The Return of the King

In 1799 the armies of Napoleon appeared on the heights above the town of small town of Feldkirch, Austria. It was Easter Day, and the rays of the rising sun glittered on the weapons of the French, as they appeared drawn up on the hills to the west of the town. The Town Council was hastily called together to consult what was to be done.

After much discussion, the pastor of the Church rose and said, “My brothers it is Easter Day! We have been reckoning our own strength, and that fails. Let us turn to God. Ring the bells and have service as usual, and leave the matter in God’s hands.”

They agreed to do as he said. Then from the church towers in Feldkirch there rang out joyous peals in honor of the Resurrection and the streets filled with worshipers hastening to the church.

The French heard the sudden ringing of the joy bells with surprise and alarm. They concluded that the Austrian army had arrived to relieve the place. So they hastily fled, and before the bells had ceased ringing not a Frenchman was to be seen.

The thing that this story teaches us, is that sometimes, the way to dispel the darkness is through the faithful praise. Sometimes, we defeat the enemy not by cleverness of our plans, or the strength of our arms, but simply by turning to Jesus, remembering the victory that he has already won and trusting him to fight for us.

It’s kind of like in the story of the Exodus from the Old Testament. After Israel has left Egypt, the Egyptian army comes to hunt them down. As they marched towards the frightened Israelites, God’s people cried out to Moses. Moses’ response feels appropriate to us this Easter.

Exodus 14:13–14 NIV

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

My hope is that this Easter, you will see that God is fighting for you and that if you would trust in him, you would find deliverance - deliverance from your fears, deliverance from those sins that entrap you and hold you prisoner, deliverance from weariness that another COVID lockdown brings upon our souls.

How will we experience that deliverance? By making the decision - right here and right now as you sit on your couch or in your favourite chair sipping your coffee, tea or chocolate milk- to choose joy and worship our living God who does amazing miracles for his people.

He is the God who split the sea so the Israelites could walk through to freedom. He is the God who saved Jonah from drowning by having him swallowed and then vomited by a whale. He is the God who stopped the sun in response to Joshua’s prayers. He is the God who gave Samson superhuman strength. He is the God who protected Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego from the flames of Nebuchadnezzer. We have a God who does miracles.

And the greatest miracle that God did was when he conquered sin and death through Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection three days later. More than any other miracle before it or since, the resurrection of Jesus stands as the greatest testament to the goodness and the power of God.

On Good Friday, we remember, with solemn gratefulness, that Jesus died so that we could live. But today, on Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate with joy that Jesus came back to life and in doing so, he changed everything.

But what does the resurrection mean to me and you on a practical level? This morning, I would like to share three practical implications of the resurrection.

Our faith is verified

If you use instagram, you have probably seen how some people have a little blue checkmark beside their instagram name. That means that they have been verified by Instagram but getting the blue checkmark of authenticity isn’t easy. But what is the point of it being verified? Why bother to get it? Some people get it because they want the prestige of having something that not everyone can get. On accounts that have up to 100K followers, less than 5% are verified. Some get it because it is a status symbol of success. On accounts with more than 1M followers, 73% are verified. But many do it so that their followers can distinguish between a real and a fake account. Some celebrity’s have become victims to people creating accounts in their name and then trying to scam people. So, to have a system in place that says, this one is the legit account is a good idea. It gives you a sense of reliability that you are following who you want to follow.

The resurrection of Jesus is the verification symbol of our faith. It is proof that our faith is built on something more than hopes and wishes but is built on a historical event that has eternal implications for all humanity, no matter what you believe.

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” - Tim Keller

1 Corinthians 15:17–20 NIV

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Without the resurrection, we are still held captive by both the power and the penalty of our sin and without the resurrection, then all those who have died throughout history are just gone. But the good news is that Jesus has risen and it verfies what he said. Therefore, we have assurance that our sins are dealt with, that forgiveness and freedom are ours to enjoy and that heaven is our destination.

How many of you believe that it is possible for people to fly? That we could create a machine to hold groups of people in sustained flight thousands of feet in the air for hours at a time? Of course we do. We see it all the time. But for the vast majority of human history, people did not believe that we could fly. It wasn’t until Wilbur and Orville Wright created and successfully flew the first plane did we begin to believe it. Our faith in flying followed after the evidence it could be done.

The same is true for our Christian faith. It flows not out of wishful thinking or made up stories, but on the precedent that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead. The resurrection acts like an anchor for our souls, reminding us that our faith is not based on emotional manipulations or feelings of closeness or distance with an invisible force, but on the historical reality of Jesus’ resurrection, which is good news to me in a world where the ground beneath our feet is constantly shifting.

