RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD
EASTER SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 7, 1985
JOHN 11:25-26
It was Easter Sunday, and the year was 1722. The Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen—an explorer and navigator—sighted a strange, uncharted island. It was a small island only 36 miles in circumference, a remote island 2,400 miles from the coast of South America. It was a volcanic island, having crater lakes within its three extinct volcanoes. It was a semi-barren island. It had no rivers, and it had no streams, but most of all it was a mysterious island. And as Jacob Roggeveen and his crew approached the shore, they found themselves confronted by giant faces—faces 40 feet high, faces carved in stone, each stone face weighing 30 to 60 tons. They were giant stone monoliths.
Who carved the faces? Jacob Roggeveen did not know. Who were the faces meant to portray? He did not know, though the images on the stones were strange. The faces appeared to be Caucasian, but the people on the island were not Caucasian. The ears were elongated. The tops of the heads were red. How were such massive stone faces, such massive stone monoliths, moved? How were they placed about the perimeter of the island? He did not know. It was a mystery of his discovery that Easter Sunday, 263 years ago.
Today, scientists tell us that the discovery of Jacob Roggeveen in the years 1722 remains a mystery. Scientists know that those stones were carved almost 1,500 years ago by an ancient civilization, but of that civilization they know little. Scientists know that the stones were carved from the hard volcanic rock within the crater wall of one of the volcanoes on the island, a volcano called Rano Raraku. And within that crater, scientists have found more than 200 unfinished stone faces and the crude tools of an ancient civilization, tools used more than a millennia ago.
But scientists still do not know who the stones were meant to represent. They have no idea how those massive 60-ton stones were moved, some of them 10 miles from the place of their carving. There was a time when they thought the stones were rolled over logs. But botanists have since proven that the island has never produced trees capable of providing such logs. There was a time when scientists thought that the stones were moved by vines woven into ropes, with the ropes used to haul the stones over the earth. But it has since been proven that such ropes could not pull 30-ton stones, let alone 60-ton stones. And so today, it remains a mystery.
In honor of that discovery made by Jacob Roggeveen, the island today is called Easter Island. Since he made the discovery on Easter Sunday, the faces are called the Easter Island statues. It is a mystery. Perhaps to some ancient civilization, those faces had great meaning. Perhaps they were meant to provide a message to all visitors to the island. But that message, you see, is forever lost. Some historians have said that the discovery of Jacob Roggeveen that Easter Sunday is one of the most mysterious discoveries ever made.
But you see, that discovery made 263 years ago pales when compared to the discovery made by the disciples on that first Easter: the discovery of a stone rolled away, the discovery of an empty tomb, the mystery of a risen Lord. The mystery of that first discovery 2,000 years ago God does not want to remain a mystery. He wants it to provide a clear message of hope to this world.
Easter is a message from God. It is a message of hope, and that message is a twofold promise given to the creation. These two promises comprise our teachings this morning. First, Easter is the promise of forgiveness. It is the promise of forgiveness of sin given to all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and aa Savior of life.
The Apostle Paul said, “This saying is true and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus died to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Every one of us are sinners; we’re all sinful. We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all desperately need a savior.
The Bible tells us there is no forgiveness of sin apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon Calvary’s cross 2,000 years ago. Throughout history, there have been many sacrifices. In the year 1812, Napoleon gathered 600,000 men. He formed his grand army. And with those 600,000 men, he marched on Russia. He’d already conquered much of the civilized world, but his appetite for power was insatiable. And against the council of his advisors, he marched towards Moscow. As he marched, the Russian armies, the Cossacks, withdrew. Napoleon took his grand army all the way into Moscow, but he found the city vacated. He found the city abandoned. It was very obvious to Napoleon that his enemy was elusive.
The hard Russian winner was coming on, so Napoleon made a decision. He decided to turn his armies west and to march his grand army back to France. But the winner came soon. It came early. Many of Napoleon’s greatest soldiers, his greatest warriors, died in the snows of Russia. The Russian Cossacks began to attack the armies of Napoleon. As they were withdrawing back to their homeland, they began to attack them piecemeal, strategically. And by the time Napoleon returned to France, his 600,000 men army had been depleted. 500,000 soldiers had lost their lives and only 100,000 people remained alive.
