CELEBRATING OUR RESURRECTION WITH CHRIST

CELEBRATING OUR RESURRECTION WITH CHRIST

He is Risen and Yes, We Are Risen with Him Indeed!

 

In this glorious season of celebrating the crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord, I want to reflect on the reason for our Lord coming into the earth in the first place… it was for OUR SAKE.

 

 

On Easter or Resurrection Sunday, the Orthodox, Catholic, and other liturgical churches greet each other with, “The Lord Is Risen,” and the other person responds, “Yes, the Lord is Risen Indeed!”

Gotquestions.com stated:

 

 “The words are sometimes accompanied by the exchange of three kisses on alternate cheeks, depending on the church. In the Orthodox and Catholic churches, the greeting is called the “Paschal greeting” and is an ancient custom.

The greeting is ultimately based on 
Luke 24:34. Translations throughout church history, from the Latin Vulgate (c. AD 400) to the ESV (2001), have translated this verse nearly identically: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (ESV). Exactly how the saying became a standard greeting in the church is not known, although there are various theories regarding how it came into common usage.”

 

What a beautiful greeting to say to each other, but something is missing… us! When Jesus died on the cross, He told His Father, the Holy Spirit, the angels, the entire world, Satan, and his demons, “IT IS FINISHED!” He was declaring His purpose for leaving the heavenly realm with His Father, coming to live in a human body, and becoming as man; His work was accomplished. He said, “Father, we did it! Now I can return home.” To understand His message, let’s look at a few passages of scriptures taken from the Amplified Bible:

 

WE WERE BORN DEAD, OUR MASTERS WERE SIN AND THE LAW

 

Ephesians 2:1-3 – And you [He made alive when you] were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of your transgressions and sins, in which you once walked. You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God]. 

 

Among these [unbelievers] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by the sinful flesh], indulging the desires of human nature [without the Holy Spirit] and [the impulses] of the [sinful] mind. We were, by nature, children [under the sentence] of [God’s] wrath, just like the rest [of mankind]. 

 

Jesus Christ came to FREE us from our masters of sin and the law to bring us back in union with our Father. To do that, He took our sin, trespasses, the law, and all that enslaved us upon the cross and nailed them there forever in Himself to make us FREE.

 

JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED – WE WERE CRUCIFIED WITH HIM

 

Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him, I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

 

When Jesus died on the cross, we were In Him, just as when Adam sinned in the garden, we were In Adam. But the difference is that we didn’t get to choose to follow Adam as a sinner, but we do get to choose to follow Christ as a believer.

 

 JESUS DIED – WE DIED WITH HIM

 

Romans 6: 3 – Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 

 

When we gave our hearts to our Lord Jesus, we were baptized spiritually into His death. The water baptism we experienced was an outward sign of what had already taken place to us spiritually when we said yes to our Lord.

 

 JESUS WAS BURIED – WE WERE BURIED WITH HIM

 

Romans 6:4 – We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in NEWNESS of life [abandoning our old ways]. 

 

In our death and burial, we said “Goodbye” to our old life and ways of trying to make life work by our strength and efforts. We made Jesus the Lord or ‘Boss’ of our life so that He could fulfill all the desires of His heart and the plans for what our Father intended when He created us.

 

JESUS WAS RESURRECTED – WE WERE RESURRECTED TO A NEW LIFE IN HIM

 

Romans 6:5 – For we have become ONE with Him [permanently united] in the likeness of His death, we will also certainly be [ONE with Him and share fully] in the likeness of His resurrection.

 

On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave, declaring ALL POWER IS IN HIS HANDS! He held the keys to death, hell, and the grave. We have been made ALIVE IN CHRIST!

 

But greater still is this:

 

THE LORD’S PURPOSE FOR CRUCIFIXION, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION

 

Romans 6:6-7 – We know that our old self was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. 7 For the person who has died [with Christ] has been FREED from [the power of] sin.

 

 JESUS DIED AND HAS SET US FREE TO LIVE IN HIM!

 

  • FREE from the law of trying to be acceptable or pleasing to God.
  • FREE from obeying sin, flesh, and the Devil.
  • FREE to serve our Father, Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit in NEWNESS of Life.
  • FREE to enjoy all the wonders of our creation.
  • FREE to live in complete UNION with THE TRINITY our FAMILY IN CHRIST.
  • FREE to love and forgive.
  • FREE to live in peace and allow the Prince of Peace to live through us.
  • FREE to allow the Zoe Life of our Father to live through us and to fulfill His desires and purposes.
  • FREE to experience the awesomeness of our Father’s Love and Grace!
  • FREE to allow His Kingdom to rule and reign through us.
  • FREE to bear fruit of righteousness of the Holy Spirit through us!

 

The list goes on and on! Now we can celebrate with the understanding of:

 

THE LORD IS RISEN, YES, HE IS RISEN INDEED BUT ALSO, 
 WE ARE RISEN WITH HIM, YES, WE ARE RISEN WITH HIM INDEED!

 

 

 

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