Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God was born in Bethlehem, grew in Nazareth and left for the Kingdoms work at the age of thirty. He went about doing good! He died on the cross for the sins of entire humanity. Jesus was buried. Jesus foretold His resurrection, He said, He will rise up on the Third day (Mar 9:31, Luke 18:33). ding to His word, he rose again on the third day. It is a historical fact. There is only grave open in the whole world. It is the open grave of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For more than two thousand years, the grave is open. Is there a better testimony than that for His resurrection? There are people who say, Jesus never rose again. People who went to the grave of Jesus with the sole motive to disprove the resurrection and hardcore atheist Benhur was converted at the open grave! He spread the gospel around the world, bringing millions into the Kingdom of God. Every year, millions of people go and visit the open grave. Jesus Christ didn’t come in a fairy-tale story. Nobody imagined and wrote about Jesus. But He was part and parcel of history. No one can disprove historical evidence. He came, He Lived, He died, He was Buried, He rose again and He is coming again! The coming of Jesus split history into two: Before Christ and After the Death of Christ. History stands and nobody can dispute it.

“He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Mat 28:6, Mar 16:6, Luk 24:6). In all the above three gospels, we find in the last chapter the sixth verse speaks about resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ caused a great flutter among the people. The Jewish religious leaders tried to suppress the fact that he rose again. They gave a hefty sum of money to the guards who watched over the grave to tell the people that, He never rose again (Mat 28:15). But the disciples went everywhere and preached that Jesus rose again. This brought about a mass uprising among the people. Apostle Peter who denied Jesus thrice before crucifixion, that same Peter preaches before several thousands of people that Jesus rose again (Acts 2:22-32). The message of the cross and the resurrection pricked the hearts of the gathering. People who were gathered could feel the word of God piercing their hearts. The powerful resurrection message brought three thousand people to the baptism pond in one single day. No were in the history, three thousand people were baptized in one single day voluntarily. Apostle Peter went about preaching on resurrection everywhere. His powerful message on resurrection made a lame man to walk. Everywhere he saw a crowd, he will bring out the resurrection message (Acts 4:10). At the house of the Roman centurion, he preached about Jesus and His resurrection. Even while Peter was preaching all who heard his word were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues. And all those who were gathered there were baptized. The central theme of Apostle Peter’s message was, to uplift the crucified Saviour and present the resurrection message.

Apostle Paul always preached about the crucified Saviour and His resurrection wherever he went. When he went to the Jewish place of worship at Antioch, he preached about Jesus Christ who died, buried and rose again (Acts 13:29, 30). Everywhere he went, he preached about the crucifixion of Christ and challenged (Acts 13:37). At any given opportunity, he will lift the name of Jesus and the resurrection power was manifested where ever he went. In Lystra a lame, when he heard the gospel he started walking. The resurrection message touched the hearts of people everywhere he went. At the mars hill, a stage which is meant for scholars; here Apostle Paul preached about the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 17:31). Before King Agriappa and the Roman rulers Paul preached about resurrection.

When you present the sufferings of the cross and resurrection the people will be drawn to Jesus Christ. When you fail to uplift the cross and shun the message of resurrection, the message will have no power. On the other hand, you will lose the grace of Almighty God.

Why do we give baptism? Many, who take baptism, do not know the meaning of baptism. Baptism means, that we are buried with Christ in water. And after being buried in water and we come out of the water with the resurrected countenance. Romans 6:4-5, “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For pd if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection”. Those who have taken baptism, do you have the resurrected countenance? We are dead to sin and we have risen up for righteous sake. Those who live a Christ like nature will have a resurrected countenance in their face. Those who continue to live in sinful life will not have a resurrected countenance. The first centaury Christians, had resurrected countenance in their appearance. Present day Christians, God knows what countenance we have. The world is aware of that! My dear believer, you are expected to have a resurrected countenance in your face. People, who see us, should see Christ in our face. If you have the mind of Christ, the resurrected countenance will be in your face. My dear reader, if you walk with Christ, you will be translated into glory one day.

Rev 1:18, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”. Christ Jesus who died for us will not die again. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I. The resurrected Saviour is present everywhere were we gather in His name. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared unto Mary Magdalene and then himself to disciples. At one point of time, more than five hundred people saw Him. Down the ages, He has revealed Himself personally unto many. John 20:29, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas because thou has seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”. Christ Jesus is the first fruit of resurrection. Everyone will be resurrected according to his calling. Blessed are those who will have a glorious resurrection at the coming of Jesus. When you read I Corinthians chapter 15, Apostle Paul graphically describes about the resurrection. We need to go through this chapter patiently and enrich our spiritual life.

My dear readers, let us greet each other a Happy Easter, let the joy of resurrection radiate in your faces. The world will know, we have a living God who dwells in our heart. Let us celebrate the glorious resurrection with pomp and gaiety on the Easter day. The power of Jesus Christ will radiate in our face, more on the resurrection day.

Amen