“HE IS RISEN!” Can you imagine the confusion the disciples experienced when Mary came running into the room screaming that? Can you imagine the overwhelming joy they experienced when they discovered it was true? It’s overwhelming to even think about. The disciples had lost all hope, but now they were filled with a “living hope!” Christ was risen!

Exciting though His resurrection was, the promise it is to us is even more exciting. Scripture says:

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

-Romans 5:10 (NIV)

Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time—enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God.

-Romans 6:10 (NCV)

Christ has crushed the power of sin and death for us. No more do we have to live under its power. We have victory over it. Hell couldn’t hold Christ in His tomb. Hell can’t hold you in the tomb of your sin either. The same spirit that empowered Christ’s earthly work empowers you to live a resurrected life of victory over Satan. I don’t know about you, but that makes me pretty excited.

Live this week, this month, this year in his freeing power. Let his spirit set you free from the grip of sin. You can live free. All you have to do is ask.

My favorite song on Easter is the song “In Christ Alone.” I want to leave you with the closing lyrics, but I’d also encourage you to go and find the full song. It’s powerful like you can’t imagine.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

-Lyrics of In Christ Alone

Today, as you probably know, is Good Friday, the day when we remember the death and suffering of Christ. For me, “Good” Friday has always felt like a bit of a misnomer. It’s always felt like there wasn’t too much “good” about it. Our Savior was bruised and crushed. What good could come of that?

It’s overwhelming to think what our Savior endured. It all began that Thursday evening when Christ returned from his passionate, pleading prayer with his Father. Someone Christ had placed into his inner circle, one of only 12 in the world, had betrayed him. Turned his back for money. The guards seized him violently and dragged him back into town to appear before the Sanhedrin. Right as He’s entering this, the most difficult period of his earthly existence, the 11 disciples that were left ran away and denied Him. They hid away in locked rooms while their Lord endured a beating at the hands of his fellow countrymen. He was spat upon. Mocked. Beaten. Lied about. All leading to a false conviction. Crushed.

So He was led before the Roman leaders. Again abused and beaten. After some legal wranglings, He was brought before a tribunal of the Roman leader, Pilate, and an angry mob of Jewish people. Pilate’s wife tried to warn him about Christ’s innocence. Pilate tried to get the people to release Jesus. Instead they stood below and screamed “CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!” Pilate, so distraught at what he was about to do, washed his hands to declare his innocence. Then, subjecting himself to the will of the people, sent Christ away for punishment and crucifixion. Christ’s innocence was crushed.

He was led to a whipping yard. Blindfolded and forced to lean over a post, He could see nothing. Suddenly, the area was filled with the CRACK! of the whip coming down. Shards of glass and stone wallowed their way deep into His flesh. Suddenly, the whip was ripped out of his back, snapping connective sinews clean off. Again the yard was filled with the crack of the soldier’s whip. Each successive time hunks of flesh, muscle, and blood came flying off Christ’s back and into the crowd. He was in such suffering and so dismembered he was barely recognizable as human. His body was crushed.

But that wasn’t all that was in store for Christ this day. The soldiers led him away and shoved a crown made of inches-long thorns into Christ’s skull. He cried out in wails of pain as the thorns drove themselves through flesh and bone alike. They mocked him. They cast lots for his clothing. His spirit was crushed.

Appearing as nothing more than a heap of blood and disemboweled flesh, the guards cast a cross over his back and screamed at him to stand up. He carried it oh so short a distance before he collapsed, weakened and exhausted from the grueling punishment he had received. A bystander named Simon was asked to take up that cross and carry it the rest of the way. They soon found themselves atop a hill just outside of the city, known as Golgotha. Here it was that Christ would breathe His last. Simon lay the cross down, and the soldiers threw Christ’s body upon it. They took massive hammers and nails longer than anyone can imagine and drove them through what was left of his hands and feet. Much like the nail pierced Christ’s muscle and bone, Christ’s cries of pain pierced the area nearby. Christ’s life was crushed.

Even in His suffering, the love of Christ was brilliantly displayed through his actions. A thief being crucified next to him asked, and received, Christ’s forgiveness. He wouldn’t save himself. He loved us too much. He even cried out to his Father, that He might forgive those who had done such horrific things to him. Christ’s human body could be crushed, but His love could never be.

Suddenly a wave of darkness swept over the land. For 3 straight hours this enveloping darkness covered all, leaving just the agonized screams of those being crucified to fill the air. At the strike of 3, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The people whispered and wondered if maybe he was calling Elijah. Suddenly Christ spoke the words, “It is finished,” and breathed his last. All around the city the earth began to quiver and rip open. The curtain in the Temple, the great curtain that separated us from God, ripped in two. Tombs opened up and out walked dead ancestors who entered Jerusalem and spoke with many. Something big had happened. The divide between us and God had been crushed.

