The story of Easter: the Death of God and the gift of Eternal life.

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The meal was over. Jesus looked with love at his disciples, his companions, his friends. “Brothers, it is time,” he said. “The hour has come.”

Then he looked at Judas and said: “Do what you must.”

Judas, troubled, got up abruptly from the table, and fled out into the night towards the Temple.

Then Jesus rose from the table, and asked the eleven to follow him. They went up to a grove just outside Jerusalem called the Mount of Olives, and there Jesus asked them to wait for him and keep him company as he prayed, for he was deeply troubled in spirit.

In the grove Jesus knelt to pray. It was a dark night, the moon pale and faded. The shadows were dark and foreboding. The trees were gnarled and knotted, and seemed somehow to be grasping at the frightened and confused band of disciples. An evil presence filled the grove.

Jesus looked up towards heaven, his face a picture of agony, and cried out “Father!”

The cry of anguish echoed in the night sky.

“Is there another way?”

There was silence.

Then he bowed his head and whispered “Your will be done”, as the soldiers emerged from the shadows to arrest him.

Jesus stood up to meet the traitor Judas and the soldiers who followed him.

“Are you Jesus of Nazareth?” shouted the captain of the guard.

“I am,” said Jesus.

As he said this, the soldiers and all those with them fell backward, struck by the power inherent in this solitary man.

Encouraged, Peter lunged with his sword at one of the men closest to him and cut off his ear.
I can imagine a cheer rising up in the heavenly realms amongst the angels, as they stood poised to strike down the enemy! The Host of Heaven rising up with one voice “For the Lamb!”. And then they hear Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, the Lion of Judah, rebuke Peter. “Put away your sword!”

There would be no rescue tonight. Because this is God’s great plan of salvation. Jesus was led away, chained, alone.

Why?

Well, Jesus had explained this time and time again in the months and years before his arrest. Because he looks upon us with compassion, he told us about the stain of sin that grips the heart of every human.

“All men have turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there are none who do good, not even one.”

He said this to the Jews, God Holy people. People shifted uncomfortably, recognising the quote from the 14th Psalm. But surely Jesus was not implicating them? This was not what they were accustomed to hearing in the marketplace or the synagogue!

Then Jesus spoke again “The Pharisees tell you to perform ceremonial washing rituals in order to make yourself clean before God. But I tell you that it is not what is outside a man that makes him unclean, but what is inside a man.”

The crowd began to murmur and stir restlessly.

“Indeed, it is what comes out of the heart of man that defiles him. For from within, out of your heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

There was silence, as each stood and pondered the words of Jesus. What he was saying was true! And if even they as God’s people were not safe from judgement, then who is?

“Repent and believe in the one that he sent!” said Jesus!

And then he continued, warning about the reality of Hell - separation from God. There will come a time when God will give people what they want! For we say to him “I do not want you”.
And that is Hell. We are cut off forever from God, the source of all light, all happiness, all joy.
So Jesus warned of the terrors of hell – but at the same time told them the way out “trust in me, follow me and you will live!” He held out the hope of redemption, in hands that would soon be pierced to pay the cost of that redemption.

And that is why he was lead away. That is why he said to Peter “put away your sword”. Because every one of us is facing Hell. Every one of us is in deep, deep trouble, and none of us can save ourselves because what makes us unclean comes from within. Our sin comes from within us, and condemns us to death.

And the only way to save us is to swap places with us. It is to die our death in our place, so that we can live, and then remake us from the inside out. So that is what Jesus did. That is why Jesus died. That is why he came. For you and for me.

First he appeared before the Pharisee council, then before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. The trials were full of false accusations, fake witnesses, lies, deceit and cowardice.
Yet, amidst all this, Jesus’ innocence shone out all the brighter - so much so that even the Roman governor declared “This man has done nothing wrong.”

But the priests, the leaders of Israel, those who should have been saying “there is the Messiah”, instead shouted “Crucify him!” And the crowd followed their lead. “Crucify him”! And Pilate bowed to their will, instead of to the truth, and condemned Jesus to death.

Pilate had him whipped to the point of death. Then beaten and torn, Jesus was forced to carry the cross from the Roman palace to the place of execution. There he was stripped naked, and strapped to the cross - the shorn lamb awaiting the sacrifice.

