A Easter Sunrise Service Devotion - Three Early Sunday Mornings

Introduction:

    As we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'll be conducting a sunrise service for our church. At that service I plan to deliver a short message I'm entitling "Three Early Sunday Mornings". One may wonder about the title? As you will see in this post, the three Sunday mornings I refer to occurred on each of their respective first days of the week or "Sunday". What I find remarkable is when we align the timing of the landing of Noah's Ark, the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, they all fall on the same day, and what would be the same month! This is intentional on God's part in the revealing of His Scriptures, telegraphing to us important theological truths that point to the meaning of Christ's physical resurrection. Let's look briefly at these three early Sunday mornings.

1. The morning of a new life. 

    Genesis 8:1-4

    We begin with Genesis 8:1-4,

"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. 2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. 4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat."

     The seventeenth day of the tenth month was per the common civil calendar used by Israel and its neighbors all over the Ancient Near East. That date would correspond to the religious calendar of Israel, revealed by God to her in Exodus 12, when the tenth month (called later "Nisan" by the Jews in the Babylonian Exile a millennium after the Exodus) became the first month for the observances of the festivals God revealed to Israel following her Exodus from Egypt. God revealed to His people that even how they reckoned time was going to be different. The Jews would still use the civil calendar (which is the calendar Moses used in explaining the landing of the Ark, with the tenth month corresponding to what would be the first month for the Israelites in their religious calendar. 

    When Noah and his family in the Ark landed on top of Mount Ararat, the world as they knew it was no more. All flesh was destroyed. The physical features of earth were permanently altered. God had in effect begun a new creation. When Noah and his family stepped out of the ark, they were literally beginning a new life, in a new world, so-to-speak. F.B. Meyer notes in his commentary on this passage:

"Through God’s grace Noah stepped out into the new world-the world of resurrection. His first act was the burned-offering of consecration, which was followed immediately by promise."

    When Jesus raised from the dead, He was indicating a new era of human history had broken into this current age. Although the new era is not a full one yet, it indicates that Christ’s return could be at anytime, with His resurrection heralding the forthcoming new creation. Anyone born again in saving faith is spiritually part of the new creation, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

2. The morning of a new redemption. Exodus 14:24-31; 15:1-21

    Our next early Sunday morning features the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. We pick up the text in Exodus 14:24-27,

"At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. 25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

"Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea."

    You may recall the short discussion earlier about the civil and religious calendars of the Jewish people. In that conversation, we saw how the dates on each shed light on understanding what was going on in the timing of the landing of the Ark and what would be later the religious calendar month of Nisan or March/April. We now see the relevance of that discussion unfold here. 

    The Passover Eve was the Jewish month of Nisan 14 (our March/April). The Jews left Egypt on the 15th crossed the Red Sea on the 16th and saw Pharaoh and their armies around on the morning of the 17th (See Exodus 12, giving us the specific time frame). Moses expounds on this particular order of days in Leviticus. 23:4-6 

“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.” 

    

     We have Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The day after the Sabbath, the 17th, would be the Feast of First Fruits, as Moses wrote again in Leviticus 23:9-11,

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.” 

    The whole point of the Exodus and Passover was to convey God's redemptive act. No doubt the Israelites saved out of Egypt were beginning a new life and new era in their history. We see what theologians call a "typological connection", whereby an event, people group, person, or institution in the Old Testament pictures or foreshadows something about Jesus and salvation in the New Testament. Noah and the Ark do this "typological" messaging (compare 1 Peter 3:18-21). The Exodus from Egypt does the same, pointing ahead to Christ's redemptive work on Calvary, as well as His resurrection. 

    We see the Old Testament festivals like First-fruits and Passover used of Jesus in the New Testament. For example, redemption once and for all accomplished is done so by Christ our Passover, as relayed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:7, as well as His resurrection from the dead as detailed in the image of Jesus as our first fruit (1 Cor 15:20-23).

3. The morning of a victorious 

    announcement. Matthew 28:1-7

    We've seen our first two Sunday mornings, with the landing of the Ark of Noah on the 17th day of the tenth month, corresponding to the Jewish religious calendar month of Nisan (our March/April) and hence the whole Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread/Feast of First Fruits festivals. The landing of the Ark conveyed the beginning of new life. Then, with the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread/Feast of First Fruits festivals begun in Exodus and Leviticus, we see those festivals, along with the earlier revelation about the Ark telegraphing not only the theme of "new life", but also "redemption". After all, the Exodus is the standout example of a typological or foreshadowing connection to Jesus death and resurrection. We now come to our final early Sunday morning, the main fulfillment of those two earlier ones. 

