ICS Daily Devotions
Changed for Good
Matthew 28:5-6 (NKJV) But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
There are many events that changed the course of history. However, there was a day in history that changed our destiny. When Adam and Eve chose to believe the serpent, mankind was evicted from the Garden where God walked with them. Because of sin, that breach could not be bridged save for an endless sacrificial system of bloodletting. Endless that is until the only One who was sinless was made to be the sacrifice so that relationship with the living God could be restored. That Sunday when the grave could not hold our Risen Saviour was the day that changed the world for good. We can now stand redeemed before God. Hallelujah! Praise the wonderful name of Jesus!
It could not have been easy for the disciples and those who were close to Jesus to witness His death on the cross. That He would be raised back to life would have been far from their minds. Did they even truly understand Him when He told them that He would be raised from the dead? Yes, they witnessed His miracles but right then and there, their minds must have been clouded with grief, confusion, perhaps even fear. They could only watch in horror as His hands and legs were nailed to the crude cross that He Himself had to drag to Golgotha, as He hung there with His body racked with unspeakable pain, as the water gushed out when His side was pierced. It would have been difficult to muster any faith to believe in the resurrection when they clearly witnessed the physical agony and the burial of Jesus. Nobody, not even the devil, knew the redemptive plan of God through Jesus’ death and suffering. The devil even thought he had finally triumphed when Jesus gave up His spirit and died.
Jesus Christ took the sin of mankind upon Himself in order to give us His righteousness. Jesus, the only Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, was sinless. Therefore, death could not hold Him down. As promised, He rose from the dead on the third day through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is risen and alive!
If this is not true, our faith is futile, sin continues its dominion, we remain separated from God, and we are still on the road to eternal damnation. But Jesus died and rose again, we have been reconciled with God. We are convinced of this. We have been changed for good.
Sermon Series: The Day that Changed the World – Resurrection Sunday
