Risen for Eternal Life

Jesus died. He said, “It is finished,” then Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit. There’s no doubt about it: Jesus died.

Proof: the spear thrust released the fluid built up in Jesus’ chest, fluid that choked him as he hung on the cross. John, disciple and eyewitness, described these events many X over the years. He saw:

One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

John 19:34–35(NIV)

After he died, Joseph and Nicodemus took his body from the cross, wrapped him in strips of linen with 75 lbs. (!) of aloes and myrrh, and laid him in a tomb. It sounds like that’s the end of the story.

But it’s not the end of the gospel!

On 3rd day, Mary Magdalene and the other women went to the garden to mourn Jesus’ death near his tomb. John mentions only Mary Magdalene by name, but she’s not alone. When she finds the tomb open and the stone removed, she runs to where Peter and the other disciple were laying low and blurted out the news: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (v. 2). She doesn’t know how good the news of the empty tomb is yet. She’s just worried about Jesus’ body.

It takes a while for her to see the empty tomb as good news. Later in the chapter you can read how Mary met Jesus and was convinced that he had truly risen. But in the section we read, Mary, Peter, and the disciple Jesus loved were puzzled by the empty tomb.

Not quite empty. The strips of linen are there, fragrant with aloes and myrrh. The burial cloth from Jesus’ head is there, lying in it’s place, separate from the rest.

It’s an odd mystery. The empty tomb, empty burial cloths, initially leaves an empty feeling inside. Where was Jesus?

Mary kept working the theory that someone had carried Jesus away. A different idea dawned on the disciple Jesus loved. When he finally caught his breath and followed Peter into the tomb, this disciple saw the empty strips of linen and believed. Believed what?

It’s different than when he watched Jesus call Lazarus from the grave less than a month earlier:

Lazarus’ grave was still closed with a stone when they arrived.

Lazarus didn’t come out until Jesus called him.

When Lazarus emerged from the tomb, he was still wrapped in linen and his face was covered w/ a cloth.

It’s different, but similar enough that John saw the connection and realized that Jesus arose. The first of a new resurrection: Firstborn of the dead. Firstfruits of many to rise to eternal life.

Q: Does it make a difference whether Jesus rose or not?

Isn’t it enough that Jesus died, taking our sin, our guilt, our shame?

Jesus’ resurrection guarantees each believer that you too will enjoy eternal life. It’s at the core of the Christian gospel: the proclamation of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. Years later, a recovering Jewish leader named Paul wrote about Jesus’ resurrection in his 1st letter to the church in Corinth:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

I Corinthians 15:3–6 (NIV)

That is a whack of eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection!

If you want to dig more deeply into the importance of Jesus’ resurrection, read the rest of that chapter: I Corinthians 15.

For today, I’d like to emphasize that Jesus rose, to give all believers the gift Jesus promised repeatedly in John’s gospel:

Eternal life.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he explained what he meant by “eternal life” as he talked with his heavenly Father in prayer:

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

John 17:1–3 (NIV)

Eternal life is the privilege of knowing the only true God without fear or shame. Knowing and depending on your Maker and Father. Eternal life is having your sin and shame covered by Jesus so you can meet his Father and rely on his Father w/o shame or fear.

See: all of us have stuff that we’re ashamed of saying and doing. You know the guilt you feel about stuff you don’t want your parents to know about? Stuff you wish God didn’t know about? The ways you didn’t live up to your own standards, let alone the standards God lays out in the Bible, in the 10 Commandments.

In holiness and justice, God declared that death is the punishment for disobedience; death penalty for rebelling against his instructions for life. No matter how hard you and I try, we can’t make up for our shortcomings; not even our best days can cover a bad day.

That’s why Jesus came. That’s why Jesus was crucified. Truly human and truly God, Jesus was beaten + stripped + lifted up to die – to cover for you. To cover your sin and shame. At the cross, God the Father put your punishment on Jesus.

Jesus’ resurrection proves Jesus won. Jesus fulfilled his mission. The power of sin and death has been broken. Jesus’ open tomb shows the truth Jesus told his disciples the night before he died:

Jesus answered [Thomas], “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6 (NIV)

Can you believe it? Won’t you believe in him?

Through faith in Jesus, his heavenly Father has become your heavenly Father. If you believe in Jesus, you know the Father and Jesus Christ. Knowing Him is what eternal life is all about.

Life with God; life for God – for all eternity.

Eternal life begins now! Jesus’ resurrection makes all the difference for life now. Not because there are no challenges but b/c you can depend on God to be with you: All barriers are gone. Believe me, the day is coming when he will wipe away every tear from your eye.