Introduction

The unfailing message that must be preached each Easter Sunday until Christ returns in glory is that his victory over death is our assurance of eternal life and the hope laid out for us in the gospel (Col 1:23). Today however I want to give a different focus for our celebration of the resurrection. Let me use a recent illustration of where I am going. A book appeared last year called “The Cross is not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection.” In dialogue with the authors I came across a major difference of emphasis; they wanted to teach about the resurrection as the central event in history, but I wanted to talk about what the resurrection meant for Jesus. If we do not grasp the extent of the transformation the resurrection brought to Jesus’ life we can never understand what it means us.

In Christ God became a flesh and blood human being in order to subjected himself to a brutal and violent death (John 1:14; Phil 2:5-8; Heb 2:14-15). His rising from the dead meant the end of all his struggles, sufferings and sorrows. Our salvation is nothing more or less than a share in Christ’s own deliverance from evil (Matt 6:10; Rom 6:9). Everything that Jesus experiences in resurrection can be summed up in a single word, “Sonship”. At the centre of the resurrection is the revelation of the Sonship of Jesus and our share in Christ’s sonship is our hope of eternal life. This is how Paul describes his understanding of the resurrection.

The Highest Acclaim: The Son

“Jesus…was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:4). Immediately after his conversion on the Damascus Road, Paul “proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”” (Acts 9:20 ESV cf. Gal 1:16). His longest recorded sermon climaxes with this testimony, ““when they had [executed Jesus], they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, …And we bring you the good news that what God promised …he has fulfilled …by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have become your father.’” (Acts 13:28-33 ESV). Or to use The Message translation, ““My Son! My very own Son! Today I celebrate you!”” This might seem strange language to us.  Wasn’t Jesus always God’s Son? To answer how the resurrection declared Jesus to be the Son of God in power and how God could “become his Father” we must return to the cross.

Satan’s most successful deception is to convince people God is the author of all the disasters and evils of this world. When Jesus cried out in unbearable anguish from the cross, ““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34) he was experiencing the power of all evil without the loving and consoling presence of God as his Father. When he was dying his opponents mocked him saying, ““If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”” (Matt 27:40 ESV). On the cross Jesus did not look, and for a period neither did he feel like, God’s beloved Son.

In raising Jesus from the dead God revealed himself not as the Father of evil but as the Father of every good thing (James 1:17). The resurrection is the moral justification of God’s will in sending Jesus to die a cruel and painful death. This vindication of God as a loving Father is also the vindication of Jesus as a faithful Son who always kept the commands of God . The apparent impotence and weakness of Christ’s Sonship on the cross is transformed into the power of Sonship in resurrection. God’s raising his Son from the dead (Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15, 26 etc.) is the final revelation of his Fatherhood and the rationale for creating a universe where evil often seems to reign.

The Greatest Question: The Father

Life’s ultimate question is not “Is there a God?” but “Is God a Father and what sort of a Father is he?” The resurrection is the ultimate triumph of divine Fatherhood. Here is another quote from Paul, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:4). In raising Jesus from the dead the Father revealed that he is not really interested in judging people but wants to give them a new and eternal life with Jesus beyond all the struggles and sufferings of this world (2 Tim 2:12; Rev 20:6). What it meant for Jesus to be “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” is not easy to grasp, but our understanding is illuminated by one of Christ’s own prayers.

On the threshold of death he prayed, ““Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.”” (John 17:5). Jesus is asking that he might share in God’s eternal splendour and immortality. The resurrection is the means by which this has happened! As one of us, as a human being, Jesus now shares the throne of God in heaven and promises to share with us all he enjoys with his Father. This means that in a very real sense in the raising of Jesus was the resurrection of God as our Father. Let me explain what I mean.

When the risen Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene he said to her, ““go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”(John 20:17 ESV). Through the resurrection Jesus is our brother and his Father is our Father. This makes Jesus very excited; here is how the writer of Hebrews puts it, “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the church I will sing your praise.”” (Hebrews 2:11-12). Jesus’ risen life communicates JOY, whenever the risen Jesus appeared in the Gospels there was, in Peter’s words, “inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Pet 1:8 cf. Matt 28:8; Luke 24:41). The resurrection joy that Jesus shares with us is his boundless, pure and indestructible joy in being reunited with his Father (Cf. Rom 14:17)! This is great news, but it can only experienced as great news through the influence of the Holy Spirit.

