By Dr. Chuck Jarvis, Senior Pastor
Valley View Community Church
Easter Sunday has passed. But the Easter Message has not. That is because it is an eternal message, a Forever Easter Message. Jesus Christ’s resurrection had, and continues to have, profound affects on the lives of every believer. It is not just about one Sunday in spring each year that we set aside to remember the greatest single event in the history of mankind. It is about the assurance of God’s promises. It is about eternal victory over sin and death. It is about the “living hope” that the Apostle Peter refers to in his first letter to Christians in the New Testament of the Bible. And it is a message that should be celebrated, remembered, and acted upon every day in the life of every believer, not just on Easter Sunday.
Peter states that “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (I Peter 1:3). By virtue of the resurrection, believers in Jesus Christ are “begotten again” or born again (John 3) to a living hope. It is a certain hope, an expectation of something that is alive and continues to be alive as indicated by the Greek terms and grammar used by Peter.
Peter further states in the following verse this “living hope” focuses on “an inheritance”. He describes it as an inheritance that is “incorruptible” meaning it cannot be ruined by disease and death. It is also an “undefiled” inheritance. It is incapable of being stained by sin. And it is an inheritance “that does not fade away”. It never wears out, it never ages, it never goes away are the ideas again behind the Greek words Peter uses. To sum it up, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has guaranteed an eternal inheritance that is death-proof, sin-proof, and time-proof for every believer in Christ.
And if that is not wonderful enough, Peter says that this inheritance is “reserved in heaven for you”. Just before His death on the cross, Jesus told his concerned disciples “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). Jesus assures them that he would never give them a false hope. Heaven is real and an eternal inheritance is “reserved” in heaven for every believer in Jesus.
Herein is the Forever Easter Message. As Christians we possess a living hope that will certainly culminate some day in a heavenly inheritance that has dispatched death, is not defiled by sin, and will last forever. Every day of our lives should be wrapped in this incredible truth, especially those days of hardship and uncertainty. And it is all because of the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Truly “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:3) who has provided all this for us in Christ.
Kommentit