He Is Risen!

We had a sunrise service this morning which was wonderful. Jason and I were expecting about 7 people and instead about 70 showed up. Thanks to all who could make it, I pray it was as much of a blessing for you as it was for me.

My time preparing this week surprised me. I've said in messages before that we are a church addicted to it's cross, but I hadn't spent so much time thinking about the tomb as I did this week. Think about it... our churches all have crosses on/in them, we have crosses in our signs and our logos, and we wear them on our clothes and around our necks to remind us of what was done on the cross. All of these are great reminders of what was done on the cross for us, but has anyone ever seen a representation of the tomb to remind us of what was done there? I mean, the early church didn't choose to meet on Friday when He died, they chose to meet on Sunday when He rose from the dead.

And I think we fixate on the cross because it's a lot easier to comprehend than the tomb. We physically experience our sin, and our need for forgiveness resulting from that sin, every day. It's real to us. But the tomb represents the unreal. It tells us that everything we experience here on earth falls short of what's real. It promises a reality beyond what we can sense here. I think it's so hard to grasp the tomb because we see the natural cycle of life and death all the time. We expect death. We're used to it. But if death is so natural, such a normal part of things, then why is death so tragic? Why does death leave the holes in us that it leaves? Maybe it's because death's not natural at all. Maybe it's because death wasn't part of the original plan... only life was.

I would love to have been at the foot of that cross, watching my Saviour die in my place. But I would love even more to sit in that tomb, contemplating the fact that 'God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.' I wish I could have been there when the earthquake shook the ground, the angel rolled away the stone, and Jesus appeared 'like lightning' with 'his clothing as white as snow.' And I wish I was there when the angel said, 'He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said...'

Here's hoping all of us can live lives worthy of an empty tomb. Lives that represent all that God says is possible and all that will one day be. That instead of wallowing in our sin, we can trust in His promise to make us new, and believe that it's possible because that tomb is EMPTY!