Many other things occurred after this. Christ’s Godhood was affirmed. His death was assured. His burial was completed. He had been crushed. So what makes this Friday so “good?” It wasn’t the crushing of Christ. It was the crushing of the divide. It was the crushing of pride. It was the crushing of sin. Our Savior was crushed, out of His mighty love, for you and I. That’s good news.

5- The hour an earthquake struck the nation of Haiti.
6- The number of hospitals in the city of Port-au-Prince prior to the quake. It is unknown how many of these remain operational.
7.0- The magnitude of the catastrophic quake.
200- How many years it has been since a quake of this magnitude has been recorded in Haiti.
30,000 to 500,000- The number feared dead due to this quake, according to Haitian officials.
2,000,000- The number of residents of Port-au-Prince, the capital city and the city most affected by the quake.
3,000,000- The estimated number of Haitians the Red Cross is currently estimating need aid. This number may be higher.

I don’t know about you, but those numbers overwhelm me. I cannot even begin to fathom the destruction of human life and property. This quake has been called by some the worst natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere in over 100 years. The images (warning: very graphic) emerging from the nation are astounding. The nation’s infrastructure was already weak before this catastrophe. Now it’s in a state of chaos. No hospitals, no phones, no electricity, no clean water, no food, no transportation. Their president doesn’t even have a place to sleep tonight.

They need us as Christians to step up and spread the love and compassion of Christ. Right now more than ever we have an unprecedented opportunity to say with our giving, “God loves you.” I have literally spent time weeping today over the loss of life. Thousands of people are dead. People who haven’t lived a life of privilege like we have here in America, but people who have spent their lives in poverty.

Scripture calls us to this work. We cannot ignore it. One of my favorite passages of Scripture reads:

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him…

Isaiah 58:6-7

The following organizations, and many more, are accepting donations for Haiti relief. Please consider taking part in this effort. Literally every penny can change the life of a Haitian without a home.

Care
Compassion
Mercy Ships
Red Cross- Visit redcross.org or text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10
Samaritan’s Purse
UNICEF
World Vision
Yele Haiti- Visit yele.org or text YELE to 501501 to donate $5

“Angels! Were those angels? Why us, the shepherds? Why did we hear about his birth? I don’t know. But I know this is big. This is momentous. The One we’ve been waiting for is here. Let’s go and see.”

“Look, a new star. Is it the predicted one? Something is new. Something we’ve awaited has arrived. Let’s go and see.”

“I wish I had somewhere else to put Him. Something warmer to dress Him in. But I’m so glad He’s here. I may not be his “father”, but I feel a connection with Him like no child before. The one I’ve awaited has come. Can I see Him, Mary?”

“I can’t believe it. A teenager from Nazareth. That’s all I am. Why was I chosen? I’m so glad He’s here. (And I’m so glad He’s out!) The long awaited, momentous One has arrived. Let me see Him.”

Whether the world knew it or not, it was transformed on this day. He came to change things. The awaited One arrived. Not in the way anyone expected, however. All throughout the Christmas story, we see the unusual being chosen to do the extraordinary. They all ask “Why me?” They can’t believe that a glorious God would choose them. But He did. He chose to use them to bring peace to the world. Today, He’s chosen us to bring peace to the world. We’re called to be His Marys. And Josephs. And shepherds. And wise men. And temple workers. And stable-owners. We all have a part. And we can all rejoice in His arrival. Thankfully, we know that not only did He arrive once, but He’s arriving again. His Kingdom has been established for us to work in and love in and grow in and change in. One day not too far away, He’s coming to rule His Kingdom. What kind of kingdom are we preparing for Him? Are we anticipating His momentous arrival?

Live life all year in Advent mode. Anticipating. Have an incredible Christmas in remembrance of what He has done, is doing, and will do. He changes everything.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

Luke 2:14

Tonight was our annual Praise Dinner/Worship Service at my home church, Liberty Baptist. Every Thanksgiving week, we come together to enjoy a meal (like every good Christian) and have a service with testimonies and singing. I look forward to this service all year.

I was sitting in service tonight flipping through my Bible on the awesome YouVersion iPhone app. I felt that I needed to read Ephesians 2. I flipped (or tapped) over there, and read these 10 verses:

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:1-10, ESV, emphasis mine)

I got done reading that and those two little words stuck out at me. “But God…” Those two little words are the turning point. “But God” changes everything.

We are all, by nature, sinners living in the passions of our flesh. Then God “but”s in. His rich mercy and love don’t just save us from Hell–a powerful thing by itself–but they raise us up with him and seated us next to him. All for what? Just so he could show us His grace. That’s it. He saved us just to lavish on us his grace.

Even crazier? Not 10 minutes after I got done glancing over this passage the pastor starts reading it from the stage. God had a message tonight! I pray that it might stick with you like it is with me. Go out and remember God’s “but”. It changes everything.