Its Not the “Gospel” without the Resurrection
Too often, in Evangelical circles, I hear a version of “the gospel” that stops at the cross. Somehow this presentation does not include the resurrection.
Israel was waiting for a messiah to rescue them. The world was waiting for a messiah to lead the people of God into being the people they were called to be and to bless all the nations.
There had been many “messiahs”. Men who had claimed to be the one to lead Israel out of captivity (and defeat the Romans). All of them had raised hopes and passions, but all of them ended up on crosses along roadsides as a warning to any would-be rebel that to square up against the all-powerful Roman Empire will result in being crushed and humiliated.
So you see, the story of one young man from Nazareth who ended up dead on a cross is actually not good news at all.
As I said in the last blog, the battle was won on the first Good Friday, but no one yet knew. All they saw was another failed messiah.
What makes the cross so significant is that Jesus did not stay dead. He was raised.
(Resurrection has a very specific meaning and can only mean that something that was physically dead was now physically alive. We must dispel the platonised views of our “spirits” being raised to go to the “spiritual” world.)
Jesus was dead and then he was alive. So much so that he ate fish to prove it (which, to my mind is a cruel, unusual and unnecessary thing to put anyone through).
Why does this matter?
If Jesus defeated death. If he descended to the depths and plundered Hades, setting the prisoners free and taking the keys, then he started something new.
The way that we know that something new was started is that he was raised from the dead and stood before the apostles alive.
The new world has come. Here is the proof.
Death no longer has any hold over us. Here is the proof.
We have a hope that goes beyond this age. Here is the proof.
No matter how bad things get, we have this hope. Here is the proof.
There is nothing that anyone can do to us that will ultimately harm us. Here is the proof.
When we grieve, “we do not grieve like those who have no hope”. Here is the proof.
“Oh death, where is your sting?” Here is the proof.
The Firstfruits
On Good Friday, the world was changed for ever.
On Easter Sunday we have the first taste of what that will look like.
It looks like physical resurrection in bodies that will not perish or age or get ill or weak. It looks like life the way that it was created to be in the beginning.
Jesus spent his ministry preaching the “good news of the kingdom”.
It is like someone telling you about life on the other side of the river. No one has ever made it to the other side of the river though. It is not possible to survive the crossing.
Then one day the person dives into the river and then appears on the other side. “I have made a way through it and now it is open to everyone who will trust me. Just grab the rope and I will pull you safely over”. Suddenly, life on the other side of the river is a reality because we can see it.
The cross without the resurrection is not good news. If Jesus died but was not raised then he could not have defeated death.
The resurrection is what makes it good news because it is the solid proof that death and sin are defeated.
Easter Sunday is the foundation of our hope.
Easter Sunday is why we are Christians.
It still doesn’t really shed any light onto the Easter bunny, I am afraid.
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