The Easter Message

And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magadalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came into the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment: and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

This, my brethren, is the Gospel for this joyful feast-day. Like a tower it stands pre-eminent; and every word in it is like a bell chiming gladly, the harbinger of peace. From it there springs up a fountain of joy which far surpasses human understanding; and a rock of truth rises in the midst, on which we may repose our wearied wings, and rest from the tumult and turmoil of life. The first part of our history presents us with a mournful picture: but this is done intentionally, to make the splendour of Easter consolation shine more brightly from a dark back-ground. We are transported amongst the mourning women, who, with weeping eyes, left their cottages before the break of day, and hastened, with sweet spices, to the grave of their beloved Master; forgetful at first, in their all-absorbing grief, that they had no one to roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre. When they now, with anxious looks, turn towards each other, and in perplexity inquire who should roll it away for them, can we imagine a more melancholy scene? And does it not show us how dark and dismal our life would be, were it not enlivened by the Easter sun? I also stood, like those women, a sorrowing orphan in this vale of tears; and who was there to say to me, “Weep not!” for stone above stone I saw lying before me, of whose removal I might well despair. My sin, like a gigantic rock, almost obscured the heaven above me; and who was there to say, “Be comforted!” when I lamented that my transgressions were more than could be forgiven? The women, however, advanced nearer the tomb, and I along with them. What do I see? Hallelujah! The stone is rolled away, and with it all that oppressed me. The grave is open — the sun has arisen, and angels clad in white welcome us with a smile; while one of them cries out, in accents which thrill our very souls, “Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here; behold the place where they laid him!”

This is indeed a message of joy, or I know no what merits that appellation. Let us pause at these words of the angel, and contemplate, in the miracle of the resurrection, the glory of the Eternal Father, the glory of the Son, and the glory of his chosen ones. I. The text, “The Lord is risen!” seems to us a song of praise addressed to him that sitteth upon the throne; it dispels the clouds that hang over our heads, and, like a naming torch ascending upwards into heaven, shows us, by its light, the glory of Him to whom Jesus alluded when he said, “He is near that justifieth me: who will contend with me?” and of whom it is written, “Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne!” We realized the presence of this great Being during the earthquake on Golgotha — and trembled. We beheld him under a new aspect at the Resurrection — and rejoiced: for the Son had now finished the work which his Father had enjoined him. He had re-established that law which had been put to shame, and had offered an obedience such as could satisfy even the demands of God. He has risen victorious over the attacks of hell; the fiery darts of every conceivable temptation have been turned aside on the buckler of his faith; he has preserved unshaken his confidence in God, in situations where the highest seraph might have despaired; and proved himself subject to the will of his Father in all things, by undergoing an ignominious and accursed death. For all this he is now worthy, fully worthy, of the rich and glorious reward appointed for him by the eternal counsel of his Father: it belongs to him by the justest of all claims: and his work being now accomplished, the Son of Mary merits to be crowned with glory, according to the holy promises of God. Lo! this crowning takes place before our very eyes! Scarcely has the morning-star announced the dawn of the third day, when the eternal covenant of truth shines in all its splendour from the heavens: the Almighty keeps his word; and his hands are laden with garlands for the Victor. The Hero is still sleeping silently and calmly in his chamber, and hell is still rejoicing in the idea that it has obtained the mastery, when suddenly the voice of the Almighty penetrates the tomb: the word, “Arise!” is pronounced over the bloody corpse; — in an instant the bandages are loosened, and the linen cloth is removed which enveloped the countenance; the stream of immortal life gushes through the hitherto stiffened limbs; the form of a servant has disappeared, and the Son of Man rises from the dust in unspeakable glory and brightness. Even heaven is set in motion, and the angels of God descend to pay homage to the Prince of Life. A seraph opens for his Lord the door of the tomb, and the earth trembles with joy under the feet of its glorified King; the stones call out “Hosanna,” and the rocks rending asunder are his hymns of praise; the guards who watched his tomb, the representatives of his enemies, now overpowered by his majesty, lie, like dead men, on the ground at his feet; the saints, after the slumber of thousands of years, rise out of their graves to bear witness that the land of death has been conquered, and the power of death taken away. Nature, adorned in the fairest colours of spring, seems in silent adoration to solemnize the triumph of her Creator; and the sun, which is evea now issuing forth in all its glory from the flaming gates of the firmament, appears to be ascending for no other purpose than to swell the coronation splendour of the great Prince of Life!

