Easter Sunday, 2002
John 20

Last summer our family had the privilege of visiting the Denver Museum of Natural History and Science. We found it engrossing. The mummy exhibit was one of our favorites. The display boasted a couple of well preserved mummies: one was a poor lady, the other a rich nobleman. The process of mummification was explained.

It took seventy days for embalmers to prepare a body. Embalmers first took out the inner organs. They removed the brain through nostrils with metal hooks. They made a slit in the left side of the body and took out the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines. The heart was removed and embalmed, and a special stone was put in its place.

A grainy chemical called natron was mined from the Nile River. It was used to dry out the corpse. Natron was stuffed inside the body, and the outside was covered too. After forty days the natron was removed. The dry body was sponged clean and brushed with oils, ointments, spices, and resin. The head and body were stuffed with new packing soaked in fragrant oils. The mummy was adorned with jewels of gold and precious stones. Then the body was carefully bound with long, narrow strips of linen. The strips of linen were covered with a shroud. Another layer of binding was placed over that, then another shroud, and so on for twenty layers.

The Jewish treatment of corpses was not nearly as long and complicated as the Egyptian. But it was thought appropriate to care for the corpse with some linens and shroud, special ointments and spices. This custom explains some of the details of Easter.

The first one out of bed on Easter morning was Mary Magdalene. Very early she made her way to the tomb in order to apply spices to the dead body of Jesus. She was sad and wanted to help. Apparently she did not know that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had already been there the night before. Those two had covered the Lord's cadaver with a big batch of myrrh and aloes, and then wrapped it up in linen cloths (John 19:38-40). Mary was surprised to see the stone rolled away. That was suspicious; not good. Someone could have been inside the tomb, or still was. So she dashed away to get Peter and John.

John and Peter came running to the garden. By the time they got there the sun was coming up. There was now enough light to see that the tomb was empty except for the burial clothes. And there was a mysterious tidiness about the handkerchief and linen cloths. It appeared that the body had not been stolen; tomb raiders would have taken the clothes too, wouldn't they? The followers of Jesus soon discovered that He had miraculously risen from death.

The resurrection is no fable or myth; it is historical fact. The Lord's body rose from the dead very early on the first day of the week. For forty days He communed with His disciples. During that time they enjoyed certain experiences with the Lord: eating, drinking, worship and instruction. Then on the Mount of Olives He was lifted up to Heaven with His glorified body where He now sits at the Right Hand of the Father.

What are the implications of the resurrection? What are the consequences for us today? There is a multitude. Let us examine a few.

First, we must say that these appearances of Christ brought about a moral and spiritual transformation in those who saw Him. When it finally settled in on all the disciples that, "the Lord is risen indeed" the power of the risen Christ was soon displayed in them. Now they were absolutely certain that their Master was the divine Son of God. Jesus ascended into Heaven, yet they were confident that their Savior was alive, present and active in their midst. This was no longer a fearful band of cowards huddled together in dimly lit rooms. It was a people on fire, bold, bursting with energy, and on a mission.

The resurrection was not merely an adrenaline rush. It produced holy, good, and decent people. One example will suffice: Infanticide was a common practice in the Roman Empire. Newborn babies were taken outside of the walls of the city and left to perish. The Christians saved these babies and raised them. This was the kind of good deed that flowed forth from their faith in the resurrection.

And because of their resurrection faith they spread out across the world with the Gospel. And they did it in the face of tremendous persecution. They were slain by the hundreds of thousands, but in the end they conquered the Roman Empire. How did Christianity so successfully emerge in the world? That development is totally inexplicable without the resurrection. The early Church harnessed the power of the risen Christ. That same power and presence are with us today, transforming unto holiness and righteousness.

There is a further consequence of Easter. It has to do with the atonement. The resurrection is the proof of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. It is evidence that the work is really done, that nothing more is needed for His glorious work. The Puritan theologian John Owen waxed eloquent when he wrote a book called "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ." True, Christ's death on the cross satisfied the demands of God's holiness and cancelled out the penalty and punishment our sin deserved. But it was the resurrection that administered the coup de grace. The resurrection established eternal life with the Lord in the New Heavens and New Earth. The Cross freed us from the prison of Hell; the resurrection entitled us to our mansion in Heaven.

