Sermon in Ishpeming 08.04.2007

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us join our hearts this Easter Sunday morning in opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Risen is our Son in victory, shining on the mount today. Beams of warmth from him are glowing. Sorrows, griefs are cast away. Gather now, O birds of heaven, come and breathe the springtime air. Chirp and twitter larks so lowly on the vine branches, fresh and fair.

Dear Heavenly Father, we, this Easter Sunday morning, wish to thank you for your Son of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Our Lord and Master, who shines so brightly as the Son of Righteousness today from the heavens of grace. Even as in the natural sense, after many days of cloudy weather, dark and dismal weather, this morning, even nature is wishing to proclaim, unto us in a metaphorical sense, when the sun is now breaking from behind the clouds, it is telling us today of this great day of victory. The victory has been won. All has been accomplished. The way is now open unto heaven. And by faith, through grace, through the merits of your Son, Jesus Christ, we can own that gift of everlasting life, the righteousness of Christ, in your Son, Jesus Christ.

So we ask that you would be with us again today. Warm our cold and doubting hearts. Comfort us and console us. Feed us with your everlasting word. And give us strength. And we ask that you continue our journey on this narrow way of life until we reach our eternal home in heaven. Amen.

Amen.

A traditional text for this Sunday, since the time of the early church, right since the time of the apostles, or soon after the time of the apostles, is from the Old Testament, from the prophet Hosea, chapter 6. And I will read verses 2 and 3.

After two days will he revive us. In the third day he will raise us up. And we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning. And he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Amen.

There was a slogan, a very common saying, which began here in the United States, perhaps in the 1960s or early 1970s. A slogan which gained popularity here in this country, and then began to spread throughout the world. The slogan was this: God is dead.

God is dead.

Especially those people, or for those people, traveling in unbelief, wishing to deny the existence of a God, began to spread this lie. They were fearful of a God, who was and is a living God.

This wasn't only so, and isn't only so today, during our time, among the people who profess atheism or who are agnostics. But we remember, even when Jesus was lying in the bosom of the earth, the disciples, the followers of Jesus, had momentarily lost all hope. And they thought their Lord and their Master was gone forever. And it seems like their flickering flame of faith was snuffed out.

Even before or as Jesus was beginning his Passion Week, and even the weeks leading up to this, several times he gave prophecies. He gave a glimpse of the future to his disciples, his followers, saying why he is going to Jerusalem. What is his mission? I will go to Jerusalem, and I will be captured. I will be scourged, beaten, mocked and ridiculed, and I will die a bitter death. But I will rise again from the grave. Come back from the death.

At least three different times, Jesus mentioned this clearly to his disciples. And the disciples, the Bible says, did not believe it. They could not comprehend that something like this was possible.

There in Israel, in that country, one of the religious groups, one of the religious sects of that time were the people known as the Sadducees. Many of these people, members of this sect, were actually members of that great council, the highest church council in Jerusalem, known as the Sanhedrin.

And these people had this tenet, this belief, that there is no such thing as everlasting life. There is an impossibility for such a thing as resurrection to happen and to take place. And there are no such things as angels, the spirits, invisible spirits of which the Bible speaks.

So when Jesus is now lying in the grave, it seems as if the enemy of souls has won the ultimate victory. The ultimate victory was such that above all, the Messiah, the one who professes himself to be the Messiah, is now conquered. He is done away with. And when this king of the Jews is done away with, then thereby the victory is gained over all people in the world, among mankind.

Jesus, however, on his way to Jerusalem, or while in Jerusalem, after being flogged and while carrying his cross toward the hill of Golgotha, and I'm sure it was a bitter sight, and it was such a sight of agony and grief that especially the women, whose psyche is different than that of men, began to openly weep, sob, and to cry.

Jesus turns to these women who are watching this drama alongside of the road as he is dragging his cross footstep by footstep, as he is slowly under the weight of the cross, slumping lower and lower to the ground. He turns to these weeping women and he said, "Do not cry for me. Cry for your own sakes, for the sake of your children, and for the sake of your children's children."

