Our world is filled with promises – appointments planned, contracts signed, vows exchanged. But how often are those promises fulfilled, unequivocally and without compromise? In some ways, one can read the Bible as one long promise from God to His people, and it is a promise that is unlike any other.
Let us remember what these women and the disciples had experienced over the past few weeks. For some time, their beloved Master had been promising his coming demise. He mentioned it as a woman anointed his feet with perfume at Bethany, as he acknowledged an impending betrayal by one of the Twelve, as he shared a meal with them at the Festival of Unleavened Bread. He reminded them in the garden that trouble was coming, and it came. They watched him, beaten, bruised, bleeding, carry his own weapon of execution to a hill where he suffered unbearable agony before finally dying before their eyes, to be sealed forever in a dark and lonely tomb. The world his friends thought he was promising, one where they were free from Roman rule, a new age of the Jewish people, was destroyed in an instant. The incredulity they express later suggests that they did not truly believe or understand that his death was temporary. Jesus had promised that he was their Messiah, their Redeemer. Now, it seemed, he had failed them. He had broken his promise.
This is the moment that matters. Without the resurrection, the rest is empty words. Without the empty tomb, Jesus is just another victim of an oppressive leader. Without the angel announcing that he has risen, the world will just continue on its path of hopeless destruction. This is the moment that makes all the difference.
But the promise was not broken. Imagine the joy the women felt, after they got over the shock of meeting an angel. Even as his enemies continued to attempt to cover up his return, his followers learned that he is back. All of their hope is restored. Their faith was not in vain. This is the most important moment in their lives, and in ours.
Jesus’ resurrection is a fulfillment of a promise by God to redeem his people. It is the culmination of years of history and the beginning of a future no one could have imagined. It is the moment that eternity became a reality because union with God is attainable again.
If you have lived on this Earth for any amount of time, you have been disappointed in the failure of another person to fulfill a commitment. It is human nature to break promises, to fall away, to forget a pledge. But it is not in God’s nature. He does not break his covenants, as David writes in Psalm 89:34. He promises to remove our sin in Psalm 103:12. He promises a new heart in Ezekiel 36:26, forgiveness in 1 John 1:9, eternal life in 1 John 2:25. The Bible is rife with his promises, and in the moment when Jesus returns, all of those promises and more are fulfilled. Hallelujah; he has risen.
Prayer: Lord, let my lips be filled with praise at the resurrection of your Son. Only you, Lord, keep your promise to save your children. All I can offer is my humble gratitude, that the tomb is empty, that I am saved, that he has risen.
Sarah Heflin
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1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the
week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the
Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and
sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white
as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became
like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I
know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here;
he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then
go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet
filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them.
“Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to
go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
11 While the women were on their way, some of the
guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had
happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a
plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You
are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we
were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him
and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as
they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews
to this very day.
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