Someone was telling me about a relative who died recently in one of those freak accidents that we sometimes call an ‘Act of God’. We don’t necessarily mean we believe God had anything to do with it (or do we?), just that there was no one to blame, no negligence, no malice, no fault, no one to sue or claim compensation from; it was just one of those unfortunate things. An Act of God. But it’s a phrase that suggests God does have some responsibility for what happened, although there isn’t any way to hold Him to account.
Jesus died on a cross on Good Friday. He knew his death was inevitable, but he also knew that his death was part of a bigger Act of God, and as such was neither unexpected nor without purpose.
But the big Act of God at Easter wasn’t that Jesus died, it was that Jesus was Raised.
And the followers of Jesus then, and today, have discovered that this Act of God was not only about Jesus, but for us as well.
“He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” 1 Peter 1:3.
Raymond.