We had a beautiful morning yesterday for our “Son-rise Service!”  What a joy to celebrate the most significant event in the history of mankind when Jesus Christ arose from the grave after three days (according to Jewish reckoning where any portion of a day or night is equivalent to a day and night)!  Although it was a fairly chilly morning, about 30 degrees, the sun had just risen over the mountains and its warmth on our backs felt great. It was bright enough that the pastor, who was facing into the sun, had to have on dark glasses as he spoke. I was reminded of how Moses had to veil himself when he came off the mountain, having been in God’s presence and “glowed.”  

     Because the “Son is up,” we too feel the warmth of His love and presence.  We are doubly blessed because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We had two needs that were met on that historic day in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago.  We needed forgiveness for what we have done (sinned) and deliverance from what we are (sinners).  

     First of all, Jesus, who came to earth to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10), bore our sins as He hung on the cross and God the Father, poured out His wrath on those sins. Jesus suffered in our place and paid the penalty for all our sins. “He (the Father) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21).  “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed (restored spiritually)” (I Pet. 2:24). “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).  As we acknowledge our own sinfulness for which Jesus died, and that He paid the price in full on our behalf, and we put our faith in His work at the Cross, we are “born again” (Jn. 3:3), forgiven, and we receive Christ’s righteousness, so that we then stand before God “justified” (just as if we hadn’t sinned).  There is nothing more we need do, nor can do, to add to what Jesus did on our behalf. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).  “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ro. 5:1).  Jesus’ resurrection was proof that our sins were paid for.  “Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith…” (Ro. 3:24,25a).  The word “propitiation” means that God’s holy demands were satisfied by Jesus’ laying down His life for us. It is the same Greek word that is used for “Mercy Seat” (Heb. 9:5 cf Lev. 16:14) where the High Priest sprinkled blood to satisfy God’s holy demands. In this case, Jesus, our High Priest, sprinkled His own blood.  Rom. 4:25, in reference to Christ’s death,  says “He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of (on the basis of) our justification.”  On the basis of God’s holy demands being met to pay for our sins, God raised Jesus from the dead. So, through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, we have forgiveness for what we have done. He paid the penalty for all our sins.

     But, again, we are doubly blessed by the resurrection. Not only do we have forgiveness for what we have done, but we also have deliverance from what we are (sinners by nature).  In Rom. 5:10, Paul wrote: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”  Through Jesus death on our behalf, we can be reconciled to God through forgiveness of sin and receipt of Christ’s righteousness. But now, through the resurrected Christ who lives in us as believers (Gal. 2:20), we have the power to overcome sin. That’s what Romans chapter 6 is all about. Paul writes, “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin…For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace…and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (vv. 6,14,18).   We still have our old sinful flesh (as Paul describes in Ro. 7 and Gal. 5), but because Christ and the Holy Spirit now indwell us, we no longer have to obey its desires. As we “walk in the Spirit” (i.e., in obedience to God’s Word and in dependence upon Him), we no longer are under sin’s power (Gal. 5:16).   We have deliverance from what we are–sinners. 

     So, we are “doubly blessed” by the resurrection. We experience what Jesus promised in John 10:10: “…I am come that you might have life (eternal life through forgiveness of sin), and might have it abundantly (through victory over sin’s power)”.  And, praise God, a third blessing awaits us in heaven where we will finally be freed from the very presence of sin!

Forever his,

Pastor Dave