Yesterday was awesome. People gathered in churches to celebrate that Jesus is alive, that sin and death no longer claim us. He has saved us, freed us, and one day He will raise us to everlasting life.
Many churches saw an increase in attendance yesterday, and though there were a lot of guests, most major jumps in attendance were because people just all came the same Sunday. Regardless, church likely felt very alive yesterday. Perhaps you muttered, “Why can’t every Sunday be like this?”
We must be careful not to equate the excitement of a Sunday, a good and holy excitement, with the reality that He is alive. He is alive because He is the God who conquered sin and death not because we recognize Him as so.
Church leaders, He was not any more alive yesterday than He is the Sunday after Christmas. His Word was not more powerful yesterday. His gospel was not any better news. His Word, resurrection, and gospel cannot be improved.
He is not less alive as the crowds wane, as people head to the lake in the summer, as the Memorial Day crowd pales in comparison to the Easter Sunday crowd. Just as our response to Him does not improve His greatness, we cannot diminish it either.
He is alive not only when we gather to worship Him. He is as alive during routine emails as He was as the Sunday crowd was belting out songs to Him. He is as alive during the frustrating moments in traffic as He was when the Easter sermon was delivered. His sin-conquering, death-defeating, victory-securing resurrection has deep implications for the details of Monday. Because He is alive, we have been born into a living hope.
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).
He is still alive. Death will never touch Him again.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him (Romans 6:8-9).
