For a couple of weeks now, I have watched the flowers blooming and trees budding. I can hear the birds chirping and the lawn mowers whirling. That means it will soon be Resurrection Day! It is easy this time of year to think about egg hunts and bunny rabbits, but let’s lay those things aside and look at the True meaning of Resurrection Day. Psalms 111:9 tells us, “God has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name.” Resurrection Day means redemption for us! We find the theme of redemption in the exodus account. God did not simply take the Israelites out of Egypt. He redeemed them to be His people. He sent Moses to the Israelites with a promise in Exodus 6:6, “I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” Scriptures like these give us the background for Resurrection Day. Resurrection Day is rooted as far back as Genesis 3. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God set about providing for the redemption from that sin. Resurrection Day is more than bunnies and eggs.

Resurrection Day is a celebration of Grace. “We have been “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Several words should jump out at us in this verse, but let’s look at just two of them; grace and redemption. We have no claim to redemption apart from God’s grace. We cannot claim that we have earned our redemption, for that violates the Biblical meaning of redemption. Perhaps in society one can redeem themselves, but in God’s economy the price of sin is beyond one’s ability to pay. Redemption by Grace means that we have redemption because God has Grace. Now that’s a stimulus package with which I can agree!

Resurrection Day is a celebration of Forgiveness. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Again, let’s look at two words from this verse; blood and forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). These two words are intrinsically linked, and Ephesians 1:7 is not talking about a little bit of blood. It is referring to life’s blood. Jesus’ blood was drained out of Him. He died as a result of suffocation from the enormous weight of our sin and the extreme blood loss from the brutal stripes on His back and the piercing of His side. These two things combined bought us forgiveness. Jesus bore our sin on the cross and we find forgiveness in that river of His blood. You cannot make up for past sins, but you can apply the blood of Jesus to the doorposts of your heart.

Resurrection Day is a celebration of Purity. Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14). So much could be written about this verse alone, but let’s look at just two words; purify and possession. The Old Testament understanding of holiness was to be set apart for a specific purpose. My mother had a specific pan for making cornbread and a specific bowl for making biscuits. These were holy in the sense that they were set apart and could be used for no other purpose. When we talk about being purified from sin, we must understand that we are really saying that we are set apart from sin and set apart for God. Certainly, this verse bears that meaning well when it says “to purify for Himself a people for His own possession.” Resurrection Day celebrates this set-apartness.

Resurrection Day is a celebration of Adoption. We are not just set apart from sin. We are not just His people, like the people of a kingdom belong to the king. We are part of His family! Jesus was sent “so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5). This verse reveals the meaning of redemption. We belonged to Him before sin separated us from Him. Jesus redeemed us so that we belong to the family of God again.

A true Resurrection Day celebration rejoices in these simple facts. Think about it. If Jesus’ resurrection had accomplished nothing, it would still have been a marvelous and miraculous event worthy of celebration. Jesus’ resurrection accomplished so much that no one person can fully explain it, to do so would require a lifetime of work and volumes too numerous to count. We must be sure to celebrate God’s Grace that sent Jesus to the cross to redeem us to be His own holy people, cleansed by His blood, forgiven of our sin, and adopted as joint heirs with Jesus. Celebrate.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 10:36 am