Christ’s resurrection is the perfect antidote to our failures.
Christ’s resurrection is the perfect antidote to our failures.
On this Easter Sunday, may we never forget that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the perfect antidote to our failures in life.
Per dictionary, an ‘antidote’ is a medicine taken or given to counteract a particular poison. In its verbal form it means cancel or counteract with an antidote.
When God created Adam and Eve, He already knew in His perfect omniscience that they would fail when the serpent tempted them in the garden of Eden. He knew all in advance because He is an all knowing God. The all-knowing God promised a seed or offspring who would save us from the hands of the one who wanted to destroy us. Understanding in advance our failure and impossibility to save ourselves from our sins, God had a perfect plan to save us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ (the promised seed or offspring). Genesis 3:15
Abraham’s failure to wait patiently for the time of the Lord to get the promised son was not accidental to the LORD God. Abraham leaving the promised and going into the land of Egypt and ended up there in disgrace by telling a lie about his wife and reaped the terrible consequences was not foreign to the knowledge of God. The all-knowing God knew all about it before all these happened.
You see, God’s calling, grace and love were greater than Abraham’s failure.
Moses was appointed and called by God for a great task of delivering His people from the slavery in Egypt. A special call by God on the infant Moses was recognized by his own parent per Hebrews 11:23. When Moses got angry and killed the Egyptian and thus became a murderer, the incident was not a surprise to God. He knew all about it. Moses is the agent through whom the Lord would later give ten commandment which includes, “you shall not murder.”
You see, God’s calling and love were greater than Moses’s failure.
Where there is sin, there is death.
There is a book in the Old Testament called Leviticus which is a bloody book. What I meant by the bloody book is this-this book gives people instructions about how to come to a holy God for the forgiveness of their sins. The book is filled with prescribed sacrifices of animals. They continued to appease the wrath of God on sins by sacrificing animals in their place for their sins in olden days. Because Bible says, “without the shedding of the blood, there is no remission of sins.”
When people sin, the result is death. To avoid the immediate death of a sinner, God prescribed a temporary solution by which the sinner would bring an innocent animal to the priest and the priest would sacrifice the animal in sinners place. An innocent animal dies in the place of the sinner and thereby the sinner is temporarily saved and this process continues when sin happens again and again. The animal dies in the place of the sinner and thereby the consequence of the sinner’s sin is temporarily taken care off. But this was a never-ending continuous procedure and never intended to be a permanent solution for our failures.
Bible says this about the olden time’s sacrifices. “The law (the old testament sacrificial system) is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:1-4)
In those days in the past, “day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:11). These animal sacrifices could never take away the sin issue forever. It was a never-ending system and priests stood and performed these sacrifices again and again and again believing and hoping for a once for all completer sacrifice in future. They all died in faith in that future perfect sacrifice that God promised in the Old Testament Scripture.
Jesus said it is finished. His one sacrifice finished the whole sacrificial system.
Now Jesus said “it is finished” on the cross Just before He gave His spirit in the hands of God the Father.
What is finished? All these sacrifices were pointing toward a perfect and once for all solution of the sin issue in the promised seed – Jesus Christ. John said, “ Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
“But when this priest (Jesus Christ) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:12-14
Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of all the animal sacrifices of the old testament system. He offered one sacrifice for sins. Then He finished the work on the cross, risen from the dead and sat down at the right hand of God in heaven. Then the above passage declares this eternal truth – By one sacrifice (of Christ), He had made perfect those would come to Him for salvation and eternal life because these people who recognize and admit that they are sinners are being made holy because they believed and trusted in the one and the only one sacrifice that was offered by Jesus Christ for their salvation. All are sinners and we all need the Savior Christ Jesus who died, buried and resurrected in our place for the remission of our sins.
Jesus is the perfect lamb of God for the solution of our failures. He carried our sins, iniquities and the resultant punishment of our sins on his body and went to the cross and died for you and me and thereby paid for all our sins permanently, completely and once for all.
Christ’s resurrection is the antidote for our failures.
The key is the Easter Sunday on which Christ Jesus was resurrected from the dead after His burial. His resurrection from the dead proves victory over sin and the resultant death. Christ is our victory over sin and failures. The empty tomb of Christ near Golgotha in Israel is a silent voice of God testifying He has risen from the dead and thereby our failures have an antidote in God’s lamb who is Christ Jesus. The changed lives of the Christians prove Christ’s victory over sin and death. The spread of Christianity over the entire world by the poor and weak 12 disciples who were timid and fearful and the way they changed the world with the hope and assurance beyond the grave and death, proves Christ’s victory over sin and death.
We need to turn to God with a heart filled with gratitude and worship on this Easter Sunday. Why? Because God has turned our failures into victory. God has given us victory over our sin and failures – not by our human effort (which can never save us or grant us eternal life) but by the power of the sacrifice of Christ, by the death, burial and then the victorious resurrection of Christ on the third day, by the shed blood of the lamb of God on that cross.
Bible says God has turned our mourning into dancing, He has taken off our sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
“You have turned my mourning into dancing for me;
You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” Psalm 30:11-12
Easter says to us God knew all about your failure and those things won’t exclude you from His love and service.
Peter’s failure was predicted by Christ. When Peter failed on the night crucifixion, Jesus turned and looked at him as if He was saying ‘Peter I knew all about it, my dear. But the love of Christ did not stop there. After Christ’s resurrection, He specifically sent words for Peter. An angel said to the women who came to the tomb with spices, “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” Did you notice the words, “tell his disciples and Peter”? Peter is a disciple. Why special urgency in the mind of Jesus to inform Peter?
Peter’s failure was in the mind of Jesus Christ. He cared about Peter and wanted to talk to him immediately after his resurrection. He rushed His words to Peter who denied Him in the most painful time of His life. Later Christ personally visited Peter and re-established Him to His original calling (John 21:15-17). God transformed Peter into a great apostle who opened the door for the Gospel (Acts 2). Christ did not take away the keys of heaven that was given to him. (Matthew 16:19).
So is his love for you my friend. Do you know how much Jesus loves you and longs for you? He longed for Peter after his failure. He longs for you as well.
Jesus Christ loves you and He sends His personal words to you now. He knows all about your failure. But remember Christ’s love is greater than your failure. When God calls you, His calling, love, and grace are greater than your failures.
Pray after me:
“God, I know you deeply cares about me and I know Christ loved me, came into this world. I believe He died, buried and risen again for my sin. I repent about my sins and turn away from my sins. I accept you calling, grace and forgiveness. I accept Jesus Christ as my savior. Please save me now. Amen.”
