. He rolled back the stone from the tomb and sat on top of it.

Everyone froze. The Bible says the guards “became like dead men” (Matthew 28:4).

The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you” (Matthew 28:5–7). . . .

Eternity wasn’t something to come; eternal life began at that moment. Jesus was showing that a new covenant was in place between God and humankind, and the kingdom of God now reigned supreme. Even though evil was and is present all over the world, we can have hope for the future because Jesus rose from the dead.

Everything he said while he was alive the first time had come true. As Christians, our entire faith is based on whether we believe Jesus rose from the dead. If we don’t believe in his resurrection, Jesus was just a great teacher and miracle worker.

But since he did rise from the dead, we believe he was God incarnate. He defeated death, hell, and the grave.

We need to believe with everything inside of us that the tomb is empty and Jesus is risen. Do we really believe the Easter story? If we do, it changes everything. The world is now a new creation, a new beginning, having started over in the way God originally intended with Eden—and . . . he intends to partner with us to create it, with Jesus as our example.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for sending Jesus to be a sacrifice for me, and thank you for making me a new creation so that I can have a restored relationship with you. Amen.