But historians tell us that those 100,000 men would not have survived had it not been for an incredible act of sacrifice. We’re told that Napoleon and his men were trapped against a riverbank. They were surrounded on either side and in front of them by Russian Cossacks. Their only escape, their only safety, was across a large torrential river. But the bridge had been removed by the Cossacks. They were trapped. It appeared that they would die, but Napoleon gave an order. He commanded his army to build a new bridge—to cut down trees, to form support pillars, and to form planks that the army might march over a new bridge. The first soldiers of Napoleon who went into the river were swept away by the icy waters and they died. But eventually the bridge was built. It’s a matter of historical record that more than 100,000 men crossed that bridge to safety.
Then the incredible moment came when the soldiers of Napoleon looked back and down in the water they saw 12 soldiers of Napoleon holding those beams supporting the bridge. All of them were frozen in place, all of them frozen to death. Whether those men performed that act of sacrifice out of fear of Napoleon’s wrath, whether they did it because they loved France, or whether they did it because they loved their fellow soldiers, only God will ever know. But it certainly was a great act of sacrifice. George D’Espartes in his book called The Legend of the Eagles, tells us that it was perhaps the greatest single act of sacrifice in the history of the world. George D’Espartes is wrong. Throughout history, there have been many acts of self-sacrifice, and they all pale when compared to the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.
The pain of crucifixion is incomprehensible, excruciatingly painful. The muscles, the bones, the tendons, the cartilage of the body are slowly torn, stretched, and ripped. It’s a long, agonizing death, but the greatness of the sacrifice of Christ is not in how he died, but in who He was— who He is. Because the Bible tells us He is the Son of God. He is the Creator of the worlds. The Bible says Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. When He was born in Bethlehem, when He came into our world, when He took our flesh upon Himself, that comprised a sacrifice greater than any of us could ever make. But when He went to Calvary’s cross and He was crucified between two thieves, spat upon, scorned, and beaten, crucified unto death, that was a sacrifice that we cannot fathom.
His sacrifice was great, not simply because of the pain He bore physically but because of the pain He bore spiritually, because in that moment on Calvary’s cross He actually experienced separation from the Father. For the first time in eternity, He experienced that separation. He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The Bible says that Jesus Christ has existed with His father from eternity past. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, that He shared glory with His Father before the creation of the world, that He shared love with His Father before all time. He and the Father are one. And yet, in that moment on the cross, His greatest pain was spiritual. And for your sake and mine, the sin of the entire universe, the sin of the entire world, was placed upon Him and He was made to be sin for you and made to be sin for me. He took your sin and my sin upon Himself, though He had known no sin. In that moment He was separated from the Father for the first time in eternity, and He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
The Bible says that Jesus Christ loves us. He looked down on our plight. He saw our desperate needs. He saw us surrounded by death, surrounded by an army called death, our only safety being in the presence of God but separated by a river called sin from God. We were surrounded by death, separated from life by a river called sin. The Bible tells us there’s only one bridge that can cross that river and bring us to forgiveness and to salvation, and that bridge is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “He who has the Son has life; He who has not the Son of God has not life.” If we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, in that moment we give our life to Him He gives us forgiveness of sin. He brings us safely to the other shore.
Many times people have asked how one man could give his life for the sin of all men, how one person could die for the sins of all people. How is that fair? How is that just? How is that possible? That was the question an African native once asked to David Livingstone, the medical missionary. Livingstone took two coins out of his pocket. One was a British copper penny. The other coin was a very small gold coin called a gold sovereign. Livingstone said, “This little tiny gold coin is very, very much smaller than this large copper coin. This little tiny gold coin weighs not nearly so much as this copper penny, but in England, in my homeland, this little tiny gold coin is worth 250 of these copper coins.” He said, “In the same way, the Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely valuable, infinitely precious. His life is more valuable than the entire mass of humanity itself.” Livingstone said that little gold coin is more valuable than the copper coin because of the intrinsic properties of its metallic structure. He said in the same way, Jesus Christ, by His nature, who He is—Lord of Lords, King of Kings, God of Gods— is worth more than the whole mass of humanity.
