Rejoice, It Is Easter!

Easter Sunday is tomorrow! Its time to rejoice in the Lord! Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins. Sometimes, when I ponder the scriptures about Easter, my mind is baffled. I keep getting new insights about Easter. If we believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to forgive our sins and rose from the dead, we have faith. When we have faith, we have peace with God. By believing in Jesus, we have access to God. We can boast about our hope in the glory of God. Once, we have faith, we can accept sufferings with a new perspective, “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Everything is for God’s glory. If God is using us for his good, we should be delighted that we have been selected by God. We have been selected to refine and make new again. We should feel hope. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” We shouldn’t feel ashamed about our sufferings. We should ask the Holy Sprit to fill us up, so can have hope in God’s glory.

Peace and Hope
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
–Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)

God’s timing is always perfect. When humanity was the most vulnerable, Christ died for us. All of us. Yes, even the most sinful among us. Sometimes, a person will die for a good person. But, who would sacrifice his life for a sinner? Jesus would and did. At just the right time, God sent his son to sacrifice his life and die for us to forgive our sins. All we have to do is believe in what God did for us, and God will set us free from our sin.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
–Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

We were sinning against God. Instead of punishment, God found another way to show his love for us. He sent his only son to die for our sins. Jesus was the sacrificial lamb sent to earth, so that we could become right with God. We were given the ultimate pass. Even though we make mistakes, God still found a way to show she goodness and grace and forgive us. God wanted us to have a relationship with him, but we couldn’t keep sinning and have a relationship with God. Now, we can boast in God and brag about the goodness of our God.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
–Romans 5:9-11 (NIV)

Sin entered the world through one man, Adam. So, we were all born with a sinful nature. There was no escape from sin, until Jesus. It says that Adam was a “pattern of the one to come”. Sin entered the world through one man, Adam. God freed us from sin through Jesus, who was half man and half God. It probably isn’t a coincidence that Jesus was not fully man. God had to send a piece of his spirit to earth to save us from ourselves. The whole concept is mind boggling.

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
–Romans 5:12-14 (NIV)

Adam sinned against God, and Adam brought sin into the world. God’s gift was not equal to the trespass against God. No, God did not forgive one man. God forgives endless people, if they believe in Jesus. One trespass against God caused everyone to be born sinful. Yet, God forgives endless trespasses with the cruxification of Jesus,  “how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
–Romans 5:15-17 (NIV)

The sin of Adam was passed on to all of humanity. One act of sinfulness was passed on to everyone. With Jesus, “one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” One man’s actions resulted in sin for the world. With Jesus, his one action freed us all form sin. The “obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
–Romans 5:18-19 (NIV)

As sin increased with every human being born, God’s grace increased even more. God’s grace is boundless and endless. God found a way to forgive our sins, through Jesus.

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
–Romans 5:20-21 (NIV)

God’s forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. As we celebrate Easter, praise God for your new life! Our new lives were bought at a price, and we should always remember the sacrifice made to save us. It was a gift given by the only one with endless grace and love for us, God. Rejoice, it is Easter!

Prayer
I acknowledge in my heart that Jesus is Lord. I proclaim that Jesus is Lord. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and was raised three days later.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
–Romans 10:9 (NIV)