...And He Rose

Christ is risen!

Praise God! What a beautiful and glorious day it is. Isn’t it interesting that for so many, Easter comes in spring? (A quick check on Wikipedia shows 90% of the world’s population lives in the northern hemisphere.) Do you wonder sometimes why God made the world just the way it is? Why do we even have seasons? I know that it’s because of the tilt of the earth. But isn’t it interesting that we get to experience this cycle of rebirth every year. Through creation, we are reminded that there is new life. In winter, trees are cold and grey. With some plants, the foliage dies completely above the ground. I’ve shown a picture of the bloom of a bleeding heart before. I'm including it again below.



We have one in the yard that just appeared a couple of years after we moved in. My grandmother called an unexpected flower a volunteer. That’s what this plant is. Someone planted it at some time, but for our family, it just appeared one season. Anyway, the foliage of a bleeding heart, the leaves and stems above ground die completely at the end of summer. They turn all brown. And then about April, it erupts from the ground full of new life. And it grows at a phenomenal rate. This plant was barely putting out shoots a week ago. Now it is probably a foot square, and laden with blooms. By the early summer it will be growing into the walkway and need to be trimmed back. Spring is such a time of hope and expectation. Just a week or so ago, all the Bradford pear trees were snow white and beautiful. Seeing all those white blossoms, you knew that the leaves were just on the verge of growing. This last week, the Bradford pear trees have begun to sprout leaves and turn green. Who does not feel a bit of cheer or rejoicing when flowers bloom?

You can say the same thing about the sunrise each morning. Do you ever get up early enough to see the sun rise? Our house is not well situated for seeing the sun rise because of all the trees. By the time you see the sun, it has been up for quite awhile. But Melissa and I were able to get a walk on the beach last year at sunrise. It wasn’t the most beautiful sunrise, but there is something significant about seeing the sky lighten and then color from purple to pink, brighter and brighter. At the point of the sunrise, you are filled with expectation. Surely the sun is coming. It will appear at any moment. And then you see it, a sliver of the sun peeking over the horizon like fire. Within a minute, it is there fully above the horizon, and in a few more minutes, it is too bright to look at any more. At that moment when the sun crosses the horizon, you rejoice. I can’t explain the feeling any other way. I know it’s going to happen. It happens every day, and yet, I rejoice when I see that it does.

There is a passage in the Word that relates the spring and the dawn to what the Lord is like. You may have heard it. There is even a song made from it. It’s Hosea 6:3.

"So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." --Hosea 6:3

The certainty of the dawn and the certainty of spring rains do not stop us from rejoicing when they come. In the same way, we rejoice that Easter is here. We buy new clothes. People attend services at sunrise. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!

Now, it is interesting that the verse right before Hosea 6:3 is a Messianic verse. When I say Messianic, I mean that it’s talking about the Messiah, God’s anointed One, the One He chose or set apart. Jesus is the Messiah. Here is Hosea 6:2.

He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him. --Hosea 6:2

Yes, on Easter we celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, but isn’t it interesting that we are the ones who will be revived and raised up? And then, to what purpose? “That we may live before Him.” And that is the message I want to share with you today. There is good news. Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. He is alive. And not only that, He has made a way that we can be revived and raised up that we might live before Him.

Before we move on from this verse, I want to mention that the book of Hosea was written around 750 BC, 750 years before Christ. God is telling the Israelites as well as the Gentiles, or non-Israelites, what He is going to do, what is going to happen 750 years before it does. And this is only one prophecy about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Acts 13, Paul makes reference to several prophecies concerning Christ. Let’s read the whole passage, and then come back and look at each prophecy individually.

The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.

"We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: " 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.' The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: " 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.' So it is stated elsewhere: " 'You will not let your Holy One see decay.' "For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. -- Acts 13:27-39

In this passage, there are three prophecies. First, that “You are my Son: today I have become your Father.” Now we all know that no man can come back from the dead. If a man dies, he cannot decide to come back to life. Jesus’ resurrection proved absolutely once and for all that he was the Son of God because only the Son of God could rise from the dead. In Romans 1:4, it is written, “who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Next, is the prophecy, “I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.” God himself promised to David that one of his offspring would cause David’s house, kingdom, and throne to be established forever. This promise came to David through the prophet Nathan around 1000 BC.

The last prophecy Paul mentioned is the easiest to understand. “You will not let your Holy One see decay.” Jesus did not see decay just as the Scripture says. He has been raised from the dead. This promise was written through David in Psalm 16, also around 1000 BC.

God predicted the resurrection of His Son long before He was even born. Not only that, but God had a plan from the very beginning. We turned away from him. Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. They disobeyed God’s command. Do not eat the fruit, but what did they do? They ate the fruit. The sin of Adam comes again through each generation, through each person. God’s Word says, “No one is perfect, no not one.” Man’s sin began in the garden, but so also did God begin to reveal His plan for deliverance.

God spoke to Satan in the garden, and He said of one of the offspring of Adam and Eve:

"He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” --Genesis 3:15

So even at that moment, when it looked like God’s plan had gone wrong, when the sinless perfection of His creation was destroyed. God Himself knew what would ultimately happen. Of course, omniscience or knowing all things is one of God’s qualities. He knows everything. God is not surprised.

