Desiring to still hold onto the weekend we just had (Easter weekend) and wanting to continue to ponder on the cross and the resurrection, I jumped into the passages in John after the stone was rolled away. What beauty in this time right after He arose.
How amazing that Jesus Christ would show Himself to the world that had just crucified Him and to the few who truly loved Him. These days after Easter when Christ would remove doubt, calm fears, bring peace and show His power again would be the building blocks for the faith His disciples would need after His ascension. And it is also for us today. Jesus states to Thomas that, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed” (John 20:29). May we live in that blessing to believe and hope in what is not seen. What a loving God that He would make sure these things are written down for us to know! Just a few verses later John states this very thing, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
Jesus did many other miracles and spoke many things to those He chose to reveal Himself to. He gave those people, and us today, the continued evidence that He was the Son of God the perfect God-man who could atone for our sin and justify us before a holy God and be raised from the dead to defeat death once and for all. And as I could not just stop at the resurrection this morning, I pray we do not stop at even this point in history. Jesus Christ then ascended and is seated at the right hand of God. We need to remember that He is now acting as our King, Intercessor and Lord. His Spirit is here and as He and the Father are one with the Spirit, He is moving and working in this world. But one very important historical point we can not forget is that He is coming back. So many times we relegate Jesus to 1st Century Palestine. We bind Him there in our minds. But He is not there! He is high and lifted up, exalted and worthy of praise! And He will be coming back on a white horse in all His glory.
May we remember that we serve a King who is seated at the right hand of God. And in that knowledge we can fully lay down our lives to Him and His will for us. As we move away from Easter, let us pursue the surrender of our lives to King Jesus. It is in this posture that we are preparing to go to Zambia. May we all be able to hear the words Jesus gave Peter in John 21:19, “Follow Me”.
Many blessings to all of you as we rejoice in the wake of the Easter weekend.
