“O’ REJOICE THAT THE LORD IS RISEN!”
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”
“This is our Gospel. For this is what Christianity essentially is – a religion of Resurrection. This is what every worshipping congregation is intended in the purpose of God to be – a community of the Resurrection. This is the basic character of every act of public worship – a proclamation of the Resurrection. And this is what the Gospel offers to our dark and ruined chaos of a world, where men peering into the future are daunted by the well-nigh impossible task of creating order out of confusion and life out of death; the power of the Resurrection.” James S. Stewart, A Faith to Proclaim” – Hodder & Stoughton, 1953
The death and Resurrection of Christ are events three days apart and yet inseparable. The Son of Man came to serve by giving His life a ransom for the many, but His death would have meant nothing except for the Resurrection.
In fact, that is a pointless observation to make for several reasons; the main one being, as I said in opening, the events are inseparable. He had to die to accomplish the plan of salvation, and because of who He is death could not keep Him. Moreover, because of what His death and Resurrection mean for us, without either one we would still be lost.
The songwriter may have said it most simply when he wrote, ‘…who died, eternal life to bring; and lives that death may die”
The truth of the Resurrection is the very foundation and framework of Christianity. It is the central message of the Apostles from the day they came out of the upper room freshly filled with the Holy Spirit, and it has been the message of the heralds of the Gospel ever since.
Pastor Lloyd Ogilvie pointed out: “The most powerful historical proof of the Resurrection is the ‘resurrected’ disciples. Dull, defeated people became fearless, adventuresome leaders. Cowards became courageous; the timid became bold.”
The Resurrection of Jesus is the legitimization of the rest of His earthly life and ministry. What would His teachings mean for us more than any other teacher or philosopher of history, if not for His atoning death, and what hope could we possibly have – what message of any significance could we bring to a hopeless world – had Jesus not come out of the grave in glorified body in the power of the Resurrection?
There would be no message. There would be no salvation. The world would have continued its unchecked plummet into dark, demonic, animalistic chaos and by now either destroyed itself or suffered the fiery wrath of an uncompassionate God.
But the Resurrection is real and it is an event that took place in history. It is not an intangible doctrine to meditate upon; not a point of theology to debate.
Bruce Larson wrote: “The events of Easter cannot be reduced to a creed or philosophy. We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the Resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead. In faith, we move from belief in a doctrine to a knowledge of a person. Ultimate truth is a person. We met him. He is alive.”
It was the power of God demonstrated in the body of His Son who died for us, to turn the course of history and begin the great harvest that will culminate in uncounted myriads of glorified saints gathered around Him, worshiping and glorifying Him in eternity.
The Resurrection is what proves Jesus’ teachings are true, and as I said earlier, is the very center of the Gospel itself.
The Resurrection is the catalyst for evangelism, and in the life of the believer it is the source of power to live the Christian life and the very reason for total commitment to the Christ-life.
The Resurrection gave birth to the church. What? It wasn’t the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost? No, the church was born the moment Jesus Christ rose from the dead, for because He lives, we too shall live, and as someone somewhere has said, the Resurrection of Christ had the Resurrection of every believer contracted in it. The church was born an everlasting entity the moment Jesus burst from the tomb.
It is the message of the Resurrection that has been met with all forms of resistance by the spirit of this world.
When Paul addressed the Mars Hill philosophers they listened with interest while he told them of a God who made the world and who made mankind from one. They leaned in closer as he quoted their own poetry and applied it to speak of One who is the Father of us all. They could easily take his words and adapt them to their own imaginations concerning whatever sort of gods they wanted to worship and adore, or placate and schmooze, but when he began to tell of a fixed day when the world would be judged in righteousness they stiffened and began to scowl – and when he told them that judgment would be ministered by One risen from the dead they fell apart. Some wanted to hear more later, others mocked and went away laughing.
The message of the Resurrection, my friends, is what separates us from every other religion and philosophy of man. Ours is a religion of Resurrection. If we neglect this truth and cease to live it and proclaim it, then Christianity is nothing.
Now this is how we must view ourselves, Christians. We are a Resurrection community. As one in Him we passed out of citizenship to the old, dying world which is ready to pass away, and as though stepping out of the door of the tomb ourselves we passed into a new and everlasting world, which is visible yet invisible. Here is what I mean by that.
