Resurrection Sunday

Vanquished... Defeated... Overcome... Conquered!

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

We celebrate this day with a biblical taunt aimed at you, O death, the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. For though your power reaches to the ends of the earth and all the living must submit to your rule, your stronghold has been broken!

It was disobedience that first granted to you sway over us. You have worked your will upon mankind, bringing us down to the dust.  You take from us the remembrance of our God; you silence our praise to him. We, the living, know that you await, but those who have met with you, know nothing. You have taken any further reward that may be theirs. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. Under your despotic rule, all our plans come to nothing. You truly are our enemy!

You have been painted by masters, such as Plato, with a deceptive beauty that would soften your lethal edges and allow you to masquerade among us as a friend. Alas, how many have fallen prey to the lie that you offer to us freedom as you release our true selves, our immortal soul from its prison of a mortal body. But this is not what God has said. He who alone is immortal has made it clear that we, altogether, are but grass, whose bloom last but a short while. You offer not freedom, not release, but destruction. Yet it is your destruction that we cheer this day!

For surely you know Jesus of Nazareth, that man accredited by God by the miracles, wonders and signs which God worked through him. He is God’s gift to us, our hero and deliverer, and he spells your doom. Though he was handed over to you for a short while, you were not able to keep your grip on him. He was not abandoned to the grave; he did not see decay. God took him from you when he raised him out from among the dead, proving that your reign is not everlasting. Because God’s son, over whom you had no claim, willingly gave himself to you, he was able to taste of you for all of us. Now we, who throughout our lives have been enslaved by our fear of you, see a new and living way opened to us, beyond you. The foundation of your throne has been irreparably undermined!

Your end speeds near and you can do nothing to stop it, for the resurrection of Jesus was but the firstfruits of the harvest which God will bring in when the time is ripe. Those of us who have confessed the Lord Jesus and believed that God raised him from your power have been given his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Your irresistible power to destroy no longer causes us to grieve, like a people who have no hope. We know our Lord will return and call out of the grave those who belong to him. Then we, if we are still alive, together with the dead who have been snatched from you will be changed to be like him, for we will see him as he is. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and you and your companions (mourning, crying and pain) will no longer be needed. The old order of things will have passed away and you will be cast aside, discarded into the lake of fire where you will be no more. We, on the other hand, will be with our Lord forever, living the immortal, imperishable resurrection life of the coming age of the kingdom of God and singing this song of triumph, 

“Death has been swallowed up in victory!” 

We have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

In Christ,

Scot

unityofthespirit01@gmail.com

(For those who are interested in the biblical references behind the celebratory taunt above, here is a list of verse references: Isa. 25:7-8, Rom. 5:19, Ps. 6:5, Ecc. 9:1-10, Ps. 146:4, 1 Tim. 6:16, Ps. 103:13-16, Acts 2:22-36, Heb. 2:14-15, Heb. 10:20, 1 Cor. 15:20, Rom. 10:9-10, 2 Cor. 1:22, 1 Thess. 4:13-18, 1 John 3:2, Rev. 21:3-4, Rev. 20:14, 1 Cor. 15: 54-57. Plato’s view is found in Phaedo 67d, 105c-106e, et al.)

It’s Christmas Eve 2023 as I write this and it’s been some time since we have written on our blog here at The Unity of the Spirit. Fortunately Scot Hahn’s last message of April 9 on Resurrection Sunday was so good and biblically comprehensive that perhaps we didn’t need to add more. In truth, it’s been a very difficult year for myself healthwise and it’s only now that I really feel well enough to write something new.  Fortunately, our regular fellowships in Cary Christian Fellowship have continued almost uninterrupted since the beginning of the Covid pandemic three and a half years ago despite various difficulties. Though we had to make some logistical changes, the teaching of God’s Word on a regular basis has continued in our fellowships unabated. Specifically, in our Adult Bible Study Fellowship which Dorota and I host and I normally lead we have spent most of the last two and a half years studying the Gospel of John and the Letters of John.  This has been such a wonderful and enlightening time of study, learning and fellowship together for all of us. All of the participants contributed greatly and I especially thank Scot for stepping in and leading it (when I was not able to) with so much depth, insight and love in addition to continuing to lead his own regular weekly Bible fellowship as well in his home! 

I would of course like to remind everyone who reads this of the many resources available on our The Unity of Spirit web-site. There are probably a hundred or so articles on a broad range of biblical topics that are, hopefully, just as true today as when we first wrote them. These can be found under the “Article” tab at the top of the page. In addition, there is my book “God’s Plan of Salvation” and many audio teachings including an introductory class of my own “God’s Living Word.” Most of the other audio teachings are by Scot and I especially recommend his audio presentation of 1 Peter chapter by chapter and verse by verse to start with. All of these can be found by following the links on the right hand side of the page. Of course, there are also other web-sites we refer interested people to as well and, though we make no guarantees as to their accuracy, we recommend them because they have something to offer at a professional biblical level.

I hope that we will be able to write more often in the future but we also know that most of those who read The Unity of the Spirit are also deeply involved in their own churches and fellowships. Hopefully, our web-site can continue to be a source of help and encouragement to you as well.

In this Christmas season I close with a couple of verses that are apropos from the Gospel of John and 1 John from NT Wright’s NT translation the Kingdom New Testament:

“This, you see, is how much God loved the world: enough to give his only, special son, so that everyone who believes in him should not be lost but should share in the life of God’s new age. After all, God didn’t send the son into the world to condemn the world, but so the world could be saved by him.” (John 3:16-17).

“This is the witness: God has given us the life of the age to come, and this life is in his son. Anyone who has the son has life. Anyone who does not have the son of God does not have life. I am writing these things to you so that you may know that you, who believe in the name of the son of God, do indeed have the life of the age to come.” (1 John 5:11-13).

May God continue to bless you all as children in his family forever through Christ, his son.

With much love in Christ,

Richie Temple