Then the Roman soldier picked up a hammer and some nails. He grabbed Jesus’ arm, held the nail in place, and lifted the hammer.

Bang!

The nails pierced His skin, and He cried out in agony.

Then the soldier nailed his other arm to the cross, and then his feet.

There was no respite from the pain - and then with a shout and a heave, the cross was lifted into the air. Jesus’ tendons in his arms and feet began to tear as they took the full weight of his broken body. And as the cross of wood slammed into the ground He shuddered and shook. “Father, forgive them” He cried out as He paid the price so that He could forgive them.

And the sky grew dark, and the sun gave no light.

Creation mourned, and God the Father turned His head.

For a brief moment, the Universe stood still....

And then all of the sins from all of the people in all of time – all who were and who are and who will be covered by the blood of the Innocent One – all their sins, all our sins, were poured out on one concentrated spot: the Lamb Himself on the Cross of Death.

A dreadful cry was heard of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” as Jesus felt the unbearable pain of facing the wrath of God. His body trembled and shook. Then he prayed: “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit”, the prayer of the innocent dying for the guilty. And then raising himself up he took a deep breath and shouted “It is FINISHED!”. His body slumped down. And he was dead.

God the Father looked towards the Temple and tore down the curtain of the Most Holy Place, the symbol of the barrier between God and Man. The barrier was broken! The way to God was open. In Jesus we have access to God.

But at what a cost! The Lamb - the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the King of Israel, Jesus, the Christ... was dead.

Creation mourned, the skies were black, and the sun was dead. The curtain was torn, but the Lamb was gone. Heaven waited for a sign from the Father....

But none was given.

Dusk was approaching. The women wept as Jesus’ broken body was taken down from the Cross. He was wrapped in linen cloths and laid gently in a tomb. A great stone was rolled in front of the tomb, and a guard of four placed outside the door.

The stars came out. The night was quiet. And the tomb was empty, but for the corpse of Jesus.

The Lamb’s broken body lay sadly on the floor: a testament to sin. A testament to a world in rebellion. And a testament to the love and mercy of the Father, who would slay the Lamb to rescue the many... even us here today.

The tomb was cold and devoid of life. The body of the Lamb lay alone.

His body lay broken, and the sun rose. Saturday dawned. Sabbath. A holy day. But Israel had killed their Messiah.

His body lay pierced, and dusk encroached on the day and consumed it.

His body lay fallen, and the second day passed away in silence.

The Lamb was dead.

Yet we know that death is a result of sin. And we know, too, that Jesus had never sinned. How could death hold him?

The King is dead. Long live the King. Is what they shout when a king dies, and the new king is crowned. But in Jesus’ case, it really was The King is dead, long live the King. For death could not hold him. Death had no right to hold him. And so Jesus broke the bonds of death. We pick up the story in John 20.

Jn 20:1–18 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home. 11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” 16 “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). 17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” 26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. 29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” 30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

Death is gone! He was defeated. And the Lamb, Jesus, is alive! As if a star had fallen to the earth and was burning with joy! His great work was finished.

I can imagine on that Easter Sunday the whole of Heaven exploding into a chorus of praise and joy: The Lamb, the Son of God, the Master - He was alive! How would the angels celebrate? Speeding through the heavens in great joy, weaving their way through the galaxies and the stars and planets and moons. Blurs of clean light, weaving an intricate tapestry of praise to our Lord.

Don’t you want to join in? Don’t you want to feel the power of God, the joy of Heaven flowing through you? He is alive! He is alive! I want to praise Him with my whole body, with my whole life!

One day we will see him face to face. He is alive. One day we will see him and dance a cosmic dance of joy like the angles danced on that first Easter Sunday so many years ago. We will speed through the heavens, past cosmic wonders, our bodies leaving a trail of pure delight, dancing to the praise of the Lamb. And even those of us who can’t dance will dance! And above all, we will hear the pure rich laughter of the Father, a laughter that speaks of a holy joy, a laughter that makes all who hear it giddy with delight. His laughter rings out through the Universe, making every atom tingle, every star burn brighter, every galaxy turn faster out of sheer joy. The Lamb is alive! Death is defeated! Creation will be restored. Satan is defeated, and his plague will be destroyed. Hope is won!
Praise God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! Praise Him for His grace and power and wisdom and love. He is worthy of the praise of all Creation!

