A Second Sermon for Easter – 'The Festival of Christ's Resurrection': “Where there is faith, God no longer sees sin” – by Dr. Martin Luther

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A Second Sermon for The Festival of Christ's Resurrection

Where there is Faith, God No Longer Sees Sin
by Dr. Martin Luther¹

Text: And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:36-47)

The incidents of our text also occurred on Easter, when the two disciples had returned from Emmaus to Jerusalem, and had narrated to the others what had happened to them and told them that they had seen the Lord. They are in fact the same which John relates, and which form the text for next Sunday, making no mention, however, of Thomas and his experience, which occurred eight days later and is presented to our consideration by the lesson of the following Sunday. Our text, which contains much important matter, might be considered under various heads, but inasmuch as we have already dwelt upon the resurrection itself, we will now confine our discourse to two main points presented by our lesson.

A Sermon for Easter – 'The Festival of Christ's Resurrection': “The Power and the Benefit of the Resurrection of Christ” – by Dr. Martin Luther

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A Sermon for The Festival of Christ's Resurrection

The Power and the Benefit of the Resurrection of Christ
by Dr. Martin Luther¹

Text: In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. (Matt. 28:1-10)

The present festival directs our attention to that consolatory and joyful article of our Creed, in which we confess that Christ on the third day arose again from the dead. This requires us, first of all, to know and consider the Easter narrative, then also to learn why this has happened and how to enjoy its benefits. The Easter events were these. On the evening of Thursday before Easter, when Christ had arisen from the Supper and had gone into the garden, He was betrayed by Judas and taken prisoner by the Jews. These dragged Him from one high priest to the other, until they finally concluded to give him over into the hands of Pilate, who as governor had the power to pronounce judgment. About the third hour of the day sentence was passed upon Him, when He was led forth to execution and was crucified. At the sixth hour, about noon, or an hour later, an earthquake occurred and the sun was darkened. Towards the ninth hour, which would be nearly three hours before sunset, Christ died upon the cross. This is according to the statement of Mark; the other Evangelists do not state so definitely the hours in which these events took place.

In our Creed we confess that Christ arose again on the third day, which is far different from saying that He arose after three days. The Lord was not dead three entire nights and days. On Friday evening, about three hours before dark, He died. These three hours are called the first day. During the whole night and day of the Sabbath He remained in the grave, and also the following night until the next morning. This night counts also a day; for the Jews begin their day with the night, and count night and day as one whole day. We reverse this method of counting and call the day find the night one day. In the Church, however, the old Jewish method of reckoning the festivals was retained, so that these always begin with the evening of the previous day.

Very early on Sunday morning, which was the third day after the Friday on which Christ was crucified, at the first dawn of day, when the soldiers were lying around the tomb, Christ, who had died, awoke to a new, eternal life, and arose from the dead in such a manner that the guards around the grave were unaware of His resurrection. From the account which Matthew gives of this event we must infer that Christ did not arise during the earthquake, which evidently began when the angel descended from heaven and rolled away the rock from the entrance of the tomb. Christ, however, passed out from the closed grave without disturbing the seals put upon it, just as on the evening of the same day He also came to His disciples through the doors which were shut.

When the earth began to quake and the angel appeared, the soldiers were so terrified that they lost all consciousness. As soon as they recovered they all ran from the grave, some in this, others in that direction; for the coming of the angel was to them no occasion of rejoicing, but one of terror and distress. There were others, however, who should be comforted by the cheerful tidings of the angel.

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon II (by Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann)

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon II

St. Paul's Easter Hymn
by Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann¹
Text: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:55-57)

In one of Luther’s powerful sermons for the Easter season he brings out, in a very effective way, the relation between the Lenten season and Easter, between the power and the effects of sin and the manner in which sin was overcome by the victorious Christ. Speaking of the sacrifice of Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, Luther points out that this sacrifice was indeed most necessary if the redemption of the world was to be effected. We can never fully understand and appreciate the Easter victory unless we first consider in its full extent the power of sin. The Easter miracle, with all its glorious comfort, must cause us to think of the great and terrible wrath of God against the sin of all mankind, a wrath so great that it could not be appeased in any other way, and payment could be not be made in any other manner than through this singular sacrifice, that is, through the death and blood of the Son of God. “Christ was delivered for our offenses,” writes the Apostle. It was our transgressions, the sins of all mankind since the days of Adam, that brought the wrath of God upon sinners, that were the cause of His sacrifice on the cross, with the shedding of His holy blood. This fact should produce in us true terror on account of our sins; for it was indeed not a little indignation on the part of God which could not be satisfied with any other satisfaction but that of His own Son’s sacrifice. And could we possibly think that we might endure this wrath of God, or stand before its fury, if we do not acknowledge or realize the unspeakable power of sin?

However, we have the glorious comfort that Christ was raised again for our justification. What unspeakable mercy and love is evident in the Easter miracle, since it calls to the heart of all men to leave behind the terrors of the Law and remember why God raised His Son from death. It is a miracle of comfort which St. Paul well pictures in his song of triumph in Romans 8, when he writes: “If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth, Who is he that condemneth? 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” (Ro. 8:31-34). And then the Apostle’s triumphant hymn rises to its overwhelming climax: “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 37-39). Truly, what greater love, what greater benefit can possibly be thought of than that connected with the Easter miracle? And it is for this reason that this sacrifice of Christ is set before us, that we might have a true and certain comfort against our sin; for surely the Easter miracle, with all that went before, must cause us to be convinced that God does not want us to be condemned on account of our sin; for does He not give us the assurance of His love in the sacrifice of Calvary, which is the highest and the most precious earnest of His grace and of our salvation? Therefore, although our sin, and the wrath of God on account of our sin, is great and terrible, we have the assurance that the sacrifice and the death of the Son of God is much greater. For all this is given to us for a sure sign that God, for Jesus’ sake, is gracious to us and forgives us our sins. These are the thoughts with which we are to comfort ourselves and have the full consolation of Easter.

These considerations are summarized in a most beautiful and impressive way in the text which we have before us. For this has rightly been called an incomparable hymn of victory. And this hymn is to be the basis of our Easter meditation, as we, with the gracious assistance of the Holy Spirit, consider:


ST. PAUL’S EASTER HYMN.
We see,

1. The role of sin and death in connection with the Easter miracle;
2. The Easter victory to which the Apostle points; and
3. The expression of the believer’s gratitude.

I.
The role of sin and death in connection with the Easter miracle
As we proceed to study St. Paul’s great Easter hymn, we note, first of all, the parallel verses: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” And we have our attention called to the fact that the quotation of the Apostle is from an acknowledged writing of the Old Testament, for he states: “then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written” (1 Co. 15:52-58). We have here an instance of the manner in which the Holy Ghost, the true Author of Holy Writ, casts an Old Testament saying into a form that just suits the present argument. For in the Prophet Hosea (Ho. 13:14) we read, in the original: “Where is thy plague, O death? Where is thy sting (or, destruction), O death-realm?” In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, as it was in general use at the time of the Apostle, the literal rendering reads: “Where is they penalty, O death? Where thy sting, O death-realm?” The version chosen by the Apostle under the Spirit's guidance is at the same time an explanation, for the plague of death is its supposed victory, and the death-realm includes all that is suggested by the idea of death.

What, then, is the role of sin and death in connection with the Easter miracle? Our text says: “The sting of death is sin.” We note that the article “the” appears in the original, indicating that sin in general is meant. Whatever is sin, wherever it is found, and whosoever commits sin is here included. The declaration goes back to the Book of Genesis, where we have an account of the Fall of man, of the coming of sin into the world. God had told our first parents, specifically Adam: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Ge. 2:15-17) And because both Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they became mortal, subject to death. And God Himself gave the explanation of the punishment pronounced upon our first parents, when He had His holy Apostle write: “By one man sin entered into the world” (Ro. 5:12). The sin of Adam and Eve corrupted their entire nature, made them enemies of God, changed their hearts to be always inclined to that which is evil, and so inherited sin is being continued from one generation to the next by natural procreation and birth. This natural inclination toward sin results, in the case of every human being, in actual sins. The Apostle writes: “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” All men are guilty in the sight of God. The series of quotations which the Apostle refers in Romans 5 is of such a nature that, as he writes elsewhere: “No flesh should glory in his presence.” For, argues St. Paul, Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, “as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Ro. 5:9-12).

So then, because sin is a fact, a terrible fact and reality, because all men are guilty before God, therefore death passed upon all men. It is both by reason of inherited and of actual sin that we are under the condemnation of death. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” writes the Prophet (Ez. 18:4,20). This is but saying in other words what the Lord had told the children of Israel through the mouth of Moses (De. 27:26), as St. Paul puts it: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Ga. 3:10). The curse of God invariably finds its culmination in death, certainly in physical death and, unless the grace and mercy of God interfere, also in spiritual and in eternal death. When the Lord says: “It is appointed unto men once to die” (He. 9:27), He excludes not a single human being. It is not that God created men for death, but that His holiness and righteousness compel Him to pronounce the sentence upon every transgressor of His holy will, that is, upon all men. The Law demands a complete and full obedience; this obedience is not rendered by men. Hence “the strength of the sin is the law.” How is this meant? The Apostle explains: “Where no law is, there is no transgression” (Ro. 4:15). But now God has given the gist of the Moral Law into the hearts of all men, so that even the heathen show the work of the Law written in their hearts (Ro. 2:15). Therefore, since men did not keep the Law, in fact, could not keep the Law, therefore death came into the world, and all men must go through the experience of death except those who will yet be living on Judgment Day.