    I call that first Easter morning "the morning of victorious announcement" because of what we read in Matthew 28:1-7,

“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

    Notice how the text begins "early on the first day of the week". It is after the Sabbath, which would have been a Saturday of course. Passover began on Thursday evening and carried into Friday according to the Jewish custom of the first century. Jesus was crucified on Friday or at Passover time, fulfilling the typology of the Passover Lamb of the Exodus. He then on Saturday did quite a bit in proclaiming victory and salvation to the fallen angels in Hades (who had by the way been part of rebellion preceding the flood! See 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; 1 Peter 3:18-20).  

    It was then on Sunday, the 17th of Nisan (again our "March/April" time frame) our Lord arose. This 17th day of the month is the same date as the landing of Noah's ark and that of the Israelites setting foot on the other side of the Red Sea.  In other words, this final Sunday morning fulfilled the typology or foreshadowing symbolism of the landing of Noah's Ark and the Exodus. New life. Redemption. The two themes are brought together at the empty tomb! Christ physically raised from the dead. All who by grace through faith trust in Him begin anew and are redeemed. May that be said of you dear reader. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

The Goodness of Good Friday - Reflections From Romans 5

 

Introduction:

    Today is what Christians the world-over call "Good Friday". Why call a day "Good" when the most evil act perpetrated by men - the crucifixion of Jesus Christ - took place? The ultimate cause behind the crucifixion was God Himself (Acts 2:23-24; Acts 4:26-28).

    God the Father sent the Son to become the incarnate Jesus of Nazareth. The Divine Son would live a perfect human life as "The Word made flesh" (John 1:14), to qualify as the "perfect Lamb of God", to die once and for all for sin (1 Peter 1:17-18; 3:18). The goodness achieved that day far outweighed the evil. 

    As we consider this Good Friday, we will look at one of the clearest passages in the Bible on the atoning death of Christ - Romans 5:6-21. What we will discover is the goodness of Good Friday.

1. The Goodness of salvation accomplished.   Romans 5:6-8 (WHAT HAPPENED FOR ME)

Paul writes in Romans 5:6-8 "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 

John Murray, past Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, wrote a classic book in 1975 on the atoning work of Jesus Christ entitled: “Redemption Accomplished And Applied”. I’ve always found the terms he used in that title helpful in wrapping my arms around the Biblical doctrine of Christ's substitutionary atonement. 

The idea of “salvation accomplished” means the historic event of the cross, along with His resurrection from the dead. This is what Jesus Christ did for me or what we could also call "what happened for me". 

    The cross is where sin’s debt was paid; and the empty tomb is where the payment was approved. Murray’s book discusses at length how necessary Christ’s death was on the cross to accomplish salvation. There were no other methods or ways God could had set forth His saving work. 

    For Murray, the plan of God required an absolute effort from Himself to bring His overall saving work to its completion. As it concerns Jesus’ work on the cross, Murray writes: 

“Without it, we lack the elements necessary to make intelligible the meaning of Calvary and the marvel of its supreme love to men.”

Remember, in salvation accomplished, I’m talking about what Christ did for me. This is what had to happen for me, on my behalf. It would require all four Gospels to present what Jesus accomplished "for me" in a span of six hours. Let me mention two verses from the Gospels of Mark and Luke that highlight "salvation accomplished".

A. He bought me from my sin. 

 Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 

    The term “ransom” concerns the price paid to emancipate a slave. In His humanity, Jesus lived a perfect life of 33 years, fulfilling what was required by God’s Law. He offered up a perfect life through His active obedience. 

    For Him to be qualified to accomplish redemption at the cross, He had to live a perfect life prior to it. It was His perfect humanity that provided valid payment for my sins, and it was His deity that provided infinite value in payment for my sins.   

B. He sought me despite my sin. 

Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” 

    Now we have the act of death on the cross. The perfect life offered up in being the ransom for sinners qualified Him to be our Savior leading to the cross. It is here that what He accomplished paid for salvation at the cross. Remember, we have not only a perfect humanity, but the undiminished deity of the Divine Son of God. He paid the ransom to God as man and acted salvation as God. The title “Son of Man” speaks both to His deity and humanity. As man, Jesus Christ sought after Zachaeus. As God, He knew where to find this wee little man. 

    So, we see that the first good of Good Friday was that "salvation was accomplished by Christ", defining what needed to happen for me". But now notice secondly....

2. The Goodness of salvation applied.   Romans 5:9-11 (WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, IN SAVING FAITH)

In salvation accomplished, I understand that something had to happen for me. I could not bring it about. But now in salvation applied, upon the work of saving grace in saving faith, I understand something happens to me. That which “happened for me” is a historical, physical event, acted forth by God, for God, for sinners such as myself. Now what is needed is a connecting heavenly work, done by the Holy Spirit to apply that accomplished work to me. The cross-work of Christ is validated by His resurrection from the dead. It is on that basis that the Holy Spirit takes what Jesus achieved and applies it to those who believe. 

