The Purpose of the Resurrection
Matthew 28
5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
God bless you and Happy Resurrection Sunday. A day set aside by many to celebrate Peter Cotton tail, egg hunts, and Sunday Ham. But on this day those who understand take no joy in those things but joy in the truth that Jesus lives, joy in knowing He got up so that we do not have to stay down…I minister to you this morning “The Purpose Of The Resurrection.
Though we all know the name the secular world and many in the church use is not one that honors our God but as a nod towards paganism. The term Easter refers to the story of Nimrod the twisted way he gained fame by rebelling in pride. After his failure to raise a tower up that he thought would rival God, came a fall with similitude to the garden fall called the Tower of Babel.
We all know the resulting punishment resulted in a separate yet populated world. A world separated by mere words is called language. We know this day as Resurrection Sunday. A day which the world for the most part stops in acknowledgment of Christ, but as the years have waned, hearts have waxed cold and the colder the heart gets, the more Peter Cotton tail appears to be the one who went to the cross.
One thing that captured my attention in the storyline of Matthew 28 is that when the women went to the tomb, there was an Angel there sitting on the stone which he had rolled away and the purpose of his rolling away wasn’t so that Jesus could come out, but it was so the disciples could get in and see the evidence. As I read that in the story I realized something that I had not seen was right here in my face.
The power of Christ is expressed by not needing the Angel to roll back the stone…What a mismatched. Comparably in the story of the ark of the covenant in the temple of the Philistine god Dagon. The first night Dagon had fallen off its stand and lay before the ark, the priests of Dagon went and propped up the inanimate object and the next morning, when they went into the temple of Dagon, there it was once again, but this time the head, hands, and feet had broken off.
The Lord didn’t need the children of Israel to defend Him, the glory pushed Dagon into a place of submission. Now consider our Lord in the grave, in a place where the dead is buried, now keep in mind this is the same God who said He is the God of the living, and how can death reign in that which is the reason we all live…
Some may argue that Jesus wasn’t the first person that the bible teaches us was raised from the dead, literally resurrected, Cause even Jesus resurrected Lazarus not long before He was crucified, but I offer this thought to you, all of those who resurrected later died, but Jesus is resurrected to live forever, but even more profound is the truth about the resurrection of Christ, that being all others who were raised from the dead were raised from the outside, but Jesus, raised Himself. For Lazarus to come out of the tomb and the grave clothes it took exterior assistance, but Jesus didn’t need the stone rolled away and He left His grave clothes lying in the tomb.
I want to remind you of the importance of this day we celebrate. In the Pastoral world and yes there is one. The pastoral world is a place where we are driven beyond your like of us or our like of you because we love the Lord, we love you and our every focus is on getting you and others saved. A place where people’s promises mean little if they do not follow up with action. Sometimes it is a place of disappointment as we are abused as our kindness is taken for granted. It is a place where you may be in a room with thousands but feel all along.
We see things such as the big three of church attendance and the little two. The big three are called CME or Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Easter which is why folks who are not walking in the knowledge of the Lord and after your world is rocked by an event such as 911, a bad doctors report. And the little two of church attendance…you getting married or being buried. The second event is final and not a do-over cause it is not popular.
But we are finding that more and more people are not choosing the right way and refuse to make the commitment to each other that God has ordained. This troubles my heart because such a lack of value is what has opened the door to many sins of morality. I have had discussions before with some who espouse the thought that no one sin is greater than another, I could easily put down the conversation with some sins that the Lord calls abominations unto Him, so per God some sins can be classified as worse than others, but here is the unconsidered part about leveling up sins.
Sin draws spirits and spirits intensify sins. Let’s say you lie, that spirit invites over a spirit of promiscuity, you say oh that nothing but that spirit invites over a worst perverted spirit, and before you know it you giving Legion a run for his money. So, the more morally corrupt sin is the worst spirit that is associated with it. Another Purpose of the resurrection is to raise you from the certain death of sin.
When Jesus died on the cross He was supposed to be like a multitude of others who called themselves who He was, which is the messiah. But when the obscure Jewish carpenter “died” within 30 years a man called Saul of Tarsus had been radically converted and by then Christianity had impacted Roman so greatly, that the insane King Nero blamed Christians when the city burned down. In less than 300 years the Roman Empire was transformed and all because the Jewish carpenter who they knew as one of many they had executed was now revolutionizing the world.
But this Jesus whose victory over death resulted in its perfect record being broken, if 1 billion people had been born on the earth death had always won but for Christ, its record now stood at a billion to one. The cross of Christ had driven a stake into the heart and severed the championship belt of death. The Lord had warned death in Matthew 14 asking it where was its sting and Christ in revelation says death is cast into the lake of fire.
God clearly defined the purposes for the resurrection of Jesus Christ
1. that believers are justified before God. Romans 4:25
2. The resurrection of Jesus Christ shows that Jesus defeated death.
3. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that believers are united with Christ.
4. The resurrection of Jesus Christ confirms the truth of Scripture.
5. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that Jesus is the Son of God.
6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that God the Father will give His Holy Spirit to believers.
7. The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives Christians a living hope.
8. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that we will be raised like Him.
9. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that Christ will judge the world in righteousness.
What good though is death without the resurrection without the resurrection Jesus would have just been a good guy who died sooner than expected and in a way which was not deserved. Without the resurrection the stripes He received wouldn’t bring healing, without the resurrection we would pay the cost for our own iniquities, without the resurrection He would have been chastised for no cause. Without the resurrection, we wouldn’t be new creatures in Christ, our minds would be renewed…
Without the resurrection, there would be no victory over death and everyone who died would remain in death, without the resurrection we would be on a one-way trip to hell. But because He lives, I have strength when I am weak, joy when I should be sad, peace when I should be unsettled, hope when there is none, and all because…He Lives so surely The Purpose of the Resurrection was for each one of us.
A dear departed Deacon friend would sing the song “Because He Lives”, that glorious song. His rich baritone voice would say what we should say which is because He lives, I can face tomorrow because He lives, and all fear is gone. Understanding that He is the reason I live if it were not for Him I wouldn’t live you wouldn’t live no one would live because saint or sinner was created for and by him.
