Isaiah 65:17-25, Psalm 118:1-2, Psalm 118:14-24, 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, Acts 10:34-43, John 20:1-18, Luke 24:1-12.
A). NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH.
Isaiah 65:17-25.
“Behold,” says the LORD, “I create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17). The word for “create” is the same as in Genesis 1-2. But this is something “new,” which stands in contrast to “the former” things which “shall not be remembered nor come into mind.” This is the same as the ‘new heavens and a new earth’ that we look for, ‘wherein dwells righteousness’ (2 Peter 3:13).
At the heart of this new heavens and new earth is a ‘new’ Jerusalem (Isaiah 65:18; cf. Revelation 21:1-2). The details that follow suggest something that is altogether new. This cannot be limited to the restoration of Israel’s ancient capital under Ezra and Nehemiah, but is something quite different, much better. A cosmic paradise.
“Be GLAD and REJOICE for ever in that which I CREATE: for, behold, I CREATE Jerusalem a REJOICING, and her people a JOY” (Isaiah 65:18).
God’s “people” (Isaiah 65:18) are variously called ‘my servants’ (Isaiah 65:9); ‘my people that have sought me’ (Isaiah 65:10); “mine elect” (Isaiah 65:22); and “the blessed of the LORD” (Isaiah 65:23).
Not only are we to rejoice in it, but God Himself rejoices in it: “I will REJOICE in Jerusalem, and JOY in my people.” This stands in contrast to: “the voice of WEEPING shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of CRYING” (Isaiah 65:19; cf. Isaiah 35:10).
The contrasts continue. The death of an infant, or of an old man who has not fulfilled his days, will be replaced with longevity. For a hundred year old shall be considered but a child; and those who do not make it to a hundred shall be considered “accursed” (Isaiah 65:20).
They shall build houses and inhabit them, rather than build houses and another inhabit. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit, rather than plant and another eat (Isaiah 65:21-22a).
“For as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” (Isaiah 65:22b; cf. Psalm 92:12-14). Trees certainly live long, as did the ancestors before the Flood. Interestingly, the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, translates this as ‘the days of the tree of life.’
“They shall not labour in vain.” No more failed crops. No more stolen or war damaged produce. “No more bringing forth for trouble.” No more bringing forth of children to poverty or an early death. Why? “For they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their children with them” (Isaiah 65:23).
This “seed” language echoes Genesis 3:15. It is the reversal of the curse. ‘If you be Christ’s,’ Paul teaches, ‘then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise’ (Galatians 3:29).
There shall be fellowship with God, and prayers answered before they have finished asking (Isaiah 65:24; cf. Mark 11:24).
The disruption brought into the world by the serpent will be finally undone. The animals will stop devouring one another. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD (Isaiah 65:25; cf. Isaiah 11:6-9). ‘For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea,’ adds Isaiah 11:9b.
Jesus said, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’ (John 3:3). Jesus holds the key: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me’ (John 14:6). Paul says, ‘If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved’ (Romans 10:9).
‘Now Christ IS risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that slept,’ (1 Corinthians 15:20). Because of this, our bodies shall be transformed (Philippians 3:21), raised (1 Corinthians 15:52), and glorified (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). The creation itself shall be delivered ‘from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God’ (Romans 8:21).
‘For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord’ (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
‘He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son’ (Revelation 21:7).
May we so live as to glorify God in this life, and to enjoy Him forever in “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17). In Jesus' name. Amen.
B). A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION.
Psalm 118:1-2, Psalm 118:14-24.
The Orthodox Celebrant passes in and out amongst his congregation, repeating his announcement in the indigenous language of each people group: ‘The Lord is Risen!’ Each ethnic group answers in their own native tongue: ‘He is risen indeed!’ The appropriate response to the Easter message is, first and foremost, celebration (Psalm 118:1-2).
Psalm 118:14-24 has long been used by the Christian Church as a part of the Easter message. These verses are included in the lectionary readings for Easter Sunday, in all years. The same verses are often sung in seasons of Communion in non-liturgical churches.
This is not without Biblical precedent. The Psalm itself is the last of the processional Psalms which were sung by pilgrims on their way up to Jerusalem for the great Jewish feasts. There are echoes of the Passover, and anticipations of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Psalm 118:14 takes us back to the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:2). The more exact translation in both instances is: “The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.” These are the words of the Psalmist who had been undergoing some measure of persecution (e.g. Psalm 118:13).
They could also be the words of Jesus, who had found ‘all nations’ encompassing him with malice (Psalm 118:10-12). They are also words of praise for individual believers out of the midst of their own trials (cf. Isaiah 12:1-2).
