TO LIVE OR NOT
Easter, a time when we commemorate the resurrection of Christ after His crucifixion a few days earlier. A few decades ago, I recall walking to an Easter Sunday service with a light sweater or jacket, joining hundreds of others on a warm sunny day, whereas now it often seems as if the weather has turned too chilly and damp for what might be called spring apparel.
The times and weather may have changed quite a bit but the reason for the commemoration has not. The resurrection remains just as valid now as it did then, even though the apparent need for it in many ways and to many people seems altered. We also can’t, at this time, gather as we might wish but that also does not change the validity of the message. Christ was resurrected to become “…the firstborn of the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth…” (Revelation 1:5).
If He is the firstborn, then it means that there are others to follow, and it is this assurance that provides us with the possibility of life beyond this present existence. It isn’t Christ’s birth or death which can give this hope. It is only the gift of resurrection that God gave Christ, the same gift that He can give to us, that provides the above hope. As Christ now sits at His Father’s right hand, so we also can spend an eternity in His presence.
But do people really and truly believe this? The Bible states that there is only one means by which this is possible; but many reject it outright, have doubts altogether, or feel other ways are just as valid. This often happens because one cannot prove conclusively all that the Bible states. One source puts it this way: “…the resurrection of Jesus Christ, though a historical fact, cannot possibly be established by historical verification if {such verification means} the exclusion of faith in the trustworthiness of Scripture.”* The same source also goes on to say “God does not permit man to find out His secrets by way of human research and reasoning, but only by faith in Him as the Revealer of truth through His word and Spirit”.**
So what do you really believe? There are only two choices: either there is absolutely nothing after this life or there is life beyond this existence. That means the beginning of a “new history”*** apart from our present existence. A “new history” made possible by the Resurrection which we commemorate at Easter, and which gives us hope and if you truly believe, assurance that we also may follow the same path.
Over the course of one’s life many things change, and it seems more and more difficult to maintain faith in the array of questions and apparent obstacles which the world throws at us on an almost daily basis. Our travels through life are reflected in the journey of the traveller Christian in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. The traveller is confronted by tall mountains blocking his vision, when, on a hill named Clear, a shepherd offers Christian a view through a telescope. He then can see in the distance some of the glory of the Celestial City and Christian can then continue his journey with courage. In 2 Corinthians Chapter 12, Paul gives us a glimpse of the same Celestial City through his own “telescope.”
We either maintain the necessary faith or we allow the circumstances of the world to deny us that belief. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 puts it this way:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing; but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men”
This Easter, when the thought is on Christ’s death and resurrection, remember the preaching of Christ crucified and what it really all means. Then using the Bible, as Christian did a telescope, we will also be able to see the Celestial City in the distance and continue on with the hope, knowledge, and courage to face this world and to maintain the hope of the world to come. This Easter it’s something we all should think about.
*The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible Volume 5 pg 75
** ibid pg 76
*** ibid pg 76
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