Praise Him!

So let’s do it. Let’s praise him with everything we are right here and right now. If you don’t know him – get to know him. Say God, I need to know you. If you do know him, live for him. Delight in him. Let he be your joy and heartbeat. Love him! Do everything for him. He is our all in all. He is our great delight! He is our joy! He is all, for he was dead, he died for us, he died to make us whole, to restore us, to bring us into relationship with him. And today he rose again from the dead. Today he lives! And we live for him. Amen.

Easter Sunday 2015

We all have a sense of the divine. Of their being something more than just what we see or hear or touch. We can feel a greater purpose, a greater meaning behind life. This life is not all there is. There is more to our lives than just what we see.

Throughout history many have come claiming a revelation from God or a revelation about the spiritual or our greater purpose. Nitsche, Russel, the unknown founders of Hinduism and Shinto, Muhammad, Bhudda Guatama, Zoroast, and so on, to the modern TV evangelist who sees in your future that you will give money to him for his new jet....

But 2000 years ago a man came on the scene who did not claim a revelation about God or a revelation from God – he claimed to BE the revelation of God. To know him was to know God. Repent and believe he said, for the Kingdom of God is here. That’s how he started his ministry! What a ridiculous claim! God’s Kingdom is here. Ha. You? The King of the Kingdom? Ha.
But there was power – this man, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth – he had power. Power to heal, power over evil spirits. Power over even creation. Be still he says to a storm – and it was still. Have you tried that? He walked on water, he produced food out of thin air. This was no magic trick, some illusion that fooled the simple backwater peoples – no. The best brains from Jerusalem came down to find him out. Those who could sniff out a faulty argument or a false teaching – those who could spot a law breakers and a blasphemer from a mile away – keen minds, sharpened by years of religious inquisition… and they were stumped, nonplussed, amazed, confused. How can this be? They could not deny his power, but they could not agree with his claims- he saves sinners! He claims to forgive sins! He hangs out with the scum: law-.breakers and sinners, not good people like us. So they decided to kill him.

But that was expected. Jesus said so. Told his disciples that is why he came:- it was planned by the decree of God, as revealed to his prophets hundreds of years before: by his stripes we are healed.

And so he willingly went to his death – this man of power who merely spoke his name and the soldiers fell over, who had power to tall the ground to open up and swallow them – Jesus went willingly to his death. And he died

And it was all over.

The disciples, his followers, were all depressed. They thought he was the Messiah, the rescuer, but he clearly wasn’t. He was dead. Oh, he had said he’d rise again, but who believed that?

And then he rose from the dead. And that changed everything.

He had power... over death! He suddenly was not just a man, but clearly the Living God – the one from outside who had control over what happens here on earth. He had power over creation because he was the Creator. And the amazing message he came with was not that he had come to destroy us, but that he had come to forgive us. He had come to bridge the gap between us and him. He had come to make himself known so that we could KNOW God. And not only know him, but live with him as our God. The resurrection changes everything.

In 1 John 1:1 the Apostle John (apostle means a close friend and follower of Jesus), writes We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He [Jesus] is the Word of life.

But surely it was just a myth? It can’t actually be true. Can it?

Well, let’s examine some of the common objections to the resurrection.

Myth no. 1 “It was made up by Emperor Constantine in 325 at the Council of Nicaea, the first Church Council”. This is very popular – Dan Brown used it in his novels, and if you type it into Google you’ll get a massive amount of websites claiming this to be the SECRET TRUTH NOW REVEALED. The fact that they’re all wrong doesn’t stop them. It makes a great story – but doesn’t fit the facts. This theory was popularised in the early 1900’s and gained some ground because we didn’t have any documents from before the Council of Nicaea. So it could be possible, however unlikely, that Constantine managed to change the beliefs of 318 bishops plus all the Christians of the time who up until that moment had been willing to die for their beliefs (and over 800 000 had already died for their faith – the first 300 years of Christianity was martyrdom and persecution) but these people who had stood strong suddenly caved into the Emperor, claim those who like this theory. So, not very likely. Do you think Obama could call all the Christians in the US together and say “we’re changing Christianity”. How well do you think that would work?
And, anyway, in the last 100 years or so we’ve discovered nearly 100 manuscripts from before 325. And these manuscripts had exactly the same text as the manuscripts after 325, and indeed the same as our Bibles today. Oh dear.