Then he goes on and says a little parable or a little metaphor. If this is done to a dry tree, and I'm sure in times past, many of us, even during our lifetime, have often gone camping and built a campfire in order to heat up coffee water or to make breakfast, lunch, or supper.

In times past, this was much more common when the way of heating our homes was using or burning wood in wood stoves. So it was important that wood would be gathered, put in a shelter, so that we would have dry wood available, so that we could kindle, light a fire in the morning, for example.

Imagine the wife of the house waking up in the morning and asking the husband to go get some wood and say, "For the fire," so a pot of coffee could be heated up. And if he brought wet, damp wood, I'm sure the tempers would be short as attempting to use any method or means possible trying to light and get that wet wood to burn.

But, lo and behold, if we would find a dry twig or a stick, one needs to bring it just close to an open flame and a fire, and it's going to kindle, it's going to begin to burn immediately.

John the Baptist used this analogy, and he said that the axes of fire are the only way to make it burn. So the tree, the tree that is already at the foot or the base of the tree, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down, hewn down and cast into the burning fire.

So Jesus says, if they try to do this as he is carrying his cross, as he is speaking to these women weeping on the wayside, he says, if they try to do this to Jesus, they will be burned.

So, we're going to see that. If they try to do this to a dry branch, what will happen to a green tree? Jesus is using an analogy of the green tree, which is in reference to himself.

And the enemy of souls, I'm sure, is now rejoicing. Jesus, the one professing himself to be the Messiah, is now buried deep in the fire. His body is protected from anyone who would wish to desecrate the grave, who would attempt to steal the body when that huge stone, one to two tons, has been rolled before the open mouth of the cave.

The victory has been accomplished by the enemy of souls, and the fires of hell have been put out. The fires of hell are now burning hotter than ever, ready now to consume, eat, and destroy every person in this world, all the people of mankind.

So, this now leads us up to this point of time that we are living this morning.

Even this matter of resurrection was disputed afterwards. We remember when Paul, the Apostle Paul, was in Athens, Greece. He approached these philosophers, the Stoics and the Epicureans, there on Mars Hill, who had erected a statue to what they called an unknown God.

It gave the Apostle Paul the opportunity to debate with them, and to deliver a sermon to them. And among other things, the Apostle Paul says, and he speaks about the matter of resurrection.

And when these philosophers heard Apostle Paul speak about resurrection, they actually openly began to laugh at him in the face.

So now, we come to the morning of the resurrection. We come to the morning of the third day. And as the sun is beginning to rise, or as some evangelists say, even before the sun rose, two women, two Marys, came early in the morning.

And they wanted to pay their last respects to their Lord and Master, bringing ointment of precious herbs. They were coming to anoint the dead body of Jesus.

We remember another Mary, who had a prophetical vision in her mind, who already, before Jesus died, took that expensive bottle of alabaster oil, whose value was a typical person's yearly wage, an average wage of a worker of that time.

So, translate that into our numbers for today. Would it be $50,000, $60,000, $70,000? What is the average worker's wage today?

And she broke the bottle open, poured out all of the contents onto the feet of Jesus, and wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair. And Jesus said, "She is doing this, anointing me for my upcoming death."

Oh, how many people have come to this point in time, when a near one has been taken away from their midst. And there, at the graveside, or during the funeral, I'm sure they began to lament. They began to have self-criticism of themselves.

"Oh, I shouldn't have said so many unkind words to him or her. Oh, if I would have more often said this and that, which would have been kind, uplifting, and encouraging."

Now, there is no longer opportunity to correct and repair, and say I'm sorry, to say I love you.

Mary, perhaps, saw that Jesus is now soon to be taken away, and she did this favor, she did this act of love, even before Jesus died.

But now, on the third day, on the morning of the third day, these other two Marys come with their anointments, and they are wishing now to do this favor to the dead body of Jesus that is lying in the grave.

How loud they are talking to each other, and saying that, "How will we remove that big heavy stone, so we can enter into this cave, to pour our anointment, ointment, over the mummified body of Jesus?"

