March 31 is Resurrection Sunday this year. It is a day set aside for Jesus Christ’s followers to remember and celebrate that our Lord and Savior rose again from the dead. Actually, every Sunday is set aside for worship and celebration of the resurrection (Luke 24:1; Acts 20:7). The Lord Jesus Christ has died and has risen from the dead so we may be declared right with God through faith in his name (Romans 4:25).
Resurrection Sunday is a specially designated day to celebrate his victory and the salvation of his people. Resurrection Sunday is not a day to celebrate rebellion against God as some of our governmental officials would have us do.
I am not surprised that the world would want to put down the Gospel and try to make Resurrection Sunday a day to celebrate rebellion against God. Men and women are born sinners and will not worship God unless the Holy Spirit causes them to be born again and grants them repentance leading to life (Romans 1:18-32; Ephesians 2:1-3; Acts 11:18).
While I am not surprised, I will also not be silent. It is unloving to look the other way. It is unChristian to not warn people that Christ is coming to judge the living and the dead.
Everyone needs to understand that we are all born rebels against a holy God (Psalm 51:5; Ephesians 2:1-3; Isaiah 53:6). We go our own way and determine that we will be God over our own lives. But there is only one God and there is no other, and he deserves worship and glory (Deuteronomy 4:35; Isaiah 43:10, 45:5, 18, 46:9). We all have turned away from God and gone our own way, refusing to give him the glory he deserves (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23). We have missed the mark by refusing to glorify God. We have sinned which is rebellion, and the wages for that sin is death (Romans 6:23). Death in that context is not only physical death but spiritual death, which is being separated from God. God is holy (set apart from sin), and he must judge sin and sinners as a just God (Acts 17:30-31).
One day all people will stand before God and be judged. Everyone trusting in themselves, in religious adherence, in their own right deeds, will never stand in the judgment (Psalm 1:4-6).
However, God is rich in mercy and grace. He has sent his Son into the world to die in the place of sinners. He is the perfect Substitute for all who are in him. The Lord Jesus Christ faced the punishment that sinners deserve so that those who are in him may be saved, set free, and returned to God (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18). He did this at the cross where he was pierced for the transgressions of his people. There he was crushed for his people’s sins. The punishment necessary for our peace was laid upon him. By his wounds all who are in him are spiritually healed (Isaiah 53:5). He was buried and rose again the third day and now lives forever (1 Corinthians 15:1-11). He is able to save completely all who draw near to God through him (Hebrews 7:25).
Drawing near to God requires leaving where you have been. It means realizing that you are a rebel against God, lost in sin, and completely responsible for that rebellion. It requires turning from sin to return to God. The only way to return to a right relationship with God is to trust completely and only in the Lord Jesus Christ and his death for sinners. This is the only way.
The perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is the only sacrifice that God will accept. You must see, understand, and be convinced that Jesus’ death was for your sins. This is the only way to escape the judgment your sin deserves. Look to him and be saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved (Acts 16:31). He has died for sinners so that all who come to him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Isaiah 55:6-7 is such great news: “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
May this Resurrection Sunday find us all depending upon Christ and rejoicing in the salvation that he has purchased. May we celebrate the defeat of death, hell, and the grave in him.
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