“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Matthew 6:9

The Lord’s Prayer is perhaps the most misused prayer in all the world. People recite its words — sometimes repeatedly — with little or no thought as to what the prayer really asks of God. Instead of being a sincere prayer of the heart, it is often only empty words uttered from the lips.

When we remember that Jesus tells us, when we pray, to “not use vain repetitions as the heathen do” (Matt. 6:7), we would do well to consider the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and take the time to pray through it with our hearts and minds and not just recite its words thoughtlessly.

We pray to “our Father in heaven.”

What a privilege it is for us to address the Almighty God, Maker of heaven and earth, as “our Father”! But that is what He is to us — our Father. Not only did He create each and every one of us, but He also redeemed each and every one of us from our own sin and rebellion by sending His only-begotten Son to fulfill all righteousness for us and to suffer and die for all our sins.

As believers in Christ Jesus, we sinners have the privilege of addressing God as “our Father” and can be assured that He has forgiven us and will both hear and answer our prayers for Jesus’ sake.

The Bible tells us in Galatians 3:26-27: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Hebrews 10:19-22 says, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

In 1 John 5:13-15, we also read: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”

Because Christ Jesus suffered and died upon the cross for the sins of all and then rose again and ascended to the right hand of God the Father to intercede for us with His blood and be our Advocate before the Father, we can come boldly before the holy LORD God and He will hear us!

Is any petition too large when coming before the Maker of all things? Is any request too small for a God who has given such great attention to even the most minute detail?

What a privilege we have to be able to call God, the Maker of heaven and earth, our Father! And we can call Him just that and know that He, as our loving Father in heaven, will hear and answer all our prayers for the sake of His Son, Christ Jesus, who suffered and died for all our sins and rose again.

Dear Father in heaven, we thank You for Your love and mercy toward us and for the gift of Your Son to redeem us and make us Your own children through faith in Him. We thank You for the privilege of calling You “our Father” and for Your promise to hear and answer our prayers for Jesus’ sake. In His name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

John 16:16-23

16 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” 17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.” 19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. 23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed, He told His disciples these words in John 16:16: “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”

Even though Jesus had often explained that He would be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and scribes, be condemned to death, handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, scourged, crucified, and that He would rise again on the third day (Matt. 20:18-19), his disciples did not understand what He meant when He said, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father” (v. 16; cf. v. 17-19).

Jesus explained briefly in verses 20-22: “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”

What Jesus meant became clear to them only after it came to pass, when Jesus appeared to them on that first Easter evening and said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19).

That “little while” began on that very night when Jesus was betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. It continued as Jesus was tried, condemned, crucified and laid in the tomb. Jesus had been taken from His disciples and crucified. He was dead and enclosed in a tomb! All appeared to be hopeless and their faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah and Savior was crushed.

And they had great sorrow because Jesus, in whom they had trusted and whom they had followed for three years was now dead. And they, His own disciples, had betrayed Him, denied Him and fled from Him in fear for their own lives! And now Jesus was taken from them and gone — their faith and hopes were dashed!

As Jesus said, “you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” The disciples of Jesus sorrowed but the world rejoiced at the death of Jesus.

No longer would the enemies of Jesus have to hear Him pointing out their sinfulness, their hypocrisy and their need to repent and to look to God for mercy and forgiveness. No longer would they have to hear Jesus’ claims to be the Son of God and their Messiah and Savior and the only way of salvation!

But the disciples’ sorrow and the world’s rejoicing were shortlived! The disciples’ sorrow was turned into joy when they saw Jesus alive from the dead on the third day? And their rejoicing grew, even more, when Jesus opened up their hearts and minds to understand the Scriptures and they came to understand what Jesus had accomplished through His death and resurrection — that He had made full atonement for the sins of all and was risen again in victory that all who repent and look to Jesus for pardon and forgiveness could have God’s pardon and peace and the certain hope of being raised up again unto everlasting life (cf. Luke 24:44ff.; Rom. 4:23ff.; 1 John 2:1f.; 1 Cor.15:20ff; 1 Pet. 1:3ff.).

Like a woman in pain as she gives birth forgets that pain and rejoices when her child is born, so the pain and anguish — the sorrow — suffered by Jesus’ disciples was nothing in comparison to their joy when He appeared to them alive again, having won salvation for all!

But, imagine the shock when the chief priests and elders of the Jews heard the soldiers’ report of an angel, the stone rolled back and an empty tomb (cf. Matt. 28:2-4,11-15)! Their rejoicing was turned to fear because Jesus had risen from the dead as He said, proving He truly is the Son of God and that His words and teaching are true!

