SNOWY EASTER SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 8, 2007
JOHN 11:17-27
It’s hard to do anything with gloves on! We do welcome you today and we’re so glad you’re here. I can tell who’s singing by the clouds in front of your face. There’s got to be some reward in heaven for this, right? I’m just curious. This is our 18th year here at Coors Amphitheater. How many have been at every one? Will you please stand so we can honor you if you’ve been at every one. Yay! Great! We are glad you’re here today. This has to be the toughest one of all, but we’re glad you’re here.
On this Easter morning our scripture is taken from John’s Gospel. It’s taken from the 11th chapter and beginning with verse 17.
“Thou art the Christ!” That was the confession that Martha made to Jesus near the tomb of her brother Lazarus in the city of Bethany two miles from Jerusalem. “Thou art the Christ.” That was the confession that Simon Peter made to Jesus at Caesarea Philippi near the headwaters of the Jordan River. “Thou art the Christ” That is the confession that more than a billion people, perhaps two billion people, will make today as Easter is celebrated all over the world. “Thou art the Christ.” And yet a recent survey shows that 85% of the people of the United States of America do not know what that confession means. Eighty-five percent of the people of the United States of America do not know what it means to say that Jesus is the Christ. So on this Easter Sunday as we’re gathered here on this cold and snowy day, we’re going to take a few minutes and look at what it means to confess that Jesus is the Christ.
First of all, it means that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophetic office. Jesus is the fulfillment of the office of Prophet. You see, the title Christ is a Greek title and it is the equivalent of the Hebrew title Messiah. In Greek and in Hebrew, the title means the same thing. It means “the Anointed One.” To say that Jesus is the Christ is to say that Jesus is the Anointed One. To say that Jesus is the Messiah is to say that Jesus is the Anointed One.
You see, in Israel, in the time of Jesus, there were only three anointed offices and one of those was the office of Prophet. To say that Jesus is the Anointed One, The Christ, is to say that He is the fulfillment of the anointed office of Prophet. Of course, that is why when we come to 1 Kings, chapter 19, we see Elijah, the Prophet, anointing Elisha to be a prophet because, by the command of God, you entered into the office of Prophet through anointing.
Of course you look at Psalms 105, and in the 105th psalm, you have the Word of God where He calls all of His prophets “My anointed ones.” But Jesus is the Christ. He is the Anointed One and He fills this office of Prophet. What does that mean to you? What does it mean to you to say that Christ has fulfilled the office of Prophet? What is a prophet, anyway? I’m sure if many of you have studied world history, you’ve heard of Aeschylus. Aeschylus was a Greek philosopher, a Greek theologian, and a Greek playwright, and historians consider him to be the greatest of the Greek playwrights. He is called “The Father of the Greek Tragedy.” Many historians believe he is second only to William Shakespeare. The amazing thing is that Aeschylus was born 525 years before Christ and yet seven of his plays remain today. He wrote over 80, and 7 remain today. The greatest of his plays is called Aristeia. It’s really a trilogy consisting of Agamemnon, Eumenides and The Libation Bearers. These are still performed in playhouses all over the world today.
I don’t know about you. I really don’t care about the plays of Aeschylus. I don’t care about his philosophy. I really don’t even care about his theology. What I do care about is the manner of his death. According to legend, Aeschylus died on the island of Sicily. He was taking a walk and as he was taking a walk, an eagle flew overhead. The eagle had in its talons a tortoise. In this part of the world, eagles ate turtles. The problem was, how do you get them out of their shells? So eagles would lift the turtles, take them airborne, look for rocks, and they would drop the turtle on the rock and break it open and eat it. Aeschylus was bald. He was bald as a rock and so this eagle just flew overhead and dropped the turtle at just the right moment and Aeschylus died. You’ve heard the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. This is the story of the Tortoise and the No Hair.
Really I wouldn’t even care about the death of Aeschylus except for the fact that when he died, there was a woman in the Greek world and she lived at Delphi and she was an oracle. They called her the Pythia, which means, “the diviner,” and she made predictions at the base of Mount Parnassus and she had predicted the death of Aeschylus. She had said that he would die by a blow from heaven, and sure enough Aeschylus died that day. From that point on, throughout the Hellenized world and throughout the Greek world, this Delphi Oracle called the Pythia was called “Th Prophetess.” You see, in that day and age people thought prophets were people who made predictions. I think it’s that way today too, isn’t it? People think prophets are those who make predictions, but that’s really not true biblically. Biblically, rarely does a prophet make a prediction. The word “prophetess” in the Greek in the Bible means, “to speak forth” or “to speak for.” It means “to speak forth the Word of God” or “to speak for God.” The same is true of the Hebrew word nabi simply means, “to speak for God” or “to speak forth the Word of God.”