But now the Easter miracle has placed an altogether different aspect on the situation. Christ, as the Substitute for sinful mankind, as He who took upon Himself our iniquities and bore our trespasses: “He was delivered for our offenses,” thereby paying the debt which we had contracted. But note, He “was raised again for our justification” (Ro. 4:25). That is what the Easter miracle tells us regarding the role of sin and death on the day of Christ’s resurrection.


II.
The Easter victory to which the Apostle points
This is the Easter victory to which the Apostle points in our text, when he so triumphantly declares: “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Co. 15:54). He does not merely say: Death has been overcome, or, the victory over death has been gained, but he uses the far stronger expression: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” By and through the Easter miracle death is consumed, has been completely put out of the way as to its power. Victory has taken the place of defeat, and therefore death has lost its terrors.

This may, indeed, seem strange to us, as we daily see before our eyes the unmistakable evidence that men are still mortal, that even believers succumb to its power. We read of King Hezekiah and his earnest pleading that the Lord might grant him further time before he should be taken away. We find the Psalmist uttering his earnest prayer: “O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days” (Ps. 102:24). David apparently has the same thought when he prays: “Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (Ps. 13:3). And there are many other passages of this kind in the Bible.

However, over against these statements we have the many declarations that the children of God do not really go through the experience of death in the form in which it strikes the unbelievers. This is indicated in passages like that of Ps. 116:15, where the Psalmist declares: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” And why is this? Because the righteous, the believers, are in the hands of God, and no torment can touch them. Because “blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth” (Re. 14:13). Because death, properly understood, is the severing of the fellowship between God and man, whereas, in the case of the believer, it is the very opposite. It is, as Holy Writ so frequently describes it, a sleep in and through which the soul of the believer is transported to the presence of the Savior and will at the last day be reunited with the body, to live with the Lord in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, taking part in the glory which belonged to the only-begotten Son of the Father. It is for that reason that St. Paul can speak of his approaching death in such a calmly objective way, when he writes: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain... having a desire to depart and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Ph. 1:21,23).

All this is the result of the Easter victory, a consequence of the resurrection of our blessed Savior. For, as we by faith are partakers of His death, are, in fact, in Holy Baptism buried with Christ into death, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection... Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him” (Ro. 6:4-5,8). Thus we become partakers of the Easter victory, and death has lost its terrors for us.


III.
The expression of the believer’s gratitude
And for that reason we join the Apostle in his grateful song: “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Here we truly have the very heart of the proper Easter celebration. The account of the miracle itself, as recorded by the Evangelists and so frequently alluded to by the Apostles in their sermons and in their letters, can have but little significance if we merely accept it as an historical fact. The description given by Paul Gerhardt in his well-known Easter hymn Awake, my heart, with gladness, correctly pictures the defeat of the devil and his satellites, and the evil Foe is certainly painfully aware of the fact that his head is now fully crushed. But that knowledge avails him nothing more than to intensify his suffering in the abyss of hell.

And so it is with all those who do not accept the Easter message and do not, by faith, make the Easter victory their own. They may be amazed at the Easter story, they may even admit the truth of the Gospel account that Jesus truly rose from the dead. But if they stop there, the Easter story will be to them like a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. All the splendid Easter hymns, all the beautiful Easter music will not bring to the heart of such people the comfort and the power of Christ’s resurrection. No, we must place our trust, our personal faith, in such words as we find in 1 Thess. 4:14: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” We boldly confess, with St. Paul: “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Ga. 2:20). And to that true thought we add the words of our text: “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let every believer confess as the inmost conviction of his heart: My Savior arose from death to bring me everlasting life. And we can summarize the thoughts of our hearts in the prayer:

O death, where is thy victory?
Where is, O grave, thy sting?
No longer canst thou to my heart
Thy fears and terrors bring.

Though many are my sins and great
And grieve the righteous Lord,
Yet He forgives for Jesus’ sake,
As promised in His Word.

Like sand upon the ocean shore
My trespasses are found;
Yet this is comfort for my heart:
Much more does grace abound.

The strength of sin is in the Law,
The sting of death is sin:
Death is consumed in victory
And peace now dwells within.