The celebrating pilgrims hear the sound of rejoicing from within the City, represented as “the tents of the righteous” (Psalm 118:15). Hosannas (cf. Matthew 21:9) echo from the stones (cf. Luke 19:40). Voice answers to voice, both within and outside the Temple, with a triple reference to “The right hand of the Lord” (Psalm 118:15-16).
A lone voice rises above them all: “I shall not die but live” (Psalm 118:17). Are these the words of the Psalmist in his affliction, now being uttered by the leader of the procession on behalf of the pilgrim party; or are they words put into the mouth of the individual sufferer? Ultimately, they are the words of Jesus who, having been dead, yet lives to “declare the works of the LORD.”
Jesus has faced death, gone through death, and conquered death on behalf of us all (Psalm 118:18). Jesus was ‘crucified in weakness, but He lives in God’s power’ (2 Corinthians 13:4). We also live in the power of His resurrection – not only in the hereafter, but in the ‘now’ of our experience.
The leader of the pilgrims cries out to the gateman of the Temple: “Open to me the gates of righteousness…” (Psalm 118:19). Jesus is the forerunner, gone into heaven on our behalf (cf. Hebrews 6:20). We too may “enter the gates of righteousness and give thanks (praise) to the LORD.”
The reply comes from within: “This is the gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter” (Psalm 118:20). The righteous are those who have been rescued by the LORD: those who have been made ‘right with God through the Lord Jesus Christ’ (cf. Romans 5:1). It is Jesus who has ascended into heaven (Ephesians 4:8), and we in Him (Ephesians 2:6).
The lone voice is heard once more (Psalm 118:21). In effect - “Thank you, LORD, for hearing and answering my prayer: it is you who have saved me.” The sufferer acknowledges his deliverance; Jesus acknowledges the Father’s hand in overcoming death; and the repenting sinner embraces the full free salvation which is ours in Christ Jesus.
The use of this Psalm in Christian worship, and the association of these words with Jesus, is firmly underlined in Psalm 118:22-23, which is quoted extensively in the New Testament. The irony is that the One who was cast aside and left for dead, is the very One who holds the whole building together (Ephesians 2:20). “The stone which the builders rejected” who is made “head stone of the corner” is Jesus.
Jesus uses these words of Himself (Matthew 21:42). Peter argued for the resurrection from this text (Acts 4:10-12). It is the touchstone (no pun intended) which marks out the difference between those who believe, and the disobedient (1 Peter 2:6-8).
The morning I wrote this, I was meditating on Psalm 118:24. Afterwards I went out for a walk, and thought I heard someone say, ‘What a beautiful day’ – after which they added the words, “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” If the day is beautiful, it is the Lord who has made it so.
If there ever was a moment when the Sabbath shifted from what we call Saturday to what we call Sunday, it was on what we call Easter Sunday. We are living in a new day: not just for 24 hours, but ever hereafter. Truly, this is cause for celebration.
C). CHRIST THE FIRSTFRUITS.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26.
Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no gospel at all (1 Corinthians 15:12-13), and we are of all men most vain and miserable (1 Corinthians 15:14-19).
Thankfully, we are reminded with a sigh of relief, Christ is risen from the dead. He is risen indeed. As such He is the firstfruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The Feast of the firstfruits was celebrated the day after the Sabbath after the Passover, and no further atoning sacrifice was necessary because the Passover lamb had just been sacrificed. In Greek the idea of firstfruits carried the idea of His having paid our entrance fee. Jesus is the firstfruits, the first sheaf offered in anticipation of the full harvest, the first resurrected as the forerunner of our own resurrection.
The first man Adam, the representative head of the human race, ushered in death through sin. In a passage which echoes Romans 5:12-21, Christ is seen as the new representative head of the human race, ushering in a new economy as the firstfruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:21-23). Truly He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
Yet the resurrection of believers must await His coming (1 Corinthians 15:23). Jesus must reign until He has crushed all His enemies under His feet, and the very last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). Then comes the end (1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Corinthians 15:28).
Paul owned this as his gospel (2 Timothy 2:8), and was willing to suffer for it, as were all the other witnesses. Those who deny the truth of the resurrection are teaching a different gospel to that which we find in the New Testament. “Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame,” warns Paul (1 Corinthians 15:34).
D). A WORD TO THE GOD-FEARING.
Acts 10:34-43.
Whilst meditating on a rooftop in Joppa, the Apostle Peter received a vision in which he was warned ‘not to call anything impure which God has cleansed’ (Acts 10:15). Meanwhile, in Herod’s seaport of Caesarea, a God-fearing Roman Centurion named Cornelius had received a vision in which God instructed him to send for the Apostle Peter, and ‘he shall tell you what it behoves you to do’ (Acts 10:6). When the Centurion’s messengers arrived, Peter, in obedience to the Holy Spirit, went with them (Acts 10:19-20).
