Have You Seen the Lord?

There is a deeper life. It is as deep as a personal Gethsemane and as costly as a personal Calvary. Leonard Ravenhill

Today is resurrection Sunday. What a day it is! The day that our Lord and Saviour rose from the dead. This is what He spoke to His disciples about while He was on earth - His death and resurrection. He didn’t mention this just once, but three times. Yet it evoked surprise and disbelief among them when they encountered the empty tomb and when He appeared to them. Despite the evidence, they were stunned. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it. At that moment, they couldn’t know the implications of this for them as disciples of Jesus and for all of mankind.

Mary Magdalene was the first follower of Jesus to encounter the resurrected Jesus at the tomb. When she sees Him, her sorrow over His cruel death is so crushing that she doesn’t recognise Him. But when she hears Jesus speak her name with such tenderness, she immediately recognises Him as her Rabbi, her Master and Saviour. She is overwhelmed with unspeakable joy. A joy that came from a supernatural discernment and understanding that only the risen Lord could draw her to Himself in the way He did. Only He could reveal Himself to her in the way that He did. Only He could call her by name in the way He did.

Have You Seen the Resurrected Lord?

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” John 20:18

Just as Jesus revealed Himself to Mary, He wants to reveal Himself to us not as a dead Saviour, but as a Saviour who is alive. A triumphant Saviour who took His rightful place at the right hand of the Father. A Saviour who intercedes for us. A Saviour who came to set Mary free and to set us free.

When our eyes are opened to see Jesus, we will have an overwhelming desire to be committed and devoted to Him. Jesus made that commitment to us when He came down to earth to die for us. To demonstrate the exceedingly great love the Father has for us. He made that commitment to us when He rose from the dead so that we may have life in Him. Abundant life. Victorious life so that we can say, triumphantly over all the dead  things in our lives, "Oh death, where is your sting?" We can rise above our dead circumstances and allow our risen Saviour to breathe His life into them.

When the disciples saw their risen Lord, nothing was ever the same for them. When we have an encounter with our risen Lord, nothing should ever be the same for us. Have you seen the Lord?    

It is not to be expected that we should love God supremely if we have not known him to be more desirable than all other things. Isaac Watts

Reflection

Have you asked the Lord to reveal who He is to you? Have you invited Him in so that His resurrected life can set you free to live a victorious life in Christ?

Prayer

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for Your resurrection from the dead.  Help me to commit my life more fully to You so that I may have the abundant life that You have promised me in Your Word. I offer the dead things in my life, the things that are hindering me from living a victorious life, to You. Open my spiritual eyes, Lord, to see You as my risen Saviour and King, enthroned in glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.