Resurrection proves that the thief cannot steal the promise.
Jesus promised to live again, he did and therefore, because He conquered death, when weakness, discouragement, or despair seem to dominate, we can have confidence. Unfortunately we fail to discern the difference between the ghouls of hell and the frailty of the flesh. Thus those fiends often taunt us by promises that never seem to be fulfilled, hence laughing at our limited abilities and supposed divine blessings. Given time such mocking can effectively remove us from useful ministry. These mental break-ins come from the thief who wants to destroy.
The disciples thought that about Jesus’ death because they were engaged in a wrestling match with powers of hell. We may be like that because of opposition and the failure to receive the fulfilment to the promises bequeathed. Proverbs says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” [13:12]. The slithering snake-like intrusions of the dark thief breaks into our mind to convince us his thoughts are ours. This is because we have probably intellectualised supernaturalism because of the fear of superstition! Therefore identifying the thief is ultimately pivotal [2 Cor. 2:11].
The devil will try to do three things; steal peace thus draining our joy and undercutting our confidence; kill hope by suffocating our expectations thus aborting faith in God’s promises. Finally destroy anything productive so rendering inoperative the might and majesty of God’s call and purpose for us. The cross and resurrection of Christ is the answer.
The resurrection breaks the negative attitude of containment.
There is nothing more containing than a grave. The devil is very subtle; he encourages us to be contained in a false sense of security, safe from further challenges. Thus, a contained Christian is an ineffectual and a none growing one and a contained church likewise. But Paul answers our dilemma: “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal . . . “ [Phil 3:13-14]. The devil wants us to stay where we are. Satan likes bored contained Christians. He resists those who attempt to move beyond the invisible walls he erects. But, a resurrection mentality brings a break-out mentality.
Resurrection proves that if one good thing is withdrawn then a better one will replace it.
Jesus was gone, for he was raised! “If God removes a silver blessing he’ll give you a golden one!” All His takings are preliminaries to His greater giving “For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” The fact He has gone shows he was the complete conqueror over death – for death is a tearing apart of the connection between body, soul and spirit. If he had not risen it would have been a two-thirds victory. This conquest showed the restoration of this torn connection, for Jesus would have returned to heaven without a body, for he did not have one before he came.
The faith of the first disciples collapsed at Calvary and only resurrected with Christ’s physical resurrection. Without his bodily resurrection no thinking man would ever have believed upon the crucified one. His resurrection was concerned with the organic interweaving of a completely new life-principle, divine, personal and all-penetrating, He not only prepares and shows the way but He is the way!
Resurrection proves there is a new reality
The reality is that Christ can do whatever He so wishes. Miracles are part of His divine nature. What he started on earth he continues in His absence through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Because we have been touched by the materialistic nature of the world we often fail to perceive that which we know in the post resurrection age: it is imbued by the Spirit. We should, nay we must, move as the sons of God, we are no less than that; our heritage is secured in divine manifestation. “Nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection . . .” [Luke 20:36-38]. We live and move in a new reality, we are the sons of God. It is not what we feel or look like, but by faith we ARE the sons of God. One day we will be resurrected and wholly like the Lord; until then the reality is now. We now move amongst the hostile world that attempts to inhibit our faith in the miraculous. However we inhabit eternity by faith and therefore look upward to see heaven upon earth. Thy will, will be done.
