“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?… Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Cor. 15:55-57
Dear Friends! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
I greet you with the words very dear to all born-again Christians: “Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!” On behalf of Russian Evangelistic Ministries and the missionary families who minister in the former Soviet Union, I wish you a Happy Easter, which marks the celebration of Christ’s life and victory over death!
The Prophet Hosea heard these words of the coming victory from the Lord and wrote them down in his prophetic book. What delight and jubilation these words brought to the godly men and women of the Old Testament! These words of the Lamb’s victory are firm and unshakable: “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? I will have no compassion” (Hosea 13:14).
The powerful echo of this proclamation rings equally victorious in the New Testament: “Death! Where’s your sting? Hell! Where’s your victory?” And there is only one difference: the New Testament saints know Who delivered this victory for God’s people and their praise and gratitude are focused on Him Who Overcame, the Lion of Judah, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
Dear friends! Victory over death and the hope of eternal life are genuine desires of every person who is able to rationally think. The Apostle Paul wrote about his dream and the main purpose of his life: “That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Phil. 3:10-11).
Death, which entered the world with sin, and manifested itself for the first time in a terrible and tragic death of Abel, has held the human soul in its deadly grip and accompanied mankind throughout history. And only Christ, who conquered death, extracted its deadly sting from our soul. Only He, our Savior, has redeemed us and has given us the gift of eternal life!
Dear children of God! Take this joyful message of eternal life in Christ to all who are still in the shackles of death! Thank you for your support of the missionaries, so that many more people may hear the Gospel and be saved from death and find eternal life in Christ Jesus!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
In Christ,
Rev. Vladimir A. Okhotin
REM’s Founder and President