These words of Jesus about the “little while” have yet another application that applies to all of us. On the 40th day after Easter, Jesus ascended into heaven and was exalted to His position of power and glory at the right hand of God the Father.

We cannot see Him now but He is present with us and rules over all that He might establish His everlasting kingdom (cf. Matt. 28:16-20; Eph. 1:18-23). He sends His ministers to call people to repent and believe the Gospel of forgiveness of sins and life everlasting through faith in the crucified and risen Savior! He sends out His Holy Spirit, who works through the Word to convict people of their sins and to assure them of forgiveness and life through faith in Jesus and His cross (cf. Eph. 1:3ff.; 1 Thess. 1:5; 2 Thess. 2:13-14).

But, as we live out the remainder of our lives here in this world, our lives are full of sorrow and pain. Not only are we ridiculed by the world for our faith in Christ Jesus, but some are also even persecuted and suffer for their faith. Large numbers are still killed today because of their testimony regarding Jesus and His doctrine — especially in Islamic countries.

Sometimes we may even lose sight of Jesus and all He accomplished for us. We may forget that He is with us always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), and will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5).

But our sorrows and all our suffering will be turned to joy when we see Jesus coming again in the clouds of glory. The world will weep and lament, but we will lift up our heads in joy (cf. Rev. 1:7; Luke 21:28).

St. Paul assures us in Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

Now, we may weep and sorrow as we suffer in this world and are under constant attack by the devil and his evil angels, by the unbelieving world and even from our old sinful flesh which causes us to doubt and despair and seeks to lure us back into sin.

That is why the Scriptures warn us in 1 Peter 2:11: “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”

And the world (all who remain impenitent and without faith in Christ Jesus for mercy) rejoices. The world rejoices to see the true church diminish in numbers and influence. The world rejoices when the true message of the Bible is silenced or contradicted because, then, people don’t have to hear of their sinfulness and of their need to repent and look to Jesus for salvation. People rejoice because they can continue on in their sinful ways without being reminded of their guilt and the coming judgment of God upon them.

To paraphrase the words of John 3:19, people love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and they do not wish to have their sinful ways exposed by the light of God’s Word.

Though the world rejoices now as Christianity and the true preaching of God’s Word appears to wane in the face of constant attack, this rejoicing will be shortlived because, in “a little while,” Jesus will return in judgment. In the words of Revelation 1:7, “He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.”

But, though we, like Peter after He denied Jesus, may weep and sorrow in this world because of our own sins and failures, though we may be troubled because of the world’s hatred and persecution, though we may sorrow as our loved ones die and we too face temporal death, our sorrow will be turned to joy when Christ Jesus returns to receive us into His everlasting kingdom of glory.

The Bible assures us this in the words of Revelation 21:3-4: “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”

Or, in the words of Revelation 7:13-17: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

For a little while, we may grieve and sorrow — though we still have hope because we know Jesus rose from the dead and will return to raise us up and give us the everlasting joys of heaven. But, in a little while, when Jesus comes again, we shall rejoice with joy inexpressible!

As the psalmist writes in Psalm 16:11: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

We thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for the comfort of knowing that our sorrows are only for a little while, that in a little while You will appear again in the clouds of glory to receive us and all who have trusted in Your name to the everlasting joys of heaven. Grant us Your Holy Spirit and the faith to believe the Gospel promises of forgiveness and life eternal for the sake of your blood, shed upon the cross for the sins of the world. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord GOD. “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.” Ezekiel 34:15-16 (Read Ezekiel 34)

God lays much of the blame for the fact that His people of Israel had turned away and came under His judgments upon the shepherds who should have been feeding and nourishing God’s sheep with His Word.

Had they been preaching and teaching God’s Word, admonishing and bringing back those who were erring and wandering from the fold and comforting those who were overwhelmed with guilt and the problems of life, God’s flock would not have been scattered and carried away by their enemies. Instead, those who should have been shepherds to God’s people were busy feeding themselves and taking advantage of the sheep under their care.

The same, of course, is true today in regard to the pastors who have been given a charge to shepherd God’s flock over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers (cf. Act 20:28). Instead of shepherding the flock and using God’s Word and His Sacraments to feed and nourish the souls entrusted to their care, pastors take advantage of the sheep and seek worldly gain at the cost of those they should be nourishing. Instead of watching over the flock and protecting it from false doctrine, pastors are often the ones advancing false doctrine and erring views that destroy faith (cf. Romans 16:17-18). Instead of admonishing the erring and giving God’s comfort to the penitent and suffering, pastors say nothing against the sinful lifestyles of our day and offer false comfort to the impenitent and erring.