That’s a humbling thought to acknowledge that. The Bible says you must humble yourself and become like a little child to become a Christian. I know in my heart that this teaching is true. I know in my heart that before God all my righteousness is like filthy rags, and I am desperately in need of a savior. There is one Savior and He is Jesus Christ. It was perfect human life that was forfeited in Eden and only a perfect human life could redeem us. The Bible says, “You have been ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not by perishable things such as silver or gold but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, like that of a lamb without spot or blemish. He was destined from before the foundation of the world but made manifest at the close of the age for your sake.” The first promise of Easter is the promise of forgiveness to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Secondly and finally, we have this promise from Easter: the promise of resurrection. This is the promise of new bodies, the promise of heaven itself.
The Apostle Paul says, “Our commonwealth is in heaven. From it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body by the power which enables Him to subject all things unto Himself.” 2,000 years ago, in the city of Jerusalem, there was an empty tomb. Jesus Christ had risen. He had risen in glory. He attained a body infinitely greater than the body He had had before death. That body, the resurrected body of Christ, is promised to everyone who believes in His name.
That body is described in the 15th chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians. We’re told that it is a body that is epouranois, a Greek word meaning “fit for the heavens.” These bodies are barely fit for earth. That body is fit for the universe. We’re told that it is a body that is aptharsia, a Greek word meaning “not subject to decay, indestructible.” These bodies are frail. We’re told that it is a body that is doxa, “glorious, worthy of praise.” We’re told that it is a body that is pneumatikos—“spiritual,” governed by the spirit rather than dominated by the flesh and the desires of the flesh.
It is a resurrection body, a special body promised to all who believe in Jesus Christ. There’s a problem in this world. There are many problems, but perhaps the biggest problem is death. These bodies decay. We’re all surrounded by death. We’re all touched by death. All of us have experienced the death of a loved one—perhaps a mother or father, a husband, a wife, maybe a son or daughter, certainly a friend.
Scientists seem to be telling us as they conduct more and more research that virtually everything is dangerous to our health. It’s dangerous to gain weight, it’s dangerous to eat fats, dangerous to eat cholesterol or triglycerides, anything that tastes good. Obesity is bad for your health. It causes arteriosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries. It causes heart damage, heart attacks, and strokes. So most people want to be thin. We drink diet drinks laden with saccharin. The scientists tell us that saccharin is perhaps dangerous to our health because, in laboratory experiments with rats, mega doses of saccharin produce cancer. So some people avoid saccharin and others go ahead, thinking that at least they’ll look good in the casket. Some people drink diet drinks with NutraSweet. Recent studies, perhaps questionable, have suggested that NutraSweet under certain conditions could cause loss of memory, brain damage. Most of us cannot afford that.
We think it’s safe to drink water. But recent studies, in fact an article in the newspaper in the Denver Post today, indicate that even tap water is dangerous. It’s laden with chlorine and with sodium. We’re told that chlorine under certain circumstances can become a carcinogen. It can lead to cancer. We’re told that sodium contributes to hypertension and high blood pressure and heart disease. We think, “Well, if only we exercise, we’ll be all right. We’ll just exercise and do cardiovascular fitness programs.” But incredibly, only two months ago, as reported in the first page of the life section of the USA Today newspaper, a reputable study at a leading institution with valid methods of testing indicates that exercise causes cancer. It actually says that when you do cardiovascular exercise it unleashes chemicals in the body that are capable of becoming carcinogenic, capable of causing cancer.
Now, all of this leads to frustration and anxiety. And doctors tell us that frustration and anxiety cause heart disease and hardening of the arteries. We obviously live in fragile bodies. We live in a fragile world. Our aerosol cans deplete the ozone layer, subjecting the surface of the earth to harmful solar and cosmic rays, to radiation. Our factories, our automobiles, our wood burning stoves, even our fireplaces pollute the atmosphere, causing medical and environmental problems. We live in a world of bacteriological infection, viral infection, a world with horrible natural disasters, a world of tragic accidents. And if somehow we manage to avoid all these, there’s always old age and the degeneration of human cells. Death is inevitable.
I read recently the story of a little girl whose mother was dying of cancer. A doctor went into the room where the mother was and then came out and talked with the father. He told the father that the mother didn’t have very long to live and that surely by the time all the leaves had fallen from the trees that fall the mother’s life would be gone. The doctor didn’t know it, but the little girl, the little daughter, was standing around the corner and she’d heard those words. In the weeks and months that followed, as the leaves begin to fall from the tree, incredibly, this little girl went out into the yard. It’s a true story. She began to pick up the leaves, and with tape she began to tape the leaves back on the trees, thinking that somehow she could ward off her mother’s death.