Thanks be to Christ who by His death
Has set the sinners free;
Thanks be to God, who, for His sake,
Has brought the victory.

And so our Easter hymn rings forth
In accents bold and strong;
To us the spoils of victory,
Of boundless grace belong.

AMEN.

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Endnotes:

1. Kretzmann, P. (1956). Jesus Only: A series of Lenten and post-Easter Sermons. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House. pp. 76-85.

 

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon I

The Festival of Christ's Resurrection – Sermon I
Text: "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up on victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor. 15:54-58)

He lives! Hallelujah! "He is not here, for He is risen as He said!" (Mt. 28:6) This is truly the glad Resurrection message, assuring us of Christ's total and complete victory over Satan, death, and hell, and our absolute freedom from sin and its eternal effects! We can say without a doubt, "I know that my Redeemer lives!" (Job 19:25)

Yes, the resurrection of Jesus gives us powerful assurance and wonderful comfort about our faith. So also, Paul tells us this morning that –

CHRIST'S RESURRECTION GIVES US PROOF!
We Have Proof Of The Truth Of Our Faith, and
We Have Proof of the Victory Of Our Faith!
Faith and religion go hand in hand – I think just about everyone will admit that. But what is "religion" anyway? Well, religion is any teaching that attempts to answer any or all of these questions: "Where did we come from? Where are we going? Why are we here?" and especially, "What happens to us when we die?" Any religion that cannot rid people of their fear of death – or at the very least diminish it – is, in the end, worthless and useless. A religion that cannot take away the "sting" of death, which is caused by sin, but allows people to die and suffer all the horrors of death, without peace or solace; any religion that only pretends to save people from the terror of death is false and deceptive and not a true religion at all.

Such is not the case with the religion of St. Paul – indeed, OUR religion! He says, "For me to die is gain!" (Ph. 1:21) He triumphantly proclaims, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (vs.54-57) Paul knew that the Law of God reveals sin in all its true and terrible black light. And he knew that he too was, by nature, under the Law, and because of His disobedience of that Law, subject to death, just as every single human being is also! So, Paul finds no comfort in himself or in his own righteousness in the face of death. His confidence comes because of the victory which Christ has gained for him. It is to this victory of Christ over death and the grave that Paul devotes so much of this last portion of his letter to the Corinthian congregation.

So, Christ is indeed "the lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world!" (Jn. 1:29) And "the blood of Jesus Christ [does indeed] cleanse us from all sins." (1 Jn. 1:7) Christ, by dying in our place has truly and really removed the sting of our own death. Now, death, which threatened always to swallow up the whole human race, has itself been swallowed by Christ's resurrection. This was God's plan from the very beginning – even before the beginning of time. And this was all accomplished as Paul reminds us, "According to the Scriptures!" (I Co. 15:3)

Yes, according the Bible Christ had to rise again. The Victor over death could not remain a prisoner of death. Peter told the Jews, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the FACT!" (Ac. 3:15) God did this because He was pleased with the Son's work on earth on behalf of all people. And through Jesus' resurrection God made known His divine pleasure. "Christ was raised for our justification," Paul tells us. (Ro. 4:25) We know that God has totally forgiven all our sins. Therefore, by our faith, given to us through the Means of Grace – the Gospel in Word and Sacrament – Christ's resurrection assures us that our religion, which preaches Jesus' resurrection, brings to us sinners victory over death. We do indeed have the "sure and certain" hope of everlasting life!

Thus, in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified – yes, and Him also raised from the dead – we are not being false preachers of a false religion in a hopeless world, but rather are giving all sinners everywhere the one and only true Gospel of salvation. Our faith is not pinned on a dead man, but on the sinless Son of God, Who, through His innocent suffering and death overcame death for us, and Who as our living God and Savior now blesses us and give all who believe eternal bliss with Him. It is this Jesus Who says to each and every one of us, "I Am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die." (John 11:25,26) This is the truth of our faith. Jesus is true. Our religion is true. Christ's resurrection proves it beyond any shadow of a doubt!

Christ's resurrection assures us of the truth of our religion in His victory over death, and it also assures us of the victory of our religion over this evil world. Christ is the savior of the world, that is, He has covered the sins of all people of all time, yes, even those who reject Him. No one goes to hell because of their sins. Those that go to hell do so because of their unbelief. This is why He commanded that His Gospel be preached to everyone everywhere until the end of time. There is no reason for anyone to be damned. All sins have been paid for. All can be saved. But the true and beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ must touch them so that the Holy Spirit can do His work and turn their hearts to faith and salvation. This is the work of Christ's Church here on earth, and of every congregation of believers, and indeed of each and every individual believer. And every single soul that is turned to faith is a marvelous victory for Christ. It matters not if it is one or a hundred or a thousand, each soul snatched from the claws of Satan means victory for Jesus and all His children!

