Matthew 28:5-7
“5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

This is the hinge. If this is not true, then Christianity is a lie and a sham. C. S. Lewis.

Christ defeated death. In dying, Christ took our sins and offered us forgiveness (we choose to accept it or not) so that we might be right with God, so that we might be sinless before God, even though we struggle with sin here in the world. A couple of things: Why doesn’t God just forgive all sin? Wouldn’t that be better, easier, clearer? I throw out Hollywood as an example. What would one of the stars so many worship do if forgiven of all their sins? Would they change their behavior? Would they show any gratitude? Would that change their life? Would they recognize God as God, Lord, Creator? Would they even notice? I’m thinking not. The thing is, Hollywood is easy to see, but we’re the same, we’d do the same thing.

Christ’s death was cleansing, as the earth shook and the stone rolled back, so should Christ’s death shake our lives, opening the door of the tomb of sin, and freeing us from the smell and disfiguration of rotting flesh that sin is.

It takes realization. Realization that yes, I sin. I am rotting, I stink. I am not right with God unless I accept that Christ did die for my sins, and then begin to leverage that so that I begin to change, to heal, to understand the dirty state I’m in when compared to God and His requirements of perfection.

Christ’s resurrection shows’s us the redemptive power of God, in physical form, here on earth. Without the resurrection, Christ’s death doesn’t hold any hope for us, He just dies. His resurrection, so amazing, so powerful (think about it – dead and rotting, to alive and well), means everything to us. It is the template for salvation. It is how we can be born again as new creatures. It is hope for the rotting, stinking flesh of our worldly ways.

The rolling stone that opened to an empty tomb is the word picture of God’s love for us, it is the hinge that Christ calls us to use as the pivot point in our lives.

Roll on good believer, roll on.