EASTER SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 12, 1998
JOHN 20:1-20
Easter is the greatest and the oldest of Christian festivals celebrated from the earliest times. The year was 155 AD when an old man named Polycarp traveled from Asia Minor to the city of Rome. Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna, which is modern-day Izmir. As a young man, Polycarp had been a disciple of the Apostle John. Polycarp journeyed to the city of Rome to meet with Anicetus. Anicetus was the Bishop of Rome and that title would ultimately be synonymous with the papacy. Polycarp and Anicetus were meeting to discuss the subject of Easter. When should it be celebrated?
The eastern churches, represented by Polycarp, celebrated Easter on one day and the western churches, the European churches, represented by Anicetus, celebrated Easter at another day. They discussed, they debated, and they could not agree, but they parted as friends. In the subsequent decades, the controversy grew. Sermons were preached. Books were written. Tempers flared. Councils and senates were convened. Clergy excommunicated clergy. It was a real testimony to Christian love.
Finally, in the year 325 AD, the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great convened the Council of Nicaea and they decided that Easter would be a movable feast, celebrated between March 21 and April 26, associated with the Jewish Passover, always celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon, following the vernal equinox. So here we are this morning, the first Sunday following the first full moon, following the vernal equinox, and we have the Council of Nicaea to thank.
But what is Easter all about? I mean, what is this all about? The Bible says that Easter is about three very simple things. First of all, it’s about your future. The Bible says that ultimately there are only two futures. There is a future called heaven and there is a future called hell. There are, of course, many people in the world today who believe that there is no future beyond death. There are people who think like that, and they are in for what Alvin Toffler has called a “future shock.”
In the 1300s and the 1400s the, Spanish minted coins which portrayed the Mediterranean Sea looking outward towards the Pillars of Hercules and the Straits of Gibraltar and then out beyond the Mediterranean Sea to the vast Atlantic Ocean. On those coins the Spanish printed three Latin words, ne plus ultra: “no more beyond.” That’s what the Spanish people, that’s what the European people believed: that if you sailed beyond the Mediterranean Sea, beyond the Pillars of Hercules and the Straits of Gibraltar, if you sailed into the vast Atlantic, there was no more beyond—no more land, no more people, no more life, ne plus ultra. No more beyond.”
But, of course, in the year 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed out of the Mediterranean Sea through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic and across the Atlantic and he discovered what was for him a new world. He returned and he reported what he saw and the Spanish changed their coins. They struck the word ne and they simply printed the coins with the words plus ultra, “more beyond.”
There are, of course, many people in the world today who believe that death is the cessation of being, the eradication of existence, the end of consciousness, the end of all life. Ne plus ultra they say. “No more beyond.” But Jesus Christ has is risen and He is alive and He says to the world, plus ultra, “There is more beyond, more beyond the grave.” There is a future beyond the grave. What is your future? What is your future beyond the grave?
Well, the Bible tells us that it’s all in the hands of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the key. In Revelation, chapter 1, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ appeared to the Apostle John on the island of Patmos. Jesus was resurrected and alive. John fell down before Him. Jesus touched him and said, “Fear not. I am the Living One. I died, but I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades.” In Hebrew theology, Hades was the keeping place of the dead and from Hades people went either to heaven or to hell. But Jesus said, “I have the keys of heaven and hell.” Jesus, in the Bible, tells us, “The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son, that all might honor the Son in the same way that they honor the Father.” “Do not marvel at this,” Jesus said. “The day is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear My voice and come forth, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting death.” Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live and he who lives and believe in Me will never truly die.” The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” The Bible says, “God loved the world so much He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
And so it’s all about your future and you can secure that future this morning if you would embrace Jesus Christ, if you have faith enough to commit your tomorrows to Him and to embrace Him as Savior and Lord. But it’s not only about your future. Easter is also about your past. It’s about your past.
Time magazine has just issued its most recent issue, dated tomorrow, April 13. The issue deals with the past hundred years of world history. It’s the first of a series of issues commemorating this past century as we approach the dawning of a new millennium. In this particular issue, Time magazine seeks to identify the twenty most influential leaders and revolutionaries of the 20th century. Who were they? Time magazine identifies a variety of people, from Adolph Hitler to the Ayatollah Khomeini, from Winston Churchill to Pope John Paul II—diverse people; some good, some evil, but all part of history. Of course, history is like that. It’s filled with good and evil. This is not only true of world history, this is true of this nation’s history.
