Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Luke 24:5-8
And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Easter! He is risen. Christ, the perfect substitute, the perfect sacrifice, fully God and fully man in one person with these two distinct natures. A life of sinlessness and a life of perfection and full devotion to God...cut short. His generation was cut-off, His life was cut short. Why?

...because of me! The cross that Christ was crucified on was all because of me. My sins were put on Him, He was despised and rejected, a man acquainted with sorrows...and why...because of me. Oh, Lord Jesus, you have born my sins upon yourself, and have given me hope in death.

"Oh, sacred head now wounded with grief and shame weighed down, now scornfully surrounded with thorns his only crown...mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain."

If Jesus had just died, then I would not know my sins have been forgiven, but Jesus didn't just die, He rose again. He rose again on the third day, and I exclaim with the apostles and disciples, He's alive. He's alive!

As for these verses and the meditation on them:

The women went to put spices on the tomb of Jesus, thinking that their beloved master and lord was dead, but when they went to the tomb, they were shocked. The entrance to the tomb was open, Jesus was not in there. They had no idea that Jesus was risen, so they assumed that He had been moved. They all of the sudden, they saw two figures, shining like light, these were angels. The angels knew what the women were thinking, so they asked them why they were looking for Jesus in the graveyard.

The angels then told the women what Jesus had already told them. Jesus Christ must suffer and on the third day rise again. This is the gospel!

Without Jesus Christ suffering, my sins would not be forgiven. Without Jesus Christ dying, my sins would not be atoned for. Yet, without Jesus Christ being raised from the dead, there is no surety that I will be raised from the dead. Without Christ being raised from the dead, there is no proof that His work on the cross fulfilled the law's demands. Christ must be raised from the dead, or I am lost.

The reality is that this resurrection is an eschatalogical event, it is the first fruits of the resurrection of the dead. We know and can look forward to the final day when all will be raised, and the judgment. But, for me as a Christian, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and since this is the case, I know that His work is effectual, and I know that I will be raised from the dead as well. We now live in the last days, the days of renewal and hope. Jesus Christ has come, He has claimed the prize, and I now wait from the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment.

Oh death, where is your sting, oh grave, where is your victory. For death is swallowed up by Christ.

So now, what is the reaction for one who has been set free and has a guarantee of the resurrection. My reaction needs to be the same as the women, they having good news beyond all imagination go and tell everyone they see that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

Oh, my soul, let me tell everyone I see, every day, the hope and joy I have, because I know that my Redeemer liveth. Amen.