Easter Makes Us Bold

Easter morning feels different from every other morning. Children wake up, perhaps earlier than normal, ready to find Easter baskets filled with all kinds of candy and other goodies. The smell of ham fills the house causing mouths to water until dinner is served. Although this Easter is different from all others, much remains the same. We gather together online rather than greeting one another with smiles at church. Families will join together in Zoom or Face time gatherings instead of sitting around the table with each other. All the changes, yet so much still remains the same. The facts of Easter will not, nor can they ever, change. The message of Easter brings confidence, certainty, and peace even in the times that we feel those things lacking. The Christian’s joy will still be at an all-time high on this blessed morning. Easter also brings about a change in our attitude.

Easter Makes Us Bold!

1. In our declaration of praise.
2. In our proclamation to others.

The Holy Spirit wished to get across one simple point throughout Isaiah 12, praise. God has saved. God has brought peace and salvation to the world just as he promised. As a result of all these things, God deserved praise. Praise would come from their lips just as it flows from our lips today.

Right away in the opening verse of our lesson we hear the words of praise coming from God’s people, “In that day you will say: I will give thanks to you, LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you comfort me” (Isaiah 12:1). All of us have had that feeling of someone being upset with us. Someone stands over us with their finger stiffly pointing at us. Their voice cuts right to our heart. We even know we have messed up, and we deserve every part of the person’s anger towards us.

God was angry with us. It was not over naïve little things we did that can be swept under the rug never to be heard from again. God’s holy finger points to all our sins. Sin causes God to be angry. We don’t like to think about this. We want life to continue where we can do whatever we want. We try to downplay all the misdeeds against God. We excuse our actions with the false premise that everyone else in the world does it, so therefore I can do it.

People abuse God’s design of marriage by living together before they are married. We follow societal norms in doing the very same thing. We see the selfishness of others. They only live for the present. We follow down that dangerous path. We fail to give God all glory with our time, talents, and treasures. We worry on what the future holds, which only robs us of the trust we should have in God.

We certainly cannot downplay how serious our sins are. God’s anger burned against us. If we doubt how angry God once was, all we need to do is look to the cross. God punished Jesus. We hear the painful cry of, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:34)? We dare never forget the anger God pointed towards Jesus upon the cross.

However, Isaiah tells us that we no longer face the anger of God. The finger, which once wagged in anger, now beckons with comfort. The anger burning against us subsides with a soothing word of forgiveness. The punishment disappears having been replaced with the reward of heaven. Our sins stand against us no longer. All of this is ours through faith, which changes our relationship with God forever.

Dear Christian, do you still doubt? Are we still hesitant to come with our songs of praise for fear of God’s anger? This day beckons us to the empty tomb. Jesus rose from the dead. The punishment has been taken away. The payment has been completed. God speaks words of forgiveness to his people which brings comfort to our souls. Easter emboldens us to declare our praises to God for all he has done.

Satan will still try to hold us captive. He holds our sins in front of us. He accuses us. He desires nothing more than the guilt to overtake us, so that we will be lead to despair. We once more go back to the empty tomb. God says, “Look how much I loved you!”

“Surely God is my salvation. I will trust him and will not be afraid, because Yah, the LORD, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). Isaiah loads up on our confidence in this verse. Three times he uses a name for God. Another two times he uses pronouns to point us back to God. Isaiah leaves no room for any doubt on where our confidence lies. God is our salvation. The Lord is my strength and song. He brings peace to a guilty conscience. The very same Lord who has made promises to save the world from sin has kept that promise.

With our salvation finished we no longer need to be afraid. Can we even begin to imagine a life without fear? So many things make us afraid. We worry about the changes in our own life. We fear what this world will be like in a year and years down the road. We worry about death.

Easter announces the wonderful message that death has been swallowed up in victory. If we do not have to fear death, why do we fear all the other things that arise in our life? If we can stare our biggest enemy squarely in the face and not blink, why do we blink when trivial matters arise in our life? We no longer need to fear. We trust in our Lord, the God of full and faithful love, who has done all things for us.

Nothing in this life will overtake us. The empty tomb makes us certain of all these things. For this the Lord deserves our declaration of praise. The Easter message makes us bold in bringing these words of praise to him. The message of Easter also makes us bold in our proclamation to others.

“In that day you will say: Give thanks to the LORD! Proclaim his name. Declare among the peoples what he has done. Proclaim that his name is exalted” (Isaiah 12:4)! Two results flow forth from Easter. Thanksgiving. The second result follows closely, proclamation. One cannot happen without the other.

Holy Week brings a message of thanksgiving. We see God’s promises of salvation fulfilled. We see our forgiveness procured upon the cross. Even though there are difficult things to see. Easter cannot come with Jesus’ suffering and death. We give our thanks to God for all he has done. We can say nothing more than, “Thank you, Lord!” Thank you for dying on the cross to save us from our sins. Thank you for rising again to give me the assurance that I too shall rise on the Last Day.

We also make proclamation of what Christ has done for us. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, would we have reason to proclaim his name? Why would we want to proclaim one that still lies dead in a tomb? Why would we want to share the good news of someone that brings no peace and comfort?

Thanks be to God that we proclaim one that has been raised from the dead. The angel proclaimed the resurrection to the women who came early in the morning to the tomb. Jesus appeared to the disciples in a locked room on Easter evening to proclaim peace. Jesus still comes to us in his Word today.

As Jesus comes to us, we also proclaim him to others. Easter makes us bold to proclaim the wonderful name of Jesus and all the things he has done for us. We proclaim a message of peace. We proclaim a message of forgiveness. We proclaim a message of hope. We boldly proclaim a message that the world needs to hear. “Sing to the LORD, for he has done amazing things! Let this be known in all the earth! Shout aloud and sing for joy, daughter of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is great among you” (Isaiah 12:5-6)!

Jesus will not come physically to announce his resurrection today. We will not see angels proclaiming the good news that Jesus has been raised. God equips us to do it. He gives us his Word and promises to be with us as we go out and tell the world that Christ is risen.

As Christians we cannot mute our words of proclamation. Our Alleluias continue to rise. Our hearts leap for joy on this Easter morning just as it does every Easter morning. It emboldens us to go out with the message of Christ’s resurrection to bring peace and comfort to all people.

This is our message that we carry out to the world. We know people hurting who need to hear this message. We know people who are feeling down, who need to hear this message. We know people struggling with self-esteem and dependency issues, who will benefit from our message. We will boldly proclaim this message to all.

Easter makes us bold! We come with our songs of praise to our Lord. Those songs will never be muted no matter what happens in our life. We will proclaim his name to all. This is our calling that we will bring to our Lord. Amen.