May 10

the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades. — Rev 1:18 BSB

This is the message of Christ—both the Christ of the Cross and the Christ of the resurrection. It’s beautiful and inspiring to see how the simple words "I am He that lives and was dead" bring light and glory to the Cross. Life comes before death in His words. He doesn’t say, "I was dead and now I live," but "I am He that lives and was dead, and I am alive forevermore."

There are two ways to look at the Cross—one from the side of death and the other from the side of life. One perspective shows Christ in His suffering; the other shows Him glorified, with only the marks of the nails and spear remaining.

This is how we are to see the Cross—not as something that carries the gloom of the grave, but with the light of the resurrection. Our crucifixion should be so complete that it’s overshadowed by our resurrection, so that even our sorrows are forgotten, and we carry the light and glory of the eternal morning. Let us live the life born of death, ever new and full of the life that will never die, because it is both dead and alive forevermore.