Text: John 20:19-23
Memory verse:
““This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”
Exodus 12:2 NKJV
The resurrection of Jesus gradually brought a pivotal change to the day of worship. Saturday, the seventh day of the week was the Sabbath day of rest and was the Jewish day of worship. However, since the Lord resurrected on Sunday, the first day of the week, believers began to gather to worship on Sunday and gradually, Sunday became known as the “Lord’s Day”(Mark 16:9).
The Lord called the Passover the beginning of beginnings for the Israelites (Exod 12:2). Irrespective of the number of years they had spent in Egypt, Passover marked the beginning for them.
Likewise, salvation marks a new life and a new beginning. Life lived outside or before salvation does not count for eternity. A person’s life will begin to count for God from the day of salvation (II Cor 5:17).
As Christ rose from the dead into a new life, so has everyone in Christ risen (Rom 6:4). Like the Passover, through the death of Jesus as our Passover Lamb, we were redeemed from our sin, and through His resurrection, we were raised from death into a new life.
God promised to make a new covenant with us, not like the covenant in the blood of animals but in the precious blood of Jesus. He will give us a new heart, put a new Spirit within us, and give us a heart of flesh (Ezek 36:26-27). Through the covenant, God made us sons and daughters, and He becomes our Father. It’s a totally new relationship, from slavery to sonship. We are no longer strangers to the covenant of promise but sharers. That new covenant only took effect after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The apostles didn’t experience this new life until Jesus died and rose from the dead despite having been with Him for three years. After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to His disciples and breathed on them. Some people think that this is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. No, the disciples also got born again like you and I did. Each individual disciple had to accept that Jesus was raised from the dead and made Jesus his Lord (Romans 10:9-10). Having done this, they also needed to be sealed with the Holy Spirit, so He breathed on them (Eph 1:13). These happened on Sunday resurrection evening.
Friends, have you experienced the new life in Christ? Let your life begin to count for eternity from this Easter. May you experience newness in every area of your life, in Jesus’ name.
Prayer points
1. Father, thank You for giving Jesus as a ransom for my soul and giving me a new life through Him.
2. Father, let me experience new life in all areas of my life from this Easter, in Jesus’ name.
Today’s declarations
1. I got born again when I believed and confessed that Jesus was raised from the dead and I made Jesus my Lord.
2. Easter reminds me that the old things are gone and all things in my life are now new.
Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng