The Meaning of the Resurrection
By Editor
HE is risen! Christ is risen! The new tomb of Joseph is empty! Let the Moslem possess it; its power passed when the Lord of Life stepped forth a conqueror in righteousness over sin and death. What folly were the Crusades for an empty tomb! For four centuries waves of humanity beat vainly against the Saracenic bulwarks — all for an empty sepulcher, a dismantled, rejected, devastated city, for memories of the past, when all that the empty grave stood for was in reach of the humblest child of Adam. Unheeded was the voice of the angel — "He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. . . . Behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him." Christianity is not a dead faith; it is not a mere system of ethics. D'Aubigné never uttered a greater truth than when he said that Christianity is a life sent down from above. Other great religions are dead, dry systems of ethics, which teach many good things, but have no power to lift the practise to the plane of the theory. Other religions are moved with a perverted energy from beneath to destroy. But Christianity is life. Christ has not gone down; He is risen. He went down into the Land of Death for us, because we deserved it. He arose that we might yield to His wondrous goodness, and live with Him. Infinite Love, Infinite Life, both freely given in Jesus Christ our Lord! If men should hold their peace, the very stones would respond, as they will when the Master of Life shall touch them by His voice at His coming. His resurrection was the demonstration of righteousness over sin, of life over death. He alone of all the world's reputed Saviours brings life and power to the world, to the individual soul; for in Him the baptized believer walks in "newness of life," in loving obedience to God. Christ is risen; He goes before you. Christianity is progressive. He has not yet learned Christianity who still lingers by the pit of mire and clay from which Christ raised him. Sooner or later it will fetter and dwarf him a slave, or become to him a perennial Slough of Despond. Christianity is progressive, upward, and outward; and in all that true progress it follows its Author; "He goeth before you." Christianity is aggressive, persistent, insistent, pushing, plowing, sowing, pioneering, arousing, uplifting. It must be. You can not confine life with cemented rock or leaded sepulcher. You can not still the voice of love when souls are dying, as long as love can plead. Death may silence the human voice, but the very earth cries still. O friends, no one day in the year, no one day in the week, can fittingly celebrate the resurrection of our mighty Lord. The very idea is heathen, as is the name "Easter." The Master never gave it. Nor did He give the first day of the week as a memorial day of that event. Eternal Life is dominant every day in the week, every hour in the day. Has Christ one million followers in this world to-day? one million in whom dwells His life, His eternal life by vital faith? — Then He has one million witnesses of His resurrection every day in the week. Are you among them? You may have been one of the profane, drunkards, thieves, gamblers, adulterers, idolaters, abusers of themselves, revilers, extortioners, covetous, degraded; but He died for them — for you. Have you given yourself to Him? Then "ye are washed," "ye are sanctified," "ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor. 6:9-11. Jesus Christ died "for our sins." Reckon yourselves dead to sin with Him. Jesus Christ rose "for our justification." By faith rise with Him to the new life, forgetting the things behind, even the dead sepulcher of your sins — lest you exhume them — and follow Him wheresoever He leads. It may be to persecution and death for others' sake; but beyond is the resurrection to immortality. "Christ is risen." "He goeth before you!" There shall you see Him!