So the theory that Constantine just made Jesus up to unite Rome is just wrong. The evidence points the other way. It is not possible for him to have made it up.

Myth no. 2 “The disciples made it up.”
Okay. Why?

There’s nothing in it for them. They gain nothing by it. All of them were persecuted, tortured, rejected for it. They gained no power, no wealth. In the gospel narratives – which they are supposed to have made up – they look like complete idiots! Would you do that? I’m going to make up a story to give me power, but in the story I will look like an absolute fool, get everything wrong and even abandon my God.
This myth “they just made it up” has no plausibility. There is no motive for the disciples, no upside, no gain.

The other problem is that in their supposedly made up story everything happens publically. Their main character Jesus: his death happens in a major city - Jerusalem – not some deserted cave. And so does his resurrection! What’s more, they claim multiple people seeing Jesus after his resurrection – around 500 at one time! All it takes is going to speak to one of these people and asking “is it true” “no it was made up” -. And the whole thing comes crashing down

“Oh the disciples made it up” sounds good, but as soon as you start to examine it just falls apart. It fails the test of plausibility – where’s their motivation? It fails the literature test – because people didn’t write historical fiction like we do today. That style of writing has developed over hundreds of years – the gospel writers doing it would be astounding – in literary terms like discovering the atom 2000 years ago.
And if they were so clever they would have made it more convincing for their audience: they had huge cultural problems, like women being the eye-witnesses of Jesus’ death and resurrection – women weren’t even considered reliable witnesses in a court of law at the time – so why would you have them as your first eye-witnesses in a story you’re making up – unless, embarrassingly so, it was the truth. I could go on – there are many such details in the gospel narratives that make it highly unlikely that the disciples made it up. They really did see Jesus die, and they really did see Jesus risen from the grave. As I read from John’s letter “We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands”.

Ummm, but maybe they hallucinated, or really, really wanted it to be true that they forced themselves to believe it. Or maybe Jesus just swooned on the cross, not actually died, and then reappeared to them….

Do any of those sound convincing? Sounds like someone desperately looking for a reason to reject Jesus other than the real reason: I want to be God in my life, and so I don’t like it when the real God makes himself known. So I block my ears and make up stories...

Mass hallucinations? Maybe once, for 11 guys in a room, maybe smoking some weed. Yeah, man, I see Jesus…. But Peter’s out fishing and Jesus calls to him. Peter’s given up, you see, as a failure – he betrayed Jesus before his death. So he thinks even if Jesus is risen from the dead, he won’t have me. He wasn’t wanting to see Jesus! So he goes fishing. And then a figure calls to him from the beach. “Peter!” And Peter rows the boat closer. It’s Jesus. And they talk, and have breakfast together. Later 500 people see Jesus. And later still they are all gathered together and Jesus rises up into the sky after telling them to make disciples. For forty days Jesus appeared to different people at different times – once on the road to Emmaus, a village a few hours walk from Jerusalem, and then immediately after that, to the disciples in a home in Jerusalem. How’d he get there so fast?

And his appearances weren’t like a man in the shadows speaking in a muffled voice saying “hey, I’m Jesus”. No, he was amongst them saying touch me, feel the scars in my hands and feet, he was with them in daylight on the beach eating breakfast, and he was with them on the mountaintop in Galilee when he rose up to heaven before their very eyes. He was not a ghost because they could touch him, touch his hands and feet. He was not a twin or some other weird trick – he really had died on the cross because here was the wound in his side where the spear had pierced him. Here were the scars from the nails driven through his hands. It was Jesus. The same Jesus who had died.

But, but maybe Jesus swooned (fainted) on the cross. Yes, and the Roman soldiers didn’t know the difference between a man who has fainted and a man who is dead? Oh, and they stabbed him in the side with a spear to make sure. And then they wrapped him in a burial shroud. So this theory means that you believe that a man beaten to a pulp, crucified, then stabbed and bleeding, regained consciousness two days later in a cold dark tomb, fought his way out of the burial cloths, rolled away the huge stone, overpowered the guards, then broken, bleeding, half dead, appeared to his disciples... and they responded “my Lord and my God”.
Then you must have great faith indeed. And if you then say oh, the disciples made it grander then the question is why? Again, they have no good motivation to tell this story unless it is the truth. The only plausible rational reasonable explanation is that this man Jesus truly was who he said he was: God Himself. Come from the outside to us to reveal God to us and to open the way so that we could know him.

