A Thankful Resurrection weekend to all!

We are now into the week that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Like other holidays we celebrate, it has been blurred by the name Easter, cute bunnies, colored eggs, and chocolate. To look beyond all of this to the real issue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is essential. Because of the prevailing distracting attitude and thereby fog surrounding the event, we dare not lose the incredible significance of what occurred on that Sunday nearly 2000 years ago. As a Bible student and lover of God and His Word, be reminded of how our troubles all began. If we go back to our original parents, Adam and Eve, we know they directly disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the forbidden tree. With that command came the warning, “For in that day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). God always tells the truth, and they and we, being their off-spring and under the federal headship of Adam, have been dying ever since. God was gracious and promised a Redeemer who would mortally wound Satan (Gen. 3:15). Implied here and expanded upon with many progressing promises through the prophets, is the announcement of the One who would break the curse leading to death.

What is the worst problem that man cannot overcome? The issue of the certainty and finality of death! Associated with death and significantly attached to it is the matter of sin. We, as the offspring of Adam and Eve, cannot overcome sin and we cannot overcome death. In the troubles and trials of life, no matter the intensity of problems, these two issues face every person, and to such a degree that all the other matters of life are small by comparison. Any person who does not understand this terrible dilemma of mankind is lost in the fog we first described. I hope you can begin to think in terms of the infinite value of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of God’s promise back in Genesis 3. He has as Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 15:54, derived from the promise of God in Isaiah 25:8, “swallowed up death in victory.” The word for “swallowed” means entirely devoured. In Christ it is completely eradicated. Brethren, if there was ever a time to rejoice and shout, this is it! It is wonderful to read Paul’s mocking of the enemy of death in 1 Corinthians 15:55. Where else could anyone have the truthful ability to deride death. But, in Christ Jesus, death is defeated! This is the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the glory behind it, and the reason it is the most significant matter of history.

The fact of Christ’s resurrection disproves the common thinking of our day that when we die, we simply cease to exist. Christ Jesus was dead for three days in the tomb and yet He never ceased to exist and rose again. He is living today! God brought every person who has ever lived into existence for an eternal presence. We were made both tangible and intangible. We are body and spirit. Sin has ruined both our body and our spirit, but God has resurrected both from eternal destruction by His substitutionary death and His glorious resurrection. As He is the substitute for us who believe in Him, we died to sin with Him, and rose with Him in His resurrection to inherit a new glorious body that will never die. This is the importance of celebrating His resurrection. For those who refuse to believe in Him and treat the wonderful gift of His giving of Himself for sinners, these rejectors will also live forever. But, because they do not have Christ as their Victor over sin and death, they will experience the second death, which is separation from God in an eternity of hell. For those surrounding us and yet unbelieving, of whom we know and love, let us not cease to pray for them that God would yet open their eyes to the truth that they foolishly reject.

For those of us who by faith worship our Savior, let us not be either ashamed or silent in our attitude of thanksgiving for His resurrection. In the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” The fact of our Lord’s resurrection brings us to the absolute reality of the resurrection of all that are in Him. This is why He is called, “the first fruits.” We will be resurrected because He was resurrected. It has not happened in history yet, but it will! It is certain because His resurrection was certain. Today as I am writing this, it is a beautiful day outside. It is beautiful because God made it that way. It is a little foretaste of what it will be like when we all, that are in Christ, are resurrected to new glorified bodies, never to face death again. As you face the problems each day brings, put that picture in the back of your mind. As the hymn we love to sing says, Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone!” And as we generally say at the end of most of our worship services, out of Jude verse 24, “and make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” One translation puts the emphasis on that last part, “exceeding great joy!” That is just a little expression of the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And brethren by appearance, and what we know from the Scripture, Christ is right near the door of His coming. He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Rejoice today because He lives!