Holy Week

We are now on the other side of Holy Week, where Christian believers all over the world prepared to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We focused our worship on the empty tomb as the culmination of God’s plan to defeat sin and death. The cross on which Jesus died also receives much attention, and not without good reason. Paul describes the cross as the “righteousness of one” that led to “the free gift came upon all men” (Rom. 5:18). The cross, where He offered up His life for His people, was the climactic act of Jesus’ faithfulness to do His Father’s will and fulfill God’s purpose to redeem mankind.

Since humanity was living in a lost and suffering world, Jesus’ crucifixion on that cross provides the perfect revelation of God’s love for His creation. But what kind of victory would we have if Christ were hanging upon it still? Where is the triumph in this story? Without the resurrection, the cross is foolish indeed.

I believe we must see the cross as inseparable from God’s other redemptive acts through Jesus in history — including His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost — all forming a unified picture of how sin and death has met its match. And never was the defeat of those two horrors more boldly proclaimed than on Easter morning. The resurrection stands as the single, most powerful declaration by God that this truly human Jesus “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” was also “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:” (Acts 2:23; Rom. 1:4). Jesus and His mighty works were vindicated when God raised Him from the dead, exalting Him as “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), no longer lowly and limited, now a Messiah to His people and Ruler of the entire world. A marvelous plan that could only be conceived in the mind of God.

Consider this. If the resurrection did not happen, then we followers of Jesus, along with the apostle Paul, “we are of all men most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:19). In other words, if Christ has not been raised, we are the most wretched, unhappy, sorry lot the world has ever seen, because we have believed a cruel deceit. Without the resurrection, and the hope of a glorious salvation, all we are truly left with is sin, suffering and death.

But happen it did, and we can believe in its power, for Jesus Himself said, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). This was the very reason the apostle John wrote the gospel: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:31). The resurrection is part and parcel of the Gospel message of life in Jesus’ name. It is non-negotiable. We cannot have a right view of Jesus without affirming the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. This is the clear testimony of the New Testament writings, as expressed in Romans 10:9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Those who would deny it, while being treated with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:16), must not persuade us that the good news does not include Jesus’ resurrection. The evidence is overwhelming.

But the question at Easter and all other times of the year, is not so much about the evidence that the resurrection happened; rather, it is about its meaning. What significance does the resurrection of Jesus have in God’s redemptive plan?

Simply this - the resurrection overturned the curses of the Fall (sin and the penalty of death). And all that led up to it: the obedience of Jesus to His Father’s will throughout His life and even His being “obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8) was culminated as He rose from the dead. Jesus’ role as the second Adam is clearly displayed as the Messiah sent from God who defeated the sin of Adam’s disobedience with His own perfect obedience.

On the third day after the crucifixion, Easter morning, mankind witnessed the dawn of a new day. Yet it was not just a day like any other preceding it; rather, it was a day that carried within it the very future to which it pointed. Sins penalty, death, is not to be feared; we are slaves no longer. The victor, Jesus, has destroyed the yoke of sin and death, having had that burden laid upon Him. The story of Jesus’ literally empty grave not only confirms the hope to which we cling, it simultaneously offers even now the future resurrection life to each person found in Christ.

The uncertainties and chaos of this world, while at times oppressive, must not give us constant despair. There is no room for uncertainty about the future in the life of those who believe in God’s victory through the exalted King Jesus. As hard as this life can be, with all its trials and tragedy, we are to thank God in view of this promise written in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”.

As believers we proclaimed our faith this past Easter Sunday and each Lord’s Day that follows saying, Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again! Invite someone you know to hear the Easter story, not just on Easter, but every chance you get. “He is Risen”.


Credit: Ron Kelley