Resurrection Sunday

21 April 2019

Dear Phyllis,

Today is Resurrection Sunday. The resurrection is the capstone of the identity of Christ. The devil may be able to set forth all his imitations and competitors, and they may be able to duplicate some things that Jesus did for 33 years, but when we come to the resurrection, Jesus steps through a door and leaves all the rest behind.

It is interesting that none of His brothers believed in Him until after the resurrection. Who could blame them? My goodness, this brother that we grew up with; that we played ball with, and every activity of family life? Yes, of course, He was unusual and outstanding, but our elder Brother? He is the Christ of God? He is God who created all things? And we are supposed to believe that? It seems obvious that Joseph had died shortly before Jesus began His ministry. It would have been natural for Jesus to continue the family business in the wood shop. We all know that Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus Himself was called the carpenter (Mk. 6:3). This identifies Him with the family business. He either took down the sign, or left it to James when he left home to begin His earthly ministry. We see in the early days of His ministry that His brothers, and maybe Mary, were concerned that He had gone too far and was slightly off His rocker when they stood outside and called for Him (Mk. 3:31-35). Obviously, they weren't on the team. It is also interesting that James or none of the other three boys (Mk. 6:3) were at the Cross. His brothers had resigned themselves to His ministry and considered themselves advisers late in His ministry, but the Scripture clearly says they weren't saved at that point (Jn. 7:2-5). But sometime after Pentecost James appears as the head of the church in Jerusalem and subsequently wrote a book in which he called himself a servant of Jesus Christ (Jm. 1:1). And the third brother, Jude, also wrote a book in which he refers to himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James (Ju. 1:1). What turned the brothers around? Obviously the resurrection and ascension.

In His humanity Jesus so totally identifies Himself with us that He partook and suffered from every experience every descendant of Adam has ever known; from being born as a baby, to sorrow, fatigue, bleeding, and dying. In the Song of Solomon we see a significant expression that Jesus uses four times, when He speaks to us saying “My sister, My spouse” (S of S 4:9,10,12; 5:1). Six times He uses the expression “My spouse (4:8-12: 5:1) and four times He prefixes that with the title “My sister”. But in each case sister comes before spouse.

I have never heard it taught, but obviously there is a gender in Scripture. In many languages there is a gender. In Spanish windows and doors are referred to in feminine as “she” and mountains and trees are masculine as “he”. Very clearly in the Bible things that are associated with the earth are feminine gender and things in heaven are masculine gender. One illustration of this is Gen. 6:2 where it says “the sons of God saw the daughters of men”. In the NT we never have an expression the “daughters of God”. In all cases, whether man or woman, anyone born of the Spirit of God are referred to in the masculine gender as “sons of God”. This is because we are born of His Spirit which is from heaven.

But in the Song of Solomon Jesus uses the expression “My sister”. Why is this? It is because Jesus came down to first be born as a human and joined us in our humanity. When He says “My sister” He is reminding us of His identification with us in our humanity of being born on earth, but then He adds “My spouse”. This gives us our identity with Him in His deity. It is because Jesus first came to identify Himself with us that He is able now to give us our identity with Him as His spouse. But in all cases the sister comes first. It is because He came to be identified with us that He is now able to identify us with Himself. This is a huge point. This is the whole basis of Ephesians where we see – as in no other place – our identification with Jesus in heaven.

The US Air Force has always placed a high priority on rescuing down pilots. I had several courses on survival in training. We were taught how to survive under all sorts of conditions. But as a last ditch, if it was impossible to get a man out of a difficult area, the ultimate tactic was to drop another man in to be with him. When this man jumped out of a plane he left his environment and became totally identified with the pilot where he was – whether jungle, mountain, or water. His survival and the pilot's became inseparably united. If pilot didn't get out, the rescuer didn't get out. If the rescuer got out, that automatically meant that the pilot got out with him. It was his identification with him that gave him the assurance that he was going to be saved.

Last year we had the momentous cave rescue in Thailand where a number of international divers went in to bring 12 Thai boys out of a cave near here. They didn't just send a rope in and say, “Hang on”. Those divers went in there to bring them out. The divers tied the boys to themselves. Wherever the diver was the boy was tied to him. When the diver got out of the cave the boy was out. This is what Jesus has done for us.

There is only one way to get to heaven. We must follow Jesus. You can't get there if you don't follow Him. This is the most wonderful thing Jesus ever said to anyone - “Follow Me”. Amen. Lord, I will. The greatest mystery of my life is the fact that Jesus invited me to follow Him. Hands down, this is the best decision I ever made. I can't imagine a more wonderful way to spend my time on this planet than following Jesus. Admittedly, He led in some ways that I really didn't like. Sometimes I said, “Lord, I didn't sign up for this.”. But there is no place He may lead that He can't say, “It's okay. I've been there before you”. If Jesus has been there it is safe for us also.

There are two more stops we have on our way to heaven. The first is death. But that is not a cave. It is a tunnel. There is a hole at the other end. The second station in front of us is the resurrection. Jesus was the first one to pass through that hole and as we follow Him it is a sure thing that we will pass through the resurrection too.

The devil has inundated the world and history with many false Christs. As long as here has been homo sapiens on this planet there has been religion. But Jesus is the only one who has validated His claim by His resurrection. Islam makes the false claim that Mohammad went to heaven on a horse, but they make no claim that Mohammad died for us and then rose from the dead. The only thing that Buddha left behind was bones. This gives us 100% assurance that if we follow Jesus in His death we will come out the other end with Him in His resurrection. Jesus made the clear declaration that the day is coming when, “ALL that are in the grave shall hear His Voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation” (Jn. 5:28, 29).

It was 400 years before then, that Jesus spoke His final words to Daniel and told him, “Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shall rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Dan. 12:9, 13). Little did Daniel realize when he heard those words that the Being who was speaking to him then, was going to become a man, die for his sins, and then precede him in the resurrection. Daniel is still resting, along with millions of others, but just as sure that the Lord promised Daniel he would stand in his lot at the end of the days, we can rest assured that we will stand in our lot at the same time.

The resurrection from the grave is just as inevitable a fact of life as death itself (Rev.20:11-14). For some that is not very good news, but for us, who have followed Jesus, there is a life waiting for us beyond our imagination. I want to shake Daniel's hand, and probably will be able to. There are an enormous number of friends that I am hoping to have coffee with. Daniel had to wait 2400 years but we might be down to a few weeks. Oh, hallelujah! Thank You Jesus,

             bill