Amidst these glorious signs and wonders, Jehovah summons our great Pledge out of his prison-house. What a moment of delight this is to the heart of the Eternal Father, when, after all the condemnation which had been passed on Him that was despised and rejected of men, he now opposes his sentence to the sentence of the enemies of his Son — both those that are human and the powers of hell. The miracle of the resurrection seems to me like the voice of the Eternal God, proclaiming through heaven, earth, and hell, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” and is a solemn vindication of him whom the world esteemed worthy of death. It is the mighty protest of Jehovah against all the accusations heaped by the Israelites upon our holy Redeemer, and is a divine declaration louder than thunder, “that the All-Righteous One has accomplished his work, and paid our debts to the uttermost farthing!” The resurrection was as if Heaven had set its seal on the deed of our acquittal; and the stone which the builders rejected thus became the head-stone of the corner. It was Jehovah’s recommendation of his Son to the whole world; and proclaimed louder than words could have uttered, This is the Redeemer of men! happy are they that trust in him!

II. Now that we have contemplated the Father, the God of truth and righteousness, in the Easter miracle, let us direct our attention to the Easter King himself, who rises before us encompassed with such a heaven of beauty, majesty, and splendour, that it seems incomprehensible that there should be one in the whole world who could refrain from bowing the knee on beholding him. No, we have never seen Jesus as he now appears bursting from the tomb! We saw him when he said unto the devils, “Come out of him!” and they came: we saw him when he rebuked the raging elements; and we broke forth into the cry of astonishment, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the waves obey him!” We saw him when, monarch of nature, he trod upon the billows, which became like rocks under his feet; and when he called into the abode of corruption, “Lazarus, come forth!” and the dead man arose, and left his prison-house. But all this glory and splendour falls far short of that in which he rises to-day, phoenix-like, from his own ashes. Amidst all his previous wonders and miracles, he was not so highly exalted as now, at the moment when we greet him with our hallelujahs in the garden of Joseph. If we imagine him as we last beheld him5 suffering the pains of martyrdom, and the weight of our sins oppressing him, — when, forsaken by God and by every creature, he was nailed to the cross, and being made a curse for us, was rejected both by heaven and earth, — we can scarcely believe that we behold the same Jesus in the glorious form rising from the sepulchre. Yet he is the same, the same as he who once bore the curse of our sins; and it is this which makes us wonder and rejoice to-day. Lo! he stands * above his tomb, a victorious hero, overpowered by death indeed, but only for a time; for death is nowdead in him, and has for ever yielded to his supremacy. The melancholy picture which we beheld on Mount Golgotha can no longer be discerned: the body of weakness, the tabernacle of feeble flesh, — the heavy and earthly covering, a prey to the fury of the elements, — the mortal form, in which he atoned for our sins, all has been left behind him in the tomb. In Christ, who formerly was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, we now behold a glorified being that can no longer suffer or die any more; for his body has received immortal life, and the splendour of unchangeable brightness; and in his soul there is a paradise of peace and a heaven of joy and delight. There is no longer a trace in his heart of sorrow and suffering, struggle and trial: his wounds are for ever closed, and his soul only experiences the approbation of his Father, the enjoyment of the love of God, and the constant sensation of his presence. Hell lies conquered under his feet, for it beholds the thunderbolt in his hand which coulu in an instant annihilate it. The accusers are ashamed and silent, and no longer open their mouths; for they see that even the snow of angel-purity would appear dark when viewed in the light which emanates from the breastplate of our great High Priest. The angels surround him, and rest under the shadow of his wings; for they feel that life is in his breath, and peace in his presence. Thus the Prince of Easter stands clad in a glory which fills both heaven and earth; the King of Earth, which he hath bought with his blood, and King of Heaven, which now greets him with rejoicing, be» cause the Son of Man is about to mount the throne of eternal majesty.

