» Devotional: He is Alive! Emmaus Church

Devotional: He is Alive!

Posted by kenneth - 12/04/09 at 01:04:34 pm

On the Road to Calvary

This week we will explore a few of the many events that took place during the week prior to Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, the day we call Easter. Let us walk with Jesus as he walked those last steps of his life on the road to Calvary.

EASTER SUNDAY, April 12

Reading: John 20:1-9

The Empty Tomb

1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Can you imagine hiding in fear for your very life? Grieving over the loss of the only hope you have ever known? Gone. How can you go on? What will you do? His love, truth, authority, power, protection, hope. All gone. This was Christ’s disciples. A shadow had fallen on their lives. Yet, we are no different than they. Our condition is dark. Despair, our master. The disciples did not know Jesus was alive. And even though we walk with Christ, we, too, sometimes live like we don’t know that Jesus is alive.

Into the dark tomb came the explosive power of Life, and death was banished forever. It no longer exists. That which held sin’s answer now holds God’s life. There is no fear. There is no sting. He, Jesus, is Alive! He destroyed the power of Death. He walked out of the grave into our lives to liberate us from that which held us in bondage. He is now Lord of all, and all things are under His feet! He is alive!

I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. ~ Revelation 1:18

Prayer: Jesus, help me live in you as you live in me. Please let the power of your resurrection transform me even as it did your body. Amen.

Emmaus Church