This new world is visible in that we are the representatives of the new creation.
We read of a new heavens and new earth that the Lord will create, but we must realize that we are citizens of that new heavens and new earth, sojourning here while we wait to be taken to our new home. So through the true church this world is visible. It becomes visible when God uses us and exercises His Resurrection power through us, to raise the dead when they hear from us the Gospel message and then respond in faith to the call of God through that message.
This new world of which we are citizens is also just slightly visible when we walk in obedience to God’s Word and when we express a Biblical world view that diametrically opposes a fallen world view.
They do not like what they see in those cases, but unbeknownst to them, they are witnessing glimpses of a different world; the one that was created by the Resurrection.
Now I also said it is invisible. The new world is invisible because it exists in a spiritual realm and only occasionally crosses over, such as in the examples I gave a minute ago. In truth, this fallen world and the people who are of this world never have seen the true church and they never will.
They have never seen the risen Christ, and since now all true worship and all true life takes place on the spiritual plane, all they can ever see is the physical form of worship, which is usually false and even at its best and truest is incomplete and passing away.
So we are a Resurrection community, and while those still of this world can see us physically, they cannot see that we are now radically different than they.
They cannot see the Resurrection life in us and that we are part of a new creation and they are of the old creation. So we are visible, yet invisible. We are citizens of a whole new reality created by the Resurrection of Christ Jesus.
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.” (Isa 65:17) He said, and when we see the fulfillment of that – when we watch as He makes a new heaven and new earth – we will be witnesses to the same power that brought up Jesus from the dead and also ourselves.
So we have a Resurrection to proclaim, believer in Christ. True Christianity proclaims the Resurrection. Celebration of the Resurrection is the one element of worship that cannot be part of any worldly religion. Can any other religion make the claim of a dead and risen leader? No. They even know where their graves are and they go there or genuflect in that general direction from wherever they may be each day, to show their respect for their dead hero. That is, if they even claim a leader.
But the few who do, who revere a person, cannot call him ‘Savior’. They cannot claim he is alive from the dead. They cannot with confident assurance claim that they will live eternally because of him.
They, from the noblest, most intelligent and articulate adherent of a religion based on works and the teachings of one they look to as a prophet, to the most hedonistic, blabbering pagan dancing around a fire in the jungle, to the self-professed ‘atheist’ of modern society who projects a false air of sophistication and self-possession; all are equally without hope and without God in the world.
Because of the Resurrection, the true Church – the true Christ-follower going forth with the Word of God – is the only source of information that can warn them of the destruction to come and offer them rescue and life.
What you and I need to be aware and cognizant of, fellow believer, is that there is power in the message of the Resurrection and therefore power in the proclamation. That is why Paul called the Gospel the power of God for salvation for all who believe. It is Resurrection power working through the revealed Word.
But there is not only power for proclamation, there is power in the Resurrection for our lives. This is not an abstract concept that we accept as a word of encouragement and press on. This is the truth working inside the Christian’s very life.
“…having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Col 2:12
The same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead gave you life in the spirit and eternal life, believer, and the same power works in you now in the continuing work of sanctification. The process of conforming you to the image of Christ began when you were saved and continues day by day.
You surrender to the purging and cleansing work of the Holy Spirit and some small part of flesh and self dies and is replaced by Christ-likeness. That is life-generating, Resurrection power working in you.
This is the part that calls for participation and cooperation on your part, believer. The damnable message dripping over the edge of many a pulpit in our day is man-centered, self-serving, Christ-denying. It boosts the ego, feeds the id, but speaks nothing of death to self and cross-carrying; the very thing Jesus said was necessary if anyone was to follow Him.
We all want to see Resurrection power but we don’t want to talk about crucifixion of the old man and its passions.
God’s Resurrection power is able to do its work in you, Christian, and what you need to realize today is that if you are His that work will surely be done, for that is what He has purposed in and for you. It cost Him the most precious price of all, and it will be completed at whatever cost to you is required.
The difference is whether it will be done with rejoicing as you lay down your arms and trust God in the process, or fight Him until the day He calls you home.
It is not your Resurrection power; it is His for He is Life and the Light of men. It will complete its work and bring all the elect home and glorified and made like Jesus. Not one will be left behind, not one can or will enter Heaven uncompleted.
