Death no longer has dominion over Him

Death, like sin, is trivialized in our society nowadays. As sin is sometimes referred to as a "disorder" or "sickness" or "addiction," death in a similar fashion is referred to as simply "it was his time" or "he passed away." But the fact of the matter is - death is an ugly result of our own rebellion against God and his original created order. Death was not meant to be natural in the very beginning. Everlasting life in the presence of God was the established norm for Adam in the garden. But as Paul tells his Roman brothers, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and later, to the Corinthian church, "the sting of death is sin" (1 Corinthians 15:56). We today continue to pay those deathly wages and to feel that awful sting - but there is no reason any biblically-sound Christian should attempt to gloss over the heinousness of sin or the tragic anomaly of death. We as believers should most certainly stare death in the face and mourn the awful circumstances in which we find ourselves. This is the situation in which Martha found herself when Lazarus died.

As Jesus makes his way to see the deceased Lazarus, Martha meets him, saying, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21). Jesus replies that Lazarus will rise again, to which Martha acknowledges her belief in the resurrection on the last day. But Jesus tells her a deeper mystery, as it is related to himself and the Spirit working within him. He tells her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26). Now here is the most profound, confrontational question Martha had ever been asked. And as she mourned the degradation of death, Martha was now faced with one whose presence was so associated with transcendent Life, that he could actually call himself the Resurrection. And all Jesus was asking Martha to do was believe what had been written of him in the Old Testament Scriptures.

1. Job foretells when the Messiah will stand upon the earth and the dead will be raised - "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God" (Job 19:25-26).
2. Isaiah prophesies of the day when the dead shall live and sing for joy - "Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy" (Isaiah 26:19).
3. Daniel speaks of the day of deliverance when those who are asleep shall awake to everlasting life - "But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:1b-2).

And the crux on which these different Scriptures stand is one solitary, objective fact - that Christ was first raised from the dead. Paul says, "We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him" (Romans 6:9). Christ, having overcome death itself, has paid our wages for us and felt the sting of death on our behalf. Paul goes on to finish this chapter with "sin will have no dominion over you" having thus received "the free gift of God...eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:14, 23).

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!