So, in these few verses, we can see God has a plan. He has a plan on how to deal with Satan. He has a plan to reveal his Son to us. His Son will not see decay. And God will establish a kingdom through His Son that will never fail, but last for ever and ever.

But why did Jesus have to die? Fred was the messenger last week. And he spoke on the death of Jesus. And I would like to take a moment an review the summary of last week’s message. If you are interested or would like more details, please visit the church website and go to the Sermon Center there and you can read the full transcript or listen to the audio. I was able to sit down and listen at the computer and read the transcript while listening, and I found that I got more out of it than either of them independently.

But why did Jesus have to die?

1. Death exists because of the Fall. (Our sin separates us from God.)
2. We are all infected with sin and deserve to die to pay the just punishment for sin. (God is 100% holy. We are not. Sin cannot exist with God. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages [or payment] of sin is death.”)
3. Jesus was beaten and suffered for our sin that we might be healed from the effects of sin and be able to stand before the Holy God sanctified and that justice would be served. That is, the punishment would be paid.
4. Jesus died as an act of love for us so that justice could be served without our death.
5. God no longer accepts the sacrifices of dead animals and the sprinkling of their blood for a covering for sin.
6. Since God does not accept sacrifices or good works for the forgiveness of sin we are left with two choices. We must accept God’s plan, or choose to reject it.

God laid out this plan before Jesus came to Earth in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Isaiah was a prophet who lived and wrote 700 years before Christ.

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him -- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness -- so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. --Isaiah 52:13- 53:12

Isn’t it amazing to see that the Lord has made a way for you and me to be forgiven for our sins? That forgiveness means that we can have eternal life. How then do we receive this forgiveness?

Romans 10:9-13 is very clear:

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." --Romans 10:9-13

Let me give just one more example about what God is doing. I’ve been rereading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Lewis first recorded a series of radio broadcasts, then later published as a series of books or pamphlets from 1943-1945. In 1952, they were collected into a single volume, Mere Christianity. Lewis was British, so there is a good bit of English dialect. In particular, there are several references to things that happened during World War II. Overall, this book is a very good introduction into the Christian faith, and I would strongly recommend it.

"Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery. I know someone will ask me, “Do you really mean, at this time of day, to re-introduce our old friend the devil – hoofs and horns and all?” Well, what the time of day has to do with it I do not know. And I am not particular about the hoofs and horns. But in other respects, my answer is “Yes, I do.” I do not claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better I would say to that person, “Don’t worry. If you really want to, you will. Whether you’ll like it when you do is another question.”
...Skipping over a few pages...
Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it that He is not strong enough? Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely. I do not suppose you and I would have thought much of a Frenchman who waited till the Allies were marching into Germany and then announced he was on our side. God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream or something else – something it never entered your head to conceive – comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we have really chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it."

Did you catch that part about the Frenchman who wanted to choose sides after he was already liberated? Jesus himself said, "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters. ” --Luke 11:23

What then should our mission be if we have chosen Jesus’ side? Obviously, we are still here. There must be some work for us to do. The answers are written throughout Scripture. Here are just a few.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. --Ephesians 2:8-10

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." --Hebrews 3:12-15

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. --II Corinthians 5:17-21

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. --Colossians 3:23-24

There is much that we can do in the name of the Lord. We are created to do good works. We can encourage one another daily. We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is making His appeal through us to our families, to our friends, to our co-workers, to our fellow students. God wants to work through us to give more and more people a chance to choose Him before it is too late. Everything we do (apart from sin), we can do in service to the Lord.

And if you thought C.S. Lewis sounded a little too harsh saying that God’s return will result in “the whole natural universe melting away” there is coming a time that Isaiah described, “All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll.” Isaiah 34:4

I want to close with the testimony of the apostle John in the book of Revelation.

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet …

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and hell. --Revelation 1:9-10, 12-18

When He returns, there will be “either irresistible love or irresistible horror” for every person. It depends on the choice we make. But the time to choose is now. We can call on the Name of Jesus and be saved. If we turn away from our sin, believe in our hearts, and confess “Jesus is Lord” with our mouths, we can be saved. There is no sin too great or too small that can separate us from God. All of your sins were in the future when Jesus died. You do not have to worry; they have all been paid for. His death was not in vain. His sacrifice was perfect. Because of his sacrifice, the tomb is empty.

On that first Easter, Mary and the other women gathered together. They prepared spices and ointments to anoint the body of Jesus. Going to the tomb, they did not find His body, but instead, they saw and angel of the Lord. And the angel said,

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” --Matthew 28:5-6

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus, it is hard for us to grasp all that You have done for us. Thank You for the Bible that tells all these wonderful truths about You. Thank You for Your sacrifice. Thank You for dying on the cross. Thank You that we can know You, that You care about us, and that You hear our prayers. Thank You for making each one of us part of Your plan to save the world. Thank You that You have risen from the dead. All honor and power and glory and dominion are Yours now and forever more. Amen.