The Highest Power: The Spirit

The way to resurrection was costly for Jesus, and it is costly for us too. The Holy Spirit could only recreate the humanity of Jesus when he came to the end of all his mortal strength. I have been present when a number of people died, but Jesus expired in a way that was different from others, with his last gasp he consciously put himself into the hands of his Father; “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46). Through his total surrender to God the supreme weakness of death became the springboard for the empowerment of resurrection through the Holy Spirit of God.
The Spirit poured out upon the lifeless body of Jesus in the tomb he imparted to him total Lordship, “all authority in heaven and earth” (Matt 28:18; Acts 2:36; Rom 14:9; 1 Cor 15:45; Phil 2:9). The goal of this Lordship is to destroy every evil; for human beings such evil is concentrated in death. In resurrection Jesus has conquered death, as Peter preaches, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death” (Acts 2:24 ESV) or in Paul’s words, ““Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”” (1 Cor 15:54-57 ESV). The cross cleanses us from guilt so that death need hold any fear for the person who is indwelt by the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead.

Over the years of taking funerals I have noticed a striking contrast between the atmosphere present at the burial of a firm believer in Jesus and that of non Christians. One funeral I will never forget was that of a young teenager wilfully shot dead by a neighbour whom he hardly knew. The undertaker remarked to me that he’s never seen anything like it, the crowd outside the church were totally silent and it was a like a heavy black cloud hung over everyone. This cloud was the presence of the power of death (cf. Heb 2:14-15). But as scripture says, those who believe in Jesus do not grieve as others do, “who have no hope” (1 Thess 4:13); our hope rests solely on the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet 1:3).

“If the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” (Rom 8:11). The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and gave him authority over all creation lives in us. Whilst we can only have only final death experience, there are many death-like experiences as we go on life’s journey e.g. divorce, bereavement, financial loss, unemployment, the breakdown of health. The victorious Jesus however is more than adequate for them all. [Donna’s testimony here:]

Living in Resurrection Victory

If Jesus’ victory is more powerful than any evil force why are so many Christians overcome by the sadness and seriousness of life? Let me use a couple of examples to explain how Jesus can change any situation.

A friend of mine about 50 fell and broke her back about a year ago. When I first visited her in hospital she was totally paralysed and stretched out on a specialised bed in the form of a cross. One expectation was quadriplegia. I spoke and prayed with her about giving all of her life to Jesus and the symbolism of Jesus’ crucifixion was so evident we both knew God would do something marvellous. By the grace of God she has recovered most of the use in her arms and hands and her legs and feet are getting stronger and stronger. The real miracle however has been in her personal transformation – from being a recluse dependent on various substances to get by in life she has become a radiant light for Jesus and a counsellor to both patients and carers in the institution where she is living. By the miraculous transforming power of Christ’s death and resurrection her accident has become the best thing I have ever seen happen to her.

The resurrection is unlimitedly powerful, but it only ever works through the cross. Here is some counsel I sent to someone recently:
“Whatever is put on the cross, if it is the will of God, will be raised from the dead in God’s own timing. This is the message of Easter, and it is the gospel. If you are going through a trial of faith, like Christ in Gethsemane, the Spirit is calling you to share in Jesus’ response, “not my will but yours be done”. When the desire for marriage, questions about vocation etc. are all put on the cross and left there, then you will have peace. This is how Jesus himself entered into the fullness of the Father’s [resurrection] blessing. I know this is a very hard, but I have proved this way of life to be true over many years and seen it at work in others also.” Surrender is the way to resurrection.
Finally, let me say a word about witnessing to the resurrection.

Witnesses of the Resurrection

A lot of Christians find it hard to speak to unbelievers about Jesus; the solution to this is not to “try harder” but to get in touch with Jesus own feelings about being raised from the dead. Jesus is so overwhelmed by the unending joy of resurrection life that he wants to tell everyone what the LORD has done for him (Rev 3:14 cf. John 15:26-27)! If we have a revelation of what God has done in abolishing the power of evil by raising Jesus from the dead (2 Tim 1:10) no amount of natural disasters or personal suffering will stop us testifying to Christ as the conqueror of sin, Satan and death. Jesus cannot keep quiet about the goodness of his Father, and when we experience the power of the resurrection as the conclusive triumph of God’s goodness over all evil we cannot keep quiet about Jesus (Acts 4:20)!

Conclusion

To be converted is to share in the revelation that Jesus had when he was raised from the dead, ““My Son! My very own Son! Today I celebrate you!”” (Acts 28:33). Have you had this experience? Are you aware of a love and a power in yourself that transforms spiritual death and lifelessness into such intense intimacy with God that this can only be summed up in one word, “Sonship” (Eph 1: 19-20 cf. Gal 1:16). If you have been united by faith with the risen Son of God (Rom 6:5) you share in these words of promise, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3). With God as your Father, Jesus as your brother and the Spirit as your empowerer you can no longer be only the man or woman next door, you are a living witness to the greatest event in the history of humanity and all creation. Just as surely as the Father gave the Son victory over all that assailed him on the cross by raising him from the dead he will give you triumph and will at the End resurrect you too. The love of the Father for his Son which has proved itself to be stronger than death he can surely deliver us from all despair and hopelessness (cf. S of S 8:6).