This was a momentous moment in the life of the fledgling church, who in the person of one of their acknowledged leaders and his companions broke Jewish protocol, and went to the home of this Gentile, and openly received non-Jews into the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The newly enlightened Peter was happy to accept the challenge of Cornelius, his family and friends, who were all gathered ‘before God to hear all things which you have been ordered by God’ (Acts 10:33).
Peter began, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons..." (Acts 10:34). In other words, God is without partiality: God accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right (Acts 10:35). Whatever your background, whatever your nationality, the gospel is for you.
God’s plan all along has been to gather from all nations, beginning with Abraham (cf. Genesis 12:3), ‘such as are being saved’ (cf. Acts 2:47). You know already, Peter told his God-fearing listeners, “the word which God sent to the children of Israel” (Acts 10:36-37). [‘These things did not happen in a corner,’ as the Apostle Paul would later add (cf. Acts 26:26).]
The content of the word, in general, was: -
(i) “preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36).
‘Peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ’ (cf. Romans 5:1) is of the essence of the gospel, as is the breaking down of the walls of partition between Jew and Gentile (cf. Ephesians 2:14). Reconciliation with God leads to reconciliation with one another (cf. Ephesians 2:16).
(ii) “He is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36) - not just of Israel.
This word was published throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee (cf. Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:15), after the baptism John preached (Acts 10:37). The author of Acts has already mentioned the baptism of Jesus in his Gospel (cf. Luke 3:21).
From here, Peter’s sermon is a retelling of the gospel story, of which Peter and his companions were witnesses “both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem” (Acts 10:39). It sounds almost like the recitation of a Creed: -
1. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 10:38; cf. Luke 3:22).
2. Jesus went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: for God was with Him (Acts 10:38).
3. Him they slew and hanged on a “tree” (Acts 10:39). Thereby He took upon Himself the curse which we deserve (cf. Galatians 3:13).
4. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly (Acts 10:40).
5. He was shown, alive after He had been dead, not to everyone, but to witnesses chosen before by God. Peter could also add, “we ate and drank with Him” (Acts 10:41). This was a proof that He was indeed alive.
6. “He commanded us also to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42).
7. “To Him all the prophets gave witness” (Acts 10:43; cf. Luke 24:26-27; Luke 24:44-45).
8. “Through His name whoever believes on Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43).
While Peter yet spoke, the Holy Ghost fell upon his hearers (Acts 10:44). They spoke in tongues (Acts 10:46) - symbolising thereby the eradication of the language barriers which could so easily hinder the spread of the Gospel to the nations. Having received the Holy Spirit, there was nothing to prevent them from being baptised (Acts 10:47-48).
Peter went back to Jerusalem with his report, and was accused of eating with Gentiles (Acts 11:3). This was of course true. However, once Peter had explained his actions to the brethren, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, ‘Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life’ (Acts 11:18).
This was the Gentile Pentecost.
E). THE EMPTY TOMB.
John 20:1-18.
While Jesus’ enemies had been busying themselves setting a watch over His tomb, the disciples had been sitting quietly at home, keeping the Sabbath. At first dawn Mary Magdalene - and some other women - came to the sepulchre, and found the stone had been rolled away (John 20:1)! Jumping to an immediate conclusion, Mary left the other women to make their own discoveries. She ran immediately to tell Simon Peter (who had run away while she kept vigil at the Cross); and John (who had been there to the bitter end, and with whom Mary the mother of Jesus now resided).
“They have taken away the Lord!” she exclaimed. (She does not say who she thinks “they” are.) “And we (plural) don’t know where they have laid Him” (John 20:2)! (Notice she is still talking about “the Lord” and “Him” - not ‘the body’ or ‘it’).
The boys set off on a footrace (John 20:3-4), leaving Mary to return to the tomb at her own pace. The Lord’s mother probably remained still in the house.
Arriving first at the sepulchre, John looked into the tomb and saw the linen clothes lying (John 20:4-5) - but he did not enter. Peter arrived and immediately went into the sepulchre, and noted the arrangement of the clothes (John 20:6-7). Then John went in, and “seeing he believed” (John 20:8) - although just what he was believing at this stage he was not so sure (John 20:9).
After the boys had gone home (John 20:10), we catch up with Mary again outside the tomb, weeping - and then peeping inside (John 20:11). Mary saw two angels, and how they were arranged - one where Jesus’ head had been, and one where His feet had been (John 20:12). Mary, in her grief, saw no significance in this.
After their tender enquiry concerning her tears, Mary repeated the conclusion she had drawn, but now speaks possessively and singularly of “my Lord” and “I” (John 20:13).
