Isaiah 25:9 (NIV84)
9 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
The first Easter Sunday wasn’t the bright and sunny affair that it is today – at least, not at first. The women walk to the tomb that Easter morning in the haze of Friday’s darkness, faced with the grim task of finishing Jesus’ burial. The disciples are confused and afraid. Judas is dead. The attitude of the disciples on the way to Emmaus sums it up, “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (Lk. 23:21) Jesus had made some grand promises. He seemed to be the culmination of God’s promises to all of Israel! They were so sure that they lived in the day of which Isaiah spoke in Isaiah 25:9. But a seemingly dead Jesus only made fools of them.
However, for as gloomy as that day started it, turned out to be the day of God’s salvation. You remember the rest of the story. The women would find an empty tomb and later a risen Jesus! The disciples would gather in fear but find peace in a Jesus who appeared to them! The disciples on the way to Emmaus would find that the man they talked to on the road was none other than Jesus himself! Jesus had risen just as he said, and that changed everything. As Isaiah wrote, “Surely this is our God, we trusted in him, and he saved us.” The gloom of that first Easter morning gave way to gladness as they saw that they lived in that day – the day of God’s salvation. God had kept his promise.
We live our lives on the promises of God. We drive to work in the security of God’s promises to send his angels to protect and to be with us Himself. We comfort our consciences in the peace of the cross and the payment made for our sins there. We face death with the confidence that just as Jesus rose, so will we. But our sinful nature makes cowards of us. Wherever there is a promise of God, there our sinful nature finds a way to work doubt. To work in us a fear that we’ll see the day when we regret putting our trust in him.
But in those times remember – we live in THAT day. The day Isaiah spoke about. The day of the empty tomb and a risen Jesus. The day marked by the fact that God does what he promises. He lived, died, and rose for us. All to keep the promises he made. And He lives to continue to keep those promises to us for the rest of time.
PRAYER: Risen Savior, you came in fulfillment of your promise. You lived, died, and rose in fulfillment of your promise. And you will come again in fulfillment of your promise. Lead us to live our lives in the shelter of your promises. Amen.