But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him:
" `I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken. Acts2:24-25
The creed is brief in its treatment of the resurrection: "The third day He rose again from the dead." (We'll talk about the third day tomorrow.) The creed is brief about the resurrection because there was no debate, no uncertainty, no doubt. Jesus rose from the dead. PERIOD.
Today there is much debate and nuancing around the resurrection. There are those who deny the resurrection, those who spiritualise it, and those who argue that He lives on in our memories but we need to return to the simple confident clarity of the Creed: He rose from the dead.
In contrast to the creed, which is the belief statement of the church we have the founding sermon of the Church that was born on the day of Pentecost. (The creed is a catechism for believers, whereas the sermon is evangelism.) Peter, filled with the Spirit, preached the sermon which brought 3000 people to conversion*. His sermon spends one verse on the incarnation (v.22), one verse on the crucifixion (v.23) and twelve on the resurrection and the Old Testament passages that anticipated it. (v.24-36)
Resurrection was the heartbeat of the early Church!
"God's not dead - He's alive!"
"It is IMPOSSIBLE for death to keep its hold on Him."
"You can persecute me, feed me to the lions our stone me as a fanatic but my God has conquered death."
The early church recognised that death was a defeated enemy and lived with power, hope and confidence!
In some ways our modern-day focus on the cross can inadvertently leave us with a historical martyr-based faith. We can land up with a picture of a tragic victim God who died on in our place. We're often left with an overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility that is bereft of the hope that resounded through the early church: It was _impossible_ for death to keep its hold over Him!!!
But Jesus is not a victim - He is a victor.
Our faith is not cheap triumphalism - Our God has entered into the deepest recesses of our pain and frailty and has OVERCOME!
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* This is a trend throughout the New Testament. Resurrection is emphasised in gospel preaching and taken as a given in the epistles (with exceptions in 1Cor15 and one or two other places.) Resurrection was proclaimed and explained and extolled to unbelievers and accepted as a norm by believers.
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Theo Groeneveld theo @ emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at emmdev[dot]blogspot[dot]com/
