The Forgotten Easter Message

(Message delivered by Pastor at the Easter Sunrise Service at Labrador Park, Apr 11, 04)
Text: Rom. 10:9; Matt. 28:18-20

For 53 years we have been witnessing to the rising of our Saviour at Easter at Life Church. This year the Lord has given us Labrador Park to continue that witness. We want to thank the authorities for their kindness.

But the Easter Message has been forgotten, if not entirely, but in part. The forgotten Easter Message to the individual and corporately to the Church.

To the individual is Rom. 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” If you confess Jesus Lord of your salvation by dying on the cross to pay the penalty of your sins and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. You confessed your sins to Him when you came Good Friday night and now you come to Easter Sunrise Service to rejoice in His resurrection then you are saved. But if Christ is still in the grave your sins are still not forgiven, you are still a lost sinner. Praise the Lord, He is risen, so He has saved us. So we must sing with all our heart!

Now the message to the Church, Easter was not just for one day. It lasted for 40 days until the Day of Ascension. Jesus appeared five times to His disciples on the first day. To Mary Magdalene, to the other women, to Peter in the afternoon, to the two going to Emmaus, to the Ten without Thomas in the evening. The following week to the disciples with Thomas present. Then in Galilee to the seven by the sea, on a mountain to 500, to James in Jerusalem, and the 10th time as He gave the Great Commission to the Eleven Apostles.

It is at the climax of Easter after 40 days of appearances that Jesus now with all power in heaven and in earth given Him that He sent the disciples into all the world to preach and teach the Word.

Our church has received this double mandate to preach and teach the Word. As to teaching the Word we have established the Far Eastern Bible College for the last 42 years and graduated 450. Now we are in the Bible College movement helping especially Africa to establish one in Tanzania. As the days are darkening and wars and rumours of wars signal the coming of our Lord, all the more our church must hasten. This is my second Easter Message to you this happy Resurrection Day.

THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: A STUDY OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

Chapter I

“To seekers of the eternal Logos Jesus Christ is the Word of Life”

Throughout the ages, philosophers both West and East have tried to fathom the secrets of the universe. The ultimate of their searchings must end in some supernatural power or
being.

During the period in which the Fourth Gospel was written, the term “Word” in philosophical language had passed through a considerable history. Philo, the great representative of Alexandrian Judaism, thought that the term ‘Logos’ which in the Greek meant ‘Word’ or ‘Reason’ referred to a sort of function or manifestation of God by which the world was formed. (Machen).

In the Far East, there had arisen from China in the 6th century B.C. Laotse with his book Tao-teh-ching, from which has come the philosophy called Taoism.

“Tao is the one universal principle in which all things have their origin and which is in all things as the very essence of being, is that to which one thinks back in the search of the obscure source out of which all proceeded at the beginning. This ultimate essence, having spontaneity, is also the impulse working in the world unobtrusively. From it as matter emanated the whole universe of things and through its working force each individual existence comes into being and is perfected.”(Columbia Encyclopedia).

To meet with the minds of the Chinese, the Translators of the Chinese Bible rightly chose the word 道(Tao) which means “way”, “truth”, “doctrine” to translate the Greek word “logos”, rendered “word” in King James.

From this brief survey, we see that whatever concept of that ultimate power or being East or West has attained, it falls far short of what John declares to be the Logos, the Word of God.

Insofar as the Apostle John is concerned, “The Word of God” is a common phrase referring to the Divine Message which came either through the Scriptures or through the lips of a prophet or apostle. But God has not only spoken in written or oral language. He has also spoken through a Person – Jesus Christ. Here is the written and spoken Word, and here is also the incarnate Word, the mouthpiece of God.

It is John who can tell us that the Word of God is a Person, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Creator of the world, the Revealer of God the Father. “No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18).

John 1:1-5

The Eternity and Deity of the Word of Life

“In the beginning” (v. 1) refers to the remotest eternal past, a beginning past the beginning of Gen. 1:1 when the universe was created. A beginning that cannot be reckoned by puny man, encapsulated in a world of space and time. Eternity is a characteristic of God’s immeasurable longevity – untouched by time. Christ the Word was with God. Christ the Word was God! Here is a mystery of His eternity, and a mystery of His Deity. V.3 tells us that the Word was co-Creator of the universe with the Father. The Word of God also participated in the creation (for He commanded and they were created Ps.148:5) as did the Spirit of God (Gen 1:2).

The Word, however, is not only Creator, but also Fountain of Life. What Paul ascribes to God that in Him we have our being and move and live (Acts 17:28), John declares to be accomplished by the blessing of the Word. (Calvin)

The life given by the Word was the light of men, the light given to us that surpasses what is given to other animate creatures – the light of reason. This light should be as a mirror in which we may see the divine power of the Word.

But the darkness of sin, like a thick fog, has blurred that light. Only some sparks of that original brightness shine in the murkiness of the human mind. The end result is that the darkness of our mind renders the few sparks left in us ineffectual. We do not comprehend, or understand the light, as it is said, “seeing they did not see” (Isa 6:9). The Chinese translation of “comprehend” is “receive”.

Easter Sunrise Service at Labrador Park, 11 Apr 04