    The historical event becomes the heavenly reality granted "to me" at saving faith. We don’t have time to expound on all the graces that the Holy Spirit works forth in the sinner’s salvation. We know that those whom He calls on the inside of the heart by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), He brings forth that miracle of the New Birth, saving faith, and repentance. John 1:12-13 spells this out, as well as 2 Timothy 2:25. What happens to sinners so drawn, called, and converted by the Spirit through faith in salvation applied?

A. My legal problems with God ended in justification.  Romans 5:9

    Paul writes in Romans 5:9 "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." 

    Why God's wrath? Why did the settled opposition of the Divine Father need directed at the Divine incarnate Son on the cross. We read in Deuteronomy 27:26 "Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’" 

    The Law of God was violated originally in the Garden of Eden. When God made man, He placed within his heart the law of God in the form of the human conscience (Romans 2:14-15). 

    This form of God's Law was broken in the treachery of our original parents. Millennia later, that same Law, given to Moses and Israel in inscripturated form, came with a curse for any who violated it. The Apostle Paul comments in Galatians 3:10 "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Gal 3:24 "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith." 

    Unless Christ bore the curse, I and all descended from Adam would have legal problems with God. Because Christ bore the curse as the New Adam, that meant His perfect life of righteousness could be "imputed" or credited to my otherwise bankrupt spiritual account at saving faith. This is what the Bible calls " justification by faith". But notice also...

B. My spiritual plight with God ended in reconciliation.  Romans 5:10

    We read further in Romans 5:10 "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (see also Romans 3:23). We are spiritually separated from God from conception and birth (Psalm 51). What is needed is reconciliation. 

    Paul explains how bad off we all are in Ephesians 2:12 "remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."

     When a sinner, so drawn by the Spirit in saving faith, trusts in all that Christ is and has accomplished, the grace of reconciliation is applied. 

C. My relational pain with God ended in adoption. Romans 5:11

    We read on in Romans 5:11 "And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." How can a reconciled, justified sinner have confidence to exalt in God lest they are also considered as adopted sons and daughters? Paul writes in  Galatians 4:6-7 "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'  7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." 

    We then read in Ephesians 2:18 "for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." The argument of Romans 5 follows through into Romans 8, where Paul brings forth the truth of the believer's adoption by God (Romans 8:14-16). 

    These three truths of justification, reconciliation, and adoption comprise the three-braided rope of "salvation applied" at saving faith - a rope that cannot be broken. Then, what we find in Romans 5:12-21 is an introduction to what will be the overall argument that follows in Romans chapters 6,7,8, what I am calling "salvation experienced". 

    We saw in "salvation accomplished" that something happened for me. We observed in "salvation applied" that something happens to me in saving faith. But the Christian life doesn't stop there. Notice....

3. The Goodness of salvation experienced.  Romans 5:12-21 (WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ME, SANCTIFICATION)

As mentioned, Paul is introducing what He will expound upon in Romans 6, namely the experiential union the Christian has with Jesus Christ. To introduce this truth, Paul places side-by-side the first Adam, original Adam, and then of course Jesus Christ, whom Paul calls elsewhere the "New Adam" (see 1 Corinthians 15:45-47). 

    Adrian Rogers has noted that we gain more in Christ than we lost in Adam. The Scriptures bear out that our overall experience and identity is defined by whomever we have union. As I cite the remainder of Romans 5:12-21, I'll insert headings in parenthesis that expound what we can call "the badness of sin experienced in Adam" and "the goodness of what is experienced in Jesus Christ".

A. The badness of sin experienced in Adam.   Romans 5:12-14 

    Romans 5:12-13 (Sin’s consequences) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (sin’s condemnation) for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 

     Romans 5:14 (sin’s corruption) Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

B. The goodness of salvation experienced in Jesus.  Romans 5:15-21

    Romans 5:15-21  (imparation of the Son’s consequences) But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 

    Romans 5:17 (the imputation of the Son’s credited righteousness) For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

    Romans 5:18 (the inwardness of the Son’s completed work) So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    The above gives us a taste of the goodness accomplished on the cross, applied in saving faith, and experienced in sanctification.  

    For any reading this post today, let me ask you: have you received by faith all that Jesus accomplished for you? If not, wherever you are at, simply pray and ask God to forgive you of your sins and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to become your Savior, Lord and Treasure. Acknowledge that you trust in His finished work on the cross and that you believe He raised from the dead. You too can then have applied the goodness of Good Friday, and from this day forward experience the goodness of Good Friday worked forth in you by the Holy Spirit.