Ultimate Hope
“Why did Jesus need to rise from the grave?” A friend of mine was asked that this week by a skeptical work associate. “I understand why you believe he had to die,” said the friend, “but why do you believe the resurrection is so important.” My friend said he found himself stumbling for words. I’ve been reflecting on that very question for the last couple months and in my studies I have been challenged and thrilled by deeper insights on the importance of the resurrection, especially by reading a book by renowned New Testament scholar N.T. Wright entitled: Surprised by Hope. This Easter I will not be talking about reasons to believe that the resurrection actually happened (and there are many good solid reasons), but instead what difference it makes for us now and in the future and how the story of Easter provides hope like nothing else—ultimate hope!
April 10th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Thanks for sharing thoughts about resurrection. I love to read and listen to NT Wright.
The resurrection of Jesus surprised everyone because we weren’t expecting victory in such a manner. I always like to think how God surprises me (and us) in ways I am not ready for. There is a verse in Isaiah that I think of when this happens:
Isa 64:3 When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.
Isa 64:4 For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
He is Risen! Jesus is Lord!
April 13th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Why did He have to rise from the grave?
Let’s say I owe someone a debt. This debt is a very heavy burden upon me, but I’ve come to realize that there is no way I can afford to pay it. One day, a friend of mine informs me that he is going to meet with the man to whom my debt is owed. I ask my friend if he would be so kind as to plead my case to him who I owe and ask him if he could forgive me of this debt. My friend agrees and goes on his way to meet the one I owe. After talking to him, the one I owe respectfully forgives my debt, and gives my friend a signed document of release from debt to be given back to me. Now, my debt has been forgiven, but I still bear the heavy burden of it because my friend has not yet returned to inform me of this resolution. As far as I know, I still owe the debt. The burden is only lifted once my friend returns with that certificate.
When the Lord died, His disciples didn’t know what to think. His resurrection was the assurance that their debt had been paid. Yes, the death paid the debt, but the resurrection was the proof. Without the resurrection there would be no New Testament, because eventually the disciples would’ve decided Jesus was just another would’ve been Messiah who was too good to be true. …But that’s just part of it.
In the beginning, if Adam had chosen the Tree of Life, he would’ve chosen to be completely sustained by God’s life. God would’ve been his provision, protection, enjoyment, amusement, sustainance, shelter, comfort, indeed, his life and his everything.
The tree of knowledge represents all that man requires to live independant of God. Because of sin, he lost his fellowship with God as well as his access to the Tree of Life. Because of this, man had to begin to work the land for his sustainance, make clothes and build houses for his comfort and shelter, craft instruments for his amusement, build weapons for his protection, and set up a society that could provide for him.
So God went through a process to make himself once again available and accessable to man as the Tree of Life. He became a man. Jesus told his disciples that it was expedient that He leave so that the Comforter would come. He also said that whoever believes in Him, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. In these two verses, He was referring to the Spirit, which the Bible says, “was about to be received by His disciples, but was not yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” The Holy Spirit was always there as the third of the Triune God, who brooded over the surface of the waters in Genesis, but God had to go through a process to make the Spirit available to man. Jesus was “glorified” in His resurrection, and at that time, Jesus, the Last Adam became the Life-giving Spirit. He then breathed His life into the apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Now, He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit, that is, this Life-giving Spirit comes into and mingles with our human spirit and becomes one with it. Praise the Lord! God has restored to us our place at the Tree of Life. He became a man, adding humanity to His divinity, and in death and resurrection, became a Life-giving Spirit who could be imparted into man, adding divinity back into man’s humanity. Now this God is ever so near, even within us. Ever so accessable and available to us are the unsearchable riches of this all-inclusive One!
In the Garden, there was the tree, the river, and the precious stones. In the New Jerusalem there is also the tree, the river and the precious stones, only now the precious stones have been built up into a Holy city – a mutual dwelling place for God and man in eternity. God imparted Himself into us that we might become partakers of the divine nature. By this He is transforming us into His very expression which is to consummate in the New Jerusalem in eternity! Hallelujah!