Call on Heaven: A 7-Day Devotional by PassionVoorbeeld

Nobody: Jesus Is Alive From The Dead

If we are alive in Christ, then our spiritual reality has shifted: we are no longer dead spiritually but alive both now and forever in Jesus. Even though we face troubling circumstances and the residuals of sin and death in this world, we have a new Master and King—Jesus. We live in a new kingdom which is under the authority of the Holy Spirit and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro 8:38-39).

When the women following Jesus came sprinting out of the garden tomb, they were filled with the realization that their Lord was not there…He had risen! While Jesus’ birth had inaugurated a new era, and His death had seemingly ended it, the empty tomb proved the gospel complete with the resurrection. He had come to earth, fully man, fully God, the Light of the world, to take away the sins of all mankind. Jesus had to die to become the transaction for our sin—the standard was perfection, and the price was death; in other words, because we could never attain perfection, our death could never atone for our sins.

But all is lost if He is still in the tomb. As the Apostle Paul wrote, if the resurrection didn’t happen, we are most to be pitied (1 Co 15:19). But the tomb remains empty. Jesus’ death has brought us life. He became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. There is nobody in the grave! He is alive! He defeated sin, death, and the grave on the cross of Christ. No enemy can hold us down because the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is living in you and in me (Ro 8:11). There will be trouble in the world (and in our worlds), but take heart because Jesus has overcome the world (Jn 16:33). And He is with us. Christ in us the hope of glory (Col 1:27).

Prayer: God, thank you that the grave is empty. Because you are alive, I am alive. Because you have risen, I will rise and be with you forever. Thank you that by the power of the Holy Spirit sin and death no longer have a hold on me, but I can turn and fix my eyes on you, Jesus, day by day, moment by moment. Amen.