"Good News"
We have good news. It’s really good news. Isaiah prophesied it over 2,800 years ago: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Is 61:1). The Holy Ghost declared that the Lord’s Anointed would come to comfort the heartbroken and liberate the captives. And, He did it! Yes, He did! God sent His Son, His only begotten Son, born of a virgin, found spotless in the manger, proclaimed by angels, and worshiped by wisemen. He befriended the poor and the outcast. He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, cast out devils, or the evil spirits within people, and raised the dead. But greater than that, He took away our sins, along with the sins of everyone else, by enduring the penalty of our transgressions and died on the cross. He was mocked, falsely accused, beaten, scourged, and displayed naked while being crucified. Even His heavenly Father forsook Him as He bore the sins of the world and satisfied the demands of God’s justice for you and me.
Greater still, death could not hold Him. Although He died, the heavens darkened, the earth shook, and the moon turned to blood; although laid in a dark, damp tomb, He burst from that grave on the third day. The breath that He yielded up on the cross returned, and He breathed again! The same power by which He created all things in the beginning entered His lifeless body, raised it through its shroud, and revived His flesh. He lives again. Mary Magdalene saw Him first, then Mary, His mother, and Salome, presumably His sister; then Peter, the rest of the apostles, James His brother, Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, 500 brethren, and lastly Paul. At least 518 witnesses saw the risen Jesus.
“So why is that good news?”> some may ask. The people who ask are servants of sin. We are all sinners. We have all transgressed God’s will. After all, the saying is: “To err is human.” Each of us knows what corruptions arise within us and what motivates some of the things we do. We all know that we are polluted. We are like addicts enslaved to a drug. We hanker after some bad things. Worse, we can’t help it. The good news of Jesus’ resurrection proclaims that we can escape our bondage. If we don’t, it will kill us, just like the addict who eventually dies from an overdose.
Jesus has opened the door to our prison. We do not have to remain in it. All we have to do is trust Jesus by walking through the door. He is saying, “There is a better life that is free from sin. Come into it.” If we believe Him and trust Him, we step into that new life. Just like Jesus submitted His will to the Father when He prayed, “Thy will be done” (Matt 26:42), He asks us to do the same. He commanded His disciples to baptize those who willingly make that commitment. Even baptism’s procedure demonstrates the death and burial of the natural person and the resurrection of the new. Afterward, the Father gives them the Holy Ghost as an abiding comforter.
Jesus said that when the Holy Ghost comes, “He shall teach you all things” (John 14:26). That includes how to live free from servanthood to bodily appetites and evil thoughts. Since the Holy Ghost is the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), we can have the mind of Christ within to give us both the desire and power to do God’s will (Phil 2:13). That’s magical! Jesus’ mind in us freeing us from even the desire to live under sin’s bondage. Paul testified, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).
Many people are consumed with regret. Over the years we all accumulate guilt from our many mistakes. Some are overwhelmed by it. Life may even be empty. Anyone can find new life; even the most guilt-ridden! This is the good news of salvation. Anyone can find a new life. Jesus paid the penalty of their old life. They do not have to bear its horrible consequences. They simply must choose Jesus and become His disciple. Being His disciple means being disciplined by His teachings. They change the way they live and conform to His instructions. His ways become their ways; His friends their friends, and His peace their peace. They become, as Paul explained, “a new creature” (2 Cor 5:7). Those who do are saved from their old regrets and the eternal misery that they bring.
This April begins with the Resurrection. We celebrate Easter on the last day of March. We hear again how Jesus rose from the dead, how death could not hold Him, and how He holds the keys to death. We learn that He loved us even in our sins, that He died for us while we were as yet dead in sins, and that He atoned for our sins. It is a time to praise and thank Him for saving us and giving us new life, a life that transcends this physical life, lifts us up into heavenly places, and promises to raise us after this life into eternal life; for Jesus holds the power to raise Himself from the grave. He also holds the power to raise others, too, even all those who confess Him their Lord and Savior. When Jesus rose from the dead on that Sunday morning almost 2000 years ago, “The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matt 27:52-53). The Resurrection testifies that Jesus gives new life, a life that reaches into eternity, a life of joy and peace.
I invite everyone this Easter to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and coming King. He rose from the dead, and He can raise anyone from a dead life. Come to Jesus, where sins and regrets are washed away, where new life can come and people can be reborn. If you are reborn, come with thanksgiving to praise your Savior. Invite a friend. If you have not yet found new life, come and see. There is a new life for you that transcends this life, reaches into the presence of God, and continues forever. It is a life full of love, acceptance, and unending comfort.