(Here is a blog I wrote a year ago while still in Africa. I did not have the time to post it for Easter, so I decided to save it until this year. Here it is with only a few minor edits from it’s original form)
Well it’s officially Easter time everyone!!! And when Easter comes, we all have a tendency to think about Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. Those along with Jesus’ birth are, after all, His most common topics known to the world. I discussed three years ago on Easter the question that was pressing most on my mind at the time, which was very early in my new Christian life. The question, in all it’s simple complexity, was this: “What was the purpose of the Resurrection of Jesus?”
At the time, I just really didn’t understand it. I fully understood the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross three days earlier. His death meant that my sins had been erased – both past and future – because He had nullified them by being the perfect sacrifice. However for me, this event was what Easter had always been about for my whole life, so I really didn’t know what to think about the redemptive quality of the Resurrection. Obviously, I knew that God was smart (duh) and had a special reason for raising Jesus from the dead, but I couldn’t quite grasp that reason.
Upon investigating this in many different ways, I discovered something that kind of surprised me – Jesus’ Resurrection was the confirmation of the transaction that He had made for our lives. But now three years later, I wonder if I fully realized just how true that statement was. You see, Jesus’ sacrifice indeed has taken our wrongdoings away. He removed from our lives these sins by taking them on Himself and then taking the punishment for them – death – though He had lived a perfect life.
But His Resurrection from the dead conquered the punishment of death, permanently ensuring our ability to live eternally with God.
All this being said, I think there is still more about Jesus’ sacrifice that we may not yet see; and that is probably because we are looking in the wrong place. Around Easter time, we focus a lot on the Crucifixion and Resurrection, but not much on the life of Jesus. I think this is a partial mistake, because you can learn a lot more about a person through their life than in their death; for the obvious reason that their life is much longer in this world. Continue Reading