I want to begin this message with a preaching illustration for Easter titled “Life after Birth.”

Do we know what happens after we die? This question has puzzled humans for centuries. Like the first twin in that illustration, some people believe there is no “life after death.” According to them, they live, they die, and life is over. They just focus on earthly life. Some don’t like to think, talk, or even hear about death. However, the subject of the afterlife is one of the most critical topics in the Bible. Jesus Himself emphasizes the importance of final destinations. The length of our days on earth can be 100 years if we are in good health. We prepare multiple things for the future of our loved ones and ourselves while we enjoy our God-given life today. There is nothing wrong with that; however, as citizens of heaven, we need to understand our eternal blessing and prepare for our ultimate life to spend with the Lord.

The word “Creed” means “I believe.” If someone asks us what we as Christians believe, we can begin our faith with the following remarkable statement: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator… I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord… I believe in the Holy Spirit…” We can conclude our assurance in the Triune Lord with the following proclamation: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” In this skeptical world, we as Christ’s followers seek something spiritual deep inside our hearts. We are searching for something everlasting more than just being born, living, dying, and then being buried in the ground. We are all made for something sacred, more than this earthly life. With this introduction in mind, I want us to think about Christ’s resurrection from the dead and what this primary doctrine means today.

In our Gospel for today, after Jesus was crucified, two women, both named Mary, visited the tomb where He had been buried. When they arrived, the stone that had covered the grave had been rolled away, and an angel was sitting on it. They were shocked and a bit afraid. “Don’t be afraid,” the angel said to them. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen…” (Matthew 28:5-6). The angel told them not to be afraid twice. Like them, we as human beings fear many things. We may have various concerns: “Will I pass that test? Can I pay the bills? Can I make it safely to where I am heading? Will this illness or discomfort I have go away or get worse? Will I die?” We fear uncertain futures. Fear can be compared to a snowball. The snowball can be small when placed on top of the mountain hill. Once it rolls down to the bottom of the hill, however, its impact could hurt people’s lives. Someone says something like this: “Life is a series of battles for all of us.” After solving one issue, another anxious item arises. When we look closely at the challenges that we have encountered and see them at present, we may find that the root of all of them comes from the power of death.

In our Epistle for today, the Apostle Paul dealt with the different obstacles in the Corinthian Church. At the beginning of his leadership in Corinth, the congregation grew greatly under his spiritual guidance. However, the church started having problems after Paul moved to help other divine gatherings. The assembly faced broken relationships in marriage, disputes among the believers, immorality in the congregation’s lives, and so on. Still, the biggest challenge Paul discovered from the church was that some believers did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. They did not repent of their sins, nor did they commit their lives to Christ. This morning, the Apostle Paul reminded them of the gospel message and helped them find solutions through it. He said in verse 3, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Here, the preposition “for” means “in the place of.” This phrase describes a substitution for something or someone. We, as sinners, should have been punished, but Jesus took our place and died for us. This is the crucial part of God’s story. All the sins that we have committed in the past, engage in at present, and will be doing in the future, were paid for once and for all by His sacrifice on the cross two thousand years ago. When we genuinely repent of our sins and put our faith in Christ, we become children of God with the help of the Holy Spirit. In the Triune Lord, there is great hope for all those who struggle against sin. Have we felt defeated when we fight the good fight in God? Some of us might have been stuck in our shortcomings and might say, “To me, real change is impossible.” But in our Wonderful Sculptor, Jesus Christ, we all can be changed from the inside out. He picks up His chisel and keeps patiently chipping away everything within us that does not reflect God’s characteristics. What we need to do is keep moving forward into our victorious journey with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Someone shared some interesting data: “107 billion people have lived on Earth, including seven billion today. One hundred billion individuals have lived and died on this planet. Seven billion are currently living and dying today.” According to this data, every single person will die. The people who die can be our loved ones, including fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sisters, or brothers. Speaking personally, I wish I could travel with my father again. If I could, it would be different than any other time. I would ask him so many questions about his family, dreams, and experiences. But I cannot go with him one more time. I missed my opportunity since he passed away almost eight years ago. Our sorrow when someone we love has passed on before us is real. We miss them and long for fellowship with them again. Death not only comes to our loved ones, but it will also eventually come to each of us one day.

I’ve heard a beautiful legend about the servant of a wealthy merchant…

As I previously stated, death is the greatest enemy of human beings. Those are not my words. The Apostle Paul defines death as “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26). I think we can all agree on the following statement: “Death cuts down people and ends all their earthly dreams and hopes.” We cannot deny this fact. However, as disciples of Christ, who has been raised from the dead, we need to see everything with the resurrected perspective of Jesus. We may look around the tomb like the two Marys in our Gospel. Our search can be from the left to the right of the burial and/or from the top to the bottom of Jesus’ grave. One thing we need to remember is that the tomb or grave is empty.

On this Easter Sunday morning, once again, we need to remember that in the last battle with death, there is victory for the children of God. We need to hear the Word of God proclaiming through the angel to us as Christ’s followers: “He is not here. He has risen” (Matthew 28:6). God’s Word has the power to give us new life. The Word never changes and is the same in the past, present, and future. Why do we stop listening and fall back into doubt and discouragement? We need to keep opening our ears to the Word of God. When we humbly do this, God will give us His wisdom and strength to overcome our challenges. No matter what difficulties we may face, we need to go back to the Bible and listen to what the Word of God says to us. When we trust in the resurrection of Christ and pay attention to Christ’s resurrected power, we can overcome our fears. Jesus, the Master of our lives, will and can control every series of challenges, even the influence of death in our faith journey.

Happy Easter!