Bowling Green Covenant Church

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve…Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to also to me.” – 1 Corinthians 15.3-5, 8

Alfred Lord Tennyson once met Salvation Army founder General William Booth while out for a morning walk. “General,” said Tennyson, “What is the news this morning?” “The news, sir,” replied Booth, “is that Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification!” “Ah!” replied Tennyson, “That is old news and new news, and good news.”

Each year at Easter we hold this truth to be self-evident: the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, was crucified for our sins, that He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. To quote Tennyson, “That is old news and new news, and good news.” In fact, it is the good news.

Christ is risen! That’s fact not fiction. He died but now He is alive. His resurrection means death is defeated. That’s old news and new news. What makes it good news is that His resurrection makes our resurrection inevitable. The resurrection of Christ is neither myth nor fantasy, neither legend nor fable. It is the truth – a reality so obvious to the apostle Paul he makes no attempt either to prove or to defend it. To him the fact Christ is risen is as obvious as the sun in the sky.

Further evidence of the resurrection is provided by the existence of the church throughout the centuries. What other explanation can there be for the persevering existence of such a diverse group of people? The church continues to thrive because, in the aftershock of Christ’s resurrection, we have experienced the live-giving warmth of His truth, love, mercy and grace.

Were we to reject the resurrection, we would deny the gospel. If we were to deny the gospel our faith would be like a balloon let loose so the air can escape. We would go zooming to and fro in an aimless zigzag through life until we are deflated. And once deflated our souls would be as shrunken, shriveled and useless as a deflated balloon.

If there is no resurrection, if Jesus is not raised from the dead, our faith, to quote an old Rich Mullins song, is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine – worthless. If Christ is not raised from the dead, if He is not alive then everything we believe is a lie and nothing we do in life matters.

But Jesus is alive! He is risen! What we do does matter. How we live does matter. Every believer is a witness to the truth that Christ is risen. Every believer is a living testimony to the obvious truth of Christ having been raised from the dead. Every believer is a letter of hope written by the Spirit of God – hope that is rooted in the truth that Jesus Christ is alive.

When Winston Churchill planned his funeral, which took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral, he included many of the great hymns of the church as part of the Anglican liturgy. After the benediction, Churchill left instructions for a bugler, positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s, to play Taps, the universal signal that says the day is over.

But then came the dramatic turn. Following Churchill’s instructions, after the bugler finished Taps, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played the notes of Reveille – “It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning.”

Churchill wanted his funeral to verify his conviction that at the end of history, the last note will not be Taps. It will be Reveille.

What Winston Churchill did with bugles, the apostle Paul did with grammar. He verified the truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15.3-4). Paul wrote his letter in Greek, and the Greek verb raised is a perfect passive, meaning we should read verse 4 as follows: “He (Jesus) was raised on the third day and is still alive.”

On Crucifixion Friday, the devil and his demonic horde played Taps, but on Resurrection morning, the Father and His angels played Reveille. The empty tomb is a silent witness – a permanently open mouth preaching Christ was raised from the dead and is still alive. And after He was raised Jesus was seen. Paul tells us, “He (Christ) appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve (the immediate group of apostles). After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom,” says Paul, “are still living,” at the time his letter was written, “though some have fallen asleep (meaning they have died),” (1 Corinthians 15.6-8)

Paul continues, “Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

Jesus did not have to appear to Paul. He did not have to bring him into the kingdom. He did not have to call him to preach the gospel, plant churches and equip the saints. Jesus did not have to do any of that, but He did. Paul described himself as “one abnormally born.” It is a reference to the fact that he did not come by his apostleship in the usual way. Christ appeared to Paul while he was on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus. Paul understood his calling to be a living parable of God’s grace. A grace that the Corinthians, and we, have come to share because of the gospel of the resurrection.

Resurrection Sunday is a congregational as well as a personal experience. None of us would be here if Jesus did not appear to us in some way. We may not have been knocked down from our high horse as was Paul, but we have seen Jesus in the lives of those who know Him. We have heard Him in the preaching of the word. We have felt His presence at the Lord’s Table. We have tasted His grace through eating the bread and drinking from the cup of the New Covenant. We have reached out to Him by faith at the foot of the cross. We have smelled the aroma of life where we expected the stench of death.

The cross is empty.

The tomb is empty.

But the church is full.

The church is full because Christ was raised from the dead and He is still alive!

He is alive so there is hope of knowing Him if we have not known Him before. He is alive so there is certainty in believing that our preaching and our faith is not worthless. He is alive so we are encouraged that our labor is not in vain. He is alive so we have reason to remain steadfast in the truth that we have received and on which we are building our eternal destiny.

He is alive, who tore in two the veil between heaven and earth, to show us His glory so that we will declare His glory to an unbelieving culture. He is alive and because He lives we live. He is alive to strengthen our grip on the plow of our faith. He is alive in the power of the Spirit so that we might fortify our souls with the old news that is the new news, which is the good news: “Christ died for our sins and rose for our justification.”

In John Masefield’s drama, The Trial of Jesus, there is a striking passage in which the Roman Centurion in command of the soldiers at the cross comes back to Pilate to hand in his report of the day’s work. After the report is given, Pilate’s wife beckons to the centurion and begs him to tell her how the prisoner died. When the Centurion is finished, she asks, “Do you think he is dead?”

“No, lady,” answers the centurion, “I don’t.”

“Then where is he?” asks an astonished Pilate’s wife.

“Let loose in the world, lady, where neither Roman nor Jew can stop his truth.”

What is the news this Eastertide? “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 He is still alive!

He is let loose in the world where no one can stop His truth.

That is old news, new news, and good news. It is also true news and being true neither it nor Jesus can be stopped.

You think about that.

MMalanga