This Resurrection Business

I know: I’m a few days late. Easter was last Sunday. But I’ve been mulling over a few things. And once again, they’re embarrassingly elementary. Basic. But nonetheless powerful.

Indeed, our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and David, who came in the flesh as Jesus Christ and left His Spirit to dwell in us – is the God of redemption. He redeems we who were slaves to sin. Buys us out of that nature, and sends us into the liberty of discipleship. Our Redeemer.

He is the God of reconciliation. The One with whom we broke relationship seeks us, pursues us, loves us, forgives us, and actively reconciles Himself to us and us to Him. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” He is the Mender of broken relationships. The Balancer. The one who reconciles what is owed against what can never be repaid; who instead gave His own Son as payment for our debt and credits to us His own perfect righteousness.

And He’s the God of restoration. The God who sees what once was, but has been perverted, smeared, smothered, defaced and deformed by sin, and restores it to its original and purposed glory. The God who embedded His own nature and value in humanity at the point of creation, who made us capable of emotion, relationship, and choice, and has since been restoring us to His original design. Indeed, when we made the wrong choice that shattered and ruined the masterpiece, He chose to see what He intended rather than what had become of His creation. And He set about restoring it.

But maybe more significant than all else, He is the God of resurrection. The God of dead things brought to life. The God who takes what is currently dying and resuscitates it, causing in it an active life. The God who takes what is already dead and gives it new life.

I know of no greater picture of God’s great love, justice, and creative genius than His will to kill sin and self – the parasitic killer in humanity, its host – only to breath His own Life into and over death. 

I know no greater act of omnipotence. 

Our God takes what has been long dead – what is buried and rotten, and has been grieved and forgotten – and speaks it back to Life. Breathing, pulsating, moving, growing, loving, giving… Life.

 

Dead hopes.

Dead dreams.

Dead hearts.

Dead minds.

Dead careers.

Dead relationships.

Dead passions.

Dead works.

Dead faith.

Dead souls.

Dead people.

 

And then…Life.

 

Wow.