From the beginning, this world has been a world in which resurrection was a possibility. Before God created the heavens & earth, there was nothing. Nothing, of course, but the Eternal, Triune God, dwelling in the uncreated light, life, and joy of His own being. But then by His Word, all created things came to be. First there was not life, and then there was life.
Resurrection isn’t an anomaly in this world. Rather, resurrection is the wiring behind the sheetrock. It was hidden for ages & generations. However, the entire arc of OT history was anticipating the moment when God would throw the switch to illumine the whole world with the light of His life.
When Christ rose, by the Father’s power, the lights began to come on. The darkness receded as the power of the Gospel brought this light into every corner of the world. God Himself had come, taken death by the throat, drug it into the grave, and emerged three days later with eternal light & life to bestow on all those who come to Him by faith.
The resurrection is both the focus & vindication of our entire faith. Because of this, your faith in Christ isn’t a matter of “privately held religious beliefs.” Your Christian witness isn’t like going into a pitch-black cave full of deaf people, and attempting a sign language Gospel presentation. Rather, it’s like taking a 10,000-watt spotlight into the darkness, and those with eyes to see will see and come to the light of Christ.
Genuine faith in Christ isn’t capable of being tucked away in a corner. Your faith, given to You by God’s grace, is a light which cannot be extinguished; because its source is the Faithful One who Himself died to death to live forevermore. Resurrection is the story God’s been telling from the very beginning.
The world order was overthrown the moment the Father raised the Son from the grave. This Gospel undoes all the sham-righteousness which mankind had concocted. Mankind cannot proceed with our business as usual. We cannot continue dealing in envy, lust, unjust weights & measures, false witness, theft, blasphemy, and idol worship. All our sin, shame, and guilt was left in the tomb. Though it never made sense before the resurrection, now in light of it our sin is exposed as a double folly. In light of this truth, we must cease living as if the resurrection hasn’t happened, and that we still need to either appease God with our filthy rags of faux-righteousness, or avoid Him through the indulgence of our twisted desires. May God grant that we might ever live in the light of the resurrection, the light which scatters all our darkness away.
And so, here is the Gospel, the simple, glorious Gospel: Christ took your sins into the grave, and when He emerged they did not. And so, you are clean, you are free, you are alive. Have you confessed your sins in true faith? Then, do not fear, do not be afraid, the Word of God to you is this, your sins are forgiven through Christ.
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