Sometimes we are asked, or just try to remember on our own, what the single greatest day of our lives was. It may be that day when we graduated, bought a first home, got married or experienced the birth of a first child. Or it may be something else like the beginning of a prized career or arriving at long-awaited retirement.But for any true Christian these things, and anything else like them, should come far behind the moment the Bible describes in Colossians 1:13-14. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Nothing can, or ever will, compare to this greatest of all blessings and miracles!
But in order for this to be even possible, there had to first come the greatest event in all of human history. It came in the long ago when God’s Son willingly became the sacrifice for the sins of the world. (Ephesians 2:8) Christ paid the full penalty for the transgressions of an entire lost race when He cried out from the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) It would be an infinite understatement to say that this was a great and unparalleled moment for mankind -- and all at His expense.
But an even greater and connected moment soon followed. And interestingly, this had to occur in order to complete the transaction that would allow God’s forgiveness to be fully implemented. That equally great -- and perhaps even greater -- day and moment is described below:
Why did the events of this amazing morning also have to take place to complete God's redemptive process? Why was this necessary if it was truly “finished” a few days earlier on the cross? Simply stated, this was also a part of God’s overall plan and a therefore a vital link and ingredient. The proof of how crucial Christ’s rising from the dead is can be seen in 1 Corinthians 15:17-18. Paul records there, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
Somehow, in eternity past, the Creator intertwined the events of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday into the greatest single event on the timeline of planet Earth. It was His great solution for man’s greatest problem. These two events are inseparable and incomparable and alone provided the only hope for man’s salvation and eternal destiny.
But with that said, there also needs to be another great day to make them matter – to you. I had such a day at age 26. It was the day that I called out to God and trusted Christ to save me. It was on the basis of faith in the Savior who died in my place some 2,000 years ago. The writer of Hebrews asked in chapter two, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” Had I neglected God’s free offer, I would not have escaped a future and final judgement and would have spent an inconceivable eternity separated from God. Instead, His great love allowed me to experience a great salvation complete with great blessings, peace, hope and rewards!
In your mind today, what is the greatest day that ever occurred in human history? And what is the greatest event that ever took place in your personal life? If the two things just mentioned above do not top the list, then they desperately need to! And it is past the time to personally apply the great and life-altering pattern spelled out clearly Romans 10:13. “For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” What an amazing Easter it would be by doing that right now! It would be, without question, your ‘greatest day ever.’
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)
Bill Breckenridge
