This is an excerpt from the Lenten Devotional I assembled for North Hills Community Church:
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. I Corinthians 15:3-4
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The Lenten journey has brought us here, to an empty tomb. All the hope, all the promises, all the possibilities, brings us to a garden sepulcher in the hills of Jerusalem. For it is here that the final enemy has been undone. Peter Kreeft, in his Handbook of Christian Apologetics, notes the supremacy of the Resurrection to the Christian faith:
Every sermon preached by every Christian in the New Testament centers on the Resurrection. The gospel or “good news” means essentially the news of Christ’s resurrection. The message that flashed across the ancient world, set hearts on fire, changed lives and turned the world upside down was not “love your neighbor.” Every morally sane person already knew that; it was not news. The news was that a man who claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world had risen from the dead.
Katherine Walden writes,
Without the victory of the resurrection, the death of Jesus would have been in vain. For death by itself is no victory, no matter how well-meaning the sacrificial lamb, no matter how noble the cause. Through His resurrection, Christ broke the power of death once and for all time. Salvation was not completed only because of the cross. It was completed by the victory of the empty tomb.
Likewise, Charles Spurgeon proclaims:
Weep, when ye see the tomb of Christ, but rejoice because it is empty. Thy sin slew him, but his divinity raised him up. Thy guilt hath murdered him, but his righteousness hath restored him. Oh! he hath burst the bonds of death, he hath ungirt the cerements of the tomb, and hath come out more than conqueror, crushing death beneath his feet. Rejoice, O Christian, for he is not there—he is risen.
Is it any wonder that a group of ragtag followers, religious malcontents, and societal outcasts turned the world upside down shortly after the death of their Leader? Something had happened to transform them from misfits into martyrs, from cowards into bold advocates. “He is not here; for He has risen, as He said.” Thus, one of the most common greetings among early Christians was “Christ is risen!” to which the respondent would reply, “He is risen indeed!”
J. W. von Goethe, in “Christ is Arisen” joins the triumph:
Christ is arisen, Joy to thee, mortal!
Out of His prison, Forth from its portal!
Christ is not sleeping, Seek Him no longer;
Strong was His keeping, Jesus was stronger.
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He is risen! Have a blessed Easter!