And lo and behold, when they arrive at the tomb, to their surprise they see that the great stone that had been securing that grave, so no animals could come in and desecrate the body, or no thieves could come in and steal the body, that tombstone has been rolled away.

They enter into the tomb, and there they see two white-clad individuals, or was it one? Later another Gospel writer says there are two. Perhaps another one says there is one.

And that white-clad individual begins to talk to the two Marys, who are you looking for? Why are you looking for Him among the dead, when He is not here? He has arisen.

And these two Marys are so overjoyed that, being prompted by the angel, they go to tell the message to the other disciples.

The angel says, "Go to Galilee, for He will there appear unto His own, as He Himself declared and prophesied."

So they went and told the other disciples, and soon came Peter and John. And it was John who then outran Peter, and entered first into the cave.

And there they were able to witness and see, with their own eyes, the body was no longer there. The tombstone had been removed.

And earlier that morning, there had been an earthquake, at which time the Spirit of God had rolled that heavy stone away.

And as a witness, or as proof, that the dead body was no longer there, they could still see the linens lying in the exact same place and location, as if untouched, where the body, dead body, the corpse of Jesus, had been placed and laid.

And this kindled new hope in their hearts and in their minds.

But when the high priests, Pharisees and scribes, they heard what happened, they gathered together, and they devised a lie.

So we could say that from that open grave, that sepulcher, went forth two messages. And these two messages exist even yet today.

The message that was brought forth from and by the disciples was this: Christ has risen. He is living. He is alive. Our Lord and Redeemer. And we can live through Him.

But now these soldiers, who were put to guard that body that night, so no one could steal it, they were afraid of capital punishment, because if they would have fallen asleep at duty, they would have lost their lives.

They went and told the high priests what had happened. And the lie was devised that the body of Jesus was stolen.

Was stolen by the disciples. The disciples came, overpowered the soldiers, and rolled away that heavy stone and fell down. They took that body of Jesus. They hid it. So no person would see it.

And now they have come up with this lie that says that He is alive. He is risen.

Just think how impossible it would be that these unarmed, weak, I'm sure, disciples of Jesus, would be able to come and overpower these heavily armed Roman soldiers.

And another lie that has been devised as time has progressed is this: that the disciples had hallucinations. And perhaps they went to the wrong grave. Perhaps Jesus was actually put in another grave that they didn't even realize. And they went to another grave, assuming this was the grave of Jesus. And they were all completely mistaken.

So as time has gone on, lies and different theories have been created to try to rationalize and explain away the seemingly impossible fact that a person could rise and come forth from the realm of death and be again in the Book of the Living.

We remember already during the Old Testament time when Korah and his followers were complaining, bickering and murmuring, that why does God only speak through the Levitical priesthood, through Moses and Aaron?

And they were gathering a group, Korah and his followers were gathering a group and causing more and more trouble.

And so one night God asked that a representative from each one of the twelve tribes would bring forth a staff, a dry wooden staff.

And all of these staffs during the nighttime would be laid beside the tabernacle.

And in the morning everyone went back to examine these dry staffs.

And if we imagine a cane made out of wood that has been thoroughly dried, there is not one spark of life, imaginable life, left in that piece of wood, in that piece of cane, in that cane.

And so, eleven of the twelve staffs the next morning were unchanged, the same as they had been when they had been placed there the night before.

But now, there was the twelfth staff, the staff of Aaron, the representative of the Levitical priesthood.

And Aaron's dry, dead staff and cane had begun to bud, grew leaves, and even had produced almonds.

And the tree that was growing was a metaphor, an example from nature of a seemingly impossible feat.

And so Jesus said that he is like that green tree.

And even though the fires of hell, that time between Good Friday when his body was taken down from the cross, we can imagine that the fires of hell were burning hotter, more hotly than they had ever been burning before, ready to consume all of mankind.

But when Jesus says that he is like a green tree, and a wet green tree will not burn, it did not burn.

He ascended into hell, as we say in the Creed, but he rose again from the grave on the third day.