Something made her turn back (John 20:14)! Was it the demeanour of the angels - a change in posture, or a look of recognition as the Lord (whom she sought) came up behind her? Or perhaps a shadow, or a sound? We do not know.
Or did she perhaps sense His Presence? Not perhaps as the Friend she had known, but as a servant to her single obsession: that of finding her Lord. I wonder how many times the Lord draws near to us, and we do not know it - and rather than serving Him, we want to manipulate Him into our service!
Jesus repeated the question that the angels had asked, adding, “Whom do you seek?” She presumed He was the gardener, and questioned Him accordingly, fully intending to take charge of the body herself (John 20:15). Yet still, for her, the body was “Him.”
Then Jesus pronounced her name: “Mary” (John 20:16). ‘He calls His own by name, and they know His voice’ (John 10:3-4). At last she recognised His voice.
Again we are told she “turned” - perhaps adjusting her position in relation to Him. The greatest turning, the greatest adjustment for any of us comes with the recognition of His call - not His death, not the empty tomb, not encountering Him as a stranger - but recognising Him, as Mary now began to do, as our very own ‘Teacher!’
“Touch me not,” said Jesus (John 20:17). Or rather, ‘Do not keep on holding on to me’ - as if my bodily Presence was all - “for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” Now - “go and tell my brethren” (the same brethren who all but one abandoned Him!)
The message which Mary was commissioned to share was that of Jesus’ soon-coming ascension - to “my Father,” He told her to tell the disciples, and “your Father.” (Same Father, but His by eternal generation, and theirs by regeneration.)
“My God, and your God” has echoes of Ruth 1:16, which is well worth reading again at this point. The disciples might eventually remember that Jesus was ‘going to prepare a place for’ them (John 14:2-3).
Mary obeyed her commission, and “went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord” (John 20:18), and what He had said to her. For John, for the purposes of this part of his account, three witnesses are enough. The beloved disciple is content to record the varying reactions to the empty tomb of one of the women, himself, and one other man.
F). A MORNING TO REMEMBER.
Luke 24:1-12.
Some women had followed Joseph of Arimathea, and they took note of the tomb in which Joseph had laid the dead body of Jesus. The Sabbath was coming on, but they had time to prepare aromatics and spices before they ‘remained quiet according to the commandment’ (Luke 23:55-56). After the Sabbath, very early in the morning, they and others with them came to the tomb bringing the aromatics which they had prepared (Luke 24:1), no doubt wishing to further embalm the body of Jesus.
What they found was not what they expected. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but “they found not the body of the Lord Jesus” (Luke 24:2-3).
At first, they were just perplexed: but then the appearance of two men in shining garments filled them with fear. The women bowed their heads in awe, no doubt perceiving that these were heavenly messengers. The message the visitors bore began with a question: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:4-5).
Why would the angels say such a thing? It was because the death of Jesus did not confine Him to the tomb, for ‘it was impossible for death to hold Him’ (Acts 2:24). “He is not here but is risen!” the angels continued: “REMEMBER how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,” (Luke 24:6).
Jesus had spoken of His forthcoming betrayal, His suffering, His death and His subsequent resurrection (cf. Luke 9:22; Luke 18:32-33). When He had predicted all this, Jesus’ disciples had ‘understood none of these things, this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things that were spoken’ (Luke 18:34). Remember, then, how He said that these things “MUST” happen (Luke 24:7).
Whatever the women had heard of these earlier conversations they now recalled: “And they remembered His words” (Luke 24:8). At the time of leaving the tomb faith was already active in them, and they became the first evangelists. They bore the good news “to the eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:9).
That is what we must do, who have heard the words of Jesus, who have received the good news: we must ‘go tell’ (cf. Mark 16:7). That is what Mary, Joanna, Mary and the others did. They went and told these things to the Apostles, no less (Luke 24:10).
No matter that our hearers will not hear at first, that they are sceptical. According to Doctor Luke, the women’s words seemed like the insane babblings spoken of by the Greek medical writers of the time (Luke 24:11). Any excuse not to believe the gospel!
We do not (should not) preach to impress people. Even if there is just one, like Peter impetuously setting off toward the tomb to check things out (Luke 24:12), ‘our labour is not in vain in the Lord’ (1 Corinthians 15:58). Peter departed from Tomb-land wondering, marvelling, perhaps not yet believing - but as with many to whom we witness, God hadn’t finished with him yet.
Easter is a morning to remember. Remember the things that Jesus predicted concerning His forthcoming betrayal, suffering, death - and resurrection (Luke 24:7). Remember these things as also predicted in the Old Testament - which becomes a motif throughout the rest of the chapter (cf. Luke 24:26; Luke 24:46).