III. But of what avail is it to us that Christ is so beautiful and glorious? and how are we benefited by it? Well may you ask the question, for it is of the utmost importance to us all. If we belong to Christ, that is to say, if we rest upon him in faith with the ardour of our whole hearts, then are we partakers in the beauty, splendour, and victorious glory in which he rises from the tomb, for he is ours in all his majesty and greatness: and this is our great joy in contemplating the Easter miracle. Perhaps ye think that I am speaking figuratively — not so, I speak literally; or that I allude to a glory of which we shall be partakers hereafter — but there also ye are mistaken, for we are partakers of it already. While I declare to you those astonishing things, I have not sand, but rocks under my feet; and my intelligence is not airy and unsubstantial, but dug out of the great mine of the word of God; for have you not observed that the hearts and mouths of the apostles are full of this thing, and that this is the great spring of their unutterable joy, their unspeakable delight, and their lofty courage, with which they contemned difficulty and death? Consider the subject for a moment, and you will find it so; for how otherwise could they have been happy in this evil world, smiling at the impotency of death, hell, and the devil, had they not rested securely on the great article of the resurrection of Christ 1

We must now contemplate the subject more nearly.

The great importance of the resurrection of Christ, and the great subject for consolation which it affords, are generally found in two circumstances; that thereby the validity of the sacrifice on the cross was divinely proclaimed, and that a seal and pledge was given to us of our own future resurrection. These are precious and undoubted truths; but there is a third circumstance, frequently overlooked, which ought to be taken into consideration before all others, for it is the point in the Easter miracle from which beams the greatest light and splendour.

You know the words of Paul, in Romans iv. 25: when speaking of Christ, he says, “who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justificacation.” From this text you may discern the heart-enrapturing truth which I am about to announce to you. For our sins he was forsaken by God; and the whole sum of our transgressions, which should stand recorded against us in the great book at the last day, was in a mysterious manner attributed to him. He made atonement for them, and bare the curse, which otherwise would have fallen upon us and caused our eternal damnation. I am free and at liberty; but this negative principle does not include the whole efficacy of the mediatorship and atonement of Christ: my situation is not that of a criminal whom the mercy of his king has permitted to escape his merited punishment; but through Jesus I have entered into the rights of a child, I have become sanctified through him, an object of love to my heavenly Father, and an heir of eternal life. All this was declared to me by the miracle of the third day, and on the wings of Easter morning this mighty and incomparable consolation flew to greet me.

It was of his own free-will that Jesus tasted of death; love prompted him, otherwise he needed not to have done so. Death was not due to him, for in his own person eternal life belonged to him; but he was willing to suffer our doom, and it is therefore we behold in him the unheard-of spectacle of a man all pure and holy treated by God as a sinner. To the glory, also, in which we behold him clad on the third day, he stands in quite another relation than he did to his sufferings; for the latter did not personally belong to him, but the former was his due: he had a right to it, and was worthy of it, for he had won and deserved it by his obedience. But for whom had he won it? For himself? Of what use could it have been to him, to whom all belonged already, as being one with the Father? You must now call to mind that in all his actions and sufferings he stood in our place, and fulfilled in our name the work of his Father; thus earning for us its fruit and reward, and receiving for us, after his resurrection, the garland and the crown from the hands of his eternal Judge and Rewarder.

There is an. expression of our Redeemer in the Gospel of St. John x. 17, which particularly merits our attention: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” This verse appears at first sight mysterious, and that in more than one respect. The first thing which astonishes us, is the cause to which Jesus attributes the love of his Father: we had hitherto imagined that Jesus was beloved by God because he was his Son, “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person;” but here Jesus assures us that the cause of his Father’s love towards him is his laying down his life for sinners. Jesus does not speak of himself here as the Word, which was from the beginning with God, and which was God; but as of another person, who, by the execution of certain conditions, merits the Father’s love and approbation. It is obvious that Jesus, in this expression, does not allude to the love with which Jehovah loved him through all eternity; but to another love, which he, the Mediator, and the Second Adam, should win for his sinful people as theii pledge and representative. And this love of God, in which men become partakers through Jesus Christ, could not have been attained but by his death, which has made atonement for our sins, and satisfied divine justice in our stead. Henceforward, therefore, God does not love Jesus as his only-begotten Son merely; he loves him also as our Head, and in him he loves sinners. This explains the first mystery; but there is a still deeper and holier signification in the words, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life.” But why does he lay down his life? “That I might take it again!” is the answer; and it is not temporal life alone of which Jesus here speaks. The word “life” comprehends all that glory which the Son enjoyed with the Father from the beginning, and of which he now divested himself. Willingly he gave up this divine glory and happiness, and received in their place the punishment of an accursed transgressor; doing this, as we hear, for no other purpose than to resume them afterwards. Here is another mystery, for is it not strange that Jesus should quit an existence of blessedness for no other reason than to. enter upon it again after a short and bloody intermission? At first sight nothing could appear more extraordinary; but who will venture to attribute an action without an object to the Lord of heaven? No, it was to save us that our Redeemer resolved upon divesting himself of his life and glory: he gave them away, in order to re-assume them after enduring the cross, but in a different manner from that in which they belonged to him before; formerly they had been for himself alone, now he gave them to his people also. He left his glory for a time, in order to obtain the right of imparting it to others, and of making the righteousness of the Son of God the general property of those that believe in his name.

