and was raised to life for our justification.”
-Romans 4:25 (NIV 1984)
Jesus was determined to get to Jerusalem. As Jesus speaks it is clear that he knows what awaits him when he gets there: betrayal, humiliation and death. Jesus knew it was coming. Jesus knew that it must happen if he was to fulfill what God had set him apart to do.
Jesus also knew that his death was not the end of his mission. The power of God would do something magnificent. Sin’s grip on humankind would be broken by Christ’s sacrifice. Death’s grip on humankind would be broken by Christ’s resurrection! God promised that we would be delivered from the bondage of sin and death. Christ’s resurrection is proof that God has the power to deliver on that promise. This is our hope. These are promises we can hold on to.
Matt Chandler, a pastor and best-selling author, was speaking once to a men’s conference near his hometown. During a break he decided to make the quick drive to visit his old “stomping grounds.” All the visit did was to remind him of the many shady, dark, shameful things he had done before coming to faith in Jesus Christ. His spirit was troubled on the drive back to the conference:
“I was overwhelmed with the guilt and shame of the wickedness that I had done in that city prior to knowing Jesus Christ …. I could hear the whispers in my heart: "You call yourself a man of God? Are you going to stand in front of these guys and tell them to be men of God? After all you've done?"
In the middle of all that guilt and shame, I began to be reminded by the Scriptures that the old Matt Chandler is dead. The Matt Chandler who did those things, the Matt Chandler who sinned in those ways, was nailed to that cross with Jesus Christ, and all of his sins—past, present, and future—were paid for in full on the cross of Jesus Christ. I have been sanctified "once and for all" …. He remembers my sins no more …. And I no longer need to feel shame for those things, because those things have been completely atoned for.”
Chandler’s hope, as is ours, is in the resurrected Christ who restores our soul and gives us life by faith in Him. Faith is living in the full persuasion that God did what he did and will do what he says he will do (Romans 4:21) Easter is our proof! God’s promises are worthy of our complete trust. Life is no better…faith is never stronger than when we live with faith in the promises and power of God.
