The death of death

This year, I have felt as if I am experiencing Easter for the very first time all over again. Growing up in the church, I have been very familiar with the Biblical account of Easter. I could recite all of the details but I had grown so accustomed that I had begun to take it all for granted.

 I had taken the cross—the death and the resurrection of Jesus for granted. Ouch.

 After our son Ethan passed away I began to contemplate eternity. I began to question the meaning of it all and I was challenged to make a decision—when the rubber meets the road, what do I truly believe? As I watched my son’s soul pass from his body, I was forced to grapple with my beliefs and decide whether or not I truly believed that his soul was now with Jesus.
 In the following months, I questioned. I cried out to God, often times in anger, and I searched the scriptures for answers.

 The deeper I dove into the gospel—the story of Jesus being sent to earth to die on the cross for our sins, to serve as the atoning sacrifice for our wretchedness, and to rise from the grave 3 days later, conquering death for all time—the more I began to see the truth. It was through my doubting and wrestling that I truly came to confidently believe.

 Last week, I found myself in tears over what the resurrection truly means. The resurrection signifies the death of death. Through the resurrection, we have been given the opportunity to be brought from death to life, from sin to sanctification, from an eternity of grief and pain to an eternity with God.
 Consider this with me for a moment—the DEATH of death. As I let that sink in, I cannot help but rejoice that our God knows our suffering (even more so than we do) and came to abolish the very thing that has brought us the most pain.

Happy Easter to each of you. May we rejoice that He is risen indeed.

 John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me share never die. Do you believe this?’”
 2 Corinthians 5: 1-5 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,  if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”