The Great Reversal
“He has risen from the dead.”
Matthew 28:7 (NIV)
We are currently living in the middle of a great cultural crisis, a post-modern secular culture without God and without hope for the future. The Covid pandemic; social isolation; economic upheaval; skyrocketing suicide rates; polarized and partisan politics; confusion over sexual and gender identity; a loss of vision for a shared common good; and the “cancel culture” are all factors contributing to our collective anxiety, fear, and depression.
Pastor Harry Reeder in one of his earliest sermons at Briarwood Church twenty years ago, nailed it when he said, “Selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed people are despairing, despondent, and depressed.”
Christians, however, are never without hope. Jesus didn’t just die on the cross to save us from our sins; He rose from the grave to give us a new birth and a living hope (1 Peter 1:3). In his latest book Hope In Times of Fear, author Tim Keller writes, “Faith in the resurrection implants that hope into the root of our souls.” Keller knows experientially the resurrection hope of which he writes. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2020 right in the middle of writing a book on resurrection and living hope. Keller again, “Writing in such dark times helped me see in the resurrection new depths of comfort and power.”
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Hope in Times of Fear:
“The cross and the resurrection is the Great Reversal.” (p. xxii)
“The Great Reversal is at the heart of the gospel.” (p. 78).
“In the resurrection God stamped ‘Paid in full’ across history and across your life. It is an assurance that the debt of sin has been paid.” (p. 32)
“We follow not a dead, revered teacher but rather a risen Lord who is actually with us.” (p. xxiii)
“The resurrection is a key to understanding the whole Bible and to facing all the challenges of life—suffering, personal change, injustice, moral clarity, and the uncertainty of the future.” (p. xiv)
We shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the Great Reversal. After all, Jesus’ death followed his ministry of the Upside-Down kingdom of God where the:
First are last and the last are first (Matthew 19:30)
Strength comes out of weakness (Hebrews 11:34)
Poor are rich and the rich are poor (Matthew 5:3)
Son of Man came not be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45)
Light comes out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6) and
Life comes out of death (Luke 24:5)
The living hope that the Apostle Peter describes in 1 Peter 1:3 is not the wishful thinking of this world as in, “I hope it doesn’t rain today.” It is instead a “faith that looks forward” (J.I. Packer). The Greek word that Peter uses to describe our hope is the word “elpida,” a confident, certain, and eager expectation rooted in the character of God. The author of Hebrews also uses that word when he writes, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6:19 NIV)
On Easter Sunday our church congregation sang a great new hymn of faith written by the Getty Music Team. (You can find the Getty’s official video here.) The lyrics from Christ, Our Hope in Life and Death found their birth in the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, a 1563 commentary on great doctrines of the faith. Question #1 answers the all-important question that we must all answer:
“What is your only comfort in life and in death?”
Answer: “That I am not my own, but belong- body and soul, in life and in death- to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.”
I wept as we joyously sang of resurrection hope:
What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone.
What is our only confidence? That our souls to him belong.
Who holds our days within His hand?
What comes, apart from His command?
And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ, in which we stand.
O sing hallelujah! Our hope springs eternal;
O sing hallelujah! Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death.
Resurrection hope is indeed a faith that looks forward, not on the basis of what we have done, but on the basis of what Christ has done for us. “All this hope centers on one explosive event—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is what Christianity offers a world that has lost hope.” (Tim Keller p.xix)
He is risen! He is risen indeed!