He Is Risen

This is the part we get excited about -- our Lord Jesus Christ rising up from that tomb, once again alive in His physical body -- the first fruits of the resurrection all we that are in Christ will experience. 

The stained glass window in the St. Mary's Anglican Pro-Cathedral at Grand Turk Island is a thrilling imagination of what the moment of Christ's resurrection might have looked like.  There were the two adoring angels who would later speak to Mary -- two who had been chosen to share the good news and to watch the Lord they so dearly loved rise up from that awful grave.  There is a song by a group called Newsong that never ceases to bring tears to my eyes when I hear it.  The song describes the moment we see in this stained glass:

   The words all creation had been longing to hear --
   The sweet sound of victory, so loud and clear.
   Arise, my love.  Arise, my love.
   The grave no longer has a hold on you.
   No more death's sting  no more suffering
   Arise ...  Arise ... Arise!

Can't you just hear God the Father calling out to His beloved Son on that morning -- words that would have rung through the heavens with the power of love that would have thrilled every being within that land of glory.  To think that all of this amazing glory and miraculous work was going on in the spirit world and no one on the earth was aware of any of it.  That too is amazing.

I wonder how often there is amazing and miraculous work going on in the spirit world around us and we are unaware of it.  The spirit world that is just beyond the fabric of our physical world -- close enough we could touch it if it were visible to our human eyes.  Then, there are even times when miracles appear right before our eyes, and we don't see them -- as when the risen Jesus appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus and they did not recognize Him.

God wants us to recognize His presence in our lives and His working in us, both in the spirit and the physical worlds.  Let's ask Him to give us eyes to see and ears to hear, as Proverbs 20:12 tells us:  "Ears that hear and eyes  that see -- the Lord has made them both."

And just know, if you have been born into the family of God, someday, you and I will hear those marvelous words from our Father when He says to us as He did to His Son, "Arise my love!"