The glory which we behold Jesus receiving as he ascends from the tomb is certainly that which he has long possessed, but at the same time is that which now belongs to us; for he does not now possess it in consequence of his birth and existence in the Father, but as our pledge and representative. And this, my brethren, is the great fountain of consolation and peace presented to us by the Easter miracle. When I hear the announcement, “Christ is risen!” not only do I think of Christ, but it seems to me as though I also were risen. When I view him as the Holy and Righteous One, triumphing over sin, the world, and hell, — as the

Conqueror who has slain death, bound and vanquished Satan, won himself a throne in the heavens, and now enjoys the divine love and approbation, — I need not then say, “How glorious thou art!” On the contrary, I must appropriate to myself all his glory, crown myself with his victorious garland, make his consciousness of innocence my own; and all that I see in him great and desirable, I must regard as a treasure which I am not merely to receive in future, but which through him I already possess, though it may be only as a foretaste. “The words, ‘Christ is risen from the dead,’” says Luther, “should be inscribed in such large letters that we should be unable to see any thing else, not even heaven and earth. Christ’s resurrection and victory over sin, death, and hell, however great we may imagine them, are still greater; and a thousand hells, and a hundred thousand deaths, would be but as a spark and a drop compared to his resurrection, victory, and triumph. Christ, however, has given away his resurrection, victory, and triumph, to all who believe on him. If we, therefore, believe upon him, it follows, that though sin, death, and hell, were leagued against us, we should have no cause of alarm, for they could not hurt us. In Christ we are holy by means of faith, although we are still sinners; and we know that however deficient we may be, yet Jesus our Lord and Head has risen from the dead; he has no sin, and there is no more death in him; and so in him we have no longer either sin or death. God has called Jesus from the grave, restored him to life, and raised him up to heaven, in order that he may henceforward reign over all. Where now is sin? He has trampled it under foot: and I need no longer be timid and fearful, for through Christ I have a clear conscience, and am without sin. I may now bid defiance to death and the devil, sin and hell, for they can do me no injury, Death! where is thy sting? Sin, where is thy power? Christ has taken away sin from those that believe, so that they are now spotless, like himself, and through him have overcome death, the devil, and hell. If we believe, then may we say that we have both lived and died; for faith teaches us that Christ did not rise from the dead in his own person merely, but that we also rose along with him, and along with him shall enjoy eternal life. Paul says, in Ephesians ii. 6. that God ’ hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places ip Christ Jesus.’ This, however, is still concealed, and not yet made manifest. Nevertheless, ye must regard this doctrine, and keep it so constantly in your view, as to see nothing else in heaven and earth. Even though a Christian die, and the dead corpse is buried, and the picture and the sounds of death greet both your eyes and ears; yet through faith ye must behold and hear things very different, ye must be as though ye did not perceive the grave and the corpse, but as if ye perceived life in the midst of a blooming garden, or a green meadow filled with living and happy beings.”

