He is Risen Indeed!

Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor

“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

Luke 24:5b-7

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ancient church moved their day of worship from Saturday (the Sabbath) to Sunday (the Lord’s Day) in honor of the resurrection. In Revelation 1 we read John the Apostle was on the Isle of Patmos and there he had vision of Christ and the things to come. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…” (Revelation 1:10) In Acts 20:7 we find, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.” (Think about that the next time you think I’m long winded!) When Paul was gathering donations to help the struggling believers he wrote, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” (Yes, they took a collection every Sunday.) All these point to the reality that every Sunday was a celebration of the resurrection which some have referred to as the “Christian Sabbath.”

Easter, or perhaps Resurrection Sunday, is the annual anniversary of commemorating the physical, bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This year will be the first time in my life that I will celebrate it without my earthly father. Easter takes on special meaning for me now because it tells me not only that our Savior was raised this day but that because he was raised, we have the assurance of heaven and the promise of ourselves being resurrected at the return of Christ.

“For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

I will no longer be able to celebrate Easter or Christmas, Father’s Day or the Fourth of July with my dad here on earth. But the promise that God has made to every believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When we die our body will go into the grave like Jesus did following the crucifixion. Just as Christ arose on the first day of the week we too shall rise from the dead, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” Just as Jesus rose bodily and victoriously to never die again, at the return of Christ we shall all be raised from the dead and God will turn these perishable bodies into imperishable bodies that will be fit for eternity. Heaven will come down and be joined with earth where we will live in the presence of God and one another for all eternity. So, this Sunday when you hear the words, “He is risen!” respond emphatically, “He is risen indeed!” Because he lives, we will live. That is the hope of Easter, and that is the hope of the Christian life.