I wrote on Palm Sunday about the “Plan” that our pastor highlighted that Jesus has for us – a big plan that considers even the smallest details. It was such a fresh picture for me to watch those men acquire a donkey on which the King could ride into Jerusalem. A lot transpired between that Sunday and this Sunday 2000 years ago. All for the culmination of the Promise that this day brings: Easter Sunday.
The day where all of those hundreds of years of prophesy came to fruition. The day when a tomb could no longer hold God’s son. This is the promise:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
The promise of His going all the way to Hell and back for us, regardless of our faithlessness and misdeeds, was spoken of long before He came:
Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence. Hosea 6:1-2
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
Do you see the words used? Healed. Revived. Restored. Made righteous. Brought peace. The New Testament sings the same song.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God…This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. I John 4:7-10
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son…to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts…So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:4-7
For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you. I Thessalonians 1:4
The Promise. That’s the promise. Love. Unfathomable love. Through Him, because of Him, we are restored. We are redeemed. Granted peace. We have access to Him through His grace. We are His heirs. We are CHOSEN. There is hope. Hope. Hope.
So what do we do with this Promise? We run the race. We follow the course He offered us. We throw off all the things that knock us off track. The stuff I’ve talked about that gets in the way. Possessions. Lust. Jealousy. Resentment. Addiction. The materialism of the world and the corruption of our spirit. Remembering how MUCH He suffered, so that we would have this path to follow. A path of hope and freedom and joy.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3
Praying you had a blessed Resurrection Sunday!