1 Corinthians 15: 20 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Dear God,
In my mind, all is beauty and glorious, because You are with me these mornings, as I seek, thank and worship You. Even though Your creation has been spoiled by sin and death, there is still much that is beautiful and wondrous in it. It is exhilarating to contemplate Your heavenly home. We have been told in scripture that heaven is a place of shining beauty that is in no way marred by sin and death. For it is the home of You, Father God, and Son, Jesus Christ; now given a place of honour, because by His sacrificial death, the price for every sin ever committed on earth, has been paid.
No tomb could for ever hold the body of God, the Christ, and He arose from the tomb alive. With no more left for Him to accomplish on earth, He returned to heaven, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now in heaven, Jesus intercedes for all who come in repentance and pray for forgiveness, opening the way for them to be saved from eternal death, if they choose to follow Jesus and live in His righteousness.
Hallelujah, I am loved and saved by God to day, because again today I have confessed every sin, and today, given Him my life anew. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4 has given the same word picture of Christ’s redemptive work on earth, and how we can be saved, so I can confidently follow his pattern. 1 Corinthians 15: 12 “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Then he goes on to counter the arguments, that there is no resurrection and what it would mean to us, if Christ had never been resurrected. It would indeed be an empty faith and hope that I would have. V13, 14 “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith also empty.”
Thank You God, for saving Paul form his sins and work of destroying as many Christians as he could, and that Jesus gave him a vision of Himself, and forever after Paul was filled with Your Spirit. In the letters to the congregations that he raised up, we of this present age can be encouraged and enlightened, by the many words of admonition and insights given to him, through Your inspiration.
It was Adam, who by believing Satan above God, bought sin and death to earth from that time forth. It was Christ, in human form upon earth, in reliance upon His Father and the Holy Spirit, who did not sin, despite Satan claiming You God ask an impossibility for creation to obey Your law. By His death and resurrection, Jesus reclaimed earth for Your rule, when it will be made new.
Today, like Paul, I rejoice in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, in the knowledge that He has gone upon the route first, and I (we) can all follow, when we accept Christ and His way.
Amen