Daily Word of Grace # 212 (April 5, 2021)
The Lord is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed—Hallelujah! One of the collects for Easter in The Book of Common Prayer reads—“Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen” (BCP 222). While many common images of heaven include pearly gates, playing harps on clouds and the like, biblically the Christian hope of the resurrection refers to a bodily resurrection—as we proclaim in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in…the resurrection of the body” (BCP 96). Jesus’ bodily resurrection ensures your bodily resurrection—as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). Moreover, through his resurrection not only has Jesus opened “the gate of everlasting life” to you, he himself is that gate (John 10:7, 9), which means when your earthly life is over, you will be personally welcomed into heaven by your Savior.
Love and Prayers,
Dave