In the gospel of Luke, Luke writes to his sponsor, Theophilus “Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honourable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.”

Any other questions?

What’s your objection? Because you do have one. You must have one to explain it way because otherwise you are forced to consider the truth. That Jesus really is the revelation of the living God. That he made you. That you belong to him. And that the only rational, logical thing to do it to serve him.

You know when a building is demolished, there’s the moment when the demolitions guy presses the button and you hear whooom and see a bit of smoke – and then nothing happens. There’s a pause. The building’s foundation has been blown away but it’s still standing, just for a moment. And then WHOOOOOMFFF it collapses in a huge pile of rubble and dust.

Well, the cross was that explosion on the foundation of this world. Jesus’ death and resurrection blew out any ideas we might have that there is no God. And we live now in the pause, the pause before the fall – before Jesus returns, this time not as Saviour, but as Judge. We live in the pause before the fall. And in this pause, we have an opportunity to be rescued. To know God, and to serve him living a life of great meaning and purpose.

Two implications, two results of Jesus’ death and resurrection being true:

1. We can know God!

I started off by saying that we all have a sense of the divine – of there being something or someone out there. Something more to life. Well, Jesus confirms that. “Here I am” he says. “You cannot reach me – so I have reached down to you.” And through his death and his resurrection we can know God – personally. Each of us.

Because the reason we can’t know God is because we have sinned against him. Like a barrier between us and God, my rebellion, my sin, my pretending to be God and ignoring the real God, means I cannot know him. I am cut off from him. I cannot reach him. Even if I try to be really really good, the Bible says it is no use. He is perfect. I am not. He is holy, I am unholy. Religion is a waste of time. Being good is useless. We cannot know God

Praise God that he then did what we could not. He bridged the gap, broke open the barrier, so that we could know him.

Every other religion or worldview says do! You must do this or do that to achieve a higher consciousness or be a better person or please God or the gods. Christianity does not say “do” it says “done”. Christ said on the cross “It is finished” it is done – and then proved it by rising from the dead.

Because of what Christ has done, we can know God! He has wiped away our sins, covered over our filth (like the donkey on Friday, remember?), paid the penalty for our rebellion of God and our ignoring Him. It is done. We don’t have to do anything to try to win God’s favour – it is done. He did it. It is His gift to us.

We can know God. You can know God.

2. Our life has great meaning and purpose

The fact that there is a God means that our lives are not just lived out here, on this stage, and we die to be eaten by worms and eventually forgotten. Jesus reveals that our lives are lived before Almighty God: before Him. He is raised up, seated on the throne in Heaven. Everything we do reflects back on our relationship – or lack of relationship – with him. We are eternal creatures, created with a spark of the divine – we are created, made to be with God. And so what we do here matters. In the movie Gladiator the main character Maximus utters a great line just before they ride into battle “What we do in life echoes in eternity”
“What we do in life echoes in eternity”
It’s true. What is your life echoing into eternity? Are you bringing glory to God? Is every moment of your life consumed with Him, honouring him, bringing him glory, doing what you were created to do?

Or are you in rebellion against him? Ignoring him? Bringing glory to you and your petty and small ambitions?

Because everything is done. The way to know God is open. But just like getting married or having kids - or even getting a dog - changes your life, knowing God changes things completely. You now live life in a different reality. The reality of heaven and hell. Ter reality of eternity.

Be warned, dear friends. Heaven and hell are real. The resurrection shows that. Jesus went through the pain of death – to rescue us from HELL. He believed in Hell. He knows it. Where is your life leading you? What is your echo in eternity? Heaven? Or Hell? Are you trusting and obeying Christ? Or yourself?

And are we telling others this? This is real, this is urgent! People around us are dying and going to hell! Jesus came to DIE in order to rescue people from Hell and we claim to be his followers yet can’t be bothered to even tell people. Risk inviting our neighbours to church because ooo they might think I’m weird. On that Final Day when we see them condemned to Hell will we still be worried about what they think of us? I say this to myself, to increase the pressure on myself to not be so apathetic, so lazy, to get myself to do what I know I should. This is reality. God forgive us for our laziness and disobedience! Praise Jesus that he came to die for sinners like us, that even our failures are taken care of – but that should drive us to proclaim all the louder!

