Here it is the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the day between Jesus’ death and Jesus’ resurrection, and I am reading the opening chapter in the account of what will happen leading up to Jesus’ ultimate return. It feels like wearing white or bright yellow to a funeral service… it just doesn’t fit.
And yet on the other hand, there is something encouraging and strengthening about reading the ‘rest of the story,’ reading about him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood… the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty (5, 8).
What Jesus ‘did’ yesterday and what we will celebrate tomorrow has changed everything, the course of human history as well as the course and trajectory of my life as one who believes and trusts in Jesus. Reading this chapter has infused my life with deepened trust. Jesus will return and make all things new. The resurrection we will celebrate tomorrow is simply the first step in God’s process of renewal and restoration of the effect of the fall in the Garden of Eden.
I pause when I read verses 17-18: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
The one whom I worship is alive for ever more. The one whom I worship hold the keys of death and Hades. The one whom I worship will come again! Whoa, now I am ready for worship tomorrow!
O, God, may I live in Your presence today, contemplating Jesus, all He provided with His death and the cross. And Lord God, I ask that throughout today, your Holy Spirit would stir in me a heart to worship and praise You like never before as I celebrate the empty tomb and my risen Savior tomorrow on Easter Morn… Alleluia, amen.
It touched the soul of mine. It's really helpful in resurrection for everyone. I like it...
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