What does God say He will do? “I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them — My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken” (Ezek. 34:22-24).

God promised to send His only-begotten Son into the world, born a descendant of David, of the Virgin Mary. He would be the Good Shepherd who would gather God’s sheep from all the nations where they had been driven. He would give His life for the sheep to redeem them and restore them to God’s flock. He would feed His sheep with His Word and Sacraments and protect them from the assaults of those who seek to destroy and devour God’s flock, and He would judge the shepherds who took advantage of God’s flock and failed to be true shepherds to them.

In Isaiah 40:10-11, we read: “Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.”

In Jeremiah 23:1-4, we read: “‘Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!’ says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: ‘You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,’ says the Lord. ‘But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,’ says the Lord.”

And we heard Jesus’ words today in John 10:11-16: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”

What does this Word of God say to us today? To pastors, it is a stern warning to shepherd God’s sheep with God’s Word. It is a warning not to abuse or neglect God’s flock but to preach the whole truth revealed in the Bible and to faithfully apply God’s Word to recover the straying, to admonish the indifferent, to comfort and bind up the weak and injured and to gather the lambs to their Savior. Those who don’t fulfill their duties will be held responsible for their failures to shepherd God’s sheep, but those who do the work entrusted to them will receive a reward (cf. 1 Cor. 4:1-2).

Peter writes (1 Peter 5:2-4): “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”

And to the sheep, it is a reminder that the Good Shepherd continues to watch over our souls. He feeds and nourishes us with His Word and Sacraments. His Word reveals to us our sinfulness and comforts us with the good news of forgiveness and life through faith in Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. He gave His life for us, His sheep! Cf. Isa. 53:6. With His Word, He admonishes us when we go astray, He comforts us when we repent and look to Him for pardon and peace, He encourages and comforts us when we are weighed down with guilt and overwhelmed by the troubles of this life.

His Word tells us in 1 John 1:7 — 2:2: “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

When His called ministers are faithfully doing their duty, God commands us in Hebrews 13:17: “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

And, of course, the ultimate goal is that we, God’s sheep, dwell with the Lord Jesus forever. The goal is that expressed in Psalm 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” And we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever if, by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments, we are preserved in the true faith and trust in Christ and His cross alone for pardon and for life everlasting!

“Savior, like a shepherd, lead us; much we need Your tender care. In Your pleasant pastures feed us, for our use your fold prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, You have bought us; we are Yours. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, You have bought us; we are Yours.” Amen. — Lutheran Service Book, Hymn No. 711, Verse 1.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7 (Read v. 1-10)

We were dead in trespasses and sins. We were born into this world, not alive but dead — spiritually dead. We did not and could not love God our Maker with all our heart, soul and mind. We didn’t and couldn’t trust Him or seek His honor and glory. Rather, we were lovers of self and sought to use God and others for our own selfish and sinful desires. We were disobedient to God’s commandments, did not walk in His ways and were headed for eternal death and damnation.

Yet, as Christ was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God the Father after He was sacrificed for us upon the cross, for our sins, so God has graciously called us to life through the Gospel and raised us up from spiritual darkness and death to life in Christ Jesus. Through the Gospel, He has assured us that through faith in Christ we are acceptable in His sight for the sake of Christ’s holy life and innocent sufferings and death in our place. He has assured us that, when we trust in Jesus, all our sins are washed away for the sake of Christ’s blood, shed for us upon the cross.

And as believers, God the Father has raised us up with Christ to sit with Him in the heavenly realms, and we will reign with Him in His eternal kingdom.

And why did He do it? “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Now we don’t begin to grasp the riches of God’s grace toward us in Christ Jesus, but when we are in heaven with Jesus, we will see and know how great God’s merciful kindness toward us in Christ truly is.

Dear gracious and merciful Father, thank You for the redemption You provided for us in Christ Jesus and for graciously calling us to life through the Gospel and bringing us to know and trust in Your Son as our Savior. Open our eyes that we might see and appreciate the richness of your grace toward us in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

While some are quick to criticize Christians for celebrating Easter and point to ancient pagan observances in spring and to worldly customs involving such things as Easter eggs and the Easter bunny, Christians celebrate Easter for none of these things. They have an entirely different reason to observe the festival and to celebrate. Christians observe Easter to remember and celebrate the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day following His crucifixion just outside the walls of Jerusalem.