And Paul knew we need encouragement in this work. Jesus rose from the grave nearly two thousand years ago. Billions have been brought to faith and entered heaven, but three fourths of the world's population still reject Christ as Savior and Lord. These people are on their way to hell. But to us Jesus has given His resurrection Gospel which is able to save them. We have the joy of reveling in Christ's resurrection this morning. We can rejoice. We exult in our faith.

But are we acting on our faith? Could it be that indifference, materialism, the ridicule of the world, the mockery of rank unbelievers, and persecution – slight as it may be around us at the moment – discourages us, and keeps us from living our faith, exercising our faith, and sharing our faith? Have we given up, or are we ready to quit because the work is difficult and our successes, measured in numbers, seem so small and inconsequential? May it never be!

Paul did not think like this, and neither will we if we but listen to him today. He tells us that we must "always give yourselves fully to the work of the LORD." (v.58) Why? How? He answers that with the first word, "therefore," that is because of all that he was already written and said in this section of his letter. All he has said is true and reliable, and because it is, we must go forth and carry it in us and with us. This command of Paul's to do this work is based on nothing less than Christ's own resurrection itself! And, in addition, he instructs us to "Stand firm!" If we are to preach salvation to others, we must ourselves be firm in our faith and not let anything move us away from it.

There are, of course, many things that would try and move us away from our faith, and we are often sorely tempted to give it up. Sad to say, many around us have given in and given up their faith. But why should we do so, if we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that in Him and His saving work we have the full and complete redemption from all sins, death, and the devil?!

Oh yes, the devil and the world are making a lot of noise trying to frighten us; but theirs are not the shouts of real victory, but only the cries of despair and defeat; the sound of routed and fleeing army – loud yes, even scary at times – but really helpless and harmless in the end. Let us remain steadfast and unmovable, for our risen Lord is with us and He has promised, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Mt. 28:20)

With Christ as our captain we know we will have successes – be they many or few, the amount does not matter! Paul assures us, "You know that your labor in the LORD is not in vain." We need at all times to be reminded of this wonderful promise. Our preaching of the Gospel, our prayers, our missionaries, our work in God's kingdom of any and all kinds shall never be for nothing! Time, effort, money, given to the LORD is never wasted. It will always bring returns. Take it from the LORD. We have His promise. And we know from glorious experience that His promises never fail!

Our job now is to go out into the world – our world, the world around us, the people around us; as we have opportunity – and rescue sinners using the life-line of the holy Gospel of the Risen Christ! This is not a side-line, and not something we do half-heartedly, but completely dedicated in every way to the work of spreading the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God has not failed us. God will never fail us. He has already given us the victory over death. He has given the power and the ability to proclaim this victory to the world and He has already blessed our efforts in every corner of the world. Let us commit ourselves anew to go forth and tell and death-ridden humanity the glad resurrection message. We know we will be successful, because we know our religion is true, and we know this because Christ's resurrection proves it. Yes, Jesus lives! Hallelujah and Amen!

Rev. Steven Spencer

 

Music for the Festival of Christ's Resurrection – excerpt from Auferstehungshistorie, by Heinrich Schütz

Throughout Holy Week, we shared recordings of liturgical music composed by masters of the Late Renaissance and Baroque periods – Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach. As composers for the Lutheran church in Germany, their output of liturgical music was not only prolific, but highly influential both within and outside the church. Bach, still considered to be the greatest composer in Western history, was a fiercely orthodox Lutheran who endeavored to embody his confession within his art, and to do so with fidelity, often consulting his substantive theological library for this purpose. Schütz, considered the most important German composer second to Bach, wrote almost exclusively for the Lutheran church. He masterfully wedded his musical compositions with the German language, the purest manifestation of which, for him, was Martin Luther's translation of the the Bible. Even though his compositions may seem "stark" in comparison to Bach's, he maintained fairly strict fidelity to the very words of the text, rarely straying from it for the sake of explanation or poetic expression. Unlike musical compositions of today, the sacred works of these composers were not intended for the entertainment of the masses, but as liturgical devices for use within the church – as liturgical proclamations of the Gospel, the words of the liturgy, including the lessons, being set to music so that they could be sung, or chanted. A very fitting practice for "The Singing Church."

