| |
|
And, according to the New Testament, the first Easter Sunday, nearly 2000 years ago, is my guarantee of that blissful future.
It says the first Good Friday brought the greatest sacrifice in human history, when Jesus took upon Himself Gods proper anger against human selfishness. The claim of Christianity, mysterious though it may be, is that I, along with every other human being, put Jesus on the cross because He sacrificed Himself to redeem me along with others.
But Good Friday was not the end. The first Easter Day showed, as the Bible puts it, that death could not hold Jesus. And His resurrection is the first of many, for those who trust in Him will follow.
Is it foolish to believe that anyone could rise from the dead? Well, atheists and believers alike can agree that it certainly takes faith.
As the writer of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews observes, anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
But believing He exists is the main hurdle. Leap that, and the resurrection is not so difficult. After all, fallible, frail humans could know little about God apart from His eternal power and divine nature, as Paul puts it unless He chose to reveal Himself to us.
And we learn of Him in the two books of revelation, the Bible and nature, but above all in the life and example of Jesus the Christ.
Thus it is that Christians praise God at Easter!
Barney Zwartz is a senior fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity.
https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/faith-20190418-p51fcm.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_lifestyle
|
|
