(This morning’s devotion is based on the Easter message: Jesus Wins! (CLICK HERE)
A different perspective.
The women came looking for a body in the tomb. They had seen Jesus taken off the cross and wrapped in linen cloths and buried in Joseph’s tomb. They knew a big stone was rolled in front of the entrance and guards were protecting the entrance. They were wondering how they would get in the tomb to finish honoring the body of Jesus with the burial traditions of the day.
What they saw was completely unexpected. There was no body. The stone was rolled away. The guards had fled and two angels had replaced them. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He has risen!”
All of a sudden, the normal perspective of death and burial was overturned by a new perspective that was driven by the God who clearly exhibited power over death. The resurrection gave a perspective that moved beyond the world’s paradigm to God’s paradigm and God’s truth.
Really the resurrection is a key event to validate the truth of all of God’s Word. If the resurrection validates God’s perspective on life and death than what the world offers, it also validates God’s perspective on the rest of life.
As Paul spoke to the Corinthians we also see life through the wisdom of God which is going to sound like foolishness to the world.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Even though the message of the cross and the empty tomb seem ridiculous and foolish to many in the world, they are the foundation upon which the wisdom of God is validated.
If this truth is validated, it also gives validity to everything else God has said. So that his Word now forms our viewpoint and perspective on life and the world.
The Apostle John also reflected that children of God operate from a different view point.
1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
One doesn’t have to look far to find worldly viewpoints on relationships, genders, marriage, success, world affairs, etc. The resurrection invites us to view the world through God’s lens and God’s Word.
What changes today if you take the truth of God and see the world through it?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for validating your Word through the resurrection of Jesus. Help us to view all of life through what we know is true, your Word. AMEN.