Source/Author: By Bishop Dr. Ong Hwai Teik

^NIV 1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

We bless God for yet another opportunity in the Christian calendarto celebrate the risen Lord during Easter, a most important truth that is evergreen and central to our Christian faith, life and ministry.

This is a message of hope that tells us that the power of death is broken and Death’s last desperate contention for lordship and absolute control. Dying is no longer a demonstration or manifestation of the seeming absolute conquering lordship of death. The former significance of death in which no one has ever yet defeated it by being resurrected from the dead – is now over. To be sure, people do die, including Christians, even after Easter; but dying is now only an expression of Death’s last desperate contention for lordship. Death cannot overcome that great fact of its defeat, that there is One Who is risen from the dead – there is one risen Body.

This is a message of power in which the Holy Spirit has demonstrated, that the power of new creation is already effective by His repulsing death by healing the sick and raising the dead. Lazarus was brought victoriously from the dead; and another three others were recorded in the New Testament. They were the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), Jairus’ daughter (Matt 8:28-43), Eutychus (Acts 20: 7-12) and Dorcas (Acts 9:36-42). Then there were the innumerable miracles of healing that testify to this power that repulsed the powers that “steal, kill and destroy” – such as the lame walking, the blind recovering their sight, the woman with a 12 year haemorrhaging ailment that was healed, even people healed “from a distance” such as the servant of the Centurion (Luke 7:2-10), people who were severely demonised like the Gadarene demoniac and Mary Magdalene who were powerfully set free.

This is a message of personal application for each of us because Jesus died so that He might taste death for everyone, and in that same light, the resurrection of Jesus our Lord is the guarantee or “firstfruits” of our future bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15:20). Hebrews 2:9 says clearly - “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for you and me, so that we do not have to taste spiritual death. And 1 Corinthians 15:20 declares that “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep". He is the “firstborn”, the pioneer, the first, that had risen from the dead, guaranteeing that a full harvest of those who will be like Him in His resurrection body – will come in the fulness of time. Hence the startling words of the angels to the women - "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" - on that very first Easter dawn (Luke 24:5).

We still die, for the mortality rate is one hundred percent. There is still sickness and sin for now. But today we can face and experience death with confidence, because the Power of new creation and eternal life – the Holy Spirit is already effective in our world. Paul undergirds this confidence in facing death by declaring in Ephesians 1:17-21: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might ²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come…”

This is a message of cosmic proportions that covers not only the human earthly dimension, but also the celestial dimension. This is because of the “harrowing of hell” experienced by Jesus when in the words of the Apostles’ Creed - “He descended to the dead” (1 Peter 3:18-20). Satan and his fallen spiritual hosts had thought that he had achieved his greatest victory over God and His salvation plan by effecting the crucifixion of Jesus. It then dawned on Satan at the moment of Jesus’ death and His descent to the dead that the death of Jesus was the plan of God. In Colossians 2:15, Paul elaborated on the cosmic expanse of this truth when he declared that at the death of Jesus, He “disarmed the powers and authorities” and “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.

As we live in this season in Malaysia, let us not forget that the Methodist Church in Malaysia is part of the universal Church of God that is more than just earthly witnesses; we are cosmic witnesses of the Lord Jesus “the first born from the dead”. The power of our hope in Easter transcends earthly realities and time, although we are to never “cop out” from living in this present realm. The victory of the “first born from the dead” covers not only the “seen realm” – but also the unseen! We are cosmic witnesses to a sovereign cosmic God; let us never forget to “disentangle the eternal and cosmic from the temporal and earthly.” Let us never forget that whatever happens to us as His people in the Church of Malaysia at this challenging time in the history of our nation – we will never lose hope or be distracted from our eternal destiny or the divine agenda.

As we live out our personal lives, let us therefore, never be overwhelmed by this ultimately defeated fearsome enemy called Death - the dark lord that seeks to cast each day a long dark shadow of discouragement, fear and hopelessness over prevailing realities and experiences in our lives. Easter reminds us that this dark lord is no longer an all-conquering lord. The same Holy Spirit that raised “the first born from the dead” through His immeasurably great and conquering power, the Holy Spirit, is now at work in us who believe. We now live in an age between the resurrection of Christ and the total destruction of death, but nonetheless, one in which death has already been overcome.

Hence, while death is a difficult and tabooed topic to broach for most people and cultures, the Christian is invited to constantly embrace this inheritance of resurrection life, so that Death is a defeated and diminished “lord”, and we can speak openly about it. The Roman Catholic Church has a good way of further broaching, facing and preparing the Christian for physical death with confidence and hope. Their sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, available to those whose health is in a critical state (that includes an opportunity for confession of sins) is intended to relieve the sick believer from fears. In some cases, healing takes place, but if not, the sick person can realize in a deeper way that Christ Who experienced our fears and bore our pains is the Shepherd Who is with His sheep in the valley of the shadow of death, providing company and strength for all physical and spiritual battles on this final journey.

The empty tomb of the Lord Jesus and the piercing words of the angels, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5) convey powerfully to all Christians that as Easter people of the “first born from the dead”, we can be confident in facing death. We are also given the assurance in God’s Word that one day we shall finally witness the “death of death”, “then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire…” (Revelation 20:14) and “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26).

“…I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” (The Apostles’ Creed)
Amen and amen.

Hallelujah! The Lord is risen indeed!