"He Has Risen, Truth For Those Behind Locked Doors”

He is Risen! He has risen indeed!

The world has tried to cancel Easter and shutter church doors. Easter cannot be canceled… 2000 years ago all the forces of hell tried that and it failed. The forces of evil tried to kill the infant Jesus. Their plan failed. The same forces of evil used the political power of Rome to crucify Jesus… The forces of evil did not know they were foils in the mighty hand of God. God’s plan was to erase our broken commandments on the cross, then destroy death forever by raising “Himself” from death and the grave. A sealed tomb could not contain glorious light of the resurrection of Jesus.

Welcome to Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Maybe the “sheltering in” on this Easter Sunday has reminded us that Easter is not about our new Easter clothes. We could not shop for them this year. Thousands of Easter baskets and chocolate eggs remain on the shelves of shuttered stores. We have learned other things about ourselves and life.

Easter is about Jesus. Easter is about hope. Easter is about Jesus and His resurrection from death and the grave. Easter is knowing that death on this earth is not the end of life. Your soul, your spirit, was created by God to live forever. You know it in your soul, in your heart. The Easter event shatters all fear, because the resurrection of Jesus strips Satan of his power to hold people in the fear of death.

If, on this Easter morning you are one who feels unsure about your eternal destiny, and your heart is locked in fear then hear the truth your soul longs to hear. Jesus is alive! He has risen from the dead! He is the “hope” your heart longs to know.

We all have friends who are grieving over the recent loss of a husband or wife, a child, a parent, a friend. Death came like a ruthless thief, snatching away a treasured presence, leaving only hollow memories in its’ wake. This sadness of grief casts a spell of loneliness too powerful for spoken words or shallow songs to break. For those who do not know Jesus….. “hope” is missing.

On a Sunday morning 2000 years ago, the disciples of Jesus were hiding in a locked room. They were without hope. They were afraid to go out into the streets. Afraid to show their faces, unless there was a mask to cover their face. On this Easter we can understand their fear as we sequester behind closed doors, and shuttered windows.

There is nothing like the truth of Easter to bring hope back to life.

Easter has its own anthems:

“Easter Triumph, Easter joy

This alone can sin destroy

From sin’s power (the) Lord (has) set us free’ Alleluia!

No more can death appall,

Now no more the grave enthrall’

(Jesus) has opened paradise Alleluia!

Gloria and Bill Gaither’s familiar lyrics proclaim the Easter hope.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow

Because He lives all fear is gone

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives

And life is worth the living just because He lives

Easter has its own Scripture:

I know that my redeemer lives,

And on the last day, He will take His stand on the earth.

Even after my skin is destroyed

Yet in my flesh I shall see God. (Job 19:25-26)

This is the truth of Easter. This is the truth, this is the message of Easter for those locked behind closed doors, fearful to step into the light of each new day.

Easter has its own proclamation: “He is not here, He has risen from the dead.”

What great news we possess. We dare not allow shuttered windows and closed doors to snuff out our Easter joy and hope. The good news of Easter is not that Jesus lived and died, but that He died on a cross and rose from death in a resurrected, glorified body on a Sunday morning 2000 years ago.

Billy Graham wrote: “Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless.”

"Without Jesus' death, we have no hope of God's forgiveness; and without Jesus' resurrection, we have no hope of eternal life. Like the two wings of an airplane, both are essential!"

Both the cross on which our broken commandments were nailed, and the empty tomb of Jesus have shattered the fear of death. The cross and empty grave remove the wrath of a Holy God from the human heart. Easter celebrates God’s dramatic rescue operation giving you and me a righteousness which we could not ourselves earn.

The Easter event enables us to see hope beyond the shuttered windows and locked doors. We have been told to shelter in because our national and state leaders fear….the virus stalking our streets. It lingers in the air beyond our doors. The disciples “sheltered in” after the death of their Rabbi. The fear of death that stalked the streets of Jerusalem was too much, and they were afraid. We can understand their fear.