It had been the historic practice of the Lutheran church to hold services every day during Holy Week, and thus through the week to present the Passion account from the perspective of each of the Evangelists. Since it was also the practice to chant these Gospel lessons, these Passion accounts needed to be set to music. Both Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach composed liturgical music for each of the Passion accounts, some of which we shared last week. On Monday of Holy Week, in Part 1 of our "Music for Holy Week" series, we provided a brief biography of these composers, including some details indicating their importance to Lutheran liturgical music and its resulting impact, and we invite the reader to visit that post for further information in this regard. Also on Monday, we presented excerpts from performances of compositions by Bach and Schütz which set the Passion account of St. Matthew to music, for sake of recitation by the congregation's appointed liturgists. On Tuesday of Holy Week, we shared excerpts from Bach's composition of St. Mark's Passion account. On Wednesday of Holy Week, we posted a complete recording of Schütz's Johannes Passion. On Maundy Thursday, we again posted excerpts from both Bach and Schütz – their compositions of the Passion account according to St. Luke. Finally, on Good Friday, we featured excerpts from Bach's Johannes Passion, along with the entirety of Heinrich Schütz's Die Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz.

The Divine Service falling on the Festival of Christ's Resurrection would also have a Gospel lesson, which would also be chanted and which would therefore also require a musical setting. This morning we offer to you, dear reader, an excerpt of one such setting composed by Heinrich Schütz: Auferstehungshistorie – the Biblical account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.



Excerpt from Schütz’s Auferstehungshistorie
I personally enjoy this Martin Flämig recording of Schütz’s Auferstehungshistorie.

 

Who is Jesus? – From the Facts presented in the Gospels, Part 3

For the duration of Holy Week, we thought it best to focus on themes centering on Jesus Christ and His Gospel message. This post is the final of three scheduled over Holy Week concerning Jesus and the events of His life as we know of them from the facts presented to us in the Gospels. In Part One of this brief series, we focused on facts regarding the person of Christ – beginning with man's need for a Saviour, God's promise that He would send a Saviour, the prophecies concerning His coming, and the facts of His life demonstrating that Jesus is this promised Messiah, both God and man. In Part Two, we focused on the facts of the crucifixion of Jesus – His arrest, trial, torture and death. In this final post, we take a look at the facts reported in the Gospels regarding Jesus bodily resurrection. Such facts are as important to us as they were to the disciples who witnessed His Resurrection firsthand, who on the basis of what they had seen and heard "could not help but speak of it" (Ac. 4:12-21), even in the face of persecution by the Jewish, and later, Roman authorities. Already before the close of the Apostolic Age, on the basis of their witness to these events and the Message of Jesus Christ which attended them, the Good News had become known as that which was "turning the world upside down" (Ac. 17:1-7). The Message of Good News cannot be divorced from the historical events of Jesus' life as Scripture records them, from His birth to His death by crucifixion, and especially His bodily Resurrection. For "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching in vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ... If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Co. 15:11-23). The facts of history concerning Jesus, as they are recorded in the Scriptures, establish the Christian religion; and this is why, as facts, they are important: for if the Messiah had not actually come as God in the Flesh, if He had not died on the Tree as propitiation for the sins of the world, if He had not risen bodily from the grave, all in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, then the Christian religion is a myth – the same as every other religion on the planet which rests on false or unverifiable historical claims, or on no claims whatsoever.

This post is taken from a series of posts on Law & Gospel, begun in October 2010 (a series which is awaiting the completion of two more essays, before finally being finished), from the post entitled Law and Gospel: What do they teach? – Part 3.1, The Events of the Gospel Accounts (The Resurrection of Jesus).

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The Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, and its consequences
On the third day following His public execution, life was returned to Jesus, and for a period of forty days following He appeared before His disciples and others who knew and recognized Him, confirming His Resurrection (Ac. 1:3; 2:32), His power over life and death (2 Ti. 1:10; 1 Co. 15:26), and His authority as God (1 Co. 15:1-24). Knowing that Jesus claimed to be God and knowing that He foretold His own resurrection on the third day following His death as unequivocal proof of His public claims, the Jewish council requested that Pilot place a guard at the tomb in which Jesus was lain, to prevent anyone from stealing His body to make it appear that He had arisen (Mt. 27:62-66). On the morning of the third day following His death by crucifixion, however, the Roman guards were shaken by an earthquake as an angel rolled back the stone which closed the tomb of Christ, and sat upon it (Mt. 28:2-4). Panic-stricken, the guards fled, reporting to the Sanhedrin what they had seen (Mt. 28:4,11). The Sanhedrin knew that Jesus was no ordinary man; yet, when news of His Resurrection reached them, they sought instead to cover it up by paying the guards and circulating a lie – that the Roman guards had fallen asleep and that Jesus' body was stolen (Mt. 28:11-15).

