04/05/2026
JESUS
Five letters.
Six hours.
One cross.
Three nails.
We live because He does, hope because He rose, and matter because He matters.
To be saved by grace is to be saved by Him-not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by Jesus himself.
“By His death on the cross and resurrection today.
He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ “
Luke 24:6-7
“He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus . . . “
- 2 Corinthians 4:14
The resurrection of Christ brings hope. The late Emil Brunner once said, “What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life.”
As we are dependent on a supply of oxygen, so humanity is dependent on its supply of hope.
Yet today, hopelessness and despair are everywhere. Peter, who himself was given to despair during the episode of Calvary, writes in a triumphant note, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
There is hope that mistakes and sins can be forgiven.
There is hope that we can have joy, peace, assurance, and security in the midst of the despair of this age.
There is hope that Christ is coming soon; this is what is called in Scripture “the blessed hope.”
There is hope that there will come some day a new heaven and a new earth, and that the Kingdom of God will reign and triumph.
Our hope is not in our own ability, or in our goodness, or in our physical strength.
Our hope is instilled in us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He has risen!