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Journey to the Cross: Week Eight

3/23/2021

13 Comments

 
Journey to the Cross: Week Eight

This Week's Scripture:
Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-18, Isaiah 25:9

Join us as we Journey to the Cross, a nine-week study designed to prepare our hearts for Easter. 

This study comes to us from The Daily Grace Company. Originally designed to be an eight-day study, we’re going to stretch it out over nine weeks and meditate on Scripture as we enter the season of Easter. I hope you’ll join us!

Last week we looked at Sunday is Coming!

This week we're looking at He is Risen.

And finally, next week, we'll look at Follow Me, and how we can follow Jesus for a lifetime!
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​He is Risen!

On Easter Sunday, we will proclaim with all of the saints that He has risen. What a joyful exclamation in unison with believers all over the world as we remember not only the sacrifice that He made for us, but also the truth that He has conquered death. We proclaim this truth because we have the sacred record of Scripture, but also because we have seen the evidence that He is alive in our own lives. I know that He is alive, because He is alive in me.
Just like that, our God has defeated death and the grave. The empty tomb cries out, ​
"Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is your victory? 0 death, where is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:54b-55
He has conquered sin and death for us and has given us a glimpse of what it will be like someday when death and sin are totally removed from this earth.
Our attention is turned toward Mary Magdalene. She had been there for  the  crucifixion, and she  came to the tomb that Sunday morning to anoint the  body of her Savior and friend. He had changed everything for her and rescued her from a life of sin, and it must have seemed like the least she could do to come that morning. The women were unsure how they could move the heavy stone that morning, but when they arrived it had been moved already. They stood in front of an empty tomb.

The other women and disciples seem to have scattered, likely trying to figure out what had happened to the body of Jesus. Mary stayed and wept. She didn't know that soon her weeping would be turned to joy (Psalm 30:5). A man stood in the garden, but she did not recognize Him. He asked her why she was weeping and who she was looking for, and then with one word everything changed--Mary. He called her name and she knew His tender voice (John 10:3-4). This was Jesus.

Jesus changes everything. He changed everything for Mary in the garden that day when she realized that her Savior was risen, and He changes  everything  for  us as well. He had risen.
All of the world yearned for the Messiah for centuries, and now He had come and finished the work  that He had come to do. The joy of the resurrection gives us a glimpse of the joy of the day we wait for when our Savior will return again and defeat sin and death once and for all. We have waited for Him, and He has saved us. We will rejoice in His salvation!

He is Risen!

It will be said on that day,
Just like He said He would. This plan didn't make sense to the disciples, but it was the perfect plan of God from the foundation of the earth. This plan of redemption was to rescue in love the very people whose sin had nailed Him to that rugged cross.
"Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation ." Isaiah 25:9

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"Jesus changes everything. He changed everything for Mary in the garden that day when she realized that her Savior was risen, and He changes everything for us as well."

When and how did Jesus change everything for you?
Please Share
13 Comments
Barbara Harper link
3/23/2021 09:18:27 am

He changed everything for me when I was in high school. I was not raised in a Christian home, but I had attended church with relatives and friends and heard the gospel. I "made a profession" many times but still wasn't sure I was saved. Finally God's Word got through to me and settled me. I began to read the Bible for myself and to grow in Him and attend a good church regularly. I was just remarking recently that I was in such a state of confusion, ignorance, and openness, I could have fallen into anything. I am so thankful God intervened and led me in the right way.

Reply
Patsy Burnette link
3/23/2021 12:45:55 pm

Wow, Barbara! I love reading your testimony!!! I too could have fallen into anything, or away from everything. Even though I attended a Christian school and was almost always in trouble, God continued to pursue me throughout my elementary, junior high, and high school years—especially those junior high and high school years! He kept me from making some very big mistakes that could have, and more than likely would have, set my life on a different trajectory. I am so grateful for that! Eternally grateful!!! Without His pursuing, and left to myself, my life would certainly be a colossal mess!

Reply
Michele Morin link
3/23/2021 09:29:54 am

Amazing that because of the resurrection we are empowered for a following life! I am grateful for the transformation.

Reply
Patsy Burnette link
3/23/2021 12:46:47 pm

So am I, Michele!

Reply
Susan Shipe link
3/23/2021 04:22:30 pm

A perfect plan. A perfect Savior. A perfect salvation!

Reply
Patsy Burnette link
3/23/2021 04:38:17 pm

Exactly, Susan! :)

Reply
Rebecca Hastings link
3/24/2021 09:08:04 am

One phrase stuck out to me in particular: "His plan didn't make sense to the disciples."

I feel that way a lot.

So grateful for the reminder that I can trust His plan, even when it doesn't make sense to me!

Reply
Lauren Renee Sparks link
3/24/2021 04:06:59 pm

Was struck today reading about weeping turned to joy. All of ours will be. Praise Him.

Reply
Patsy Burnette link
3/25/2021 02:45:47 pm

PRAISE THE LORD, Lauren!

Reply
Ashley Rowland | HISsparrowBlog link
3/25/2021 09:36:39 am

I love that verse: Oh, death where is your sting... This time of year always makes me think of the Newsong song 'Arise My Love.' Both it and your post today are beautiful reminders of the joy we have in the simple statement 'He is risen.' What joy and what hope.

Reply
Patsy Burnette link
3/25/2021 02:48:00 pm

LOVELY!!! —> "....beautiful reminders of the joy we have in the simple statement 'He is risen.' What joy and what hope." The greatest joy and hope there is!

Reply
Paula Short link
3/26/2021 11:42:45 am

Patsy, Amen and again I say Amen. Thank you for your beloved words. I dearly appreciate your post. Hy heart sings. Blessings

Reply
Patsy Burnette link
1/26/2024 04:58:15 pm

I'm encouraged to read, Paula, that this post was impactful for you. May the blessings and inspiration continue to flow in your life and in the lives of those around you.

Reply

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