First Easter Day (1891)

Mark 16:1-8 Glorious things are preached in the city of God, i.e., in the Christian Church; and blessed are all those whose ears and hearts are open to the preaching of glorious things. God has had the way that He lets the glorious things first be preached by an angel; so it was at Christmas, so it was once this day on the first Easter morning. And what is it that the angel first proclaimed that day? The resurrection of Jesus Christ, the highest and most glorious thing that ever happened. The majesty and glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; because through it is proved 1. the majesty of the person of Jesus Christ. It is three days since Christ died on the cross; pious women hurry to His grave in order to anoint Him. Because He died and was buried, they are afraid His body will not escape decay. No doubt they believed that Christ is God's Son, the Lord of glory, nevertheless they had been eyewitnesses of His miracles; but what they saw on Good Friday, the resulting sorrow because of this was like a dark cloud that covered such light of faith. They are only aware of how He hung on the cross, died and was buried as a man, and now they come to anoint Him. The anointing is the last service of love they want to show Him, and the thought filled them not so much at all that they remember all those obstacles that would confront them in the way. Not only was the heavy stone rolled in front of the grave, but the stone was sealed and the grave kept safe with guardians. Their eyes focused on the place of the tomb, they hasten, and yet as they see the grave from a distance they are aware that the stone had been rolled away; boldly they go into the grave, but they do not find what they seek; they see, however, a young man sitting, who was wearing a long white garment. They are horrified at the sight of him because they realize that he is a messenger from heaven. Yet he calls out to them: Do not be horrified, you...laid Him. Then they went out quickly and fled from the tomb; because the message of the angel aroused trembling and horror in them; because the message was great, overwhelmingly great. They wanted to anoint Him who is risen, resurrected by His own power! He who hung with pierced hands and feet on the cross, whose side was opened after His death, lives! As there scales fall from their eyes, that the Crucified was not a mere, helpless man; there, still without having seen the risen One, He appears before their souls in His majesty and glory, as He powerfully proved by His resurrection as the Son of God. It was certainly much for their weak, trembling hearts that imposed itself on them with irresistible force in a brief moment; they could not grasp this so quickly; therefore they were filled with fear and horror, fled quickly from the grave, and said nothing to anyone; but joy came soon. What went on in their hearts can be best

expressed in the words: "In my heart I find ascending/Holy awe, with rapture blending."1 Matthew reports: They went with fear and great joy; and ran to the disciples to proclaim it. Now they remember the words of Christ.2 Thus the women recognized through the resurrection the majesty of the person of Christ, His eternal Godhead, and the preaching of the resurrection is still the most powerful testimony that Jesus is the Son of God, and proves itself with great force in hearts. 2. the glory of the office of Christ. True love to Jesus was what persuaded the women to anoint Him. Jesus had befriended their souls; they had found in Him their Savior. But now He was dead. As the majesty of his person disappeared from them, they believed in their sorrow also His office came to an abrupt end. Then they hear the wonderful message of the angel: You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified, He is not here, He is risen. And in this message the angel shows the glory of the office of Christ. Of the Crucified, he says He is risen, from the one who as the Lamb of God bore the whole world's sin, He became the guarantor of all people to pay their debts, in whom God punished our sins: He is risen, our sins, and has proven the fact that He did enough for our sins, that He paid for our sins, that He bore our punishment and we should now go free. The Crucified One is risen, not only by His own power, but He has been raised by the glory of the Father; God has therefore released our guarantor, and us in Him; He has accepted the offering of His Son and it declares and testifies for full validity that He is reconciliation, and that now everyone, even deeply fallen sinners, acquired grace. In light of the resurrection, in this seal of death for reconciliation, we see the glory of Christ's office in the brightest splendor. As surely as the sun is in the heavens, so surely it is now, that Christ redeems us from all sin and has reconciled us to His heavenly Father. And we are left with no choice but only to believe this. That is why the women should tell it to the disciples, and especially to the deeply fallen Peter, that they believed. That is why the gospel of Easter is preached to us, in order that we believe. The Crucified One is risen, which the old serpent pricked in the heel; that is why power is taken from the devil, death, devil and hell lie at His feet, and so we now believe even at our feet. The Crucified One is risen, He lives and reigns and protects His own; yes, He lives. Countless have experienced it and live through Him. Do you? And because He lives, so shall we also live, so will He raise even our bodies on the Last Day and make us co-heirs of all the blessings of His kingdom and His glory. So praise to the Risen One, now and forever! C.F.L.

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TLH 305:5 John 2:19, 10:17-18.