Easter Triumph
Revelation 1:12-20
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw aseven golden lampstands; 13 and ain the middle of the lampstands I saw one blike 1a son of man, cclothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and dgirded across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His ahair were white like white wool, like snow; and bHis eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His afeet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His bvoice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held aseven stars, and out of His mouth came a bsharp two-edged sword; and His cface was like dthe sun 1shining in its strength. 17 When I saw Him, I afell at His feet like a dead man. And He bplaced His right hand on me, saying, "cDo not be afraid; dI am the first and the last, 18 and the aliving One; and I 1bwas dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have cthe keys of death and of Hades. 19 "Therefore awrite bthe things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place cafter these things. 20 "As for the amystery of the bseven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the cseven golden lampstands: the bseven stars are the angels of dthe seven churches, and the seven elampstands are the seven churches.
An exciting way to explore the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is to say that He became dead. In this Revelation passage, Jesus said that he was dead, and behold, He was alive forever. Another way of saying this is that Jesus was born to die. Well, wait a moment because that is exactly what is going to happen to each of us. We were born, and we will die. As much as I don't want the second part of that statement to come true, I have to accept that it will happen. Perhaps the difference between our deaths and Jesus' death is that His death was a part of God's plan to bring salvation and forgiveness of sin into the world. As I noted to you a few weeks ago is that God knew that when He gave humankind free will that sin would be introduced into the world. Therefore, the creation of the Universe included a way for the forgiveness of sin.
What is the way? We know it because it is the foundational stone of our Christian faith. Jesus became dead, and today He is alive. He became dead can be explained as follows. Jesus was born with the specific mission to die in a manner and time that God had predetermined. Jesus' death was a part of the blueprint of the Universe.
Let's contemplate that for a moment. In the Near East, the concept of the separation of the body and spirit was unknown until around 250 BCE when the Greek armies invaded Judea. The Greeks brought the ideas of Hellenism with them. One significant concept from Hellenism is that the spirit separates from the body upon death. The spirit can then travel to Heaven. 250 or so years before Jesus' birth, this idea was not known in the Near East. If God sent Jesus to die and rise in that time, no one would have understood it and probably would not have accepted it. Therefore, the idea of the separation of body and spirit had to be known. God could not send Jesus until after the Greek armies entered the Near East.
Another problem with the ancient world was how information was spread. You need roads and boats to allow people to travel from one area of the world to another. Mountains, rivers, and seas created boundaries between peoples. The Near East people did not know about the people to the west of what we call Asia Minor 300 or so years before Jesus. The world for the Near Easterner person was limited to their homeland, Egypt, and the Empires in the north. They did not know about Greece, Rome, India, or China. Therefore, Jesus' birth had to wait until roads were built. The roads were necessary to spread the Gospel message to the world.
God picked the date and time of Jesus' birth and His death. Note that Jesus' death occurred at the time of the Passover sacrifice. The Passover was celebrated then and today so that the Hebrew people would never forget about their years of slavery and how God saved them. What a great time to expand salvation from the Hebrew people to the Gentile world. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus' death corresponded to the sacrifice of the goat in the Temple for the remembrance of salvation.
What is odd about Christianity is that the symbol of Jesus' triumph over death is the cross. The cross was a torture device, certainly not a device for salvation. But Jesus' turned that torture device into an opportunity for redemption. The center of our faith is the cross and what it means. It sounds strange to say, but the cross, Jesus' death, and His resurrection is the crowning event of His completed work on Earth. Jesus' died for what He believed in and what we should believe in. God resurrected Jesus to show us that He is alive and that all He said to us is the truth!
There was the belief in the early years of Christian development that Christ, the divine part of Jesus, did not experience death. This group believed that the divine Christ came upon the physical person when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John. The Scripture says that Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. This group of believers thought it was not the Holy Spirit who descended but rather the Christ descended. Jesus became divine because the Christ resided in Him. Before Jesus died on the cross, the Christ returned to Heaven. Therefore, these people believed that Christ, the Divine person, did not experience the cross's shame or pain.
Throughout history, people questioned whether or not Jesus of Nazareth lived, was crucified, and was raised from the dead. The truth is that Jesus did taste the sting of death. The divine person of Jesus stayed with Him throughout the entire torture of the cross. When the resurrection occurred, the divine person rose from the grave. The soul of the physical Jesus was the divine second part of the Trinity.
As Protestants, we celebrate Easter morning. Our symbol of Jesus and the cross is an empty cross. We don't usually display the crucifix, which shows Jesus on the cross. Instead, the crosses we wear and display are of an empty cross. Did you know that the empty cross represents the open tomb? If you did not know this, well, now you know. The plain cross reminds us of the Easter Triumph of Jesus over the forces of Satan and sin. Jesus became dead and was raised to life and lives forever. Hallelujah!!!
We must remember to celebrate and rejoice at Easter because Christ is alive, and He will be alive forever. The season of Easter is seven weeks long and ends with the Pentecost event. Why is the season 50 days long? Jesus was with His disciples for 40 days. This time was for Jesus to give to His disciples some final lessons. He then told them to wait until the Holy Spirit came upon them. That length of time was 10 days. The number 10 symbolically is the number of divine perfection. Jesus was undoubtedly divine perfection on Earth.
With Jesus at your side, you can overcome any obstacle that Satan will through at you. Yes, Satan will continue to attack us. We are always vulnerable. Why do you ask? We have been given the divine gift of free will. That means we can turn away from Jesus at any time and turn to the forces of evil and Satan. We must protect ourselves by clothing ourselves with the words and actions of Jesus.
The Revelation passage refers to the keys of death and hell. What does this mean for us today? Specifically, it means that by Jesus experiencing and living through our deaths He understands the riddle of what death is. Death is one of the riddles that has plagued humankind since the beginning of our existence. We don't know what really happens. Oh yes, some people have had near-death experiences and have lived to tell us what happened. The tunnel and light are in almost all of these experiences. But what happens next.
I wish Jesus would have fully explained the death experience when He spoke with His disciples post-crucifixion. Still, unfortunately, He did not tell us. Therefore, we have to have faith in the process that Jesus personally went through. Honestly, that is easier said than done. Death should no longer be a mystery or a terrifying thought because we know that Jesus experienced it and survived it. Jesus promised us that we will follow Him to Heaven. We will share Christ's death and His resurrection. Be assured that death is not the final answer. Each one of us must hold onto the faith we have that Jesus will guide us through the death process. He will send an angel to guide us and to care for our souls.
The Easter season should bring us the serene and happy confidence that when our time on Earth is over, we will be guided by an angel sent by Jesus to lead us through the tunnel and the Light of God. When we reach Heaven, we know that it is a place filled with love, peace, and grace. Jesus tried to bring a piece of Heaven to Earth. You need to always remember that He loves each and every one of us and traveled the road of death as a promise that one day we will be resurrected from the dead and will live forevermore with Him.
