Opinion : Pastor's Blog - Easter Sunday and the Resurrection of the Dead

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Dead Men Don’t Tell Tales”? There’s even a song titled with this phrase. I’m not sure how popular the song is (the song I viewed on YouTube only had 132 hits), but I’m quite sure that thoughts of death and the dead are not popular. Think about it: aside from the last funeral you attended, when’s the last time you thought about your own death? My grandfather used to say we can be sure of at least two things: death and taxes. He was right- I attended his funeral, and I’m sure I’ll be taxed until I die (and probably afterwards too). Both are unchanging, irreversible facts of life. It has been said that death is the ‘great equalizer.’ No matter whether you’re the greatest or the least, richest or poorest, happiest or least happy, death has no friends- only enemies. Sooner or later, sin’s curse will stop our beating hearts and leave our bodies to turn back to the stuff we were made from. And if the story ends here, I don’t think I could imagine a more pointless existence. King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes (found in the Bible) agrees completely with this sentiment, for he begins and ends his book with the following phrase: “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 & 12:8). Solomon was the greatest, most wealthy king who has ever lived or ever will live (silver was considered worthless in his day! Read 2 Chronicles chapters 5 through 9 to learn of his vast, incalculable wealth). Solomon’s wealth makes the fortunes of George Soros and Bill Gates look like pauper’s purses. If you missed the irony in Solomon’s statement, here it is: how could the richest man in the world say, “Everything is meaningless, completely meaningless?” This man tried EVERYTHING! He experimented with every kind of wisdom, knowledge, material wealth, love, power, control, and conquest. He left no pleasure unturned, he denied himself nothing and still came up empty. Why? Primarily because things themselves cannot satisfy, for God made us to be satisfied with Himself and His blessings. And secondly, since we all die, we leave whatever memories, pleasures and treasures we’ve labored for all our lives to others- every last nickel stays here. Solomon said, “I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun (Ecclesiastes 4:2-3). No wonder nobody thinks of death! Is their a more gloomy, joyless topic? Solomon’s analysis doesn’t end here however. He records his final thoughts in chapter 12, giving us a glimmer of hope, a ray of sunlight on a seemingly meaningless sunset. “Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad” (12:13-14). In other words, Solomon concludes that death is NOT the end of human existence. If it were, there truly wouldn’t be any good reason to live this way or that way, because death would erase the meaning and purpose of that very existence. No, death is NOT the end of human existence, for the dead will all rise again. There are others besides Solomon who help us understand this. The apostle Paul said: “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body (2 Corinthians 5:8-10). If death erased all the bad we have done, how could justice be served? Wouldn’t it be grossly unjust for the world’s greatest criminals like Stalin, Hitler and Mao to escape the penalty of their crimes in death? And if death canceled all the good we have ever done, what reward would there be for doing what was right? Job (pronounced ‘Jobe’) said: “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!” (Job 19:25-27). For Job, this righteous servant of God, death meant eternal life in the presence of his Creator. So also, Jesus said this, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). In other words, Jesus promises life, even after death, if we are found to be pure, forgiven of all our sins. The possibility of life, eternal living, even after death, is made possible by the exclusive death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ which we celebrate directly on Easter Sunday and indirectly every Sunday we gather to worship Him. He has made this possible to everyone who repents of their sin and daily trusts in Him for all things. Acts 26:20 says, “all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do.” The alternative to eternal life is eternal death, the fair and just consequence of our sin. Jesus didn’t merely die to set an example of selflessness and submission to His enemies- no, far more than that. He came to pay the debt of sin, death, we all owe because we all have sinned. Even if we were somehow able to sin only once during our entire lifetime, God still would see us as lawbreakers, rebels, and sinners (James 2:10). So, what is the meaning and significance of Easter Sunday? It’s nothing less than this: the possibility of a future resurrection for sinners. The apostle John takes an entire chapter to record the events of Jesus’ resurrection. The most remarkable part of the chapter is at the end, where John tells us what the resurrection really means. He writes: “The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name” (John 20:30-31). John was drawing his reader’s attention to the greatest miracle ever recorded: Jesus giving His life away in the death for sinners and taking that life back again in rising from death and the grave that held Him! Had the grave held His dead body, I’m afraid we’d have to conclude everything is meaningless, even life itself, just as Solomon had. Had the tomb sealed His bones there in the darkness forever, what would have made His death any different from yours or mine? Nothing. His death would be just another lame story, a false hope, another meaningless death in the sad story of human existence. Thank God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ! The writer of the book of Hebrews rejoices in this way: “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Because He lives, we too may live, even after we die, if we delight ourselves in Him! The apostle John gives us this hope: “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). Praise God for the future, certain hope of the resurrection of His saints! All Scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT). Zach Zajicek is the pastor at: First Baptist Church of Vinton “Finding Christ supreme in all things” find us on the web: www.vintonfirstbaptist.com