Resurrection

Last week, as I was collecting my thoughts for our Easter services, I received some bad news. My nephew, Ethan, was driving a car which collided with a truck and, sadly, he was killed instantly at around 5am on Wednesday. As I was contemplating his funeral, I wondered whether there would be hope in the air? In the midst of all of the tears and all of the tributes, would there be the hope of the coming resurrection that belongs to the one who has put their faith in Jesus for salvation from sin and death? I’ve been at those funerals- though solemn and attentive to the proper commemoration of the death, the solemnity is ultimately and wonderfully overwhelmed by the sure hope of a glorious resurrection.

I guess that's what Easter is like- a solemn and attentive commemoration of the death of Jesus, which ultimately gave way to an overwhelming sense of hope in His resurrection. The grand truth that we celebrate at Easter is that though Jesus died; death could not hold him down; for He has risen. And, for that reason, there is hope in the air.

Easter brings us some bad news

Romans 3:23- All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

This scripture is the correct diagnosis of the fundamental problem of us all- our sin. Our problem is the disparity between the righteousness of God and the righteousness of humanity, the separation that this disparity causes between God and us, and the natural consequence of that separation- deserved condemnation from a just God leading to eternal wrath.

This is the gravest of crises.

It is a snare that only has one way of escape.

All humanity is in desperate need of a savior from sin.

Now, we shouldn’t rush on to quickly from the word- ‘all’.

‘All have sinned and (all) fall short of the glory of God’

It’s not that ‘some have sinned and some fall short’- that in judgment, mankind will be measured against each other and separated into categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, according to their comparative righteousness and works. How we measure up against each other in righteousness and works will play no part in determining whether we will inherit eternal life or eternal wrath. ‘All have sinned and (all) fall short of the glory of God’.

All may fearfully anticipate just condemnation on account of their sin. You and I, apart from Christ, are a part of this ‘all’.

And it was because we all found ourselves in this snare of sin and death that Jesus came.

This is the good news.

That God became flesh and was born- Jesus.

Though subjected to every kind of temptation, he lived an unblemished life; a life without sin, so that in His death, all of our sin, past, present and future, may be heaped upon Him.

He was falsely accused of wrongdoing; wrongfully condemned to die; cruelly appointed to be crucified on a cross; to suffer a bloody, violent and painful death.

As horrifically painful as the cross was, the physical pain paled in comparison to the agony of the last moments of his life, as he hung on the cross, the Bible records that he screamed a cry of dereliction- ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’

At that moment, Jesus experienced, for the first time, the separation from God that comes as a result of Sin- the separation that we deserve, and He did not.

In His death, He took our place and died so that we might have newness of live; salvation from sin.

Romans 8:1- Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The result of the death of Jesus on the cross, there is ‘now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’

Now, if this result was achieved by Jesus in his death, why is the resurrection important?

Because if Jesus had not risen from the dead, none of anything that he achieve in his death would have been of any value at all. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is ultimate and divine confirmation that Jesus was indeed the Savior Messiah, who can justify us from sin, redeem us from death and offer us eternal life. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, he died on the cross in vain. But, he did rise.

1 Corinthians 15:13-20- If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Evidently, what was happening in the church in Corinth that prompted Paul to write these words is that there were some people within the church who were denying that a resurrection from the dead takes place, thus denying that Jesus rose from the dead.

Today, there are many people who would say that Jesus was ‘a good man’, ‘a great moral teacher’; but would deny many of His claims, such as the claim that He would rise from the dead.

Here’s a great excerpt from C.S Lewis from his classic book ‘Mere Christianity’.

‘’I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.’’

The resurrection of Jesus is the validation of Jesus as God, from God; therefore, it is essential to the Christian faith that Jesus rose and that Jesus is alive. If he did not rise and if he is not alive, Paul teaches that this is of major consequence. Let me show you these from 1^st Corinthians 15-

1. If he did not rise and if he is not alive, our preaching is useless (verse. 14). In other words, the proclamation of the message of the Gospel is of absolutely no consequence

2. If he did not rise and if he is not alive our faith is futile (verse. 15). Our trust in Jesus is of no consequence and it is powerless.

3. If he did not rise and if he is not alive, you are still in your sin. (verse. 17). In other words, If Jesus did not rise from the dead, his death was not sufficient atonement from our sin and we can still anticipate judgment and wrath on account of our sin.

4. If he did not rise and if he is not alive, all of those who have died perish. (verse. 18) To perish is not merely to die physically. All of us will die physically, whether we are in Christ Jesus or not. Some will perish on account of their sin; that is they will suffer just penalty for their sin and experience eternal wrath. But in Jesus Christ, in His death and resurrection, there is no hope that we will rise as He rose and that we will not perish, rather we will enjoy eternal life.

5. If he did not rise and if he is not alive, we are to be pitied above all men (verse. 19). Why? Because we are wasting our lives in false hope. If Christ did not rise, then we will certainly not rise, and there is no hope considering anything beyond today. Paul alludes to this rationale in verse. 32- ‘If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

So, all of that to say that the resurrection of Christ is a big deal. It is one of those doctrines that if we were to remove, Christianity as a faith would collapse. If death could hold Jesus down, the Christian faith is of no consequence at all.

Now, let’s turn those points into an affirmation to accommodate for the truth of the resurrection.

Because He rose and because He is alive, our preaching of the Gospel is powerful.

Romans 1:16-17- I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

Because He rose and because He is alive, our faith is not futile. It is powerful, even for the forgiveness of sin.

Romans 3:22-26- This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Because He did rise and because He is alive, all of those who have faith in Jesus will not perish; instead of eternal wrath, they will be free to enjoy eternal life.

John 3:16-18- "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Because He did rise and because he is alive, we have a living hope.

1 Peter 1:3-9- Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The bad news of Romans 3:23 is hard to swallow- like medicine. But the good news of the Gospel heals us from the plague of humanity- our sin.

He is risen indeed.