The Cosmic Scope of the Resurrection at Easter

Today is Good Friday, the day in accordance with the Jewish lunar calendar when Christ was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem some 2000 years ago. I know there will be devoted Christians everywhere who will get slightly offended when the world commercializes the idea of Easter for their capitalistic benefit. They respond with the patented answer, "Easter is about Christ's crucifixion and resurrection!" I agree wholeheartedly, but, in the same breath, Easter is a celebration with cosmic implications - not just concerning the resurrection in isolation, but what the resurrection means and represents throughout the ages. To be sure, we as Christians rejoice at the idea of the empty tomb, not because of the act in and of itself, but because it is the wonderfully anticipated climax of all the promises of God in the Old Testament. The resurrected Christ is the true son of Abraham through whom all the nations are blessed, the Passover Lamb offered up for the sins of many, the true Temple where God meets with man to forgive transgression, and the true son of David through whom the Lord establishes his kingdom forever. But in Scripture, there is yet another event tied in with the cosmic story of Easter Sunday - namely, that of the story of our origins, of Adam and Eve in the garden.

The resurrected Christ is the second Adam who crushes the serpent's skull. Something mysterious occurred in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned. It had cosmic implications for not just Adam and Eve but all of human posterity afterwards. All of humanity without exception born into this world would be born into sin, under the curse of the first Adam. As a result of this event, the Lord told the ancient serpent of old that there would be an Offspring from Eve that would rise up and crush his skull (Genesis 3:15), that he would deal Satan such a blow as to render him impotent. John expands on this in Revelation by saying that it was Christ who dealt this blow to Satan by the powerful workings of his own resurrection. John records that on the grounds of his own blood, Jesus cast down the ancient serpent from heaven, that he might not accuse the brothers in the courtroom of the Lord any longer. Prior to this, the great Deceiver accused the brothers day and night to the Lord (see Job 1) and deceived the nations from knowing the one true God, but now, by the power of his resurrection, Jesus has crushed the serpent's skull, rendered his efforts ultimately ineffective, and confined him to gloomy chains (Revelation 12:9-11, 20:1-3). But that is not all - Paul says further that the second Adam also succeeds where the first Adam failed. Where the first Adam disobeyed, Christ perfectly submitted to the will of his Father. And in this one act of righteousness - namely, that of offering himself up as a penal substitute for sinful man on the cross - he now gives grace that abounds to eternal life for those who by faith identify themselves with him (Romans 5:12-21).

With the resurrection, the second Adam reverses the curse of the first Adam. Adam's disobedience pervades into Israel's own story, as they move from exodus through the wilderness to attempt to claim the promised land. It was because of Israel's own disobedience, echoing the failure of their father Adam in the garden, that they could not maintain their kingdom habitation in Canaan. The second Adam and true Israel of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, succeeded where his historical types had failed. His bodily resurrection from the grave, conquering sin and death and thereby inaugurating his kingdom into this world, comes to us in the powerful message of the gospel today.

Happy Easter - soli Deo gloria!

The Enmity between the Woman's Seed and the Serpent's Seed

The coming of Christ's kingdom into this world can best be described from the perspectives of already and not yet - the kingdom of Christ is already present in grace, but not yet consummated in glory. This is sometimes referred to as the church militant and the church triumphant, respectively. The church militant is living in the midst of this present evil age - just like the wheat that grows alongside the weeds in Jesus' parable, so the church continues to reside in tension with the rest of the world until Christ comes back with power and in glory.

The "tension" is first mentioned in the serpent's curse in Genesis 3, where God declares to the satanic snake, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring" (v. 15a). This is a prophecy foretelling the future struggle between the children of the serpent and the offspring associated with the one who will "crush the serpent's skull" - a broader description of the strife that would continually escalate throughout history between the Lord's saints and the rest of creation still under Satan's sway.

This struggle is teased out again and again throughout Scripture - the warring between the surrounding pagan nations and the people of Israel as they march in to occupy Canaan, the battle between David and Goliath (a wonderful typological portrayal of Christ's ultimate victory over Satan), the disciples casting out demons and healing the sick during the ministry of Jesus, and even the continual persecution of the church around the world, all the way up to the present day. Even John in his revelation tells of that ancient serpent of old who has now grown to the scale of a "dragon" becoming furious with the "woman" (this time, not just Eve in particular, but with Israel symbolically) and proceeds to make war with the rest of her offspring (all those keeping God's commands and confessing Jesus as Lord, Revelation 12:17). The enmity between the woman's seed and the serpent's seed is a reality that cannot be denied.

And unlike those who believe in some Utopian Christian age when there will be no persecution of the saints or antagonism towards the gospel, or those who believe in a pretribulational rapture where the saints conveniently miss all trials and suffering, this enmity will continue between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan until Christ comes - when he will come with the clouds of heaven to separate the weeds from the wheat (Mark 13:24-27). So here is the summons - Christian, the fight is inevitable and long-lasting, and you must persevere to the end. But Christ assures us that while we will experience tribulation in the midst of this present evil age, we should take heart, for he has overcome the world (John 16:33).