"The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre." One of my favorite songs is a song called "Peace Be Still" song by James. What I like about that song is the impromptu phrase when he says "Get Up Jesus!" "Master, the tempest is ragingThe billows are tossing highThe sky is o'er shadowed with blacknessNo shelter or help is nigh
Carest Thou not that we perish?How canst Thou lie asleepWhen each moment so madly is threateningA grave in the angry deep? Get Up Jesus!" If I might use one of the phrases often used in the black church "I'm reminded" by John's gospel that Mary Magdalene on Sunday morning, the first day of the week, ran to the tomb and got there before anyone else, discovering and empty tomb! Jesus, our Savior had gotten up, demonstrating to all believers how we all shall Get Up! one day. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian faith. Without the resurrection, the belief in God's saving grace through Jesus is destroyed. When Jesus rose from the dead, he confirmed his identity as the Son of God and his work of atonement, redemption, reconciliation, and salvation. The Resurrection was a literal, physical raising of Jesus' body from the dead and because He got up we too shall get up one day! The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Also, 1 Corinthians 15:21: "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man." Because He got up, we too will get up, praise be to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The bible tells us that Jesus told the woman at the well "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" The word of God tells us that "The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he "has put everything under his feet.", "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Jesus, thank you for Getting Up!