Easter Sunday 8.4.07
Our Lord rose in the body. It was necessary that He do that because otherwise the victory would not be complete.
The devil would have no part of Our Saviour, and to leave him the body would have been like giving him a trophy.
It was impossible for the Holy One of God to suffer corruption.
The devil must have been left wondering that all his plans has come so unstuck.
Just a few hours earlier Jesus had looked a wreck. He was dead; His body was mutilated by all the punishment; His followers had scattered.
Then suddenly Jesus is back alive, His body is glorious (even better than before) and His followers have regrouped with new heart.
It is a lesson for us that things might look dark but God can shed light very quickly and nothing is impossible to Him.
The devil is decisively defeated here. Death has lost its sting. The gates of heaven have been thrown open and ordinary people can enter there.
But the devil has one card still to play. Deception.
He can rob us of the joyful assurance of our final victory, and he does this by planting fear and doubt in our hearts.
Despite the triumphant rising of Jesus the world is still shrouded in darkness. We simply do not believe in this event as fully as we should.
We do not give it its full weight and value.
Why do we doubt it? Some doubt that it happened.
Others (probably our position) believe in it as an historical event, but doubt that it has direct relevance for us.
It’s all very well for Jesus to be rising from the dead, but I am still going to be afraid as I face my death.
I don’t feel fully confident that I will be committing my life into His hands; that the same power by which He rose will also raise me.
Curious breakdown of faith just when we need it.
The devil has got at us and tricked us into thinking only by the standards of the flesh.
We believe only what we know or have experienced. Beyond that we are unsure.
But we should not limit belief to what we have seen or been through.
God is not limited to our experience. He can do a lot more things than that.
We are dealing with a powerful Creator who has brought life out of nowhere.
We have to pitch our thoughts towards Him and His unlimited power, rather than the very limited world of the flesh.
So we should not doubt or fear. The only fear of death should be whether we are ready to meet the Lord in judgment, but never for a second doubt His power to raise us again.
This feast is very much inviting us to look higher than usual. To look beyond the limits of the flesh and the usual way that things happen.
The raising of Christ is in one way a miracle, because it is such a spectacular event.
In another way it is ‘natural’ because it is how thing had to be. Death could not hold Him. It would have unnatural if He had stayed in the tomb!
This event sets a whole new tone, and a new precedent.
From now on anyone who is identified with Christ will rise in Him. The faith is in Him rather than ourselves. I certainly could not raise myself from the dead; but He can do it easily.
This is a great feast we celebrate. We have trouble letting its full import sink in. We are accustomed to playing down good news and being cautious, but this is one story we can and should believe.
Don’t let the devil rob you of your place in heaven, or your peace of mind now.
