On Good Friday we were reminded of the darkness that Jesus embraced on our behalf. But today we are reminded that the darkness did not prevail:
In him was life,and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:4-5, ESV).
The grave is empty! Jesus has risen indeed!
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where helay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:1-10, ESV).
Luke 24: 1-12 - But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 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? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
***"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).***"Paul, in line with a major theme throughout the Bible, understood sin and death as bound together in a tight nexus. If Jesus had defeated sin, death could not hold him. If (conversely) he rose again from the dead, it meant he had indeed dealt with sin on the cross--in other words, that God had achieved at last what he had promised to Abraham and the prophets...As far as Paul was concerned, the most important eschatological event, through which the living God had unveiled (or if you like, 'apocalypsed') his plan to save the whole cosmos, had occurred when Jesus rose from the dead. --N.T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said***"Jesus' resurrection demonstrated his victory over death (Acts 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:54-57), vindicated him as righteous (John 16:10), and indicated his divine identity (Rom. 1:4). It led on to his ascension and enthronement (Acts 1:9-11; 2:34; Phil. 2:9-11; cf. Isa. 53:10-12) and his present heavenly reign. It guarantees the believer's present forgiveness and justification (Romans 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:17) and is the basis for the resurrection life in Christ for the believer here and now (John 11:25-26; Rom. 6; Eph. 1:18-2:10; Col. 2:9-15; 3:1-4). --J.I. Packer, Concise Theology
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" -1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV).In his book, The Cross and Christian Ministry, D.A. Carson writes the following regarding the cross: "What would you think if a woman came to work wearing earrings stamped with an image of the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima? What would you think of a church building adorned with a fresco of the massed graves of Auschwitz? Both visions are grotesque. They are not only intrisically abhorrant, but are shocking because of the powerful cultural associations. The same sort of shocked horror was associated with the cross and crucifixion in the first century...Yet, today crosses adorn our buildings and letterheads, grace our biships, shine from lapels, and dangle from our ears--and no one is scandalized. It is this cultural distance from first century that makes is so hard for us to feel the compelling irony of 1
Corinthians 1:18."
Although the message of the cross is foolishness, it is the message that we must proclaim. We can trust God's wisdom because He has, in the words of N.T. Wright: "reversed the world's values. He has done the impossible. He has turned shame to glory and glory to shame. His is the folly that outsmarts the wise, the weakness that overpowers the strong."The cross (and Jesus) may seem to be foolishness to those who are pershishing in sin, but it is the power of God to those of us who are being saved. Pray that the Lord will give you opportunity to proclaim the gospel to others this week. Pray that the cross, Jesus and the resurrection will no longer appear as foolishness to them. Pray that they will be given eyes to see the wisdom of God.
In his book, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, John Piper writes the following: The central issue of Jesus' death is not the cause, but the purpose--the
meaning. Human beings may have their reasons for wanting Jesus out of the way.
But only God can design it for the good of the world.
Although sinful man is always trying to thwart God's plan, he will never be able to derail God's soveriegn will. In Acts 4:27,28 Luke writes, for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan predestined to take place.
With the torture, death and crucifixion of Christ, Pilate sought to silence and appease the Jews. In His death, many of the Jews wanted to silence a man whom they considered to be a blasphemer--one who not only claimed to speak for God, but who also claimed to be God. For many of the Gentiles, the death of Christ meant that one more madman was off the streets. Yet, the only purpose that suceeded was God's purpose. As we read in Isaiah 53:10, "Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him." And by crushing His own Son--laying His holy wrath upon Him-He redeemed us. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13).
Although the birth of Christ (Christmas) is of infinite importance, His resurrection is the climactic event in God's redemptive work. So, as we prepare to celebrate Easter this Sunday, I will to post some thought prevoking blog entries related to Christ's death and resurrection. I pray that each of our hearts will be ignited with a passion and a zeal for the crucified and resurrected Savior!