That was the role of the prophet: to represent God to the people and to speak forth the Word of God, to speak for God. And, you see, Jesus is the Christ. He’s the Anointed One and He fulfills the anointed office of Prophet because He not only speaks for God, He is God. He not only speaks for The Word of God but He is the Word of God. So we see the prologue of John’s Gospel and John says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus is the Word of God, the very fulfillment of the Prophetic office.
If you believe that, if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Fulfillment of the Prophetic office, then you are saying that you find truth in Him. He is the source of truth for you. He is the Christ, the Anointed One. He is the source of truth for you. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a modernist or a postmodernist, you believe that you have found truth in Jesus Christ. Jesus said to Pilate as He was being tried before His crucifixion, “For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth.” He is the Christ, the Anointed One, the fulfillment of the Prophetic office. And if you have embraced… If you can say, “Thou art the Christ,” you’re not wandering anymore. You’ve found truth in Christ and He’s bedrock in your life.
Secondly, to say that Jesus is the Christ, to say, “Thou art the Christ,” is to say that Jesus is the fulfillment of the priestly office. There was a second anointed office in Israel and that was the office of Priest. And so you look at Exodus, chapter 28, verse 41, and you see the will of God is that every priest be anointed into the office of the priesthood. You look in Leviticus, chapter 8, and you see Moses anointing Aaron and his descendants as priests forever by the will of God. This was the second anointed office of Israel, the office of Priest. And so Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the fulfillment of the priestly office. If you say, “Thou art the Christ,” you believe that Jesus has fulfilled the priestly office.
What did a priest do? If a prophet represented God to man, we should understand that a priest represented man to God. Of course we—as men, as women, as people—are fallen and in need of forgiveness, and so it was the function of the priest to administer the sacrificial system, that the sacrifices might be made for atonement for sin and that the needs of the people for forgiveness might be brought before God. So the priests administered the sacrificial office.
There was one priest greater than all other priests and that was the High Priest. The High Priest was in charge of the whole sacrificial system. The High Priest was in charge of the Chief Priest and the common priests and the Levites. The High Priest was the Head of the Sanhedrin, the President of the Sanhedrin, which was the Supreme Court of Israel. There was no person in Israel other than the King more powerful than the High Priest.
In Israel in the time of Christ there were 7,200 common priests. The 7,200 divided were into 24 divisions and the High Priest had authority over them all. In the time of Jesus there were 9,600 Levites administering the temple in the nation of Israel and the High Priest was over them all. The High Priest had clout. The High Priest was big. The High Priest had authority.
There was one day, one day every year that was different for the High Priest and that was the 10th day of the 7th month. On the 10th day of the 7th month of the year, the High Priest got up, put on his priestly vestments—put on the ephod, the Urim, the Thummim, put on the breastplate of righteousness and the turban with the gold plate. He put on his priestly garb and did his normal morning sacrifice.
That’s what he did that morning, but it wouldn’t be a normal day because after the normal morning sacrifice, on this day—the 10th day of the 7th month—the High Priest went into the tabernacle called the Tent of Meeting. Of course, later it would have been the Temple. The High Priest went into the Temple itself. There the High Priest took off his priestly garb. He took off the ephod and the breastplate of righteousness and the turban. He took all of that off, because those garbs represented status. In this day, the 10th day of the 7th month, the High Priest would have no status. He would enter the special presence of God and in the sight of God we’re all equal, and so the High Priest put on undergarments of white. He put on a white robe and took off his priestly garb and the High Priest then entered the Tabernacle (or the Temple) and what was presented to him were two goats. He, through the rolling of dice, declared one the “goat of propitiation” and the other the “goat of expiation.”
Then he was given a bull. A bull was brought to him and the High Priest sacrificed the bull. He did that as an offering for his own sin and for the sin of his family because he was common—before God he, too, was a sinner, and so this bull was sacrificed in the Temple by the High Priest on the 10th day of the 7th month for his own sin and the sin of his family. And then he went into the Holy Place and in the Holy Place the High Priest had a rope tied around him. He took burning coals, put them in the censer and went into the Holy of Holies, into the most holy place behind the veil where the presence of God was. Nobody could go in there but the High Priest, and he just this one day of the year, the 10th day of the 7th month—Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The High Priest went in there with burning coals and the censer and with incense and with the blood of the bull. If he died in there, because he had that rope tied around his waist they would be able to pull him out and there he sprinkled the blood upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant, seeking atonement for the sin of the people.
