Every movie–and many books–has a savior, superhero, chosen one, etc. But who is truly the only one who can save you? What needs saving? What is worth saving?
Batman, Superman, Captain America, Luke Skywalker, Thor, Iron Man, and so many of those other superheroes are beings that have a special “power” to save the earth or universe(s) and the measly beings who live there.
This is probably not the kind of blog post you expected on Easter, but I thought it was fitting. We do need a Savior. But we don’t need one to save earth from all the evil that is taking place on it. There is a lot of evil and bad things, but the Bible tells a very different story from what you will find in any superhero movie or book. Continue reading →
Today is the day we celebrate what some call Easter and others call Resurrection Sunday. Some celebrate it for the candy and Easter egg hunts and some celebrate it for the importance of the Resurrection. Why is this holiday so important? I think 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 sums it up very well. (Well, technically the whole chapter sums it up, but I thought doing a shorter passage would be better.)
“Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)
Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we would still be condemned to hell. Since Jesus Christ rose from death to life, we have the hope of eternal life.
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?'”(John 11:25-26)
Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Without belief in His sacrifice, you cannot go to heaven. Heaven is where God is. God is holy and cannot allow anything even remotely sinful into heaven. Without the covering of Jesus’ blood, you cannot be clean.
“And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)
When He died that first Good Friday, He died for each and every one of you, to pay for YOUR sins. He became the ultimate sacrifice for every human being. If we accept Him, God won’t see all the bad we’ve done, He’ll see us white as snow, washed by the blood of Jesus Christ
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
But there is good news!! As we are celebrating today, we know that Jesus didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead!
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
The tomb is empty!
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?6 He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”8 And they remembered His words,9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.10 Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles.“
Can you say with me: “He is risen. He is risen, indeed!”
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He’s risen for me.
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He’s risen for you.
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He’s risen for all.
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He’s risen indeed.
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He rose to pay my sin.
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He rose to pay for your sin.
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He rose to pay for all sin.
Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, He rose indeed.
This is one of my favorite Resurrection songs. Please think about the words very carefully as you watch it.
As the most beautiful angel in the heavens, I have it made. I am beautiful, powerful, and I even managed to rebel against the Almighty Himself, taking a third of His forces with me. It was a simple matter to further mess up God’s plan by causing the two humans made in His image to doubt God’s words to them and do what He told them not to do.
Then there was the time I caused all those people to be so wicked that God had to destroy the entire earth except for eight people. When you have legions of demons and only eight supposedly righteous people, it is much easier to get them to disobey His Majesty, the God of the universe because there are thousands of you and only eight of them. After the flood and after another rebellion, He confused their language, but that was no big deal. I just corrupted the stories they told about God’s so-called deliverance of them.
When the Israelites finally got what they wanted and were allowed to have Kings, it was so easy to corrupt the rulers. Humans are such despicable creatures. A beautiful woman is all it takes to turn a king into mush and make him want another wife. “Forget the law against marrying a foreign woman! I want her and she would help with a peace treaty with the country she comes from.” Ha! So much for that plan, You pathetic excuse for a God!
When God said that there would be some sort of a Savior or Messiah coming from the line of David, that began my plan to so corrupt the line of David, that God’s plan would fail yet again. Foreign women, rebellious people, exiles, all of this was in my plan to so corrupt Abraham and David’s lineage that God would be forced to change His plan. Continue reading →
Batman, Superman, Captain America, Luke Skywalker, Thor, Iron Man, and so many of those other superheroes are beings that have a special “power” to save the earth or universe(s) and the measly beings who live there.
caused all those people to be so wicked that God had to destroy the entire earth except for eight people. When you have legions of demons and only eight supposedly righteous people, it is much easier to get them to disobey His Majesty, the God of the universe because there are thousands of you and only eight of them. After the flood and after another rebellion, He confused their language, but that was no big deal. I just corrupted the stories they told about God’s so-called deliverance of them.
Faith Blum 