Life Conquers Death

God's creation is full of the promise that YES, life is stronger than death!
We are not alarmed at the death of winter, knowing that spring will burst forth with joy !
We endure the darkness of night, waiting for the morning sun to arise with glorious light.
Hope is ingrained in us - death cannot be the end.  We cling to that hope by planting flowers in graveyards filled with crosses that symbolize that ultimate victory of resurrection Sunday.

Hope - expectation - faith -  We believe ! And because we believe we do not sink into despair.

Again it is the time of year when we reflect on that Day above all Days  -  Resurrection Sunday !  What was intended by evil to be the ultimate in defining DEATH, instead unfolded  in victorious, eternal  LIFE! 

BUT ...  we celebrate this day as those who have read the book, as those who look with the knowing of hindsight. We know death's hold on Good Friday was weak - we know  Jesus - our God, our Saviour -  arose having conquered death, not only for Himself but for you and me.   We have read and know all the promises that are ours through faith in Jesus. 

BUT .. what if we had been one of those who stood beneath Jesus' cross on that Friday and grieved to a depth we cannot fathom. Grieved not just the death of someone they loved, but grieved the death of all their hope that the Messiah had finally come to set them free!  But no, He was dead and so were all their hopes.  Had they been deceived?  They awoke  to a world that was dark, their hearts empty, their minds too distraught and dead in profound shock and sorrow  to even think .. "what now?"
Yes, Jesus had told them He would rise again, but they did not understand.  What they knew was that Jesus was dead ...  it was over ... they had hoped in vain.

I try to imagine their joy when the resurrection words were spoken - first to one, then another and another , spreading like the morning rays of the sun. 
Think of when you laid a loved one to rest ... you walked with bowed head from the grave ... you awake with the weight of grief heavy upon your heart .. and then .. the phone rings and someone tells you your loved one is alive and well !!    Could you even contain the responding emotion ?  Maybe disbelief is the cushion that gives your mind time to absorb such incredible news. 
Just like Jesus' loved ones ...  disbelief ... then a glimmer of hope...  then finally that exploding joy that focuses on only one reality ... JESUS IS ALIVE !! 

As we remember...   may our hearts fill with that pure joy of what Jesus did for us !
 He rose ... He conquered death that we might live .. .not just in this earthly life but forever more -- in His presence ! 
Let us rejoice  - not in His death -  but in His LIFE !!!!  In HIM we too have LIFE eternal.   

"If  Christ be not risen, then our faith is in vain ...  

if He did not rise, then we also will not rise from the dead ... 

if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable ...  

BUT NOW CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD ...!!!!"   

taken from I Cor. 15:13-20