“For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise from the dead.” – John 20:9
For all that had been told them, shown them, promised them and granted to them … those original followers of Jesus Christ just did not comprehend the Resurrection. It certainly was not from a lack of clarity from their Master – Jesus told them multiple times, often in very plain terms, that He would be killed and later emerge from death’s grip (Matthew 16:21; Matthew 20:17-19). They struggled with the physical reality of His coming and living, yet Him not establishing a visible Kingdom, only to cruelly die a criminal’s death… and then to return to the living three days afterward. How could this be?
You and I have the benefit of the completed picture which those disciples did not possess. We have systematic theology, bible teachers, the indwelling Holy Spirit and an advantage of hindsight’s 20/20 clarity. We do not struggle with the reality of the Resurrection because it has been historically validated, scripturally explained and affirmed in our own hearts through the ministry of God the Spirit. Yet this does not mean we do not struggle with the Resurrection at all. Though we may easily embrace the attestation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I am confident that we are not equally as adept at resting in the implications of this monumental event.
Do we walk in victory? Are we not, at times, listless, frustrated, fearful or defeated? Do we sorrow as those who have no hope when our loved ones die? Could it be that we are living primarily for temporary pursuits, as if nothing awaited us beyond this earthly life? Fatalism sometimes infects our thinking as we forget that the same God who brings life from death is also well able to perform lesser reversals of a similar nature on our behalf. The One who raises the dead can heal the sick. Doors of opportunity may seem closed and bolted shut, but they are no more difficult for God to open than a stone-sealed tomb. Satan struck Jesus with death – his greatest and most sinister weapon. Jesus took that sword of death and decapitated the authority of Satan, and plundered him of the keys of death and hell. Do we live with this confidence that God is protecting us and offering us incomprehensible triumph? We have sound theology concerning the event of the Resurrection but are we walking in the ramifications of this victory? Is it theology only? Biblical history? The perfect victory, yet one which has no ongoing reverberations?
I think not.
Abba, grant Your children during this Easter week to walk in Resurrection power. Transform our minds from living as if Jesus exited the tomb, but left us incarcerated in its suffocating confines. Empower us to truly believe that He has invited us to share in the dynamics of resurrection living. Help us to believe that the victory which cost Him everything to supply to us is now granted to us freely through His grace and love. Place the same confidence in us which motivated the Apostle Paul to pen the joyful words of Romans chapter eight. Purge us today from polite mediocrity, and no more allow us to live our days as people of spiritual theory. Shake our circumstantial tombs. Roll our impossible stones away. Overrule the opposition of Satan which seeks to impale us to a cross of ongoing guilt and shame. Holy Father, grant us to arise from the hillside of earthly perspective, and take us up where our views are exalted. Let us see things as You see them. Permit us to behold others as you behold them. Empower us to know ourselves even as we are known by You. You have given us the victory in Your Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Help us not to come up short of living in this. Thank you that we have been raised with Him. Thank you, Abba, for Easter.
“…the same God who brings life from death is also well able to perform lesser reversals of a similar nature on our behalf. The One who raises the dead can heal the sick. Doors of opportunity may seem closed and bolted shut, but they are no more difficult for God to open than a stone-sealed tomb.” Amen, so powerful. Lord help me to remember this always