I heard a story recently of a woman who’d just become a Christian. Overjoyed she said “does this mean I’m forgiven. Completely forgiven?” “yes, Jesus has taken your guilt and shame”. Overjoyed she just was bursting to tell people, and so opened her phone book and starting ringing systematically, every single person in her phone book to tell the joyous news: Jesus is alive, and he has forgiven me, and he can accept you too!

This Easter, let us be gripped by the joy of the good news: Christ really DID rise from the dead, and so we can know God, and live a life filled with meaning and purpose – a life lived in the reality of eternity, a life lived with heaven and hell in mind. Friends, as we go out this door, may God grant that we see this world, see our friends, neighbours work colleagues and family through his eyes – eyes that saw people heading to hell to eternal death – and so he came Himself to die, to rise again, to rescue us. Amen.

Exodus 13 Remember

Exodus 13

About two weeks ago, just after Christmas, I was walking along a seaside path. The sun was blazing down with its summer warmth, the sea was glistening – and I saw a strange sight. I was in the coastal town of Hermanus, just outside Cape Town, and there in the centre of town, on the seaside path were two old World War 2 guns.
They had been kept as a monument. There was a stone pillar, and on the pillar was a plaque with the names of all the soldiers who had given their lives during the war. And there was one sentence on the plaque: Their names live forever.
In other words: Remember.

We remember their sacrifices during the war and we are thankful. I remember what my grandfather went through to win the freedom we take so for granted. We remember those who fought and died for freedom. And we remember what that cost: our freedom came at a great price. Let us never forget, say these monuments, what horror war brings, what terrible price it exacts on us, and what it costs to stand against tyranny. Remember.

Today’s passage is Israel’s “war monument”. Remember. Remember what God has done. Remember how he brought you out. And remember what it cost.

1. Remember: the Lord rescues his people with a mighty hand (slavery and rescue (yeast)) v3-10

2. Remember: the Lord redeems his sons from death with a sacrifice (death, redemption, and the costly sacrifice) v11-16

Redeem means buy back, exchange, transfer, swap (å bytte ut)

3. Remember: the Lord is with his rescued, redeemed people v17ff

1. Remember: the Lord rescues his people with a mighty hand

Remember what God has done. Well, what has God done? Well, I’m glad you asked, since it’s been about a month since we were last in Exodus, and we’ve probably all forgotten!

God saved a tribe of whiny, ungrateful, weak slaves (that’s Israel), by choosing as their leader and rescuer an escaped murderer hiding out in the desert wasting his life (that’s Moses). What an inspiring story! What a bunch of losers. These are the people God chooses? Seriously? Yes, seriously. These are the people God saves!

3 So Moses said to the people, “This is a day to remember forever—the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. Today the LORD has brought you out by the power of his mighty hand. And in case the Israelites (and us) are slow Moses reminds us again at the end of his speech v9 Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of the LORD: ‘With a strong hand, the LORD rescued you from Egypt.’

The hero of the story is not us, the people. It is not Moses, or Aaron. It is God. He is the Rescuer, the Saviour of his people. It is his power, his action, his love, his mercy on a small insignificant bunch of slaves. Why?

Because his word is true. 400 years earlier the Lord told Abraham what would happen: that his descendants would be enslaved, and that when the time was right he would rescue them and lead them to the land he had promised Abraham and his descendants.
The Lord God keeps his promises. His word is powerful.
We remember what the Lord has done in the past – because it reminds us that he keeps his promises. What he has done in the past gives us confidence that he will do what he has promised to do in the future: to judge the living and the dead, and to rescue all those who receive Christ Jesus as Saviour and as Lord. Remember! And have faith.

Again we see that faith is not just “believing without evidence”. We talk about a “leap of faith” as being a blind jump – but that’s not Biblical faith. Faith in the Bible is based on evidence. We trust the evidence of what God has done in the past, so we can then live confidently, with faith, trusting that he will do what he has promised. Faith is based on the evidence of what God has revealed already. So remember what he has done, and have faith.

