Easter Season - Sermon 2
THE BEGINNING OF FOREVER!!
(Easter Sunday)
by
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a retired Pastor with the Worldwide Church of God in South St. Louis, Missouri. He is currently an Elder in the Desoto Worldwide Church of God. Click the Affiliated Church Directory link below for information about this church.
[Lectionary Readings: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2,14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18]
Hallelujah! Praise God! This is the day that the Lord has made! This is the day we celebrate our redemption! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!!
This day assures us that Jesus, our Paschal Lamb, has poured out his life-giving blood for us. This day assures us that his perfect, selfless sacrifice for us has been accepted in our stead.
We have been FORGIVEN, REDEEMED and RECONCILED to God our Heavenly Father. This has been accomplished by the forgiveness of our sins.
Not only have our sins been "taken out of the way," but the sins of the entire world! Oh, praise God for his wonderful mercy on we unworthy mortals! How much he must love us - all of us. Yes, even you!
Every sin ever committed; every sin that is being committed today; every sin that will ever be committed has been forgiven and stands smothered under the precious blood of the Lamb of God!!
The CROSS has been dismantled. The TOMB still stands empty after 2000 years. And our Lord Jesus Christ is ALIVE AND WELL.
Jesus has kept his promise. He has not left us orphaned!! Our faith has not been in vain. We are his and his forever!!
Jesus is the answer and this day is the proof of that answer to the question uppermost in the minds of humans throughout the ages: "Is there life after death?"
The most enduring testimony to humanity's quest for an answer to this question is to be found in the deserts near Gaza in Egypt. The Great Pyramids of Gaza are a tribute to the ingenuity and endurance of human beings. They were built to last forever and they might just come closest to doing this of all human monuments.
It is only fitting that such be the case. Because this is the most enduring question of all. It returns with every child that is born. It will be there until Christ returns. The Pyramids remind us in every generation that humans have believed from the farthest past, that there IS life after death. They may have arrived at different ideas of the state of the dead, but they agree there is something "out there" awaiting us all.
To show just how perceptive their understanding was during the age when the pyramids were being built, it is helpful to keep a few points in mind. When the pyramids were built, they were not being erected for Pharaoh's benefit alone. The Egyptians believed that, as head of the nation, he was representative of everyone who was a citizen. In other words, whatever happened to him would happen to the other Egyptians as well.
They believed that the Pharaoh would make a long journey down the Styx River en route to some promised land. If he was properly prepared and made the trip successfully, everyone else would go there when they died. When you think about it, that is not far from the Christian understanding of their own hope for a future life. Jesus has paved the way for us and we expect to "make it" on his coattails as it were. It never fails to amaze me at how much God has revealed to those who were not given the full Gospel message. Praise God for his mercy and love for all of us!
Unfortunately, although the Pyramids demonstrate humanity's desire for and belief in some life after death, they are, after all, only that. They DEMONSTRATE humanity's desire and belief. For when archaeologists dug into the pyramids, they discovered that the pharaohs were still there! They had not left on any journey yet. The grains buried with them are still able to grow when planted. Nothing has changed since they were buried! In the final analysis, the pyramids are monuments to human's belief in an afterlife, not proof of an afterlife.
It would be another 1500 years before the PROOF of life after death would come. Interestingly it would come from the heart of the people whom Pharaoh had used to build these very pyramids. The PROOF would come in the form of two pieces of wood, three nails and an empty cave/tomb. It would come on a hill just outside Jerusalem. It was a hill that could be seen for a distance. It was a hill used by another world-ruling empire to make examples of enemies of the state.
It was there on this hill, Calvary, that Jesus of Nazareth, a simple carpenter and itinerant preacher was crucified. He was the only completely innocent victim who suffered the death penalty. He not only had committed no crime; he had never even sinned! Not once! He was the first and last innocent man.
Church tradition tells us that this very cross was found by the devout mother of Emperor Constantine in the 300's AD. While no church historian has ever said that this is absolutely true, it is interesting to consider [By the way, different groups claim to possess parts of that original cross. Some have said if you put all the pieces claimed to be part of the cross together you would have a large cross indeed. Such is really not the case. The parts would not make more than a normal cross].
BUT THE PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH IS NOT THE EMPTY CROSS! After all, let us not forget that there are THREE EMPTY CROSSES. Dead men were removed from each.
No, the PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH IS TO BE FOUND SOMEWHERE ELSE. IT IS TO BE FOUND IN THE EMPTY TOMB!! It was emptied on Easter morning in 31 or 33 AD and has remained empty to this very day. It remains and will remain the most important hole in all Creation!
Our Lord said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE" [Jn. 3:14-15]. He explains that our sins have been paid for, all of them, if we will only believe and accept his sacrifice in our stead.
The purpose of our Lord's death and resurrection was not simply to pay for sins. Forgiveness of sins was necessary for a greater, much more positive purpose. Notice Jesus' words in John 12:27-32. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour?' No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be case out; and I, WHEN I AM LIFTED UP upon the earth, WILL DRAW ALL MEN TO MYSELF."
As we all look to the same Son of God for our salvation, we recognize that we are all brothers and sisters of the same family of God. All with the same need. We are not alone. It is not just personal salvation God is after. He is after salvation for everyone who has ever lived. He paid the penalty for the sins of everyone. We are all sinners, some greater than others, all in need of the same sacrifice offered at Calvary. And we all have the same assurance of life after death: the empty tomb.
The death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ, gives dignity to every human life. Not one is of more value than another; no matter our status in this life. He is Lord of all. Praise God for his unbounded love and raising us up from the dust and placing us on his very lap. His lap: the greatest throne of all! AMEN.
SLICC supports copyright laws. The creators of a work have the right to be recognized. Every effort is made to assure that this Easter sermon found here has received copyright permission or is in the public domain. Thus, if any copyrighted Christian inspirational Easter sermon or graphic is found onour website that belongs to you, please contact the webmaster, to properly attribute the author, or remove the item.
| | | | |
