Victory!

For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Thank you for joining today as we share in Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Jesus came to earth to win, to achieve the victory His Heavenly Father intended.

We might find the incredulity of the Apostles and disciples slightly odd. How could they arrive at the tomb and not understand?

Each of the gospel accounts show Jesus telling and indicating to His disciples that He must die and that He would rise – achieve victory. He told them this three times. Not just once, He repeated it.

In John 14:29 as part of the Last Supper narrative we hear Jesus say: And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

So, what happened? Here we are with those Apostles before the tomb, seeing the victory of Jesus over death and… we hear silence and see a lack of understanding.

Perhaps, the people of Jesus’ time had trouble recognizing true victory much in the same way as we misunderstand victory in our day.

Like us, the Jews of Jesus’ times engaged in games and sports. The Israelites played board games such as chess, checkers, and backgammon. Pieces of clay, parts of bones, or pebbles were used as game pieces. They also had athletic contests in wrestling, running, and discus throwing. They also understood victory on the battlefield – who is a winner and who was looser.

They, like us, viewed winning as a very personal thing. At most winning was achieved as part of a corporate body – a team or army. I won the game. We beat that team. I came in first. We won the battle. We can, as they could in Jesus’ day, say winner and victor in a thousand different ways but it was always personal and one sided.

Jesus came to earth to win, to achieve the victory His Heavenly Father intended. It was not our kind of victory; it was not within the scope of our understanding. How could this man Jesus sacrifice His life and die, not for His own sake, but so that all of us might win?

Jesus’ victory was not a one sided and personal victory – just for Himself, nor a victory for a small team, but victory for all of us, for all of humanity.

That is the glory of God! Jesus took on all our battles and removed all our obstacles. So, we are victorious in Him. We are in the winner’s circle. All the heavy and ugly things in our lives have been carried away in Jesus’ overcoming. Yes, even the challenge of death has been overcome for us. All praise to our victorious King Jesus! He won for us all.

Hope forever.

For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Good morning, Church! I am so thankful you have chosen to worship with us this Easter. Today we are filled with a renewed hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is risen! Church declare: He is risen indeed!

Early in the morning on the third day after Jesus’ death, a woman named Mary Magdalene made her way to the tomb. Other places in the scriptures tell us that she had gone to anoint His body for burial. When she arrives, she finds the tomb empty. She saw insult added to the pain of the injury she was already feeling. Mary concludes that someone must have come and taken Him away. She is devastated. She runs to tell the others. She needs to share her hurt with those closest to her crucified Lord. They run to the tomb and find it empty except for Jesus’ burial cloths.

They didn’t quite get it yet. The shock of the past days and their fears got in the way for a moment. They forgot the lessons Jesus taught about His death and resurrection; the way He prepared them for all these events. 

They were like children searching for eggs in the yard, searching the horizon for God’s subtle signs of hope, and all still a mystery to them.

Jesus would not leave them there in pain and sorrow, in confusion, just searching without finding. Soon the rollercoaster of reports and experiences of the risen Lord would bring the reality of the resurrection home to them. Soon, fear would be replaced by hope and the hope flowing from the resurrection would set them free. 

Easter is a permanent reminder that God is in the business of awakening hope within us, that He brings life out of death, and that He offers us a future filled with assurance. In Him we are assured of finding, of not being left in pain and sadness. 

We now, because of the ministry of those who firsthand experienced the resurrected Lord, know much more fully the hope we own. Their hope inspired freedom would move them to draw many into the Kingdom life. We are the beneficiaries of their witness, and we too are now witnesses before the world. 

Our hope is in this: Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross set us free from captivity to sin. Our hope is in this: We will be resurrected as Jesus was. We will be glorified in our bodies and enter the great joy that is heaven, live life with God forever in the very same glorified way Jesus showed forth.

What Mary, Peter, and John did not immediately get is the powerful revelation that is our hope, that if Jesus can overcome death, there is nothing in our lives that He cannot defeat and overcome.