We had a wonderful Easter morning service, together beginning with a delicious breakfast feast, and ending with a real feast on the word of God, brought this Sunday by Pastor Jon Fiddy. We think of Easter: the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, as events witnessed by men at a set time in history, but in reality what occurred in the unseen realm is far greater than what was seen and the effect of it for humanity, not momentary, but eternal.

The Bible tells us that God saw man's need that would result from the fall and planned his redemption (through the sacrifice of His own Son), even before the creation of the world. He said to the serpent, satan, in the garden of Eden, that his head would be crushed by the Seed of woman referring to Jesus (Genesis 3:15), but often in history it has looked as if this could not be, yet God has an eternal plan that cannot fail even in the darkest of times. Many times satan inspired men to destroy the line of the Redeemer: Pharoah killed all the first born Jewish males, but Moses survived; Herod had all the first born males killed, but Jesus was protected and lived to fulfill His eternal purpose, which was to become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Satan thought he had won the battle, but the word says that if the rulers had known what God's eternal plan was, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. The cross was the greatest victory: here Jesus defeated all the powers of darkness, even the power of death and here Jesus cried out 'it is finished!'

So what were the 'unseen things' that occurred at this event? What happened during those three days between Jesus' death and resurrection? The Bible tells us that Jesus went down to Hades and 'preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient...in the days of Noah' (1 Peter 3:20) not for redemption, there is no means of redemption after death, but to proclaim His victory to the disobedient spirits. But the Bible also says that there was another compartment of Hades, called Abraham's bosom, the place of the righteous dead ( see Luke 16v22), also called Paradise (see Luke 23v43: Jesus on the cross said to the penitent thief, 'today you will be with me in Paradise', and yet Jesus after His resurrection told Mary He hadn't ascended to His Father yet), so Paradise at this time was below . Jesus entered this place and emptied it. From then on, whenever a christian dies, their spirit goes instantly to be with Jesus in heaven, awaiting the resurrection of the dead. The Bible talks of Jesus' body before He is raised from the dead as being marred beyond recognition, but when He is raised, His body has been regenerated and is a glorious, and immortal body. He is the first fruit of all those who are raised from the dead. Romans 8v11 says 'if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you'. The hope of Christians is sure. There will be a resurrection from the dead and we will be physically raised with a regenerated and glorious body to dwell with the Lord forever. There will be no more pain or sickness, grief or sorrow. Because He lives, we also shall live!

Yet the resurrection life isn't just for the hereafter: it begins in our spirit the moment we are born again. At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord enters us to quicken and give His life to us. We can at times be tempted to think that our hopes for our loved ones, our nation, this world, will not come to pass, but we are not to be discouraged; we are to be energised afresh by the resurrection power of Jesus; we are to stir up the gift that is within us. A great harvest is surely coming. God's eternal plan will come to pass. Hallelujah!

We meet at Emmanuel Gospel Church, Station Road, Manorbier, every Sunday at 10.30 am. Our web address is emmanuelgospelministries.org and our 'phone number is 871975.