So we remember the Exodus. Great. Nice story. Ah, but there’s more, remember. As we’ve seen as we’ve gone along in these chapters, God’s eye is on the future, on the real Exodus, the real rescue, which this one is just foreshadowing: the Cross of Christ.
That’s why in v3 So Moses said to the people, “This is a day to remember forever. Forever. Forever is a bit excessive isn’t it, for the rescue of a bunch of slaves. But not for remembering the Cross. The point of Exodus is the Cross. Exodus is just a shadow of the real rescue to come. That’s why it’s such a big deal. That’s why the need to remember it forever.

We, like the Israelites, are slaves. But not slaves to the Egyptians, we are slaves to sin – our rebellion against God. We have ignored him, our Creator and King. We have broken his laws and done our own thing. We have insulted him by not giving him glory. We have sinned against him. The evidence of sin is all around us: broken relationships, arguments, hurt, greed, poverty, divorce, locked doors, wars, sexual abuse, terror attacks – all these come from our sinful hearts turned towards ourselves instead of towards the Lord. And because he is just, he will not allow us to hurt and destroy each other and ignore him forever. He has set a day of judgement and warned us about it. Just as Pharaoh was warned of his day of judgement. Pharaoh was arrogant and refused to repent, and brought ruin, destruction, and ultimately death on himself and his people. Learn from his mistake!
A day of judgement is coming, a plague of death when darkness will cover the whole earth and everyone will meet the angel of death face to face. We are in Egypt, waiting for the final plague.

So, how do we escape? How do we live instead of dying? Remember that the Israelites had the Passover lamb, sacrificed in their place. Then they had to leave with the people, following the Lord, in faith, out into the desert. They would remember this with a feast, the feast of unleavened bread (unleavened means bread with no yeast). 6 For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. Then on the seventh day, celebrate a feast to the LORD.

There was no yeast because there was no time to bake bread with yeast – yeast needs time to rise, and they had to leave quickly – they were rescued. Bread without yeast also keeps longer – it is bread for a long journey, the journey to the Promised Land. Eating bread with no yeast was a symbol, a symbol that you were following the Lord into the desert, trusting him to take you to the Promised Land.

That finds its fulfilment in the Cross. Where our Lord Jesus won for us our freedom by taking our place as the Passover lamb. He took our place, taking the punishment of death our sins deserved, in order to break the power of sin over us and set us free. We are no longer slaves to sin, but now are free to follow our Lord God to the Promised Land of the New Creation.

Romans 8:1-2 So now there is NO condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. You are free! Just like the Israelites. So remember what Christ has done. If you belong to Jesus – if he is your Saviour and Lord – then the power of sin is broken in you – particularly the power of sin to kill you. You will not die spiritually. You will not face the darkness of God’s righteous anger. You are sinless because Christ has taken your sins. I am free!

So when we are tempted to sin: to lie, to gossip, to get proud and arrogant, to answer back harshly, to hurt, to steal, to give in to lust, or anger, or hatred, or prejudice, whatever it is – we must remember what Christ has done. Remember that I belong to him.

The Israelites were commanded to look back at the Exodus, that great event where God rescued them from slavery in Egypt and lead them safely to the Promised Land of Canaan.

We are commanded to forever remember the True Exodus the great event where God rescued us from slavery to sin, through the cross, and will lead us safely to the New Creation.

I am free. Remember it.

Remember that the Lord rescues his people with a mighty hand.

2. Remember: the Lord redeems his sons from death with a sacrifice

11 “This is what you must do when the LORD fulfills the promise he swore to you and to your ancestors. When he gives you the land where the Canaanites now live, 12 you must present all firstborn sons and firstborn male animals to the LORD, for they belong to him.

All the firstborn sons belong to the LORD? Why? The answer is in v15 Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the LORD killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the LORD—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’

Remember the final plague. The final plague was the plague of death. Remember it. Remember that your sons were redeemed, saved by the sacrifice of the lamb. Remember that any son not redeemed by the lambs was killed.

It’s very dramatic, isn’t it? In fact the whole 10 plagues thing is quite dramatic. God could just have blown Pharaoh away with a little flick of his wrist. So why the drama? Why the big event? Why the dramatic memorial?

