A Resurrection Reflection - Psalm 22, Acts 2:29-31, 17:30-32, Philippians 2:5-11, 1 Corinthians 15:14-22 - Christ has risen! (Christ has risen indeed!)

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army on Resurrection Sunday, 31 March 2013 and 05 April 2015; Corps 614 Regent Park, 27 March 2016; and 614 Warehouse Mission, 01 April 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay.

Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV):

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very {form of} a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Lord, we are here today to bow our knees and confess in words that reflect our faith and action, which are inextricably linked, that You are risen from the dead and You are Lord.

HE IS LORD

Psalm 22, My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me, which Jesus called out upon the cross on Good Friday concludes with the following stanzas of what is happening between the cross and the empty tomb, the resurrection and the ascension, the prolepsis and the return:

²² I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For He [God) has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
He has not hidden His face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help (God did not forsake Jesus!)

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him—
    may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it!

It is finished. As Psalm 22:24 records, God did not despise or scorn Jesus; God does not hide His face from Christ. And now today, as we fulfil the great commission (Matthew 28:16-29), as people serve the Lord, families and nations will bow down before him and one day we will all celebrate the victory of Christ at the ultimate resurrection.

VICTORY IN JESUS

For some people in this time as our country seems determined to try to remove itself from the love of Christ, the resurrection has all of a sudden become somewhat difficult to understand.

Acts 17:30-32: "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this.’"

When Christ’s resurrection occurred in the first century, the parallel between some traditional Pagan, Barbarian, and even Gentile beliefs and this resurrection of Jesus was not lost on the early Christians. As Justin Martyr argued, “when we say … Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus.” (1 Apology 21).

1 Corinthians 15:20-22: "But Christ really has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise. Death came because of what a man did. Rising from the dead also comes because of what a man did. Because of Adam, all people die. So because of Christ, all will be made alive."

1 Corinthians 15:14: "If Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless."

Acts 2:29-31: "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact."

1 Corinthians 15:19-20: "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep."

UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE

Christ has Risen! (Christ has Risen indeed!)

Let us go forth from here serving our risen Lord and Saviour in the certainty of the Resurrection of the dead. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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