The future is bright

The second implication of the resurrection is that our future is bright. On Good Friday, something horrible happened. An innocent man was arrested on trumped up charges. He was beaten and whipped to an inch of life by the military/police of the time, then he was mocked by those same soldiers. They forced him to carry the instrument of his death through town for the people to jeer and disparage him. Then they stripped him of his clothes, and crucified him on a hill for all to see. For 6 hours he hung there in agony and then he died.

The disicples were scattered, lost. They had put their hope in Jesus as the Messiah and now he was dead. What were they supposed to do now? But although the disciples were broken and despairing on Friday and Saturday, there was hope. Sunday was coming. In their pain, they had forgot Jesus’ promises.

Luke 9:22 NIV

And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

And isn’t that just like us? That in our pain and our struggles, we forget the promises of God? That when we are lonely and afraid we forget that God has promised to never leave us or forsake us? That when we are in mourning over death and loss, that Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” That when we are stressed about our finances Jesus said “do not worry about what you are going to eat, drink or wear because God knows you need them and will provide for you.” That when you are confused about what to do in your life Jesus promised us that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth? Just like the disciples, we often forget the promises of God and therefore we can tend to wallow in Friday’s pain.

But the resurrection of Jesus means that for every Friday in your life, there is a Sunday coming. That for every day of pain, struggle and loss, there is a day coming where you will experience love, joy and peace.

1 Peter 1:3–5 NIV

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

D.L Moody tells an anecdote about a bright young girl of fifteen who was suddenly cast upon a bed of suffering, completely paralyzed on one side and nearly blind. She heard the family doctor say to her parents as they stood by the bedside: “She has seen her best days, poor child!”

“No, doctor,” she exclaimed, “my best days are yet to come, when I shall see the King in His beauty.”

Above all others in this world, Christians have a hope that one day, it will get better. So let us be harbingers of hope in a world that is so desperate to get some. As followers of Jesus, let’s not add discontentment and despair through our conversations with family and friends, through our social media presence or in our workplaces but instead let’s spread the hope that Easter promises: that the future is bright for those in Christ.

Death doesn’t get the last word

Tim Keller, in his book walking with God through pain and suffering, told a story about Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church. “Dr. Barnhouse lost his wife when their daughter was still a child. Dr. Barnhouse was trying to help his little girl, and himself, process the lost of his wife and her mother. Once when they were driving, a huge moving van passed them. As it passed, the shadow of the truck swept over the car. The minister had a thought. He said something like this, ‘Would you rather be run over by a truck, or by its shadow?’ His daughter replied, ‘By the shadow of course. That can’t hurt us at all.’ Dr. Barnhouse replied, ‘Right. If the truck doesn’t hit you, but only its shadow, then you are fine. Well it was only the shadow of death that went over your mother. She’s actually alive—more alive than we are. And that’s because two thousand years ago, the real truck of death hit Jesus. And because death crushed Jesus, and we believe in him, now the only thing that we can come over us is the shadow of death, and the shadow of death is but my entrance into glory.’”

Death is a part of the human experience. It comes for every one of us. And for some people, death is their greatest fear. The sense of unknowing, of loss, of it being the end causes untold millions to walk in fear and allow that fear to affect their lives. A 2016 study showed that a fear of death can amplify our desire for revenge or for political violence. A study from 2020 found that those who were afraid of death themselves were more likely to have prolonged symptoms of grief when another died.

The compassionate part of me understands why people are afraid of death. But because my life and my soul has been infused with the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus, I want to cry out that no one needs to fear if they would just trust in Christ. In Christ, our physical death is the final release from this world and takes us into the presence of our God and King. It is the freeing of our souls from lives that are often marked by pain, by shame, by emotional trauma. It is the final letting go of all that we would be worried about. Where right now we see through a mirror darkly, then we shall see our Jesus face-to-face and we can worship him in rapturous delight.

Revelation 21:4 NIV

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The resurrection of Jesus is the defeat of death. It is the evidence that death does not get the last word but that by faith, we who put our hope in Christ, though our bodies may perish, we will live forever with God in eternal bliss and joy.

John 11:25–26 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Death is not something that followers of Jesus need to fear because for us, death is not the end, it’s just the beginning.

Conclusion

I would like to invite our worship team to come up and start playing. As they play, I am going finish this sermon with a poem from John of Damacus, a 6th century monk.

The day of resurrection?

Earth, tell it out abroad;

The Passover of gladness,

The Passover of God.

From death to life eternal,

From this world to the sky,

Our Christ has brought us over

With hymns of victory.

Now let the heavens be joyful,

Let earth her song begin;

Let the round world keep triumph,

And all that is therein;

Let all things seen and unseen

Their notes in gladness blend,

For Christ the Lord has risen,

Our Joy that has no end.