For the critics, it is true that Easter Sunday, set on the first Sunday immediately following the Paschal full moon, does not always fall on the third day after the Jewish Passover. But since Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Christian churches observe the day of His resurrection on a Sunday each year. Eastern Orthodox churches usually observe the festival on a different Sunday than Western churches because of their use of the Julian Calendar to calculate the date of Easter rather than the Gregorian Calendar and the astronomical full moon rather than the Paschal or ecclesiastical full moon. Yet, all of this is neither here nor there. It wouldn’t be an issue if Christians celebrated Jesus’ birth in July and His resurrection in November because it’s not about the date of the observance but the event that is remembered.

And there are those who claim that the very name “Easter” comes from the name of a pagan goddess or a pagan celebration — and many blindly accept this assertion — but a far better explanation is that the name Easter comes from the old German word “Oster” or “Ostern,” which means “the rising of the sun.” Oster comes from the old Teutonic of auferstehen (or auferstehung) which means resurrection. This comes from two words: Ester, which means first, and stehen, with means to stand. And these two words combine to form erstehen, an old German form of auferstehen, which is the modern German word for resurrection (Nick Sayers, “Why We Should Not Passover Easter,” http://www.easterau.com).

In a 2011 article published by Answers in Genesis, Roger Patterson adds the following information: “When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German (New Testament in 1522), he chose the word Oster to refer to the Passover references before and after the Resurrection. William Tyndale translated the Bible into English from the Greek and Hebrew. His New Testament (1525) uses the word ester to refer to the Passover. In fact, we owe our English word Passover to Tyndale. When translating the Old Testament (1530), he coined the term to describe how the Lord would “pass over” the houses marked with the blood of the lamb (Exodus 12). The usage of ester was retained in the 1534 revision of the New Testament, and it was not until later that it was known as Easter, adding that Luther and Tyndale were the first to use a translation of pascha rather than a transliteration.”

Whether called Easter or Resurrection Sunday, we as Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the crux upon which Christianity either stands or falls. If Jesus did not rise bodily from the dead, His death on the cross for the sins of the world would have been insufficient and there could be no promise or certainty of forgiveness of sins, of our being accepted by God or of our own resurrection and eternal life when we place our faith in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross.

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:14-19): “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up — if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”

But the Bible goes on to say (1 Cor. 15:20): “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Jesus’ resurrection proves that His death was a ransom accepted by God for the sins of the world and that God, for Jesus’ sake, reaches out to us lost and prodigal sons and daughters with the promise of mercy and forgiveness upon all who look to Jesus in faith (cf. Rom. 4:23-25). His resurrection proves that Jesus was true to His word that He would rise again on the third day, and it gives us the assurance that He can and will raise up unto everlasting life all who have believed in His name.

How do we know that Jesus really did rise from the dead? By eyewitness accounts.

Again, St. Paul summarizes the evidence for us (1 Cor. 15:3-8): “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”

If anyone had doubts about the bodily resurrection of Jesus in the first century, there were plenty of living eyewitnesses who could attest to seeing Jesus alive again following His crucifixion. Our faith rests upon the testimony of those witnesses recorded for us in the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament, as well as in the Old Testament prophecies of Christ’s death and resurrection. Compare the resurrection accounts in the four Gospels — Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20-21.

Without the bodily resurrection of Jesus, Christianity would be no different than other religions of the world which tell people all the things they must do or not do to be accepted by and at one with their god and maker.

Christianity is the only religion that teaches that man does not and cannot measure up to God’s perfect standards because we are all fallen sinners. Instead of man somehow reaching up, the Bible teaches that God reached down to us in the person of Jesus Christ and redeemed us from the guilt and condemnation of our sins by the innocent sufferings and death of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in our stead (cf. Rom. 3:21-26). Jesus’ resurrection is proof that we indeed have been redeemed to God! And it is proof that we who have placed our hope in Him will be raised up from our graves on the Last Day to the eternal joys of His kingdom!

And yes, this is cause to celebrate and rejoice! It is a reason to join together and sing God’s praises for accomplishing the salvation of lost and condemned sinners, for winning for all pardon and forgiveness, and for offering and giving the blessings of forgiveness and life eternal through faith alone in Jesus’ name!

“I know that my Redeemer lives; what comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, He lives, who once was dead; He lives, my ever-living Head” (Samuel Medley).

Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.