Quite frankly, apart from the empty tomb, apart from that stone rolled away, apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this life and this world doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The suffering, the pain, the tragedy… apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of resurrection and eternal life and an eternal kingdom, this world wouldn’t make any sense. But Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. He appeared to more than 500 people.
Miracles have been performed in His name. The Bible bears witness to Him. The Holy Spirit bears witness in the hearts of men and women. He is alive and He is the hope of the world. Jesus Christ raised from the dead the widow’s son in the village of Nain. He raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus. He raised from the dead the man called Lazarus at the village of Bethany. He himself rose from the dead in power and great glory. He alone has the power of resurrection. And He said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And he who lives and believes in Me will never truly die.” Jesus said to John, “Fear not. I am the living one. I died, but I am alive forevermore.” And He says to all who believe in His name, “Because I live, you shall live also.”
The thought of everlasting life, the thought of eternal life wouldn’t mean much to me if it was simply a never-ending existence. There are many things in this world that live for a very long time. There’s a tree in the white forest of California, a bristle cone pine. Its name is Methuselah. According to dendrochronologists, those who study the age of trees by examining their rings, that tree is actually 4,600 years old. That’s incredible. That tree was 600 years old when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees. That tree was 1,100 years old when Moses led the children of Israel out if bondage in Egypt. It was 1,100 years old when Moses received the law on Mount Sinai. The tree was 1,600 years old when King David ruled Israel and 2,600 years old when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.
And yet, that tree still lives today. In Eastern California scientists have found a bristle cone pine (which they cut down in 1964) that dendrochronologists tell us was 4,900 years old. These old trees, such as the giant redwoods in Sequoia National Forest (which are about 3,000 years old, some of them) tend to be very big. They become very wide. They become very tall. There’s a tree in Santa Maria del Tule in Mexico, a tree that is called a Montezuma Cyprus. It’s 113 feet around. There’s a Douglas Fern in British Columbia that’s 417 feet high, much taller than a football field. We look at such trees and we marvel. They’re so big, they’re so wide, they’re so old. We venerate them.
People say, “If only that tree could talk,” but I’m not sure that tree would have a whole lot to say. Trees don’t get around. Perhaps nothing of any interest ever occurred anywhere near that tree. You see, all trees do is vegetate. If eternal life was like that, I wouldn’t be very interested. When I was growing up, I was given a picture of heaven that seemed like that. I was told you sit on clouds and sing in the choir. That’s great, once in a while. I was told you play harps. It didn’t sound very exciting to me.
But you see, the Bible has a whole different picture of heaven. Jesus Christ doesn’t simply offer quantity of life. He offers quality of life. And He has said, “I’ve come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly.” The Bible says, “In God’s presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.” It’s not talking about some kind of fallen hedonism. It is talking about a truly joyous, meaningful, exciting, fulfilling, eternal life. That’s what Jesus Christ promises. He’s gone to prepare a place for us eternal in the heavens. And one day we may be where He is.
We can’t possibly know exactly what heaven’s going to be like, but we know it’s great. We know its implications are cosmic, covering the entire creation. We know that the saints are destined to reign and rule with Christ forever and ever. There’s a parable that is sometimes told (and with this we’ll close) that’s only a story, but it’s based on scientific fact. It tells of a small little pond. Beneath the pond, there was a community of water bugs. And the water bugs were very happy there beneath the pond as they kind of scurried around in the soft mud a long, long ways from the light of the sun. But every once in a while, one of the water bugs, strangely, would go over to the stem of a lily pad and begin to climb. It would climb the lily pad up and up until it reached the top of the pond, and then would disappear, never to be seen again.
Now, the water bugs notice this. Every water bug eventually would climb the stalk, even though they said they never would. They all did. Some of them waited a year, some of them waited five years. But eventually all of them would climb the stalk, never to be seen again. So one day the leader of the water bugs got them all together. He said, “Let’s make an agreement that the next person that climbs the stalk will come back and tell us what they found, what they’ve discovered, what’s there.” Well, only two weeks later, it was that same bug, the leader, that found himself climbing the stalk. He couldn’t help it. He felt a compulsion, a drive. He began to climb the stalk up and up and up until he reached the top of the pond. And suddenly he broke into a whole new world. There was sunlight everywhere. He could see beautiful green foliage and trees.
