On that Sabbath Morning particularly celebrating the Resurrection, Christians all over the world will assemble as part of the new world and will greet each other with the triumphant declaration, "Christ is risen!" and the formal response will redound: "He is risen, indeed!". It is probably our most triumphant "high five".
Why is the Resurrection so significant, so central? Is it such a "big deal"? Or is it Christians making much ado about very little?
There is a provocative passage in New Testament where Paul tells the Ephesian believers what he has been praying for them. He writes:
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1: 18-21)Clearly Christians are to grow in their understanding of the work of God the Father which He wrought in raising His Son from the dead. It manifests the "surpassing greatness of His power" toward us. It appears that these things are not immediately to be grasped by new Believers, but something which they gradually comprehend over time, as they grow in their understanding of the Scriptures and of life.
The raising of a person to life again, whilst a miraculous work of God, is not in itself so spectacular. Did not our Lord raise Lazarus? Did not Elisha raise the dead son of the Shunamite woman? The Resurrection of Christ, however, is of a different order entirely. It was of cosmic significance. Nothing would ever be the same again. All had changed. (Revelation 21:5) Every part of creation has been and will be affected as a result. (Ephesians 1:10) Every human soul, amongst both the living and dead, was now orientated toward, and under the aegis of, the resurrected Christ--whether they liked it or not. (Philippians 2:9-11) The principalities and powers of the air--the demonic forces--were dethroned and cast out. (Colossians 2: 15; John 12: 33) A human ruler of all creation had been enthroned in their place. A judge had been installed. (Acts 17: 31) All His enemies are to be placed under His feet. (Acts 2: 34,35) The last enemy thus to be conquered will be death itself. (I Corinthians 15: 25, 26) The life giving, brooding Spirit of the Living God had fallen upon the earth to regenerate, enliven, and re-create His people, right down to the joints and marrow, to the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4: 12, 13)
When Christians greet each other on Resurrection Morn with the declaration, "Christ is risen!" this is what they are professing: the remaking of all things that were broken from the beginning of the world. We are now in the years of our Lord's dominion. The riches of all His glorious inheritance are being shared with us, His people. What we experience now is but the smallest foretaste of the coming glory of creation as it is utterly, thoroughly, and completely remade by Christ, the Lord of the heavens and the earth.
It's enough to make one dance for joy, in the aisles of the great congregation.
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