‘Tis the Season to Celebrate … Resurrection Day!
You have heard it all before: none of us can believe how quickly the year has gone by, nor can we conceive of Christmas coming in just one more week! How is it that it creeps up and surprises us every year? With all of the stress of the holidays, you may have read today’s title and thought that I have mixed up my calendar altogether; but let me assure you, I am aware that Christmas and Easter are several months apart. Nonetheless, the Lord has been speaking to me about resurrection these past several weeks and how the day Jesus was born was actually the very first resurrection day.
Jesus’ birth in the little Judean town of Bethlehem changed everything. What began as an ordinary day ended with God’s Son being born as a baby, the Angel of the Lord appearing to shepherds, and a heavenly army joining the Angel and erupting in praise to God.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them, and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people. For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord!
Luke 2:9-11 (AMP)
That was the day that not just a new life, but the true life came into the world. Life is who and what Jesus was from the beginning, and who He still was at the moment of His birth. True life being born into a world of death was indeed “a great joy” that had come to all the people, including me and you.
In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.
John 1:1-4 (AMP)
When Life was born into the world on that first Christmas, He brought resurrection life with Him. This Jesus is the same God who made the world and everything in it and is the same God who spoke and worked miracles throughout the pages of Scripture: The one who made water to flow in the desert (I Cor. 10:4), told dry bones to live (Ez. 37:1-10), made life come from barren wombs (Gen. 21:1-2, 25:21, Matt. 1:24-25), and brought dead bodies back to life (Luke 7:14-15, Luke 8:54-55, John 11:43-44). Miracles happened when Jesus spoke, and His words do not expire, fall short, or fail to accomplish His purposes (Is. 55:11).
This is the Jesus that we celebrate during the Christmas season, who has been the same since the beginning. We celebrate a living and unchangeable God who, because of His great love for us, humbled himself and came to earth. He came to us to be our Savior and our Emmanuel (Is. 7:14), our God who is with us, unchanging and ever living (Heb. 7:25)
It is easy to forget the enormity of the fact that God does not change (James 1:17) . He is the same from everlasting to everlasting. He does not change from day to day, or even generation to generation. If He is ever loving, merciful, holy, or righteous, then He is always loving, merciful, holy, and righteous. And if He said, “I am [Myself] the Resurrection and the Life,” and proved it was true when He rose from the dead, then he is always the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). Every day is resurrection day!
That means that all of death, disappointment, sorrow, and grief is now subject to His resurrection power. Our Savior, Jesus, has the power to resurrect our mortal bodies. He also has the power to resurrect dry, dead bones, hopes, dreams, and relationships. He has resurrection power over things that have been crushed and shattered, and everything in our lives we feel has just dried up and died due to grief, trauma, depression, betrayal, and sickness. He is the Resurrection and the Life, today!
The resurrection life He came to provide for us gives us a reason to celebrate every day. Even on the days that are just plain hard, dark, and discouraging we can look to Jesus and remember that He is the Resurrection and Life and Emmanuel and God with us, and He is all of those things all the time and every day, without changing.
During these few remaining days before Christmas, I pray that your eyes and heart are open to the Resurrection Life He came to bring to the dry parts of your life. Allow this to be your reminder of the power of our Savior that was born on Christmas, and of the true Life He came to be for all of us. Because of Him there is not a day that will come in our lives that is not resurrection day!