Having done that, he came out of the Holy of Holies and before him were brought the two goats, the goat of propitiation and the goat of expiation. He took the goat of propitiation. He sacrificed it. Then he took the blood of that goat and went back into the Holy of Holies and again sprinkled and poured that blood over the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant, again for the sin of the people. He went back out and found the goat of expiation and he held the head of the goat. He vested the sin of the people upon that goat and then that goat was taken out to the wilderness south of Jerusalem, removing the sin of the people from them.
Maybe that all seems strange to you. It seems strange to me. Maybe it all seems strange to you. Last week on Palm Sunday we saw that during the week of Passover in the city of Jerusalem, according to one census, 260,000 animals were sacrificed on the altars of Israel for the sin of the people. That was the sacrificial system. All of it is administered by the priesthood. But Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to end the sacrificial system. Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to die on a cross. He was looking to Good Friday, when He would die for the sin of the world. One sacrifice in His body for the sin of the world, the Son of God. He has fulfilled the Priesthood. He is the fulfillment of the Priesthood, the anointed office of Priest. He is the Christ. He is the Anointed One. He died for the sin of the people, offering His own body for the sin of the world. The sacrificial system ended and He fulfilled the Priesthood.
Today when you come to Him and you ask Him to save you and to be your Savior and your Lord, He removes your sin and forgives it because He died for you and He washes you whiter than snow. How appropriate today. He washes us whiter than snow and our sin is forgiven us. So when you say, “Thou art the Christ,” you’re not only saying, “You are the fulfillment of the Prophetic office and you are the Word of God,” but you’re saying, “You are the fulfillment of the Priestly office and You are the Lamb of God.” Thou art the Christ. The Word of God. The Lamb of God.
Finally, when you say, “Thou art the Christ,” when you say, “Jesus is the Christ,” you are saying that He has fulfilled the anointed office of King. There were three anointed offices in Israel and the Christ would be the Anointed One who would fulfill them all. And so He fulfills the anointed office of King.
You look at I Samuel, chapter 24 and chapter 26, and as you look at those passages you see David having two opportunities to kill King Saul. David refuses, and what does he say? He said, “I will not raise my hand against God’s anointed.” Even though King Saul was evil, even though King Saul had fallen into corruption, David said, “I will not raise my hand against God’s anointed,” because David understood the King was the anointed of God.
You look in I Samuel, chapter 10, and you see the will of God, that all kings of Israel be anointed into office. This was the third and the greatest of the anointed offices of Israel. When you say to Jesus, “Thou art the Christ,” “Thou art the Anointed One,” you are saying that He is the very fulfillment of the office of King. He is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. He is risen from the dead and He is Lord. He is risen from the dead and He is King.
I know that some of you here today are old enough to remember a guy named Cecil B. DeMille. Cecil B. DeMille died in 1959. Some of you were not even alive then but he was a Hollywood producer and he was a Hollywood director. He made famous westerns. In 1937, DeMille made the western called The Plainsman starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. In 1939, he made Union Pacific, starring Joel McCray and Barbara Stanwyck. Those were great westerns. In 1952, Cecil B. DeMille made the movie The Greatest Show on Earth, which won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture and it starred Charlton Heston, Jimmy Stewart, and Dorothy Lamour. It was a great movie, but of course Cecil B. DeMille was most known for making biblical epics and the greatest of his biblical epics was the movie King of Kings. It is renowned to this day and still highly rated. King of Kings is the story of Christ. There’s a story from that movie, from the filming of that movie, that I just love. It’s the story of the filming of the crucifixion scene in the King of Kings.
It was on Christmas Eve that they filmed the crucifixion scene from the movie King of Kings. DeMille, who was devout in his faith, loved that because he saw the birth and death of Christ joined in one evening. So here they were filming the crucifixion on Christmas Eve. As he had all the actors and all the photographers and all the tech people and everybody there and they were filming the crucifixion, DeMille said, “This is Christmas Eve. It’s a special night, but we’re also filming the crucifixion of Christ. So why don’t we do this. Why don’t we just take a moment and have silent prayer?”
