Remember Jesus Christ: He Has Risen!

8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.

2 Timothy 2:8

When I remember how to get to the airport, I know I am home. My wife and I will be married eight years this June and we have lived in six different places. Since we move around a lot, most of our family doesn’t live close anymore, so we get a lot of visitors flying in to see us. This means a lot of airport runs. Getting to any airport when you are in a new city has always been confusing for me. Sometimes the city puts the little airplane symbol on the big green exit signs, but then the little symbol disappears for miles until it reappears at the last second and by then I’ve missed the exit. Even with Siri yelling at me, I still get lost when I am new to a city and am trying to find the right lanes and exits for the airport. It is for these reasons that when I have lived in a place long enough to remember how to get to the airport, I know that I am home.

When the women arrived at the tomb early Easter morning, they were confused. They had been with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus when they buried Jesus late in the afternoon on Good Friday. The women remembered where Jesus’ body had been laid, but he was gone when they got there early on Easter morning. Instead, they were welcomed by angels who told them in a much more powerful voice than Siri or Alexa,

“He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee.”

Luke 24:6

Jesus told his followers what to expect three times before he was put to death on the cross. In Matthew 17:22,

When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”

They had heard Jesus’ words, but when they saw him die and the grief of losing Jesus was right in front of them, they could not remember what he had told them. They needed to be reminded of Jesus’ words in order to have their faith restored in their Savior. The Apostle Paul in the final letter we have from him before he was put to death told his young apprentice, Timothy the same message Jesus gave before and after Easter morning, 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.

Remembering is at the heart of the Christian faith. The main message that God has for us is not “Go and do!” but rather “See and believe!” That is what we remember this Easter morning—the great things our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us so that through faith in him we may have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

There wasn’t anything that the women could do that first Easter morning. When they got to the tomb, they were ready to make the final preparation to embalm Jesus body, say their good byes, leave him there and try to move on with their lives. None of that happened. Instead, they could do nothing that morning. They just stopped and looked at an empty tomb. Then, they were told that Jesus had risen from the grave. And, slowly they began to see through the eyes of faith all Jesus Christ had come to do for the world.

2 Timothy 2:8 “Remember Jesus Christ,” Paul wrote. His name revealed his purpose. In Matthew 1:21, an angel of the Lord told Joseph,

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

The name Jesus comes from the Hebrew word meaning “he saves.” Jesus came into this world as a quiet baby, but from the beginning he was here to do battle. He spent his ministry undoing the attacks of Satan, the enemy, by healing the sick, driving out demons and raising the dead. Then, at the cross the last weapon of evil was destroyed, death. Jesus came to save, he came as the only one with the power to defeat death, which is life. Jesus is also called the Christ, meaning “the Anointed One” or chosen one. In John 1:14, we remember that Jesus,

14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Jesus the Son of God became a man to under the same conditions as we are, to be tempted, but not sin, to suffer, but not because he deserved it, to die because

The wages of sin is death,

Romans 6:23

Not his sins, but ours. And, Jesus was also the chosen one because as the Son of Man and Son of God he could give life. In John 10:18, Jesus said about his life,

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”

We remember Jesus Christ because he saved us from death as the chosen one to give life.

2 Timothy 2:8 “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.” Death is not something we like to talk about because it fills us with fear. That fear comes from sin. Whether we understand that the fear of death is from sin by the Bible or our conscience, the fear is there. God created all of us with that inner knowledge of good and evil, so our conscience will convict us and fill us with guilt when we do something wrong. The Bible reveals that all of these wrong things we do are sin and that sin is finally punished by death. This is the reason Jesus went to the cross, to take that punishment for us. Like someone in the crowd who jumps up in a court room when a death sentence is given and says, “Don’t punish him, punish me.” Jesus stepped in to save us from what is coming for all of us, death from sin.

2 Timothy 2:8 “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.” Jesus’ resurrection gives us a clean conscience and peace when we face death. All fears can be left in Jesus’ tomb. The proof that God accepted Jesus’ standing in our place for the punishment of sin is the empty tomb. In John 11:25, Jesus said,

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”

The resurrection of Jesus is our faith, hope and joy. Even on our darkest days, Jesus is the light shining in the darkness.

2 Timothy 2:8 “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.” David was a King of Israel making Jesus a King and a King protects his people. Later in this same letter to Timothy, Paul wrote,

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.”

2 Timothy 4:18

Jesus was the heir to the throne of Israel, but he is also the King of Heaven. His power to protect his people goes beyond anything that can threaten you here. Finally, he will deliver you from this world into his eternal kingdom of heaven.

2 Timothy 2:8 “Remember Jesus Christ, descended from David.” David was a man and so is Jesus. It wasn’t just the Son of God who came out of the tomb on Easter morning but also the Son of Man. It was a human being, like us, who rose from the dead. By his resurrection we are given a glimpse of the glory that will one day be ours when Jesus Christ, by his almighty power, calls us out of our graves to enter his kingdom of heaven. We won’t look as we do now—the slowly aging body that gradually reveals its own weakness and decline. We won’t feel as we do now—the hurts, the pains, the handicaps, the illnesses, the diseases, the death. We won’t ache as we do now—from shattered dreams and disappointments, from failures and shortcomings, from sadness and grief. Instead, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15:51;52,

“…we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”

Jesus Christ shows that he has the power to bring us back to life by the power of his own resurrection. He tells us that when we are raised, we will be like him with new glorified bodies. We look forward to that day remembering the words of Job, Job 19:26-27,

“After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

When I remember how to get to the airport, I know I am home. Getting to any airport when you are in a new city has always been confusing for me. It is for that reason that when I have lived in a place long enough to remember how to get to the airport, I know that I am home. When the women woke up early the first Easter morning, they remembered the way to the tomb, but they did not remember what Jesus told them they would find there. When the women got to the tomb, they were welcomed by angels who told them,

“He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee.”

Luke 24:6

Jesus told his followers what to expect before he was put to death, but when they saw him die and the grief of losing Jesus was right in front of them, they could not remember what he had told them. When we face the fear of death, it is difficult to remember the words of Jesus. Often at funerals the words of Psalm 23 are read so that we remember that,

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 23:4

Jesus now knows the way through the valley of the shadow of death.

Remembering is at the heart of the Christian faith. The main message that God has for us is not “Go and do!” but rather “See and believe!” That is what we remember this Easter morning—the great things our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us so that through faith in him we may have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. 2 Timothy 2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. Remember this gospel always, dear friends, for by it you are saved. Amen.