Sometimes life can fell like a tomb. We look around us and we see this family problem over here, we see this crime over there, we see this personal issue here, and it’s so dark, and it can be so lonely, and we can feel so trapped. We see how other people act, how other people hurt, how other people sin and our souls hurt. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we’re no better. We hurt, we steal, we abuse—we sin, too. And we know why it happens. We know it’s the sin that runs in and through us. But we still shake our heads and wonder what we can do about it all. Why does my life have to be filled with so much grief? The walls of the tomb seem to close in.

And just when we think it couldn’t get any worse and nothing will ever change, the stone of this tomb is rolled away. Because what you didn’t realize was that you weren’t alone in this tomb of sin and death. Jesus was there, too. And he just got up, and the stone rolled away. The wickedness of sin didn’t finish him. He isn’t destroyed. And—my goodness—if Jesus can rise from the dead, if Jesus has overcome the effects of sin, what does that mean for you and me? What does that mean for you and me who cling to Jesus and put our hope in him? It means that if Christ has been raised from the ash heap of sin, if Christ has been changed from dead to alive, then you are changed, too!

This is the power of Chrit's resurrection. You see the effects of sin in your own life, and, yes, your body will decay one day, too. But suddenly that will change. At the end of time, the one who rose himself from the dead, will come and raise you from the dead. Jesus will take your body and in the blink of an eye, when you hear that last trumpet call, when Jesus cries out with the voice of the archangel, suddenly, you will be changed. Your body that is wracked with pain and weakness—that is so easily corrupted by sin—will change and you will put on the immortality that Christ earned for you. The life you inherited from Adam, the life of death, will be done forever. And this empty tomb is your proof; it is your proof that suddenly, Easter has changed you for ever.



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