Easter meditation

(Michael Larsen)

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

  The world is going through the darkest time I have ever experienced in my lifetime. Millions of people are suffering and dying and millions more are losing their livelihood. People are frightened and confused. They feel abandoned by God when they need Him most.

  The disciples must have felt the same way after Jesus was arrested and crucified. Their whole world came tumbling down around them when Jesus died. They must have been scared and confused and maybe even angry at God for all they had lost on the truly darkest day in the history of the world.

  But Sunday morning was coming. It was because of Jesus’ death that they and we are saved and have an eternal inheritance in heaven. Things may be dark for us now as we suffer loss of income and security and church fellowship, but God has a plan and He is in control.

  Last Sunday, I preached about the ministry of peace that we have received from God. As we go through this dark time together, let us remember and mediate on the words of Romans 5:1-11:

  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while 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! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

ですから、信仰によって神の目に正しい者とされた私たちは、主イエス・キリストによって、神との間に平和を得ています。2 信仰のゆえに、キリストは私たちを、いま立っている、この最高の特権ある立場に導いてくださいました。そして私たちは、私たちに対する神の計画がすべて実現するのを、喜びをもって待ち望んでいるのです。 3 ですから私たちは、さまざまの苦しみや困難に直面した時も喜ぶことができます。それによって忍耐を学ぶからです。 4 忍耐によって私たちの品性が磨かれ、さらに、それによって希望が与えられるのです。こうして、私たちの希望と信仰は強められ、どんなことにも動じなくなるのです。 5 この希望は失望に終わることはありません。それは、神が聖霊を与えてくださり、その聖霊が私たちの心に神の愛を満たしてくださっているからです。

6 私たちが逃れる道もなく、行き詰まっていた時、キリストはおいでになり、何のとりえもない、私たち罪人のために死んでくださいました。 7 たとえ私たちが良い人間であったとしても、だれかが自分のために死んでくれるなどとは考えてもみなかったでしょう。 8 しかし、私たちがまだ罪人であった時、神はキリストを遣わしてくださいました。そのキリストが私たちのために死なれたことにより、神は私たちに大きな愛を示してくださったのです。 9 キリストは、罪人のために血まで流してくださったのですから、私たちが無罪とされた今は、もっとすばらしいことをしてくださるに違いありません。今やキリストは、神の怒りから、私たちを完全に救い出してくださるのです。

May God give peace to all of you who believe in Christ.