This matter of resurrection is so difficult and impossible for the carnal mind of man to understand that even during the time of the early church, heresies began to separate and split away.

For example, Gnosticism, which was a philosophical movement, denying that the Messiah could be God and man at the same time.

And so for these reasons, our creeds of Christendom were written in order to establish true Christian doctrine and to point out and confirm and establish many different points of Christian faith.

For example, that God's only son, Jesus Christ, was God and man simultaneously at the same time.

People began to come up with these ideas that Jesus only became divine at that point in time when he was baptized by John the Baptist.

And then the Holy Spirit ascended upon him in the form of a dove when they heard that voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him."

And then he lost his divinity, they say, just at the point before he was crucified and to die on the cross.

For this was a great stumbling stone and a rock of offense.

It is impossible that someone who is divine, the Messiah, could lose his life, die, and give up the ghost.

But this is not according to scriptures. This is not according to the Holy Bible.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate.

He, God, was the only one who was able to die and to be crucified.

And so, the Holy Spirit, he, God of God, and man of man at the same time, died, was buried, ascended into hell, but then he rose again from the grave on the third day.

And this matter of resurrection is so important that if that grave would have held Christ Jesus in the bosom of the earth, then there would be no hope of ever reaching heaven for any of us.

We would all today be in our sins.

And all of the former saints, Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and all of the believers mentioned in the Old Testament would have died in vain.

Paul, so, needed to establish this fact and assuredly speaks to this matter when approaching the Corinthian believers when sending the 15th chapter, which is known as the chapter of resurrection.

The grave could not hold him, but he rose from the grave.

He won the victory, not only over sin, but he won the victory over the majesty of death.

And he won the victory over the power of Satan, the enemy of souls.

He rose for our righteousness sake.

Just as Jonah the prophet was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so shall I, says Jesus, be in the bosom of the earth, for only three days and three nights.

The temple will be torn down and destroyed, referring to his own physical body, but it will be rebuilt again in three days.

Now all is fulfilled.

Now the sun of righteousness is brightly shining.

Jesus brings greetings of victory.

Greetings of happiness and joy unto his disciples.

And I'm sure that the disciples are afraid for their life.

They are fearful that perhaps they will soon be captured and the same fate will happen unto them as well.

And they are hiding behind locked doors, protecting themselves from the Roman soldiers and the servants of God.

And they are hiding behind locked doors, protecting themselves from the servants of the high priests.

Jesus knows that, I'm sure, they are downcast, downtrodden, doubting and fearful, and ashamed that they had not even stayed to defend Jesus there in the garden of Gethsemane as the Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled.

When the shepherd is smitten, the sheep will scatter.

Jesus is dealing with the sheep after everything was reconciled.

And the sheep will start to recover.

And there minimize the state of an evil spirit.

Eat food.

Give me some bread.

Give me some honey.

And I'm sure they witnessed as his jawbones were moving as he was chewing and consuming the food.

And I'm sure they were afraid.

Now what is Jesus going to say to us? What is he going to do to us?

We couldn't even have the courage to stay by his side to help him and defend him.

They assumed, I'm sure, that Jesus would have a whip in his hands and harshly rebuked them.

They couldn't even for a few moments be by my side.

But how was it when Jesus appeared with a loving and warm gaze?

He comes and in an uplifting way says, "Peace be unto you. I have come from a great battle. I've been seriously and mortally wounded. It seemed like the enemy of souls had gained the victory. But in the end, I have won. The victory has been accomplished. And I am bringing you greetings from this battle. Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, now I send you. And I give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven."

And so here, the prophet Hosea, hundreds of years before this happened, says in our text, "After two days will he revive us. And on the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight."

Of course, referring to the people of Israel, came brought into exile and then as a seemingly lost people, dead people with no hope anymore were able to be revived, returned back to their land again to continue their existence.

But here a beautiful prophecy of what shall happen to the Messiah, God's only son.

But then our next verse says, "Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain onto the earth."

A group of believers were one time on a trip visiting in the Holy Lands in the country of Israel.