Because the Firstborn Son before all firstborn sons is Jesus. And he is the great redeemer – the one who buys back sinful men and women, like us, like Israel. He pays the price, a price paid in blood: his own life.
Exodus is a drama, a big event because it is an echo of the death of the Firstborn Son. The death of Jesus echoes throughout time and space, through all of history – a massive cry “It is finished!” as the universe itself is turned upside down. God the Son became a human being and tasted death in order to free...us. He who knew no sin became sin for us. It is the biggest event in time. There is no bigger, there will be no bigger. That God Himself would stoop to take our form, to taste our suffering, to even taste death in order to rescue us.
Some say the gospel is unbelievable and I would say they’re right. In fact, if you don’t think it is unbelievable I don’t think you fully grasp the wonder of the gospel. Have you ever just sat in wonder and thought “Jesus died for me”. Jesus died...for me!

I was in chains, enslaved by sin. I was in darkness, under the judgement of death. And Jesus saved me. He saved me by redeeming me: paying the price to set me free. He took my place.

And that is the symbol that the Israelites were to remember, and to tell their children. Here is the firstborn son. He is under the sentence of death. But God has said “redeem all your firstborn sons”. So instead of the son being placed on the altar, a transaction takes place. A price is paid, normally 5 shekels, and the son is redeemed, bought back, set free from death. Someone else paid his price.

But now the firstborn donkey is brought forward. There is no redeemer for this donkey. No-one to pay the price. No-one to take his place. The donkey’s neck is broken, and its body falls lifeless in the dust.

Remember: see the price being paid to redeem the life of the son. The price is paid. The son lives.

Remember: see the donkey. There is no-one to pay his price, no redeemer is found. His neck is broken because there is no redeemer. No redeemer = death.

We are all under the sentence of death. We will all die. Eternal death. Unless there is a redeemer: Christ Jesus. Only he can pay the price to save us: not 5 shekels – that was only a symbol. The price to be paid is a life for a life – one perfect life to redeem your imperfect life. Life for death. And so Jesus gives his life for us, paying the price. He is the firstborn son, the firstborn son who goes to the altar and who is not redeemed, he is not bought back, so that he can redeem, by back, all of us.

Is he your redeemer? Have you been bought back by him? Remember! Be redeemed. Or will your neck be broken like a donkey, your body lying in the dust for all eternity?

Remember: the Lord redeems his sons from death with a sacrifice.

3. Remember: the Lord is with his people

21 The LORD went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. 22 And the LORD did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.

The Lord did not abandon his people after he rescued them. He did not say You’re free, good luck.

If he’d done that, they would have gone the direct route: through the land of the Philistines. And they would have faced battle, become terrified, and run back to slavery in Egypt.

But God called them to follow him. You see, they were set free not to do their own thing, but set free to follow God.

We know that we are saved from our sins – but what are we saved for? We’re not just saved FROM sins, but saved FOR service to God. We are set free not to do our own thing, but set free to be who we were born to be: people who glorify God. We are set free to fulfil our destiny.

Freedom to do our own thing is sin: we do what we want without referencing God – we’re acting like we are God, like we are in charge. What we value so highly as “freedom” the Bible calls sin. And actually, that’s slavery. When we do what we want, we find soon that we can’t do anything else. We become enslaved to our own selfish desires and motivations and we can’t do anything else. We are slaves to ourselves. If the Israelites had been “free” to do what they wanted they would have landed back in Egypt!
I remember a friend of mine at University who had cheated on his girlfriend – and he loved his girlfriend. He said “I couldn’t stop myself”. He was helpless. His “freedom” had trapped him and become his master. That’s sin. Sin enslaves us, ensnares us. Only Christ can set us free. Only in following him can we be truly free.

So remember. Remember what he has done. Remember that he has saved you with his mighty hand. Remember that he redeemed you with a costly sacrifice. And remember that he is with you – the Lord is with his people. So decide today to follow him. No matter what the road, follow him. Obey him. Put him first. Sacrifice your time, your money, your relationships, your reputation, your stuff – give it all up to him – and you will be amazed at what he will do. Don’t stay in Egypt, hanging on to your things – mine. But give it up, head out the door, and trust Christ.

At the beginning of this new year, the Lord is challenging us to trust him. To have faith. Remember what he has done. Remember who he is. And do not be afraid to trust him. Obey him. No matter how difficult it is. Amen? Amen.

MP3: It's Empty! (Easter message)

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