He bowed his head in silent prayer, but before he bowed his head, he noticed that some people kind of snickered and some people rolled their eyes. He thought, “This is never going to fly. They’re not going to want to have a moment of silent prayer. They’re going to wander off to the roving bar and get themselves a drink or maybe light up a cigarette. They’re not going to want to have a moment of silent prayer.” But he closed his eyes and DeMille began to pray as before him on Calvary were all the actors and all the staff. As his eyes were closed, he heard someone begin to sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” They were filming it there. Then everybody began to join in singing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” When Cecil B. DeMille opened his eyes, he was stunned because he saw all the actors, all the tech people, and all the photographers on their knees facing the cross of Christ. When DeMille died seven years later in 1959, he said that was the greatest day in his life. It was the greatest day.
Of course, that’s kind of a cool story but the truth is we all know God doesn’t reign in Hollywood. God doesn’t reign today in Hollywood and God never has reigned in Hollywood. We all know Christ doesn’t reign there. We know that Christ does not reign on Wall Street, not now, not ever. He never has. Christ does not reign in academia. He was once honored at Harvard and Princeton and Yale, but He doesn’t reign in the academic world today. Christ doesn’t reign in Denver. Christ doesn’t reign in Bethlehem. Christ doesn’t even reign in Rome. Christ does not reign today. Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” It’s not of this world but, you see, one day Christ will come again, and the Bible says, “The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever.” When the day dawns and the sun comes out, He will reign.
The only issue today is, does He reign over you? Does He reign in your life? The kingdom of Jesus Christ has invaded our world and the Gospel is an invitation to embrace the reign of Christ who has fulfilled the anointed office of King, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So, does He reign in your life? Does He reign over your life?
I know some of you have gone recently to see the movie Reign Over Me starring Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler in the movie Reign Over Me plays the role of a man who lost his wife and his kids in 9/11, in that horrible tragedy in the Twin Towers. He lost his wife and his kids and his life would never be the same. In this movie, Adam Sandler’s character was asked by his wife before the 9/11 event if she could re-do the kitchen and he had said no. Now he has lost her and lost the kids and he spent the months and the years following that re-doing the kitchen over and over and over again.
What was that about? It was about grief and guilt reigning over him. We live in a world like that, where there are many things that reign over us. Maybe there’s grief or guilt reigning over you. Maybe it’s fear reigning over you. Maybe you’re struggling with materialism and stuff and money reigns over you. Maybe you’re into hedonism and pleasure kind of reigns over you. Maybe you have certain addictions that reign over you. And you see, Christ has come into the world and He invites us to let Him reign over us. If you’re a Christian and if you say, “Thou art the Christ,” then in the midst of your grief and in the midst of your guilt and in the midst of your fear and in the midst of stuff and in the midst of pleasure and in the midst of all of it, you’ve embraced the reign of Christ… Every day if you say, “Thou art the Christ,” if you’re a Christian, then every day you’re seeking His reign. You’re not perfect. I’m not perfect. We all struggle with so many things, but we’re seeking the reign of Christ if we’re Christians, because we’ve said, “Thou art the Christ.” You are the Word of God, You are the Lamb of God and indeed King of Kings, Lord of Lords. You embrace the reign.
As we close the message this Easter morning, we want to give you a chance to embrace the reign of Christ and say to Jesus along with Martha and Simon Peter, “Thou art the Christ.” Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, we come to You this morning just thanking You for Your presence with us. Thank You for bringing the sunlight into our world. Lord Jesus, thank You for Your light and Your truth. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for Your grace and Your mercy. Thank You for each person here today. Lord, You are the Christ. Thou art the Christ. You are the Anointed One. You have fulfilled the office of Prophet, the office of Priest and the office of King. You are the Word of God and You are the very source of truth. You are the Lamb of God and You are the source of forgiveness and You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If there is someone here today on this Easter morning that has never embraced Your reign and never embraced You as Christ, we pray Lord Jesus that this would be the day that, on this Easter morning in the midst of the cold and the snow, they would find You and find salvation and that they would pray this prayer with me. “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Thank You for dying on the cross for me. You are the Lamb of God. Take away my sin. Wash me whiter than snow. Thou art the Christ. Come and be my Lord. Thou art the Christ, the Word of God. Lord, reign over me. Let my soul be Your throne. Reign over me. Be my King. Be my Lord. Thou art the Christ.” Thank you Lord Jesus that when we pray that prayer we are Yours and You are ours. Don’t let us go. Lord, for all of us here today on this Easter morning, let it be a time of rededication when we realize that to call You Christ means that we seek Your reign. Help us to seek Your reign every day from this day forward. Help us to find our truth in You each day and our joy and our forgiveness in You each day. Lord, help us to live for You. We love You and we pray this in Your great name. Amen.