We are Risen Indeed!

“Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”

That chorus was heard proclaimed in churches around the world today, Easter Sunday, just as it has been down through the centuries for almost 2000 years. Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the most life-changing, world-overturning, and hope-creating event in all of history. Without it there would be no Easter, of course. Without it, neither would there be a Christian Church. Without it, (shudder!) there would be no pastors emeriti! Without it, there would be no resurrection for you and me, nor hope of eternal life to come. But, Christ is risen (He is risen indeed!) and therefore we do have the sure and certain hope of our own resurrection to come, based on the historical fact of Christ’s resurrection and the biblically-revealed significance of what happened that first Easter.

This particular Easter weekend of 2017 is also the time of year we file our income tax returns. Talk about a clash of rendering unto Caesar and to God what belongs to each! (Matthew 22:21) Of course, Easter is about what God did for us to save us from our sins (Gospel) rather than what God demands from us (Law); it’s the government in this case that has the law thing going for it. What we render to God at Easter is our faith in Christ’s death and resurrection for our sake.

What we render to God at Easter is our faith in Christ’s death and resurrection for our sake.

While thinking of this juxtaposition, I was reminded of Ben Franklin’s famous remark, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Old Ben was a pretty sharp guy, the inventor of bifocals, the Franklin Stove, Poor Richard’s Almanack (I always liked the name of that for some reason – except for the “Poor” part), and the first electric kite, but he made a huge error of omission in that statement. While his point was that taxes are as inevitable as death itself, he forgot to mention the third thing which is also certain for each of us besides death and taxes, and that is resurrection.

It’s important for us to remember that one day we will be resurrected. Our destiny is not to be floating around like ghosts for all eternity; our destiny is to be raised from the dead with immortal, glorified and spiritual bodies. Scripture says that our bodies will be sown perishable and raised imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42), meaning that though our current bodies are mortal and subject to death and decay, when they are raised from the dead they will be changed, and no longer subject to illness, injury, aging, or death. Our resurrected bodies will have continuity with our current ones – our same bodies (whether embalmed, cremated, or eaten by a shark) will be raised – but they will be transformed. Exactly the same – only different.

This promise of resurrection is what we proclaim in our Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in . . . the resurrection of the body . . .” and the Nicene Creed: “We look for the resurrection of the dead . . . ” It is the comfort we give at funeral services to the bereaved. It is the hope we hold in our hearts for our own futures. It is the promise given to all who believe in Jesus Christ: that they will not perish, but have eternal life.

That the resurrection awaits all believers we are certain, but Scripture actually teaches that everyone will be resurrected, even those who were non-believers and enemies of God in this life!

Scripture actually teaches that everyone will be resurrected

• 1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” All here means all, since even non-believers die, so they too shall live.
• Revelation 20 speaks of two resurrections, the first of those who will reign with Christ, the second of “the rest of the dead.”
• John 5:28-29 gives Christ’s definitive statement of this truth: “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

Unlike what some sects teach, those who die apart from Christ do not just cease to exist, nor do they only suffer emotional or spiritual anguish (what Jesus referred to as the weeping and gnashing of teeth). The anguish will be real, but it will also be suffered physically as well, in bodies that will never die and therefore never receive the release from pain that death in this world can deliver. When Christ died for us and rose from the grave to defeat death, he delivered us from that eternal torment of soul and body which we were condemned by our sins to receive. Thank God! Through him we have the resurrection of life (John 5:29) promised by Christ, who proved his promise by his own resurrection that first Easter.

Therefore, we can legitimately proclaim, “We are risen, we are risen indeed!”

Though the day of our resurrection is still to come, its certainty is attested to in Scripture. It will take place on that “great and awesome day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31) when Christ returns. 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us that Christ will descend from heaven with a shout and the sound of the trumpet. He will bring with him the souls of those who have died in him; they will be raised in that instant. Then we who are alive at his coming will not die, but will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, receiving our immortal, eternal bodies. A living resurrection, as it were!

So, wait . . . Ben Franklin was wrong on another point? Death is not so inevitable as he said it was? For being so smart he must not have read his Bible all the way through! So, the only thing he got right was the part about taxes? Which reminds me . . . I’ve got a 1040 around somewhere that needs to get mailed . . .

Rejoice this day, and every day, that “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4