Humanity’s greatest problem is sin. It renders us spiritually dead, alienates us from God and each other, plagues us with guilt and fear, an can eventually damn us to eternal hell. The only solutions is forgiveness, and the only source of forgiveness is Jesus Christ.

Paul teaches us that all sin is is punishable by death (Rom. 6:23). This was our destiny, but Christ bore the sins of the world, thereby making it possible for us to be forgiven and to have eternal life through faith in him (John 3:16). That is a glorious and wonderful reality!

Easter then, is not just about the resurrection of Christ. It is the culmination of God’s salvation work in Christ on our behalf. In spite of our sins and our rejection of God, he never, abandoned us. God has been working through the annuals of time to redeem us. Pul says that God was in the actions of Christ as he did his redemptive work here on earth (2 Cor. 5:19). So then, if we are in Christ, God has made a new creation in us. What was old — our old nature, our old values, our old sin problem — has passed away. What is new in us is our new and resurrected life we live in Christ (Gal 2:20).

The world commercializes Easter and too easily overlooks the significance of the empty tomb. We cannot afford to do the same. As we ponder Christ’s resurrection let us live our resurrection to a newness of life in him! This is how we avoid the scourge and the penalty of sin. This is how God completes his work in Chris in us!