These are Luther’s words, and this was the opinion of the great reformer of our church with regard to the resurrection, in which he coincides exactly with that of all the holy apostles. In contemplating the Easter miracle, they never for a moment lost sight of the important doctrine of Christ being our representative. Their first and most earnest inquiry always was, What made the Lord Jesus be so peculiarly exalted and glorified on the third day by his heavenly Father? Then were they told that Jesus our great Pledge did not receive this honour as the Word which had been with the Father from the beginning; but as the representative of man, in whose name he had fulfilled those conditions with which God had indissolubly connected the promise of his grace and of eternal life; and that in the most wonderful manner he had ceased for a time (if I may so speak) to be the Apostle and immaculate Son of God, and had, on the contrary, become a sinner in the eyes of his Father. For this reason, they were told, he received from Jehovah, in the garden of Joseph, the actual and visible testimony, that nothing more could be required from him; and this was done by his glorious resurrection, in which he was declared worthy of a throne in the heavens: this declaration not concerning him alone, but those sinners also in whose place he stood. Spiritually speaking, their heads were there also, while garlands and crowns were showered down upon their Pledge; they might appropriate to themselves the glorof the resurrection, and believe that they heard the words of the Father pronounced over them, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased!” Therefore they may cry, rejoicing, (” God) hath quickened us together with Christ; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Therefore they may consider themselves as already sitting in heaven, and as if they beheld sin and the grave, death and hell, lying under their feet; for they no longer know themselves except as in their glorified Pledge, and they regard all his treasures, his glory and his victory, as their own. Is it to be wondered at, that, being clad in such an armour of faith, they should regard their adversaries with indifference? No threatening on the part of the world can terrify them, no attack of the powers of evil alarm them; even the conviction of their own frailty and imperfection does not decrease their joyfulness; and the dark grave, instead of casting a shadow before them, sends forth the light of hope to cheer their daily pilgrimage. They have overcome all in the person of their Redeemer; and no longer as combatants, but as victors, they occupy the field.

Alas! my brethren, the blessed efficacy of the gospel is seen but little among us, and it is a sad, oppressed, and melancholy Christendom which surrounds us. We know too little the springs of strength and joy which lie around us, and with the most blessed portions of the New Testament we are shamefully unacquainted; hence the inefficiency of our measures, hence the despondency in the midst of us. We have a glory in Christ Jesus which surpasses all understanding; as yet it is not manifest; but what will it be when it is declared to us? Then, heaven and earth will be too narrow; all must become new, and all must be changed, to keep pace with the glory of the saints, and to be a suitable scene and habitation for the royal priesthood of the chosen ones. A hasty and transient glimpse, such as we have now, of our glory in Christ Jesus, cannot adequately transport and enliven our hearts; we ought to contemplate it constantly, beholding its splendour by means of faith, mounting like eagles towards the sun, and leaving the night of this earth far behind us. The stream on the banks of which the trees are always green, both summer and winter, has its source in the Easter miracle; and the tones of the harp which drives away all the spirits of evil, are still heard floating in the air above Joseph’s garden.

The moment after Paul has exhorted Timothy to strive for the faith, and to arm himself for combat, he thus addresses him: “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to my gospel!” — thus doing his utmost to impress a vivid picture on the soul of his friend, which might remain there daily and hourly, and be ever present to his view in unfading clearness and eternal brightness, to the exclusion of all other images. And whose picture was this 1 My brethren, ye have heard: it was the picture of Jesus Christ — not the crucified One, but the beautiful and glorious Lord risen from the dead; it was the triumphant portrait of the Conqueror of death.

Paul seems to have been of opinion that the sight of the glorious image of Christ enshrined in the temple of his heart, must be of the utmost service to Timothy while in this world’s scene of struggle. He himself had experienced what heroic courage a glance at the Easter miracle could impart; and on reading his epis* ties, we cannot doubt that the spring of his boldness, his long-suffering, and’ his joy, might be found in the contemplation of Jesus on the third day. And in order that Timothy may experience the same thing, he calls out to him, “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was ‘raised from the dead!”

Yes, my brethren, there is wafted from the picture of the resurrection, a balsamic fragrance, whose quickening and enlivening influence is not to be described. A light proceeds from it, by whose illumination all that formerly terrified us is seen lying under our feet, and even the dark termination of our existence, the terrific grave itself, is clad with a heavenly brightness. Can we then give you a more glorious exhortation than this, ‘Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead!” For true it is what Luther says, “The more a Christian contemplates the picture of the resurrection, the more he is blessed in Christ Jesus!” And O, may the Spirit paint this beautiful portrait with always brighter and brighter colours in our souls, and may he give us to understand its deep signification! May he enable us to comprehend how we sit on the same throne with our glorified Lord, and may he help us to decipher the mysterious handwriting of God in the Easter miracles, so that we may have boldness to exclaim with Paul from the depth of our souls, “Who is he that condemneth 1 It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us!” Amen.