Next, Easter is a good time to reflect on how the resurrection effects our physical bodies. Christ's resurrection sets the pattern for our own resurrection in the Last Day. He is the first-fruits; we are the full-fruits. What happened to the body of Christ? His flesh was raised from the dead to a glorified existence. The Lord Jesus did not simply arise in the spirit, He arose a flesh and bones physical being. Since Christ is the first-fruits, we also shall arise in recreated, glorified bodies. Gnostic heretics, both ancient and modern, ever oppose the scriptural doctrine of the physicality of the resurrection. For that reason we must be diligent to uphold it.

Though our bodies eventually become weak and pitiful, twisted with pain, marred with disease, hastening to death, we can look to the body of Christ. God the Father glorified the body of His stricken, smitten, and afflicted Son. He will glorify yours if you are in Christ. God's intention is to redeem your physicality from the power of evil. And the same goes for all of creation.

Certainly Christianity is of all religions the most physical: creation, incarnation, resurrection, the sacraments, the Church. The Christian cannot escape the positive role of the physical in the worship and worldview of the Bible.

Furthermore, the glorified body you and I receive at the end of time has continuity with the body you possess right now. That seems obvious, but it's a necessary theological point. Some evangelical pastors in Southern California deny that continuity. They claim that the resurrection body will be a totally different organism than our present earthly model. But that can't be right. The body you inhabit now is so much a part of your total personality that it will not be left behind. God will not let it become irreversibly obliterated. That's not what happened with Christ's body. The same one He had on earth He has in Heaven, beautifully glorified and immortal.

Let's move on to another Easter truth. The resurrection can alleviate our fear of death. All of us think about death. Yet, the call to the Christian is not to be overly afraid. There is always going to be some fear of death. On an emotional level death sows terror and panic in our hearts. Yet, if we have faith in Christ and the Word of God, then reason can guide us to a degree of serenity. It is a matter of our mind and belief overcoming our emotions. At the moment of death, if we have been baptized into faith in Christ we pass into Heaven. We do not need to be afraid to die. On account of the resurrection we know that the Christian who dies goes to be with the Lord.

Perhaps it is helpful to explain it in terms of the Church Militant, Church Expectant, and Church Triumphant. The Church Militant is composed of those of us on earth. The Church Expectant is made up of the souls of all Christians who have died but not yet received their resurrection bodies. Their spirits await the Second Coming. The Church Triumphant can refer to everyone who inhabits eternity.

So how will things transpire in the future? If you die today you pass from the Church Militant on earth to join the Church Expectant in Heaven. This is a joyous throng because the Church Expectant participates in the heavenly liturgy. However, the joy of the Church Expectant is not yet complete. They still do not have their bodies. That must await the Second Coming.

First Thessalonians 4:13 speaks to the issue. The passage states: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." In other words, when Jesus comes again on the Last Day, He will resurrect the bodies and souls of all humanity for judgment. In order for that to happen, God will send His angels to gather up out of the earth all interred bodies, and the sea will give up her dead (Rev. 20:13). The Great White Throne Judgment will immediately take place. The books shall be opened. Jesus, the Dreadful Judge, will sentence those who reject Him to everlasting punishment in Hell. Those covered by the grace of the blood of the Lamb, the Judge will fully restore into the image of God. He will wipe away their tears, and give them to drink of the river of life and eat of the tree of life (Rev. 22). Not one trace of the curse will remain. The universe will become the New Heavens and New Earth. The agony and anxiety of creation shall be erased; the globe will become a paradise. The lion will lie down with the lamb. The Church, a glorious Bride, shall come to her Bridegroom. The Marriage Banquet of the Lamb will resound with music and dance. Everything will be physical, and everything will be spiritual. Death, the last enemy, will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26).

These are some of the reasons why the resurrection can and ought to soften our fear of death. We have a glorious hope. By faith we gaze on that distant shore where the Church Militant and the Church Expectant unite with the Church Triumphant.

If you are in Christ, you will one day contemplate the Lamb on His Throne. You will adore the Holy Almighty who deserves all worship, honor and glory. That beatific vision you will experience, body and soul. Christ's risen body is the first-fruits. In Him you can be a part of that Heavenly adventure that never ends.

Come now to the Holy Communion. On this Easter Day come with joy and thanksgiving. King Jesus invites you to His banquet table. Come and partake. May our eucharistic celebration be a foretaste of the Marriage Supper of Lamb.

Return to Sermons