And as they always do, they hire a guide, a person who is well knowledgeable in the history of the land and also in the history of the Bible.

And for the many days while they were traveling, I'm sure, listened to the devotions and listened to their singing.

And at one sight, they sang from this song written by Leonard Dupre, which I quoted the first verse of in the opening prayer.

And he was a little bit troubled by the message in verse two of this song, which is related very closely with verse three in the sixth chapter of Hosea that I just read.

And it says, "Southwest winds are gently blowing, which from Edom softly sound."

The guide says that, "Why do you say such nice and kind and good words about this country, Edom? It is a country of dust and from which direction always comes dust storms. And it is a country that was always a bitter enemy and foe to the people of Israel."

The people of this country, Edom, were actually descendants of Esau.

We remember how Jacob had to flee the wrath of his brother Esau and went to live with his uncle Laban in Haran for 21 years.

And ever since that time, as time went on, the country of Edom was formed and it was a bitter enemy and foe to Israel.

And even when Moses was leading the people through the wilderness journey for 40 years, the most direct route would have been directly through the area of the country of Edom.

But in order to avoid trouble, they passed around, they skirted around the area called Edom.

And now often in Christianity, in our writings and in our sermons, we see that the people of Israel, we talk about this red cloud that comes from Edom, which sprinkles blood, moistens the earth, and especially the earth, moistens the earth of our hearts and parched undying souls and hearts.

So where in the world does this image come from?

We remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, if we can go back in time a few days, and prophet Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 63 is being fulfilled, where it says, "Who is he who comes from Edom, whose clothes are blood red? And this person alone will tread the winepress of God. And not one person will be there to help him. He does it completely alone."

As we mentioned just a moment ago, when Jesus was captured, his disciples fled every which direction.

And no one was there. No one was there to help him or defend him.

And under that heavy burden of sin and agony, his blood drops, his sweat, he began to sweat as if blood drops which dripped to the ground.

That weight of sin of all mankind was so heavily weighing upon his shoulders.

And when he was on the middle cross of Golgotha, he cried out, citing Psalms 22, "Eli Eli lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

So literally this was fulfilled.

He, Christ Jesus alone, was treading the winepress of God, whose clothes began to turn blood red.

And he was in the middle of the cross, and no one was there to help him or assist him.

He was doing this work of redemption for you and for I, and for all mankind.

So this is where we get that image of this cloud that comes from Edom that begins to rain as if blood drops which come upon our hearts.

Those are our cold and doubting dry and parched hearts which moisten it, comfort us, console us, give us new life, new strength to continue on this narrow way of life.

As the apostle Paul says when writing to the Corinthians, that during the wilderness journey they traveled through a cloud.

And this cloud is the same image.

God always appeared during the wilderness journey during the daytime as a cloud to lead them and guide them.

And at nighttime as a pillar of fire.

And a pillar of fire will guide in the night.

And by day leads me home in a cloud crimson bright.

That's what writes Oskar Heike Yusula in one song of Zion.

So even this morning, Easter Sunday morning, when the sun now has peaked from behind the clouds to brighten our minds and our hearts and our psyche.

But more importantly, the Son of Righteousness, Christ Jesus, is upon the cross.

It is shining so brightly, so warmly from the midst of the heaven of grace.

And approaching you individually at your own address there where you sit.

There amidst your own trials, temptations, and doubts.

No matter what you may experience.

And it wishes to sprinkle these blood drops to moisten your heart, to warm your cold heart, to give you new encouragement.

Even now, you can be happy and free.

The victory has been won.

Jesus lives and we can also live through him.

And can I also, now when departing, have enjoyed these few short moments together with my family in your midst.

But soon we'll have to, after lunch, depart on our long journey back home to go to our own place of watching and our own temporal duties call and continue as before.

But in departing, I wish... I wish to say thanks for everything we have experienced.

But also wish to have this same dew of heaven sprinkle my doubting and tempted heart.

Can I believe my sins and faults for you?

I wish to believe together with you.

In Jesus name, Amen.