Jesus did not crawl out of the grave, licking His wounds and gasping for water. This is what makes the ungodly claim that Jesus only swooned and recovered in the cool of the cave and later came out, so demonic.
No, our Lord went down into the depths of death bearing with Him the promise of the Father that He would not let His body see decay, and when He came up out of death it was with a glorified body that can never again suffer any weapon or harm the cosmos can throw against it.
This is what we must know when we are faced with the trials and the dangers of life. We now share in this Resurrection and its benefits; we therefore must not fear anything the world or the spirit of this world can throw at us.
“They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed” Ps 34:5
In T.S. Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, the priests bar the doors of the Church of Canterbury against the coming assassins. But Thomas, the Archbishop, though knowing they have done it for his safety, will not allow it.
Unbar the doors! Throw open the doors!
I will not have the house of prayer, the Church of Christ, the sanctuary, turned into a fortress…
The Church shall be open, even to our enemies. Open the door!
When they protest, thinking he is being reckless and desperate, urging him –
You would bar the door against the lion,
the leopard, the wolf or the boar, why not more against beasts
with the souls of damned men, against men who would
damn themselves to beasts. My lord! My lord!
His answer rings out!
We have fought the beast, and have conquered…
Now is the triumph of the Cross, now open the door! I command it! Open the door!
And now we are in a time when men and women live in abject fear; in the course of any given day taking unsteady, jerky emotional steps from one source of fear to the next.
What about the economy? What about the terrorists on our own soil, plotting against us? What about the selfish schemes of power-hungry politicians? What about evil leaders of other nations secretly planning, who knows what, against us even now? What about the rise in crime? What about the intensifying frequency of natural disasters? The list is long, and even Christians are heard fretting these things and asking “What about…?” “What about...?”
But God has fought the beast and won! Christ the Lord is risen! This is the power that gives life to the elect and this is the power the true Christian walks in.
Have you ever wondered, what is the difference between the first Christians and the new Church and Christians and the Church today? This is it! We have forgotten!
God hasn’t changed or grown weak, Church. It is we who have succumbed to the lure of the world and allowed the Church to drift from its moorings, forgetting the truth on which we were founded and getting our eyes off the central focus. We need to be reminded and we need to truly believe what we hear.
In the words of Stewart:
“We have seen the eternal order suddenly breaking through; and in that flash across the midnight we have seen the divine invincible determination to bring forth righteousness to victory and make Christ Lord of all. ‘Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory.’ This is the secret of a brave heart in these faith-shattering days, and this we are commissioned to preach: ‘Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead!’” J.S. Stewart, A Faith To Proclaim, Hodder-Stoughton, 1953
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from death and the grave is not a survival story. It is a demonstration of power. All the forces of this world’s political and religious machines, backed and prodded and empowered by the demonic forces of the underworld came against God’s Son at Calvary and He let them have their day. Then, when they had done their worst, exercised their greatest powers and spent their energies on one all-out attack, He came forth in glorious power and defeated them once and forever with one blow – and that blow is called ‘Resurrection’!
“…who died, eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die”
Did you hear that? The hymn-writer pronounced the death of death. Until Christ came from the grave death was the final, undefeatable foe…man’s ultimate enemy.
And still today men and women live in fear of it. They exercise their bodies. They search for the perfect diet that will keep them healthy on the inside. They go to the plastic surgeon and spend their billions having all signs of aging and decay tucked under, pulled back, shaved away. But look! Down the street comes the undertaker!
Not so, for those who are alive by Christ’s Resurrection power.
He stepped out of the shadows into the morning light and as though He had punched a hole in a dyke, He began the trickle that became the stream and then burst open the floodwaters of Resurrected souls who follow Him as a rushing wave into eternity.
O’ death, where is your victory, death, where is your sting? Taken away forevermore by the Victor who now calls to all who will, “Follow Me. Follow Me, out of the grave, into the everlasting light.
The day of Resurrection?
Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness,
The Passover of God.
From death to life eternal,
From this world to the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over
With hymns of victory.
Now let the heavens be joyful,
Let earth her song begin;
Let the round world keep triumph,
And all that is therein;
Let all things seen and unseen
Their notes in gladness blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen,
Our Joy that hath no end.
- John of Damascus
O, rejoice, that the Lord is risen!
