It looks a lot different than it did about 1980 years ago. The slab upon which our Lord Jesus lay dead was inside a tomb. His body was the first. It wasn't there very long. Thirty-six hours tops the way westerners count. But three days by the reckoning of the time. His rest in the tomb covered a foot print crossing Friday late afternoon, all day Saturday and into Sunday sometime before dawn. No telling from our perspective how much time was spent in Hell proclaiming victory to a quite surprised crowd. On the menu Satan and his crowd had one thing on their plates. Dirt. Burning, flaming hot dirt. They were not invited to the victory party now celebrated across the globe for a good twenty-four hours and echos into the next 7 weeks. It lingers, no, rules to this day in the midst of an angry, worldly crowd. The popularity of Christ's resurrection varies from time to time and from place to place, but it reverberates just the same and over all is getting louder.
God the Father has been telling this story for all the generations of the earth. At times the picture gets larger and at others it appears smaller. Never is it so detailed as today. So detailed a single Easter sermon cannot contain it all. It could take all 7 weeks of the Easter Season and not be done. It could take all 52 weeks of the year and not cover it all. The Church year is just too small. Yet the Easter greeting holds it all. Christ is Risen from the dead. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
I think some times the Holy Spirit wants to keep you in suspense so that you will keep your attention focused in His Word. Other times he just pulls out all the stops and leaves you with just awe.
The tomb of Christ in the garden has been destroyed to erase it from memory and covered with a pagan temple thus preserving its location. The hillside into which it was cut is gone It has had churches plural erected over it to leave it enshrined for posterity only to be destroyed and rebuilt. I doesn't look like a tomb. Highly decorated with lots of room for lots of bodies to move in and out, see the ornamentation. Perhaps the only thing left from that first day of the week is a stone slab. There's no body there.
YHWH spoke through Isaiah to his people about the time to come. It was going to be bad. They deserved it. Reading those accounts we should very well be reminded of ourselves. We can't claim innocence and ignore the history of our world since then. We can't just say we are better than our ancestors when we are imperfectly happy in a selfish society. But He also spoke to them about the time to come. It was going to be refreshing. He was gracious. He is forgiving and for a reason. Wrath was destined to be played out for real and in full to another. Nor has the LORD neglected to let us feel discipline that we understand a loving God desires always to save the biggest remnant he can.
The first time he spoke the world came into being in answer to his words. Judah was hearing the big picture. Creation was going to be new again. Not just there in their corner of the world, but the whole world. The whole creation. It was too small a thing to save just a small rebel people who couldn't keep their noses clean. He was going to recreate everything. He wanted to include everyone. Everything.
Jesus rising from the dead is recognized by the Church as the 8th day of creation. Jesus isn't just risen from the dead. He is the first fruits of those who sleep in death. He doesn't just declare his work finished, but ushers in the new creation into each generation.
We should at this minute be asking the question, Where the Heaven is it? We look for something but it is bigger than our years and don't see it. We miss it when it is so small as a baby washed by water and the Word. The foretaste of the feast to come arrives in a small morsel and sip. It is often overlooked but still real when confessed sin is Spoken away in forgiveness. It is celebrated in song as the people of God are gathered now. It is yet hoped for when we gather around an empty grave being filled by one whose death pierces our own soul too.
The resurrection of Jesus was not a one time deal. It connects to all of us. It connects us to something bigger that we can only crudely imagine and probably always get wrong in our limited vision. But you have to start somewhere and God starts with what is familiar. Sin will not be remembered in the resurrection. The screw ups and the anger expressed that caused us pain one to another and even more so to the heavenly Father will be forgotten by all parties. What we imagine to be happiness will real but of such small scope when the heavens and earth are restored and recreated.
The resurrection of Jesus is the end of frustration. No longer will we sweat and labor just to hang on to the life we depend upon. Life will be a joy. All efforts will be a joy and a success. We can see it when our task be it easy or hard surprises us when someone says, "Thank you so much. I thank God for you. You helped me." And be we bewildered, God has done his daily work again. But in that day when the First Fruits calls us from our tomb, when He calls us from our waiting in his grace and mercy we shall experience everlasting joy that sees no end and endless opportunity without sin or anymore death. Isaiah describes life in the early creation. The work of God in Christ is undoing and returning to the beginning.
The resurrection of Jesus will be more than filling the marks in hands and side with fingers and hand. It will fill us. We will know good alone. All things, heaven and earth will be seamless with the first 7 days of creation. The wild animals will be tame and get their nourishment from the grass of the field, fruit of the plants and trees and likely beg for a scratch under the neck, a belly rub and offer wet kisses in return. The Church will occupy the whole World and the banquet will not end. This is what forgiveness looks like extending in all of what God has made. We will get to step into the throne room of God. He will dwell with us and will see his face shine on us. And God will once again say, "It is very good."
