Easter
is the celebration of one of the most important events in human history. The
Resurrection of Jesus Christ was God’s cosmic yes to all the teachings of
Jesus. Jesus taught that he was the long promised Messiah of Deuteronomy 18.18
and Isaiah 52 - 54. He proved his authenticity by healing miracles and
prophesying His own death and resurrection. Jesus taught that God was making a
new Covenant of forgiveness. This Covenant offered forgiveness of sins through
repentance and faith in Jesus sacrificial death. It did not replace but did
supersede the Old Testament Covenant of Moses.
1. This sounds too good to be true
It is
hard for modern scientific people to believe in miracles. Many have sadly
bought into the great lie of modern liberalism which has deconstructed the
Bible and questioned everything supernatural. There are three reasons for
believing the resurrection story is historically true. First of all the
specific details about the linen bandages and napkin suggest an eyewitness
account as opposed to a made up story. Secondly the non-heroic confusion and
misinterpretation of the Disciples also suggest this is real life rather than
fiction. But the biggest reason for belief is the changed lives of the people
who were there. This small group of people who had known and seen the risen
Jesus went on to change the world. They went fearlessly to horrible deaths with
joy on their faces as they witnessed to the intervention of God in history.2. Jesus overcome the old order of sin and death
Ever since the Garden of Eden Satan had been tempting, deceiving and then accusing people. His work was to lead them into sin and rebellion against God. His goal was to separate people from the love of God through guilt and shame. He works with our human laziness, ignorance, selfishness, insecurity and desire for material things and human approval. The result is human pollution by guilt and shame. The Holy Spirit cannot live in such spiritual pollution so people become separated from God and died spiritually. They had no hope of eternal spiritual life.
3. Jesus death and Resurrection created a new way for sins to be forgiven.
Christians believe that Jesus was sinless and died for the sins of others. We believe, as we say in the Creed in “the forgiveness of sins” The Bible teaches us that we can repent, confess our specific sins to Jesus, ask for forgiveness and receive forgiveness. We can do this privately at home or during worship services. There is a profound scene in the movie The Passion where Satan confronts Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and questions whether Jesus can die for the sins of the whole world. The later scene of Satan screaming in rage, underground, beneath the Cross answers this question. This is the New Covenant of Jesus.
4. How does this forgiveness work?
Jesus in
effect replaced the Old Testament way of forgiveness through repentance and
animal sacrifice. The Temple sacrifices were not very effective. Many people
did realize the seriousness of sin. They did not have a clear teaching on life
after death. Christians believe that God intervened directly in history by
coming to earth in the human form of Jesus to show us what God was like in
human terms. God offered Himself as a sacrifice to pay for human sin and guilt.
This is very hard for us to understand. This is where love and faith comes in. We
don’t all understand how our computers work either – but we use them. The
bottom line is that faith works. Millions of people have experienced the
healing love, grace and forgiveness of God through faith in Jesus. Easter is a
celebration that God has intervened in history and said yes to the new Covenant
of Jesus.
5. If we have died with Him we shall live with Him
Under
the New Covenant God has promised the forgiveness of sins on two conditions.
First of all there must be repentance. Repentance is like an emotional death
where we die personally to our attraction to the sin. It is a death of the
heart where we experience grief at how our actions have wounded our love
relationship with the divine. This repentance is at the heart of having a
spiritual life as it cleans us out and makes a holy place inside us for the
Holy Spirit to come and live and guide us. The second condition is personal
belief that Jesus has already died for our sins and has the authority to grant
forgiveness. This is how we die with Him so that we can live with Him. The Good
news of the Covenant of Jesus is that the grace of God will cover and remove
our guilt.
6. In the Eucharist we
celebrate the New Covenant
The
night before He died Jesus gave us a new way to celebrate our New Covenant
relationship with God. This is the Covenant we enter at Baptism and re-affirm
by saying ‘amen’ after the Eucharistic Prayer. As preparation we all go through
a formal Confession and Absolution. This is probably the most important part of
the service. It gives us an opportunity to go through the process of briefly
examining our lives and inserting personal things we have done or not done
which have offended God or other people. The words of Absolution, given by the
priest, are a prayer that God will honour the New Covenant of Jesus by
forgiving us whatever we have personally repented. What we are celebrating in
the Eucharist is our new way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God and
other people.
We are continuing as
witnesses to the Resurrection as a validation of the Covenant of Jesus.
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