Easter Sunday: The Risen King and Five Promises

The Risen King: Five Promises of Easter

A Dead Man Walking

Jesus Christ is the real king, and it is time to celebrate. This is the only funeral in the world that ended with a resurrection.

We live in an information age where the loudest voice wins, and humanity has never had so many choices and options. Yet no one can walk away from a man called Jesus who claimed to be God's son, who spoke of forgiveness of sin, healed the sick, set the captives free, and claimed his life would be a ransom for our debt of sin. He was beaten, whipped, hung on a cross, died—and three days later came back from the dead. We cannot walk away from a dead man walking.

Jesus Revealed the Father

Jesus came to reveal who the Father really is. If you see Jesus, you have seen the Father. If you see Jesus, you have seen God. Everything he said and did was pointing to a heavenly Father who loves every single person so much that he sent his only son to die in your place so that you could be reconnected to your heavenly Father.

From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture tells the story of God redeeming his people back into the loving arms of the Father. The Old Testament shows God's redemption plan for Israel. Jesus, in the New Testament, is the fulfillment and reflection of what God did in the Old. Everything in the Old Testament points to the New, and everything in the New reminds us of what he did in the Old. It is God's story redeeming mankind.

Five Promises for Today

Exodus 6:8 gives us a picture of what our Father is truly like, speaking to a nation in slavery with no way out:

"Therefore, God said to the Israelites, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord."

These five promises are alive in this room right now.

1. Deliverance: I Will Bring You Out

God said, "I will bring you out from under the yoke." In farming terms, a yoke is a wooden beam placed across oxen to control their direction, weight, and position. If we have a yoke over our lives, we are not in control.

God is saying, "I will remove that yoke from you." We have freedom from sin and shame. Sin is missing the mark—any action, behavior, thought, or emotion outside of what the heavenly Father says is righteous and good. The yoke of sin that we are born into must be broken by the blood of Christ. It cannot be broken any other way.

Shame is the internal voice that says, "You are not enough. You've gone too far. There is something wrong with you." While everyone else is free, you are not. The voice of shame is a curse, and it was broken at Calvary.

For some, the yoke might be obvious—addiction, anger, patterns you cannot break. For others, it might be quieter—internal pressure, anxiety, a constant feeling like you do not measure up. Both are heavy and both are real. But when Jesus came, he broke the yoke of sin and shame on the cross for you and me.

Jesus even said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." In John 8, he said, "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed." The power of the cross is not about behavior modification; it is about liberation. It is the freedom of the cross, a free gift to you and me this morning.

2. Freedom: I Will Free You From Being Slaves

This goes deeper than deliverance. It is not just out of Egypt; it is out of slavery. Because Jesus rose, we are not just forgiven—we are no longer slaves to sin, death, fear, or anything that wants to stop what Jesus paid for on the cross. We are free.

We saw this morning baptisms where believers were lowered into the water, dying to sin, and through the power of the resurrection, coming out of the water set free. That is the power of the cross. That is a testament to everything Jesus did for you and me this morning. There is no one in this room for whom that freedom is not available.

3. Redemption: I Will Redeem You

Who loves justice? Who loves it when evil is confronted and stopped? We were born to rejoice when godly justice is delivered, and it is only King Jesus who can deliver that justice.

The redemption Christ paid for us is costly language. This price Jesus paid means that he is king. He has the final word. We are serving his will and vision. We are on his earth and are part of the greatest story of all time. We have all been chosen to be alive at this moment to take part in God's will and kingdom advancing across this world.

An empty tomb declares paid in full—not partial redemption, not delayed redemption, but complete redemption. It is the blood of Christ that redeems you and me. The perfect life of the Son of God was given in your place, fully paying the price of sin and bringing you back to God. First Peter says that you are redeemed by the blood of Christ.

4. Adoption: I Will Take You as My Own People

This is where the story becomes very relational. This is not a franchise or corporate structure; this is a family. God is not forming a business; he is forming a family. For thousands of years, this story has been spoken of how God is rescuing his people one day at a time.

Look around the room. The only thing that connects us here is Jesus. We only know each other because we know Jesus. This is not a clever email campaign; we are all here because we have seen Jesus and our eyes have been opened.

Salvation is not just about a rescue mission; it is about belonging. We move from orphans into becoming sons and daughters to the king. We move from being outside and come into the marvelous kingdom of God, which is one big family in every country in this world.

All around the world today, the church—the ecclesia of God's people—are gathering to celebrate this message. There are many brothers and sisters right now running for their lives because they believe in Jesus and have given their lives to him. Pray for the persecuted church. We are comfortable and fat on comfort in this room because we are not running for our lives right now. There are people dying for the faith of Jesus, and their blood will cry out.

Christ is what brings us together and says, "Welcome home. You belong."

5. Promise: I Will Give You a Future

God said, "I will bring you to the land and I will give it to you." Today is not just a day where we celebrate what Christ has done for us. There is a second part: salvation and giving your life to Jesus is surrendering to King Jesus. You give your life to him because he gave his life for you.

When you enter into the kingdom, what God said to Israel and what Jesus is saying to us this morning is that you enter serving a king that gives you hope, purpose, and a destiny over your life that no one can rob. Our lives have purpose and meaning. There is not one person in this room that is the same or called to do something identical. That is how big our God is. That is how huge the kingdom of God is advancing across this land.

It is not about what we are being saved from; it is about what we are being saved into. Purpose restored. Hope secured. Future guaranteed. First Peter says we have a living hope through the resurrection.

The Power of the Resurrection

Two days ago on Good Friday, we celebrated Jesus stretching out his arms for us on a cross. This morning, we celebrate God stretching out his power and lifting up his son.

Because the resurrection happened, it now means the resurrection is happening. The five promises are no longer a hope; they are an invitation this morning.

• If there are those needing freedom, Jesus died for you.
• If there are those needing healing and restoration, Jesus died for you.
• If there are those wanting to come home and know who their heavenly Father is, Jesus died for you.

A suffering king laid down his life for you. And it does not end there. As he was raised up, we read in Ephesians that he is seated at the right hand of the Father. In Matthew, we read that all authority in heaven was given to him. He now gives to us the authority to go and be witnesses to the world of this message, because this is the greatest message of all time.

We are called to be his mouthpiece, his hands and feet, to go to every nation. Jesus' authority is absolute. A risen king means he has the final word over our lives. What he says about us is greater than what we feel or what we think.

His invitation this morning is personal. He went to the cross for you. The same Jesus that said, "I will bring you out. I will set you free. I will redeem you. I will take you as my own, and I will give you a future" is not just a promise maker—he is the risen king this morning.

Because he is king, you can be free. You can be whole. You can belong. And you can live with hope.

A Question for This Easter

My question this morning for us on this Easter Sunday is not just: Do you believe that he rose again?

My question is: Have you made him king?