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 Wilderness and the Desert: a Story Rescripted

Israel has a story with weighty significance - a story grounded in Scripture that carries a supreme importance in the Hebrew mind concerning the history of redemption. The Lord refers to Israel as his "firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22). So significant was this sonship that the Lord again says, "when Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1). There was a covenant intimacy the Lord bestowed upon Israel, having its firm foundation in the one-sided contract the Lord had previously established with Abraham (Genesis 15). As the suzerain, God would protect and provide for his son, while Israel as the vassal would respond by faithfully keeping the commands and stipulations drawn up by the Lord at Sinai. Israel's faith was put to the test, however, as they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. They desired evil by indulging in idolatry, sexual immorality, and grumbling against his provisions (1 Corinthians 10:6-10), rather than keeping covenant with the God who remains faithful. Paul says that all of this happened as an example (Greek, typos) for us, that we might be instructed to not desire evil as they did (1 Corinthians 10:11).

But it was obvious that we needed to see more than just the type -  but the fulfillment as well. We needed a greater example - one that succeeded where Israel had not. In order to do this, the Father would need to rescript the story of Israel in the life of his true Son - Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Jesus was born out of miraculous circumstances by the virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit. Unlike his kindred in the flesh, born into sin, Jesus proceeded forth from the womb blameless, that he might bear our infirmities in his body one day on the cross. Joseph then took his wife and the newborn Jesus to Egypt to escape from Herod, thereby fulfilling "what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt I called my son'" (Matthew 2:15, previously referring to Israel in Hosea 11:1 - see above). Years later, Jesus' sonship was confirmed immediately after his baptism in the Jordan as the Spirit descended upon him like a dove and the voice of the Lord declared from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

Then, just as Israel's sonship was tested in the wilderness, so Jesus' sonship would now be tested in his temptation in the desert. These forty days are reminiscent of and meant to mirror Israel's forty years of wilderness wandering. Jesus replies with strategic Scripture from Deuteronomy when assailed by Satan, thus acting as a testimony of his superiority to what Israel failed to learn and perform in their wilderness trial. The diabolical plan of Satan to repeat in Jesus what he had previously done in Israel was thwarted. Jesus established himself as the true Israel of God - his one, unique Son. He defeated Satan where Israel has failed, thus securing in himself the title of Redeemer. While it seemed God's intention to bring about his "blessings to the nations" was through Israel by placing them in Canaan (Genesis 12, 15, & 18), it was actually through his beloved Son that he would thus sprinkle the world with his unmerited grace.

SDG

The Tale of Babel and Pentecost

The first time I heard this connection was in my Old Testament survey class. Much like the rest of the Old Testament, the event that occurred at the tower of Babel was a real event in history with serious implications for the people involved. But there is a deeper, fuller meaning within the context of the redemptive-historical drama of the Scriptures. And I would like to take a moment to try to unfold this meaning.

Within the Genesis narrative, the Babel incident occurs sometime between Noah's generation and Abraham's calling. The people of the earth were of one language. They gathered together in one place, to gather all of their resources and build a city and tower with its top in the heavens. They desired to make a name for themselves. This was all in contrast to the revealed will of the Lord in the beginning - to be fruitful and fill the earth with those who projected his image and called upon his great name. The earth was to be a sanctuary filled with the saints who continually ministered to his name. But the people of Babel did exactly the opposite - they saw "making a name for themselves" as antithetical to the divine purposes of the Lord in being "dispersed over the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4). The irony of the people's efforts is that the Lord of heaven still had to come "down to see the city and tower, which the children of man had built" (v. 5). Being displeased with man's attempt at self-glorification and autonomy apart from the communion of God, the Lord confused their language and dispersed them over the face of the earth (v. 7,8).

We fast forward a few millennia to several days after the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Majesty on high, where all the Jews have gathered for the celebration of Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks). While Babel's curse was the confusion of the language of man seeking autonomy from God, Pentecost and the giving of the Spirit was the reversal of the curse - the Spirit caused the disciples to speak the unifying message of the gospel in all languages, that all might understand (Acts 2:6-11). And while Babel dealt with the sin of the people for staying in one location by dispersing them over the face of the whole earth, Pentecost gathered all the devout men from every nation under heaven to commission them to make disciples of all peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations (Acts 2:5).

The wonderful drama of Scripture is not a segregated lump of stories but an intricate tapestry of events orchestrated by the powerful workings of God, within the mind of God, for the ultimate glory of God. I believe the tale of Babel and Pentecost is just one small instance of this.

SDG