That this was a lie is manifest from the many appearances of Jesus following His death. In the morning of His Resurrection, a group of women set out with prepared spices and perfumes to properly embalm the body of Jesus (Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:1-2; Lk. 24:1). Along the way, they wondered how they would remove the stone that sealed the tomb (Mk. 16:3). Upon reaching the tomb, the women saw that the stone had already been rolled away, and that it was open before them (Mk. 16:4; Lk. 24:2). When they entered, it did not smell of decaying flesh, nor was the body of Jesus even there (Lk. 24:3). Just then, two young men, whose appearance was as lightning, appeared before the women. One of them said

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, He is risen. Remember what He told you, "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again?" Go, tell His disciples. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you. (Lk. 24:4-8; Mk. 16:6-7; Mt. 28:5-7).

They left to go tell the disciples that the tomb was empty and what the angels had said. On their way, Jesus met them, confirming what the angels had said, and encouraging them as He sent them on their way to report to the disciples (Mt. 28:8-10)⁶. Peter and John investigated, and also found the tomb empty (Lk. 24:12; Jn. 20:3-10), after which Jesus appeared personally to Peter and also to two disciples as they walked back from Jerusalem to Emmaus, with whom He appeared, ate food, and engaged in extended conversation (Lk. 24:13-35)⁷. While the disciples were gathered, excitedly reporting to each other that they had seen Jesus alive, He appeared to them together, showed to them that he was human by allowing them to touch Him and by asking them for food that He might eat with them, showed to them the marks in His body to confirm for them that He was the man who suffered torture and died by crucifixion just a few days prior, and reminded them of the words He had spoken to them regarding His life, suffering, death and Resurrection (Lk. 24:36-48; Jn. 20:19-23). Thomas, being absent, later doubted the testimony of those who had witnessed this extended appearance of Jesus', and required that he place his fingers in the wounded hands and feet of Jesus, and place his hand in His side where the spear had pierced Him. Eight days following, Jesus appeared to them all together again, and with Thomas in attendance, beckoned him to examine His wounds and confirm that it was He and that He had arisen. Thomas responded with the words defining the significance of Christ's Resurrection for those who would hear His message: My Lord, and my God (Jn. 20:28).

Following this, Jesus appeared to seven of the disciples as they fished unsuccessfully in the Sea of Galilee, and recommended that they cast their nets on the opposite side of their boat, resulting in a great draught of fish. By the time they landed ashore He had prepared a fire and food. They ate together and conversed at length (Jn. 21:1-24). Afterwards, while the disciples were still in Galilee, Jesus appeared before them, and five hundred others at once – a report which is significantly recorded by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians as he extolled the significance of the Resurrection (1 Co. 15:3-8). By including these facts, Paul indicates that most of those five hundred were still alive – he wasn’t making up stories, as these five hundred could still be asked about what they saw and confirm his report.

At the end of the forty days following His Resurrection, Jesus appeared a final time, conversed with the disciples and others with them, and led them to a mountain top in Bethany where He commissioned them as witnesses of what they had seen and heard; commanded them to go into all the world, baptizing and preaching the gospel in His name; promised to send them the Holy Spirit; and was then taken, bodily, up through the clouds into heaven (Mt. 28:18-20; Mk 16:15-20; Lk. 24:46-53; Ac. 1:1-11).

It was the events and the words of Jesus to which the disciples were commissioned as witnesses, it was these of which the disciples could not help but speak (Ac. 2:22-41;4:1-22), and it was on the basis of the events of Christ's life – the fulfillment of prophesy and the miracles – that the message of Christ was heard and received by those the apostles and others spoke to^8,9, through which the Holy Spirit worked faithfully to produce and strengthen faith as the New Testament Church grew and spread.



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Endnotes:

