no power of hell…

No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
-Keith Getty / Stuart Townend

Today is Holy Saturday…a day of waiting. As we finish with Good Friday and Christ’s crucifixion, my mind always turns to the disciples. What might they have been thinking? Had they gotten it all wrong? Had they missed something? Was Jesus just another prophet? How had they gone from the triumphant entry, with the crowds waving palms and shouting, “Hosanna!”, less than a week earlier…to this?

I think anytime someone close to us dies, especially suddenly and unexpectantly, there is a gamut of questions that flood our mind. Why? What if? Could I have? If only…

Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, had these thoughts to share:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.  So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:3-11)

Tomorrow is Easter. We won’t be together at Easter vigil tonight…no sunrise services. No dinner at Grandma’s house or Easter Egg hunts. But the good news is, Christ still died for our sins…and he still rose from the grave. And that’s something to celebrate every day. Hopefully you will be able to worship via media sources right from your living room. Let’s raise our voices and sing out loud right where we are…Jesus Christ is risen today…Alleluia!

God bless you and your family…have a blessed Easter.