Christ Is Risen!

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. - Romans 10:9

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: - 1 Corinthians 15:4

< ><

The Day That Changed the World

In Russia, before the days of Communism, Christians greeted one another at Easter time with the words, "Christ is risen," and the person being addressed would respond, "Christ has risen indeed!"

As everybody knows, religion in Russia was forbidden during the years of Communism. To atheistic Communists there was no God and they replaced Christian Easter Sunrise Services with Sunrise Communist Rallies, to which all people of the community were requested to attend.

I read about one such meeting where, as the sunrise rally was drawing to a close, the Communist leader asked the large gathering of some ten thousand people if there was anything anybody wanted to say. A long silence followed. Nobody moved. Finally a teenage boy came forward. As he approached the podium, the leader warned the boy saying, "You must tell only the truth," meaning Communist "truth." "If you don't, you will be shot."

All eyes were fixed on this lad as he stood at the podium about to speak. He was flanked by soldiers, rifles pointed at his head. For several brief moments he remained silent. Then standing tall and taking a deep breath, he called into the microphone:

"Christ is risen!"

As the story goes, the exploding rifles shattered the silence of the early morning. Only one sound drowned out the crack of the rifles as the teenage boy collapsed to the floor in death. It was the resounding response of ten thousand voices shouting:

"Christ has risen indeed!"

And the day Jesus Christ rose from the grave on the first Easter morning almost two thousand years ago was the one day in all history that changed the world. Forever. No other religious leader or any other leader ever claimed such a triumph over the grave. Neither has any scientist or magician ever succeeded in achieving such a feat.

The great Houdini escaped from many a hopeless situation and hoped he could do so from the grave. Some years ago a Reader's Digest article told how Houdini made one of the greatest escapes of his career. It was In Moscow. He was placed in a six foot square steel cube that had a solid steel door and only one eight inch square window which was barred. The key to the door was in Siberia--two thousand miles away.

Houdini was stripped naked, chained and hand-cuffed, and carefully checked for any picklocks before being locked in the cube. The cube was then placed by a prison wall with the only door forced hard against the wall. According to the report, Houdini escaped within twenty minutes. Nobody ever figured out how he did it.

Immediately before dying Houdini said to his wife, Rosabelle, "Believe!" For ten years she kept a vigil before a candle-lit portrait of Houdini believing and waiting for a signal from him. It never came. Finally, the candle went out for the last time and Rosabelle joined her husband in the grave.

Had Jesus Christ not died for us, mankind would have been lost and doomed to eternal, everlasting separation from God. But because he did die, mankind now has the offer and choice of eternal life. Thus the day that Christ rose from the grave was the one day that changed the world forever.

I recently heard about a father who was caught with his two young daughters in a snow storm and lost his way. When night fell he wrapped his jacket around his two girls and lay on top of them to stop them from freezing to death. The next day they were found by a search party. The two girls were alive and well, but the father had frozen to death. He gave his life to save the ones he loved.

That is exactly what Jesus Christ has done for you and me. He died so we could live. If you have never accepted his pardon, asked for God's forgiveness, and received his gift of eternal life, you can do that right now by praying a simple prayer to God, admitting that you have sinned, thanking Jesus for dying in your place on the cross, asking for and accepting his free pardon and the gift of eternal life, and committing your life to him.

Indeed, the day Christ rose from the dead was the day that changed the world forever. The day you commit your life to Jesus Christ and receive his free pardon is the day that will change your life. Forever.

by Dick Innes

< ><

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. - Revelation 1:18



Get the coffee lovers kit 12 cup coffeemaker, stainless steel travel mug & stainless steel carafe.