He found himself resting on a beautiful lily pad atop the pond in a whole new world with a seemingly endless sky. The most amazing discovery of all was he looked down at his body and it had changed. He had four silver wings and they were transparent like glass. His body was green and blue. The sun began to dry the water from his wings and he began to move them. He moved them faster and faster, and he began to ascend. He began to rise high above the lily pond. He looked down on the beautiful, small pond. He couldn’t believe the beauty. He saw flowers and trees everywhere, and he began to glide in the wind. He found that he could fly 55 to 60 miles an hour. He had great fun. And then, periodically, he would descend and land on the lily pads. And then one moment, he looked off the lily pad down to the bottom of the pond and he saw the little community of water bugs and he remembered.
He remembered his promise to return and tell the water bugs what he had found. He remembered that once he was one of them. So, without thinking, he dove into the pond and he tried to swim down, but he could not. And he realized that it was not possible for him to return to that world where once he’d lived. And so he went back to the lily pad and he flew once again into the sky. And he thought to himself, “I’m just going to have to wait until they can come where I am and see the beauty of the world that I’ve discovered.”
That’s only a parable, but it’s based on scientific fact because it’s the story of the dragonfly. The dragonfly lives from one to five years beneath the pond in the mud at the bottom. But then they experience a resurrection when they climb that stalk and they get a new body and they soar to the heavens, though they cannot return.
It’s only a parable, but it’s a story of what life is like for a community called Christians. It’s a story, it’s an illustration of what life is like for the church, for brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. You see, we live in a world… this earth is very much like the mud at the bottom of the pond. And every once in a while we see a brother or sister in Christ leave. We see a brother or sister in Christ leave this world. Their body returns dust to dust, but their soul and spirit is gone. We sometimes wish that they could return to tell us what life is like in heaven, what life is like in the life to come, but they cannot return. The Bible does speak of the Apostle Paul as having ascended into heaven and returning. But Paul said he saw things too beautiful to describe, things that earthly words could not describe, things that he was not permitted to utter in this age of the world.
See, the Bible says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love Him.” John says, “Beloved, we are children of God. Now, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but this we know: when He appears we’ll be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” And in John’s revelation, he actually caught a glimpse of the life to come, and he writes, “Behold, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, descend from the heavens, prepared as a bride adorned for her bridegroom. I heard a great voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples and He Himself shall be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. He who sat upon the throne, said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Also He said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ And He said to me, ‘It is finished. I’m the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life. He who conquers, He who believes, shall have this heritage and I will be his God. He shall be My child.’”
Easter. It’s a promise made to the world, a twofold promise. It is a promise of forgiveness to all who believe in Christ; a promise of resurrection, eternal life; a promise of heaven itself. Jesus Christ, the hope of the world. Shall we pray?
Lord Jesus, You are the hope of the world. You are God with us. You are Lord, You are Savior. We thank You that though You were rich, for our sakes You became poor. You entered our world. You experienced our joy and our sorrow. You took our flesh upon Yourself. Lord, Thank You that You loved us so much You were willing to be beaten, to be bruised, to be flogged, even spat upon. Lord, You were willing to be crucified, willing to die for each one of us because, You have told us, You love us so much. By Your death You enable us to cross a river called sin, to find safety from death and forgiveness of sin. Thank You, Lord Jesus.
We confess to You that we are sinful. The things we should have done, we have not done. And many things we have done we should not have done. Lord, forgive us. And thank You for Your promise of forgiveness to all who believe, all who confess, all who receive You as Lord. Lord, this is a hard world for us. We see a lot of suffering, a lot of tragedy. There’s a lot we do not understand. And there’s a daily battle to earn bread and to make friends. In the midst of it all, there’s death. Thank You for the hope that You alone can give: the promise of everlasting life, the promise of resurrection for all who would take You as Lord and Savior. And Lord, on this Easter Sunday, if there’s anyone here who has never found forgiveness and who has never accepted the promise of eternal life, let them simply say, “Lord Jesus, come into my life. I want to live for You. Be my Lord, my Savior, my King.” In Your great name we pray. Amen.