A team of archaeologists unearthed two large red granite statues in southern Egypt at the mortuary temple of one of the most powerful pharaohs, who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, the Culture Ministry recently reported. A ministry statement said the team discovered a 13-foot (four-meter) statue of Thoth, the ancient god of wisdom and the top part of a statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III standing next to another god.
Can you imagine the hopelessness that would come with worshiping a god that had to be dug up out of the ground after being buried for 3,400 years? But thanks be to God, we serve the risen Savior! His grave remains empty, and the foundation of our faith and hope can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
The Apostle Paul writes, "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this Gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."
Though the first century believers in Corinth lived much closer to the days when Christ was on the earth, they still needed a reminder of what they believed and why they believed it. Their identity in Christ and the purpose for their existence hung on these words from Paul. And it is this same hope that we have today.
It's much more than just having tangible proof that Jesus died on a rugged cross and having the intellectual knowledge that the tomb is still empty. It's the reality that we have a relationship with the same Jesus that Paul knew. We can wake up on any given morning and have fellowship with the Son of God. This is something no world religion can relate to. While non-believers can have religious beliefs and practices, we have the privilege of communing with the God of the universe over coffee. Have we lost sight of this life-changing truth? Better yet, are we living like we have lost sight of this truth?
Our prayer for you this Easter season is that you will worship the One and Only Risen Savior, and allow His hope to fill your heart so that you can confidently share it with others. People still need to be reminded that they have a reason to live. "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know Who holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives" (Because He Lives, Bill Gaither, 1971).