Christ has indeed been raised from the dead – a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:1-28 by Rev. Ralph Adams.
In what is possibly the most devastating experience I’ve ever had, I was with my wife at the bedside of our son Troy… when doctors at St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney, told us that Troy was ‘brain-dead.’ And so, the respirator was turned off… all signs of life ceased… and no matter how many tears flowed… no matter how hard we held his hand or stroked his hair… our son was dead.
From a human standpoint, the word ‘death’ sounds so empty… so final! Yet, death features in the message of Easter. Good Friday closes with Jesus’ dead body being laid in Joseph’s tomb. For certain women, the terror of Good Friday is over, but the grief of Saturday lingers on. So, they are grieving, as they come to the tomb on the first day of the week. [1]
Elsewhere in Luke’s gospel, we catch a glimpse of the bereaved state some of Jesus’ followers are actually in: “But we had hoped that he was the One to redeem Israel.” [2] Their hopes appear to have been sadly dashed on Calvary’s hill of despair.
Little do they know that ‘death’ has lost its sting. The first Easter dawned to the triumphant news brought by dazzling angels: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen!” [3]
And Paul says of the resurrected Jesus, “death no longer has dominion over him.” [4] So, the emblem of Christianity becomes an empty cross… to remind us that not only did our Saviour die for our sins, but He rose again for our justification.
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