I have in my office a book that is entitled Exploring America’s Past, and it has everything in there from the colonial period to the birth of our nation through the Revolutionary War. It explores the remainder of the 18th century and then the 19th century and much of the 20th century. But I noticed as I went through the book there is no mention of slavery, no mention of this nation’s past abuse of African Americans. There is, in that book, no mention of our government’s past treatment of the Indian nations. It’s all been scripted out. I understood when I saw the subtitle. The subtitle said, “Exploring the Glory of America’s Past.”
Isn’t that human nature? When we look into the past, we want to see the good and ignore the bad. Of course, that’s true of us individually too as we look into our past. There is good and evil there. We would really just as soon ignore the evil, what the Bible calls sin. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one.” And the Bible tells us that we must deal with sin. Of course, that’s part of what Easter’s about. Easter begins with Good Friday. It begins on the cross. The cross was no accident. For this Jesus Christ was born and for this He came into the world, that He might pay the penalty for sin—for my sin, for your sin—that He might die in substitutionary atonement, that He might die for the sin of the world. When we embrace Him as Savior and Lord, He takes care of our past. He forgives us all of our sin.
There are two words for forgiveness in the New Testament. There is the word charidzomai. It begins with the Greek letter “chi,” which looks like an “x.” That’s kind of what the word charidzomai means. It means to “x out” a debt. That’s one of the biblical words for forgiveness, but there’s another word and it’s more beautiful. It’s the word aphiemi. It doesn’t mean to “x out” a debt. It means to completely wipe it away, to leave no record of it. The Bible tells us that that’s what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. “Though our sins be as scarlet, we are washed white as snow.” When you receive Him as Savior and Lord, He forgives all of your sin and not only is your future secure, but the past is forgiven.
I saw this last week where the word ”dessert” is a French word. It comes from a French word meaning “to clear the table,” or “to clean the table.” Jesus is the greatest dessert you could ever have. He clears the table. He forgives the past. He secures the future.
But Easter is about one more thing, and that’s the present. You see, Easter’s not only about the future and the past but it’s about your present. I noticed just recently where a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles has identified a new category of time, a new means of recording time. Of course, time is divided into categories. We have millennia and centuries. We have decades. We have years. We have months. We have weeks. We have days. We have hours. We have minutes. We have seconds. But this professor at UCLA has come up with a new category called “the honkosecond.” He says the honkosecond is the period of time between the changing of the light and when the person behind you honks their horn! He said it is the shortest period of time known to mankind. He said this is symptomatic of our culture and of our nation, that people are stressed and people are hassled and harried and worried and anxious.
Maybe some of you feel like that today. Maybe you feel like there is a lot of stress in your life. Maybe you’re having financial problems. Maybe you’re having physical problems and you’re worried about your health. Maybe you’re having relational problems and life feels like a struggle for you. But, you see, when you become a Christian, when you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it all takes a different perspective because your future is secure and your past is forgiven. And yes, you still experience troubles and tests and trials, but there’s the promise of Christ that He will “work all things together for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.”
So for the Christian, the future is secure, the past forgiven, the present is a time of joy and a time of peace even in the midst of test and trials. That’s why the Apostle Peter writes in the I Peter, chapter 1, in that little letter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you who, through God’s grace, are guarded through faith for a salvation waiting to be revealed in the end times. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may suffer various trials so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and you rejoice with an utterable and exalted joy as the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.”
As we close this morning, we want to give you a chance to find salvation for your soul. You know, it is said that in the 8th century the Emperor Charlemagne drove his enemies into the sea and he forced them to receive Christian baptism. It is said that in the 12th century Frederick Barbarossa did the same, drove his enemies into the sea and forced them to receive Christian baptism. It is said that in the 16th century John Calvin, the great reformer, sought to establish Christendom in the city of Geneva, ceasing the civil government, forcing the citizens to embrace Christ and to live by biblical principles. All of these things were tragic mistakes because the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be forced on people. The gospel of Jesus Christ cannot—should not—must not be forced on anybody.
We are not forcing the gospel of Jesus Christ on you this morning. We’re not going to be asking you to walk down front or to stand where you are or even to raise your hand. But as we close in prayer, we’re just going to ask you with your head bowed and your eyes closed to ask Jesus into your heart and receive Him as Savior and Lord. We care very much about you and Christ loves you desperately. As Gene mentioned earlier, there is a form on your bulletin this morning. If you would fill that out and drop it in a bucket, we’ll contact you and we’ll help you with your Christian life and with your Christian growth. There will also be counselors out in the hospitality room more than willing to talk with any of you who want to know more about Jesus Christ. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.