Paradox

The good news is about the death of the only truly innocent man who ever lived.

The greatest crime ever committed is the only atonement for sin.

Death was overcome by the death of Jesus.

The good news is about the death of the Creator at the hand of His creations.

The King of Glory died a shameful death.

God the Son who had lived a life in perfect harmony with the will of the Father was forsaken by the Father.

The good news is about the perfect, holy, and righteous Judge of all justifying the guilty.

Thoughts on Worship for Easter

I was reading chapter 2 of John Owen's Communion with the Triune God this evening, and came across the following quote (p. 97):

Faith, love, trust, joy, etc., are the natural or moral worship of God, whereby those in whom they are have communion with him.

I remember sitting in a Sunday morning service as a young believer (less than 2 years after the Father had drawn me to His Son) listening to a sermon where worship was mentioned. Not having grown up in church, it was a word I knew, but not a word with which I had wrestled. I made a note to myself: "What is worship?"

I'm not so young a believer anymore, that sermon being over 20 years in the past. But sometimes I still wonder how well I understand what worship is. It does, I believe, occur when we gather together and sing praises to God and offer up our prayers to Him and listen to the proclamation of His word.

But Owen has written what I have long struggled to formulate in my own mind. Worship of God is in large part a display of His image within us. That image being things like faith, love, trust, joy, hope, peace, etc. It is in this worship that we have the deepest communion with God.

Here the sun has set on Good Friday. In the time we are honoring and remembering, Jesus is in the tomb, and the disciples are scattered and hiding. But hope was not gone, just hidden, wrapped in a veil of death. So also hope may seem to be gone from some of our lives.

May we in those darkest nights worship God by believing, by loving, by trusting, by rejoicing and by hoping even though all reason for hope seems gone. Gazing not only at the cross but also at the empty tomb and knowing that our greatest enemies have been defeated by Jesus, who has promised to never leave us or forsake us.

Happy Easter. The Lord has risen!

The Event that Transforms the World

The religious leaders were right not to be concerned about Jesus' followers. The huddled together or scattered. None were Marc Anthony's out trying to raise indignation over the sham trial through which Jesus had been put. They were concerned only for their own well being. They had thought they were following the Messiah. They had thought that the kingdom was coming. Instead, Jesus had not overthrown the Romans, their oppressors, but had been killed by them. Now, what were they going to do?

The women had at least one last task, to properly prepare the body for its long decay. The job done after the crucifixion was hurried to beat the setting sun. So they arrived early on Sunday morning with the intent of mourning and anointing Jesus' body. Only there was a problem. There was no body to anoint.

Something earth (existence) shattering had happened. Death was not able to hold Him. Jesus was raised from the grave. God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of the Son and our sins are forgiven. Witness the empty tomb.

Christianity did not grow slowly, but exploded into the Roman world. It did not begin in some out of the way place, but in Jerusalem, where it's claims could have easily been refuted had they not been true. Putting an end to the church should have been easy, unless there really was no body to find. Jesus literally died on a cross and literally rose from the grave.

And so a few fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, some others, and eventually, in God's perfect irony and plan, a Pharisee took this "good news" to world. That Pharisee, the Apostle born out of time, would right these words (1 Corinthians 15:12-28):

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.(ESV)

For more on the resurrection, please see Pastor J.D. Hatfield's post.

For an attempt at harmonizing the gospel accounts of the resurrection using a fictional disciple, see this post of mine.

He is risen indeed!

Saturday Night before THE Sunday Morning

What must it have been like for the disciples that Saturday, particularly as darkness fell again. By now most of them knew about Judas' suicide, probably about Peter's denials, and about the guards at the tomb. Based on what would happen on Sunday morning, John and Peter, at a minimum, were together. Was John berating Peter for the denials or trying to comfort him?

We don't know the details, but we can be pretty sure from what the gospels do tell us that they were very apprehensive, even scared. They worried that they might be the next targets. Probably, however, apart from concerns that the disciples might try to steal the body the religious leaders were little worried about this band from Galilee. Fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, and other less than influential people were not a concern. With Jesus dead, those who had followed Him would surely fade into obscurity.

Unless something earth shattering happened . . .

Good Friday 2007

Approximately one thousand nine hundred seventy seven years ago God incarnate hung on a Roman cross just outside of Jerusalem. He had come unto His own, and His own had not received Him. Instead, they had turned Him over to the their oppressors, and demanded that He be killed. None of this surprised Him. He and the Father had planned these events from before time.

This is not just a story. Jesus literally hung on a wooden cross in agony. He in whom the fullness of deity dwelt was separated from God. In once sense, it is the height of arrogance to call this "good" Friday, because the only good Man who ever lived was killed by wicked men, men like me. But He was "delivered up according to ^ithe definite plan and ^jforeknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). When Peter indicated that Jesus should not die, Jesus called Peter "Satan". The crucifixion was no accident and we call this Good Friday because of what God has wrought from the greatest crime ever committed.

Jesus suffered as no other man has ever suffered. The One who had eternally been in a love relationship with the Father was rejected and bore the Father's wrath. Not because He deserved it, but in our place - because we deserved it. This act was the act of sacrifice to redeem His chosen ones. This act was the act of love to reconcile those estranged from God. This act was the act of atonement to pay the penalty for our sins. This act was the act of propitiation to allow the Father to justify us.

Praise God who can take our vilest act and use it to cleanse us from all our sin.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?(ESV)

^i Luke 22:22; [ch. 3:18; 4:28; 13:27]

^j 1 Pet. 1:2; [1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8]

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ac 2:23). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

A Maundy Thursday Reminder

Luke 22:14-22

14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” (ESV)

Easter Truth

"Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on." Winston S. Churchill

Churchill knew this about as well as anyone in recent history, seeing the west deny what Hitler was really trying to accomplish until it was almost too late despite his persistent warnings. I don't know Churchill's religious convictions, but as we approach Good Friday and Easter, I'm reminded that Jesus told us that He is "the way, the truth, and the life." Because of our sin, as a result of the fall, we stumble over Him, but too often pick ourselves up and carry on as if nothing at all happened. Again, the Spirit knew we would, and inspired the Biblical writers to tell us that Jesus would be "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense."

This Easter weekend, there is one question that matters - did Jesus rise from the grave? Is the resurrection a literal, physical reality, or just the imaginations of some men roughly 2000 years ago. If it is the latter, then Paul the Apostle says Christians are of all men the most to be pitied.

But if it is real, then Jesus the Christ has conquered death and is putting all enemies under His feet. If it is real, then there is a life and a kingdom beyond this world that has broken into this world. If it is real, then we can suffer and endure tribulation in this life because, as Bob Benson said, we are going to a celebration. Instead of eating, drinking, and being merry in this life, we have a joy and a peace that passes all understanding, because we will feast (whatever that may mean for perfected saints) eternally when the Bridegroom returns for His bride.

The resurrection is God's promise to us that Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient to cover our sins. It is the new rainbow. When the Father looks at the Son seated at His right hand there is an eternal reminder that sin's debt has been paid, that sin's penalty has been meted out. Easter reminds us that Jesus is the first fruit from the dead, and one day death itself will be destroyed.

Happy Easter!