Easter is Sunday, but what about Monday?

Ed Decker

This is a note I sent out after Easter Sunday, 2018. Things have certainly changed this year.  

Carol and I will celebrate Easter at home, viewing several Easter live streaming Church services.

But its impact has never changed

We had a wonderful Service at Church on Easter Sunday. There was standing room only by the time the service started. The Message of the Joy of Christ's resurrection impacted us all. We were all deeply moved. We left filled with God's divine grace and the world-changing gift of His son, Jesus, who died on Calvary for your sins and mine.

When I awoke on Monday morning, I was still struck by the depth of love displayed in the three days from his crucifixion to his rising from the grave.

We rightly focus on the three key elements of Christ's mission. His birth, His death on the Cross, and his resurrection. We sometimes forget that His resurrection from the dead and His ascension were separate events.

It didn't happen immediately, but it was about 40 days after he stepped out of his tomb when he ascended to Heaven. Luke reported the actual ascension.

49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Luke 24:49-51 NKJV

We don't hear much preaching on the gigantic importance of this event.  That's where my heart was focused on that Monday, the day after Easter.

Before He went to the Cross, Jesus spoke to His Disciples about what was to come. He told them He was going to the Father and the Holy Spirit would be sent to all believers.

5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;    John 16: 5-10 NKJV

When Jesus died on the Cross something powerful occurred in the Heavens. In Matthew, Chapter 27, the Apostle wrote about it:

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, NKJV

 Think about this! In the midst of this thunderous earthquake, the wall of separation between the Father and his children was once, for all, removed and we were given personal access to the true Holy-of-Holies. No longer did we need a High Priest under the law to step behind the veil on our behalf. The veil was ripped open. 

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are,  yet without sin. 16 Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4: 14-16. NKJV 

His ascension was a monumental event because it changed the history of mankind. 

Suddenly, we could walk through the veil and step into His Holy presence. Suddenly, we had a Holy Advocate, sitting at the right hand of God. Suddenly, we had a divine and holy mediator at the throne of the Almighty. Suddenly, we had a High Priest forever! Suddenly, we were directly connected to the Holy God through His Son and our Savior. 

Suddenly, the Law was fulfilled. Suddenly, the need for sacrificial offerings was gone. Suddenly, our petitions no longer went through another. Suddenly our petitions went directly to the Throne of the Almighty God.  

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him, "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You." [See [Psalm 2:7] 6 As He also says in another place: "You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek" [see Psalm 110:4] Hebrews 5: 5-6 NKJV

And He didn't leave us alone. As He had shared with the Apostles, He gave us the Holy Spirit, who would dwell within every believer as our guide, teacher, and comforter. The Holy Spirit is mentioned 135 times in the New Testament.

With the Holy Spirit, part of the Holy Trinity, indwelled in us and Christ, our mediator at the very side of our Holy God, and His Holy Word and His charge to us believers, we have all the tools to do all that He calls us to do.

Jesus told his disciples that until then, they did not ask things of the Father in His name, but that as He goes to be with the father, they will ask in his name and it will be done. In John 16: 23-24, we learn this great truth.

23 "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. NKJV

With that promise, we are now empowered to go boldly forward into His calling and work for us.

12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.  John 14, NKJV

Now, In Closing

There is one very powerful scripture in which Jesus blesses and empowers the doers of his Word, the ones He anoints to send out to the lost world. 

I take these words personally as I pray you do, as well. 

We are His hand extended, his ambassadors to a fallen world. 

Please read it through and take it into your heart. Live it.

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 

3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,  that they may be one as We are.

 12 While I was with them in the world I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept;  and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 

16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 

22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. John 17:1-22 NKJV

Ed Decker

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