6. It is important to note in the Resurrection accounts that the angels who met the women in Jesus' empty tomb encouraged them to report to the disciples that Christ had arisen, and that the first appearance of Jesus after His Resurrection was before women. Many who doubt the Resurrection accounts, claiming that they were made up, fail to realize the significance of the women and the task assigned to them. Anyone making up these accounts would not have written it this way. They couldn't have written it this way. Culturally, women were of very little value, and their word on matters was disregarded. This is why the women were afraid to speak to any men about what had happened (Mk. 16:8), and certainly why the disciples, at first report from the women, refused to believe them (Mk. 16:10-11; Lk. 24:10-11). An author inventing such a story could not have conceived the notion that (a) an event of this magnitude would have been revealed, first, to women, and (b) that the women would have been given the responsibility to carry the report to men. The only way these accounts could have been recorded the way they were is if they actually happened the way they were written.
7. It is important to note the physical condition of Jesus in these appearances. Those who reject the deity of Christ, but are nevertheless constrained to admit the Gospel accounts – including the appearances of Jesus just after His crucifixion – given the measurable veracity of these historical accounts themselves, not to mention their astounding consequences in the centuries immediately following them, can only do so by denying that Christ actually died. Instead, they claim, He only appeared to be dead when He was brought down from the cross, revived while in His tomb, and thus revived, appeared to His disciples and others in the days following. Yes, in less than 48 hours time, they claim, Jesus recovered sufficiently from His ordeal at Calvary, to not only convincingly appear before His disciples and others (who were reluctant to believe He had risen from the dead in the first place), but to walk with them, eat with them, and hold extended conversations with them. This position strains to the point of breaking all rational notions of plausibility.
   
   Beginning with His prayers in Gesthemene, the physical depletion of Christ was evident. Strange prayers, different from any other He had uttered, He cried in anguish, Abba, Father! All things are possible for Thee, remove this cup from me... (Mk. 14:34-36). He knew what He was about to face. The psychological trauma is evident in His words, and its impact on His physical condition is reported in Scripture: And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became as drops of blood, falling down upon the ground (Lk. 22:44). Page 1456 of the article “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” from the Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 255, No. 11) referenced above in the body of this essay, refers to this physical condition of “sweating blood” by it’s medical name: hematidrosis. This condition renders the skin of a human exceedingly sensitive, making even the slightest touch painful. In this condition, Christ endured the remainder of His torture and death by crucifixion. The following pages of that paper describe more fully the medical aspects of the suffering of Jesus. Deprived of sleep and sustenance, He was dragged from place to place, beaten with fists and sticks multiple times. The skin on His back was literally flayed to the bone from whipping, very likely causing the onset of circulatory shock. Weakened in this way, Jesus was physically unable to do what was expected of Him, therefore Simone of Cyrene was conscripted to carry His wooden cross after He failed to progress under its burden. At Calvary, large spikes were driven into His wrists, crushing or severing the median nerve along with many ligaments. Large spikes were also driven into His feet, severing or at least damaging paroneal and plantar nerves. The wounds to His hands and feet were calculated to induce searing pain. Though loss of blood resulting from the wounds on His back would have been significant, given that each breath required Him to lift his body so that He could expand His lungs, causing Him to scrape His lacerated back along the stipes of the cross, the wounds caused by the nails would not have resulted in significant blood loss. On the contrary, this procedure is known to have produced in the victims of crucifixion hypovolemic shock or asphyxiation, which were their most common causes of death. But if all of this didn’t kill Jesus, then certainly, having had a spear thrust through His side, which pierced His heart and left a gaping hole, would have.
   
   The fact is, if Jesus were not God, and if He were only “mostly dead” when He was taken from the cross, and if He then revived later, His hands and feet would have been paralyzed. He would have suffered the extended effects of blood loss and exhaustion, not to mention the continuing physical agony of the contusions which covered His body. Not in forty days, much less three, would He have been presenting Himself to those He knew, who also witnessed His crucifixion, as a deity who had defeated death and miraculously returned from the grave. Rather, He could only have presented Himself as a severely wounded and beaten man who somehow cheated death. In three days, He would not have stood before them, He would not have walked with them, He would very likely not have eaten solid food with them, He certainly would not have held extended conversations with them. If He were merely a man, and somehow survived His torture and crucifixion, chances are He would not even have been conscious after only 48 hours.
   
   But this is not the reality of the Resurrected Christ presented to us in the Gospel accounts. Rather, on the third day, He rose again, and He presented Himself to those who knew Him, and to others, as a fully vibrant and healthy human – gesturing, walking, eating and conversing intelligently over extended periods of time. Though He bore in His body the marks of His ordeal, establishing that it was He who was crucified, His physical health and vitality offered a fully convincing contrast to the death they had witnessed Him suffer, establishing that He is Who He said He was: God in the flesh.
8. Ireneaus. (1999). Against Heresies: Book II, Ch. XXXII, §4 and Book III, Ch. XXXIV. In P. Schaff (Ed.) The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325: Ante-Nicene Fathers (Vol. 1: “The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus”). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. (Original English translation published 1885, original work published in Greek, 2^nd Century, A.D.). pp. 409, 511-513.
9. Eusebius of Cæsarea. Demonstratio Evangelica Book 3, Ch. 4. (English translation published in 1920 by F.W. Ferrar, original work published in Greek, 4^th Century, A.D.)