"Behold, I make all things new!"

As we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and His resurrection life and power in us, I am reminded of this testimony from last year’s Philippines Journey of Compassion. We were in our final barangay, giving out bags of rice and distributing water filters among the village that had been ravaged by two different typhoons. As we came to the door of one house, we could see a woman trying to come to us. She was barely moving, hobbling as she leaned heavily on the furniture. We told her not to come any farther, we would just come in ourselves. Before giving her a filter, it seemed obvious that we should pray for this poor woman. Ray asked her where she felt pain. She replied with a long list––her head, neck, back, hips, knees and feet. So Ray decided to start with her head pain. As she prayed, the woman began to smile and indicate with her hands that she felt something lifting off her. Then suddenly, she jumped up from the stool, raised her hands over her head and began to dance. I mean dance! All over the room she moved and kept saying it was all gone. We asked if she meant her head pain was gone. “No! All my pain is gone from everywhere!”

At the cross, Jesus defeated all the Powers of darkness––sin, satan and death––not by fighting back, but by absorbing all that they could throw at Him. The Father’s verdict was the Resurrection.

The resurrected Christ, our victorious Lord, declares, “Behold, I make all things new!” (Rev 21:5) His Kingdom has come, and is ever-increasing. As we welcome the powerful, all-embracing truth of His resurrection, His new life flows to us, through us, and from us. And person by person, community by community, resurrection life (what Peter calls “a living hope”) releases its transformational power.

This Resurrection Sunday, I speak the blessing of His resurrection life and power over you.

We join with His church the world over in declaring:

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!